PRO:Date setting

   I believe that Jesus forbids us to "set times or dates" about the
coming events when He declared, "No one knows about that day or hour,
not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father
(Matthew 24:36)." "It is not for you to know the times or dates the
Father has set by his own authority (Acts 1:7)."

   I was given a book to review that claimed that the rapture would
occur in September 1988. Without even reading it I knew that the author
had no clue about the date because he was in direct violation of
Scripture by setting a date. He gave many arguments for the date
including justification for setting a date in that, Jesus only said we
could not know the "day or hour" but did not restrict us from knowing
the month or year! How foolish an argument. Jesus used the term "day or
hour" to include the week, month, year, decade, century, etc.

   God does not want us setting dates because:

   1. We cannot know the date, therefore will always appear foolish to
the world when the time comes and passes.

   2. It "sidetracks" the work of the Gospel. Christians focus so much
on the coming event that they pollute the message with the event rather
than the fact of sin and judgment and the need of repentance and
submission. It is wrong to convince an unbeliever that the rapture will
occur in two weeks and that they would be "left behind" in a world of
chaos, unless they "believe in Jesus." We need to tell the
truth....that the rapture maybe 2, 000 years away and let the
unbeliever make a decision based on the work of the Spirit of God
rather than the manipulation of man.

   3. Some Christians will believe that the rapture or some other event
will occur on a particular date and then change their life patterns as
a result of it. For example, the Christian who believed the September
1988 date and took all his money and bought hundreds of Bibles. He even
took out loans to get more money for Bibles. Now when the Rapture did
not occur his faith was weakened and his family now had an impossible
debt to pay!

   I believe that the persons who set the dates are committing sin
because they go against the very words of the Savior, and believe there
a various reasons why they do it:

   1. They are Christians simply deceived. They have not "done their
homework" and have overlooked the prohibitions of Scripture about the
setting of dates.

   2. They are trying to accomplish the work of God by using "things of
the flesh" which is the sensationalism of "setting the date of the
Rapture" and other events like that.

   3. They are out to make money. The man who wrote the book on the
September 1988 Rapture sold thousands of books for the years leading up
to the date.

   4. That many of these preachers and writers who set dates are not
really "saved" and are really deceived "pawns" of Satan being used to
discredit the Gospel and Christianity.

   God wants us, His children, to live holy lives in order to be able
to witness to a lost world as we walk holy before them. Preachers and
Teachers have one purpose and that is to "Equip the Saints" to live
holy lives. All the intimidation and manipulation that is found in
"Altar Calls and the Setting of Dates" is wrong. May we as Christians
oppose such actions by not supporting these activities.
