Dating the Time of the End
As we have seen from previous instalments, many people (of whom Harold Camping is the latest) have gone on record to announce the precise date of the Day of Judgement as well as the event known as the “Rapture”. And as everyone who is a student of prophecy is now aware, Harold Camping has been proven to be as fallible as all the rest. And it is possible to predict with certainty that the new date given by Camping (October 21, 2011) will also be incorrect.
The reason for this is that all “date-setters” proceed from the same mistaken assumption. They all assume that by careful analysis of the various time periods quoted in the Bible, both in the New Testament and the Old, it is possible to accurately predict the time of the end. Even so august a scientist as Sir Isaac Newton could not resist this temptation, when he predicted that the Apocalypse would occur in the year 2060.
Newton was a devout Christian who believed that the Bible was a revelation from God. He also believed that biblical prophecy predicted the divinely-ordained events of the future, and that the interpretation of biblical prophecy was “no matter of indifferency but a duty of the greatest moment“. As he recorded in his alchemical papers “the holy Prophecies” of the Scripture are nothing less than “histories of things to come.” (Yahuda MS 1.1, folio 16 recto)
Yet as Jesus pointed out to his disciples, many would be misled about the days and the time of the end.
“And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many.” (Matthew 24:3-5)
Jesus then went on to teach his disciples the only proven method for understanding his own prophecies, as well as those of other prophets.
“Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know the summer is nigh; So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.” “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my father only.” (Matthew 24:32-36)
As Jesus explained to his disciples, the timing of these events lay in the sequence of these events. So, when one thing happened, his disciples should be ready for the next to occur. And this is the basis for the true interpretation of prophecy. For it is one thing to have the gift of prophecy. It is quite another to accurately interpret these prophecies at a later time. To do so requires the gift of seeing clearly.
As Jesus explained, if one wanted to have a true understanding of the time of the end, it was necesssary to have eyes to see and ears to hear. “Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esias, which saith, by hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:” (Matthew 13:13-14)
The events that will precede the Day of Judgement on earth have been clearly laid out by Jesus, and even more clearly described by St John in his Book of Revelation. However modern man remains blissfully unaware of these signs, and of the impending arrival of that terrible day on which all of mankind will be held to account for their actions.
And this is what makes “The Last Days of Tolemac” such a unique book. For the Oracle has not only explained the sequence of events that will lead up to the time of the end, but he actually gives the actual event which will herald the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord, which will also be the day on which the souls of the just will join Jesus in rapture.
What the actual date of this cataclysmic event will be, no one can say. But what is increasingly evident is that the circumstances leading up to it are unfolding by the hour. Already it looms ever closer, and can be glimpsed through the fog of the evening news.
