What I believe

No book on prophecy is neutral, and no teacher is either. Before you trust anything on this site, you should know where its author stands. Here it is, in plain words, with the verses. Test every line of it against the Bible, and if the two ever disagree, believe the Bible.

The Bible

The Bible is the Word of God, given by Him and without error as He gave it. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” —2 Tim 3:16. It is the final authority in everything it speaks to, above any church, teacher, tradition, or experience, including mine. I read it literally: each passage for what its words plainly say, in the grammar the writer used and the setting he wrote into, taking a figure as a figure, and letting Scripture interpret Scripture before any outside idea is brought in. On this site and in the book, Scripture is quoted from the King James Version, the Bible my church preaches from and the one that reaches the widest readership; where an old word might slow the reader, a modern word follows it in square brackets.

God

There is one God, eternal, who exists in three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost (Matt 28:19; 2 Cor 13:14). He created the heaven and the earth in six days (Gen 1:1; Ex 20:11), a few thousand years ago and not over long ages; Adam was a real man, his fall was a real event, and the flood of Noah covered the whole earth (Rom 5:12; 2 Pet 3:5–6). Nothing happens by chance. God either causes, allows, or restrains every event, and He is working all of history toward the end He declared from the beginning (Isa 46:10).

Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ is God the Son, fully God and fully man. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us…” —Jn 1:1, 14. He was born of a virgin, lived without sin, died on the cross for our sins, was buried, and rose again bodily on the third day, “…according to the scriptures” —1 Cor 15:3–4. He ascended to heaven, where He is now, and He will come again in person (Acts 1:11). He is the only way to the Father: “…I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” —Jn 14:6.

Man and sin

Every person is born a sinner and sins by choice: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” —Rom 3:23. Sin separates us from God, its wages is death (Rom 6:23), and no one can pay that debt or earn his way back by being good enough. Left to himself, every one of us is lost.

Salvation

Salvation is a gift, received by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” —Eph 2:8–9. It is not a reward for the worthy; it is a gift for the willing. The moment a person believes on Christ he has everlasting life, and it cannot be lost: “…He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” —Jn 5:24; “…they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand” —Jn 10:28. The Holy Spirit indwells the believer from that moment and goes on changing him, so that a saved man bears fruit; but his assurance rests on the promise of God, not on an inventory of his fruit (1 Jn 5:13). God chastens His children when they sin, as a father does, and He never disowns them.

Israel and the church

God’s promises to Israel are still Israel’s. “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance” —Rom 11:29. The church, which began at Pentecost and is made up of every believer of this age, Jew and Gentile, has not replaced her and has not inherited her promises. The two are one in Christ and distinct in God’s program, and keeping them distinct is the key that makes prophecy read plainly.

The end

Jesus Christ will come for His church before the seven-year tribulation, Daniel’s seventieth week, and catch her up to meet Him in the air: “…and so shall we ever be with the Lord” —1 Thess 4:17; “For God hath not appointed us to wrath…” —1 Thess 5:9. In those seven years God will judge the earth, the Antichrist will rule it, and Israel will turn to her Messiah. Then Christ will return bodily, in power, to the earth (Rev 19:11), and reign from Jerusalem for a thousand years (Rev 20:6; Zech 14:9). After that comes the last rebellion, the great white throne, and the new heavens and the new earth, where “…the tabernacle of God is with men…” —Rev 21:3. Heaven and hell are real places, and both are for ever: “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal” —Matt 25:46. No one knows the day or the hour, and I will not set one (Matt 24:36).

The task

The Lord left His church one commission: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations…” —Matt 28:19. Everything on this site exists to serve it: to send believers back to their Bibles, to equip the ones who teach, and to put the gospel in front of the person who has not yet believed it. If you are that person, start with the gospel.

Where the book stands on the questions people ask first is on the Questions page. How to test this site, or any teacher, with nothing but a Bible and a concordance is on Check it yourself. Anything here you think is wrong, write and tell me the verse.