America's Collapse

Dr. Couch, why have things collapsed so quickly in our country, on every level—political, social, theological, cultural, etc.? ANSWER:  Things were building up more quickly than we could imagine—we just didn't notice the changes coming. Theologically, I believe this is a judgment from God upon an apostate nation, and world. We are moving rapidly toward the end times. America for some time now has walked away from the Lord. But on the human level, there are some things we can observe that I believe are part of God's judgment.    (1) We have for some time now departed morally. Drugs, abortion, homosexuality, etc. has been destroying us from within for decades. (2) The mixing of cultures that did not have the Judeo-Christian morality behind them. And, those who have Christianity as a heritage have apostatized into immorality anyway. The founding of the nation, and our Reformation European heritage has been long ago lost to this culture. (3) Our secular state universities have moved toward liberalism and socialism, and these views have been fed to our young people now for decades. (4) And, our young people have been so brainwashed from grade school to buy into the lies of Satan. And as well, the repudiation in our schools of any form of recognition of Christianity.    In many schools, they have discarded Christianity but have honored Muslim and Hindu holidays in place of Christian traditions. Now I know having a holiday does not make our nation "Christian" but there is still a principle being trashed. And we will pay a price for that.    I know for a fact that many of my school friends came to Christ because Bibles were passed out at school and there were plays and musicals given over to Resurrection Sunday and Christmas. Everyone knew that America's morality had its origins from the Word of God, even though they may not have been born again or went to church on Sunday. Without doubt, we have departed on one level or another, and we are going to pay the price.    Someone recently sent me an article about a paper written by a chaplain in the Army saying that the real enemy in this country is premillennialism. Premillennialists, he said, see things black and white, and this is causing problems with those who are conciliatory on issues. We knew that this argument would be coming—blaming the facts of Scripture for how we are perceived in the world. Pray that this will not bring more havoc on those who are proclaiming the truth in our culture.    Thanks for asking.    Dr. Mal Couch (Dec., 09)

Food Shortages and Bible Prophecy

Dr. Couch, I just heard of a terrible calamity coming on the world that our U.S. media has hardly (in fact, not at all) mentioned, and that is, Asia and India are about to run out of rice, which is their staple food source. Could this play into the picture of Bible prophecy and the end-times?


ANSWER: I never want to be a date-setter but, yes, this could easily be part of the scenario for what will be coming on the earth, even at the start of the tribulation. The enemies of Bible prophecy and premillennialism would argue: "Oh, there have always been famines, and here you go again, saying that the tribulation is just around the corner!" My answer: While there have always been famines, it has only been sixty years since the founding of the Jewish nation, with those who have been brought back from around the world to the Promised Land! And that is a sign that we are getting close to tribulation events!

Let’s look at some recent statistics about the shortage of rice.

• Three billion people, mostly in Asia and Africa, depend on rice for their daily subsistence.


• 300 million people in India are below the poverty line and they all have to receive government assistance in order to get their daily portion of rice which they eat three times a day.


• There is no doubt that the demand for rice in Asia, parts of Africa and in Southeast Asia, is outpacing the production and supply of rice. The gap each month is growing wider. The shortage of rice is already here, not simply building up.


• The cost of rice worldwide has gone up by seventy percent in the last year.


• Riots have already started by people who are almost starving for the rice food supply.


• Government rice warehouses are now being guarded by army troops to keep people from thievery.

What does the Bible say about the coming worldwide tribulation and famine? Christ speaks about the tribulation, and the wrath of God most often, and He always mentioned famine. He said that during the seven year tribulation "nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of the birth pangs" (Matt. 24:7-8; Mark 13:8). Jeremiah makes it clear that the birth pangs take place when all the Jews from around the world have been restored back to the land in the latter times (Jer. 30:1-6). Paul repeats the same thing in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-4. By the context of Matthew 24, and by the way Christ mentions famines, it is clear He is not talking about ordinary famines and earthquakes. These are specific events that take place at a specific time.

In the tribulation context in Luke 21 famines are mentioned again but other phenomena are also included. Christ says in verse 11 there will be "great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven."

This comes to pass in Revelation beginning in 6:7-17. To Death and Hades, riding on an ashen horse, is given authority (from God) to bring on terror on a fourth of the earth, "to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence, plague" (v. 8). With the destruction of Babylon the Whore in 18:8 more famine will come upon her and her consorts, her allies!

So famine will play a role in the seven year tribulation period. My view is that probably what is now taking place, with the rice issue and potential on-the-horizon famine, will surely build and become a major issue leading all the way into the tribulation!

Thanks for asking.
Dr. Mal Couch

Does Christ Appear on His Throne Prior to Revelation 20:11?

Dr. Couch, Acts 2:30-35 does not put Christ on His throne ruling today, does it? Is it incorrect to say that He is spiritually on the throne? Does Christ appear on His throne prior to Revelation 20:11? I am trying to get an amil friend to see the light and understand premillennialism. 

 

    Acts 2:35 is quoting Psalm 110:1. Christ the Messiah is now sitting at the right hand of God the Father. This is the Father’s throne in heaven. It is not the earthly millennial throne that will be set up in the Holy Land, in Zion (v. 2). Someday, from Zion, God the Father will cause Christ to rule over the nations and over His enemies (v. 2). Psalm 110:5 is interesting because, while the Lord Christ is now at God’s right hand, He will [in the future] from Zion shatter kings "in the day of His wrath. He will judge among the nations." 

    These literal concepts are repeated in Psalm 2. Christ applies all of these thoughts to Himself with His premillennial return to earth. He says: "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before Him. … Then the King will say, ‘Blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the earth’" (Matt. 25:31-34). 

    How could verses like this, and dozens and dozens of others, be taken in a spiritualized or allegorized way? Bible study is easy, but few are reading today and letting the text speak in a plain sense. 

    You need to get some auxiliary reference books that will help your friend put it all together. I suggest Paul Benware’s Understanding End Time Prophecy, and new book, The Gathering Storm. Quick answers, even those I give out here, will not help people put it straight. Men have to be thoroughly committed to read, study, pray over the text, and interact with good Bible students, such as yourself, in order to let the Word of God speak clearly. A simple suggestion: When looking at various Bible verses, get a yellow pad and write down all you observe in the text. Do the verses read allegorical or literal? Do other great passage back up what is being written? Men today are not studying systematically and orderly. They go brain dead when they look at passages and fail to analyze what the text is saying. I hope this helps! 

    Thanks for asking.

   Dr.  Mal Couch

Hatred Against Premillennialism

Dr. Couch, I just read a review of your wonderful and helpful Handbook of Revelation (Kregel) in which the reviewer blasts premillennialism and pretribulationalism. He says such works are influenced by the Left Behind series, and by Hal Lindsey. Why is there such hatred against the premillennialism of the early church? 

 

    ANSWER: This is a question that is hard to understand. There is one thing I have noted about the Preterists and the Amils, and that is, it is impossible for them to exegete both OT and NT prophecies. They are long on criticism, and short on exegesis and biblical explanation. 

    They are also foolish to think we get our eschatology from the Left Behind series, Hal Lindsey, John Darby, C. I. Scofield, or any other Bible teacher of the past. (I personally have never read anything from Darby.) We get our eschatology from sound, consistent exegesis, and detailed observation, of the biblical texts. Church history shows that in the past 175 years there began a growing return back to premillennialism by some of the greatest scholars of both England and America. Many were carefully observing that the church had to do something about what the Bible said about the regathering of the nation of Israel. No longer could the argument simply be that the church replaces Israel, or that God is finished with the Jews. The great OT passages about the return of the Jews to the land, the great tribulation, and the literal coming of the Messiah, could no longer be ignored. 

    Reformed folks are stuck in a time-warp with the great Reformers, in regard to eschatology. I admire these men and we all owe them a great debt of gratitude. But while they espoused literal interpretation, they did not apply their own principles of literalness to prophecy. Their inconsistency is glaring! And yet in other areas of theology they are basically biblical (except in their made-up and un-biblical Covenant theology!). 

    Thanks for asking.

    Dr. Mal Couch