Since Medieval times, thinkers, nobleman and mathematicians made multiple attempts to create a flying machine. The 9th century Spanish inventor Abbas Ibn Firnas attempted to fly by jumping off a cliff with wooden wings covered in feathers. He actually survived. Over the centuries hundreds of would be aviators experimented with failed flying machines ranging from simplistic designs to the bizarre.

Over the centuries the dreamers of flight came and went, but it was the Industrial Revolution and the advent of the internal combustion engine, that brought new interest in solving this old problem. By the end of the 19th century scores of new inventors competed to be the first man to fly.

However, at the same time these experiments were taking place, prominent figures in science and engineering such as Lord Kelvin (one of the most respected physicists of the 19th Century) and Simon Newcomb (renowned astronomer and mathematician) mocked and ridiculed their efforts. Both of these figures essentially used the “appeal to failure” fallacy by concluding that because all prior attempts at achieving powered flight had failed, the task itself was inherently impossible.

The “appeal to failure” or the “argument from failure” is a logical fallacy that assumes that something can’t be done or a problem can’t be solved because everyone else has failed to accomplish it.

Recently I was listening to a sermon by a pastor who due to the alarming times we are living in, had been receiving a lot of questions about end time bible prophecy including: “Are we living in the last days?”. Many of his congregants have been wisely considering “prepping” and storing food. However, he believed they were overreacting if not being paranoid. So instead of addressing this issue directly, he posed the following argument in his sermon: “Since the time of Christ there have always been people who believed they were living in the Last Days!” Using the “argument from failure” he was implying that because many in the past incorrectly believed they were living in the Last Days, your results will be no different.

Well in addition to this being a logical fallacy, there are multiple scriptures urging us to study, watch for and prepare for end time events. And these passages are clear if we are not watching and praying for insight-we most definitely can be caught off guard.

Revelation 3:3 AFV Now then, if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you shall by no means know what hour I will come upon you. 

I Thessalonians 5:4 -6 AFV For you yourselves understand perfectly that the day of the Lord will come exactly as a thief comes by night. But you, brethren, are not in darkness that the day of the Lord should overtake you as a thief. So then, we should not sleep, as others do; but we should watch, and we should be sober.

Luke 21:34 &36 AFV Watch yourselves, lest your hearts be preoccupied with high living and drinking and the cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly. For as a snare it shall come upon all those who dwell on the face of the earth. Watch therefore, and pray at all times that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

These passages are clear that the Day of the Lord will come as a trap, as a thief in the night to those who aren’t watching. And if we are not watching, studding prophecy, and keeping an eye on current events, even the Saints of God can be caught off guard. Watching, studding end time events and comparing them to end time prophecy IS A CONDITION for escaping “The Great Tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until this time, nor ever shall be again.” (Matthew 24:21)

Many have believed that neither having an understanding of Bible prophecy or watching for end time events is a moral issue. It’s more like a side hobby you do if you are bored. However these and many other passages by Christ and the apostles are commands telling us to watch and look out for these events. And these passages are clear, if we refuse to do so, there are severe repercussions. 

Another argument that has been posed is in Acts chapter one. The Apostles asked Christ if they were living in the time of the end. He responded by saying.

And He said to them, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father has placed in His own authority;
Act 1:7 AFV.

Many have interpreted this as to say no one can know or should know when Christ will return. Well the Prophet Daniel records a little more information when he asked the same question:

And I heard, but I did not understand. Then I said, “O my lord, what shall be the end of these things?” And he said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end.
Dan 12:8-9 AFV.

It is clear from this passage that it isn’t that no one can ever know. These prophecies will be unsealed at the time of the end and we can know the meaning– if we are watching and studding prophecy.

Another frequently quoted passage by those who want to down play the importance of end time prophecy is in Matthew 24:36

But concerning that day, and the hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.

The interpretation often given is that no one can EVER know the time of Christ’s return- so there is no reason to try to decipher all of the symbols and clues. However, Daniel is clear that the Kingdom will be established exactly 1290 days after the abomination that makes desolate.

And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
Daniel 12:11 AFV

So Christ isn’t saying that no one can ever know the day.  He is simply stating that currently in 30 AD, when he was talking to the disciples, no one knows, but “My Father only”.

As a bible scholar and devout Christian, I have been surrounded by theologians and pastors who in the past have consistently searched to find any clue that they might be living in the Last Days. Over the years I have grown weary of these strained attempts.   In many situations I have believed their predictions were a selfish attempt to scare their congregations into undying loyalty.  However, these are not the times we are living in! Prophecy is moving forward at an alarming pace. The Modern nations of Israel are on the brink of collapse. The debt of the United States is in an unsustainable position that could turn us into Venezuela at any time. We are currently in a very thinly veiled proxy war with a nuclear superpower that could easily escalate out of control. Israel is being bombarded with rockets from all of its neighbors while the UN is passing resolutions to join forces with their enemies. America with Western Europe is being overrun by foreigners. And all of the modern nations of Israel have fallen into gross moral decay.

We need to be watching.

As many of us know the Olivet Prophecy given in Matthew 24 and Luke 21 describes events at the time of the end. But it also was foreshadowed by events that took place in 70 AD in Jerusalem as an illustration of what is to happen. This relationship is also explained in terms of “type and antitype”. However when we compare the warnings given in these two chapters we see different instructions given depending on how much they were watching.

For instance, in Luke 21:20 Christ tells the apostles that when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies that those who are in the countryside flee to the hills. And those who were in Jerusalem to get out. As we know from history, this took place late in 69 AD when soon to be Emperor Vespasian was advancing his army for the siege of Jerusalem. Three months later the window to escape Jerusalem was over when the armies of Rome had blocked all roads around Jerusalem and prevented anyone from coming in or out. If you weren’t watching, your fate was sealed.

Then in Matthew 24:15 we are told that if you are still in the area outside of Jerusalem, when you see the abomination of desolation, to leave in haste with nothing other than the clothes on your back:

Then let those who are in Judea flee into the mountains. Let the one who is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house; And let the one who is in the field not go back to take his garments.

According to Roman religious practice, to receive protection from the god of war- Mars, a pig was sacrificed as part of the funeral rites of soldiers called suovetaurilia. No doubt after thousands of Roman soldiers were slain in the siege of Jerusalem, pigs were sacrificed to honor Mars. This along with the burning and looting of the Temple fulfilled the prophecy of the abomination of desolation. If you had waited for this sign to flee Judea for the mountains you had literally waited till the last minute and wouldn’t have time to get anything. If you were in Jerusalem, you either died in the siege or were being sold off into slavery by the Romans.

Dr. Earnest Martin confirms what we already know from history in his book “Restoring the Bible”, that Christians in Jerusalem and Judea understood the times they were living in and started leaving the area as early as 62 AD! They were watching as instructed and left early with the last stragglers leaving by 66 AD -a good 3-7 years before Jerusalem was surrounded by armies. They had discernment. They were watching.

There is belief by many Christians that as long as you generally are a good person and “love the Lord” that God is going to supernaturally save you from end time trials regardless of whether or not you are paying attention. This is found nowhere in scripture. In reality we see that God supernaturally saves his people by forewarning them through the clues given in prophecy that they have to watch for.

Watch, therefore, because you do not know in what hour your Lord is coming.
Mat 24:42 AFV.

As we watch current events, study bible prophecy and pray for discernment, we have to realize that prophetic knowledge alone is not going to save us. Because if we have not overcome and have not purified our lives, we will not understand.

Many shall be purified, and made white, and refined. But the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand.
Dan 12:10 AFV.

Only those who have gone through a process of spiritual conversion, have been examining themselves to the measure of Jesus Christ(Ephesians 4:13) and have overcome (Rev 2) will have wisdom during these trying times. None of the wicked will understand. But we have to watch.

Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is the one who is watching and is keeping his garments, so that he may not walk naked and they may not see his shame. Rev 16:15 AFV

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