A Prelude to the
End of the World

Check it yourself

A teacher who does not want to be checked should not be trusted. That includes the author of this site.

Luke praised the Jews of Berea for it: “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” Acts 17:11 They were listening to the apostle Paul, and they checked him anyway. Paul gave the same order to every believer: “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” 1 Thess 5:21

You do not need Greek, Hebrew, or a seminary to do this. You need a Bible, a free concordance, and four habits.

1. Use a concordance without knowing Greek or Hebrew

A concordance lists every place a word is used in the Bible. The old printed ones weighed five pounds. Blue Letter Bible does the same work free, on a phone.

  1. Look up the verse.
  2. Open the Tools button beside the verse and choose Interlinear. The verse is laid out word by word, and beside each English word is a number, such as G5480. That is the Strong’s number of the Greek or Hebrew word behind it.
  3. Open the number. You will see a short definition, and beneath it every verse in the Bible where that same word is used.
  4. Read those verses. You are now looking at how the Bible itself uses the word, which is the only thing that settles what it means.

Two cautions keep this honest.

Use decides meaning, not ancestry. The word for the mark of the beast is charagma. It comes from a family of words about scratching and engraving, and some teachers argue from this that the mark must pierce the skin. But what a word descended from is not what a word means. In the Greek of John’s day charagma meant a stamp, a brand, an imprint: the seal that made a document good, the brand that showed whose an animal was. The book makes this case in Chapter 13, and you can check it in five minutes.

A word does not carry all its meanings everywhere. The definition lists everything the word can mean. The sentence it sits in picks one. Never choose the meaning you like from the list and carry it back to the verse.

When anyone tells you “the Greek really says…,” ask which word, and look it up. If they cannot tell you which word, you have your answer.

2. Tell a translation difference from a doctrinal one

Two Bibles can word a verse differently without disagreeing about anything. Most differences are one of these:

  • Two English words for one original word. In Revelation 3:10 the King James has “…the hour of temptation…” and several newer translations have “the hour of trial.” Open the word with the steps above and you will find one Greek word, peirasmos, behind both. Nothing is at stake between them.
  • Older English. “…we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.” 1 Thess 4:15 In 1611 prevent meant to go before. Paul is saying the living will not get there ahead of the dead. The translation is right; the English has moved.
  • A footnote about manuscripts. Now and then the copies of the Greek differ by a word, and an honest Bible tells you so in the margin. These places are few, and no doctrine of the faith hangs on one of them.

A doctrinal difference is another thing altogether. Whether the church goes through the tribulation is not a question any translation settles. Both sides read the same words. It is settled, if it is settled, by context and by comparing Scripture with Scripture. So when two teachers disagree, ask first: are they reading different words, or the same words differently? Only the second is a real disagreement.

3. Check whether a verse was quoted in context

The devil quotes Scripture. In the wilderness he quoted Psalm 91 to Jesus (Matt 4:6), and the words he quoted really are in the psalm. The Lord’s answer is the whole method in four words: “…It is written again…” Matt 4:7 A verse means what it means in its place, alongside everything else God has said.

Four questions will catch most misuse. Who is speaking? To whom? About what? And when?

  • Read the paragraph before the verse and the paragraph after it.
  • Where a quotation has an ellipsis (…), go and read what was left out. This site marks every omission that way so that you can.
  • Ask whether the verse was written to Israel, to the church, or to the nations. It is all for you. It is not all to you.

Here is one to try. “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” Matt 24:13 It is often quoted to prove that a believer must hold out or lose his salvation. Read on. The next verse names the end in view: the gospel of the kingdom is preached to all nations, “…and then shall the end come.” Matt 24:14 And verse 22 tells you what kind of saving is meant: “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved…” Matt 24:22 The subject is living through the tribulation, not keeping eternal life. The context did the work; no Greek was needed.

4. Spot a chart that proves nothing

Charts are persuasive because they look finished. But a chart can only show where its author put things. The lines, the arrows, and the order of the boxes are claims. They are not evidence. Test any prophecy chart, this one included:

  • Does every box have a verse? A box without a reference is the author talking.
  • Does the verse say what the box says? Open it. A verse that is merely near the subject proves nothing about it. On this site, tap the reference and the verse opens beside the chart.
  • Where does the order come from? Look for the Bible’s own words of sequence: “after this,” “then,” “in the midst of the week,” “immediately after.” Where the text gives the order, the chart may draw it. Where it does not, the placement is the author’s judgment and he should say so.
  • Does it set a date? Then it has already failed. “When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken…” Deut 18:22
  • Does it label its guesses? The book keeps three things apart: what the text says, what the author infers, and what he only pictures. A chart that mixes the three without telling you is asking for more trust than it has earned.

The chart on this site is older than the book and is being revised to match it. If you find a box whose verse does not say what the box says, write and say so. That is the chart being used the way it was meant to be.

The standard

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Tim 2:15 If the Bible and this site disagree, believe the Bible.