Remember boys and girls, when the headline asks a question the answer is NO.  There are two predictions for the end of the world in 2019, June 9, 2019, and December 28, 2019. Of course, both of these predictions come from serial date setters who haven’t been right yet but don’t let that stop you from clicking on the links.

If somehow we make it past 2019, and I think we will, then we can anticipate the Yom Kippur Rapture of 2020. This date has been set by George Madray. He has a B.S.A. in Agronomy (That’s soil chemistry) and a D.D.S. (He’s a dentist) After some long hard study, he has put together a book with the unimaginative title The End and set his prediction date for Jesus coming back to claim the Church in an event known as the rapture.

Normally I rake these guys over the coals for whipping up fear to sell a book but Madray is different, he’s made the book available free online. You can find his rapture date prediction on page 91.

Madray is a literalist in interpretation and follows the dispensational outline pretty closely. He also believes in Creation science, which isn’t science at all. The quickest way to summarize this guy is another dispensationalist who cuts and pastes prophecies together (That don’t go together contextually) and uses various forms of numerology to predict a date.

At least he is sincere enough in his belief that he gives the book away. As far as I can tell, this is his first prediction. We will have to wait and see what happens when Yom Kippur 2020 comes and goes, and the Church isn’t raptured.

There are three responses to missed prophecy dates: first, pick a new date. This is why some people and organizations have so many dates attributed to them. Second, claim it happened in a way that people didn’t understand. This was the method of the Seventh Day Adventist. Third, admit you were wrong. Which one he chooses, will tell you how well grounded he is.

Interesting enough Madray in his section on how to study the Bible says “The majority of people strain at the truth of God’s Word through the filters of their own present and past subjective emotions and experiences. These subjections, or biases, are particularly influenced by the denomination or religious sect in which the person was raised or belongs.”

Yet, he cannot see that he has chosen his own religious sect of literalism and dispensationalism. He says, “Finally, it is permissible to interpret the Bible literally. One can always spiritualize a truth away. If we over – spiritualize, then whose interpretation is right? If the literal sense makes sense, seek no other sense, or you’ll have nonsense!” That last line is a trope repeated through many a fundamentalist sermon.

This is the same blindness many of us have. We all believe we have the right way to interpret scripture and everyone else is doing it wrong.

2019? 2020? Is the end near? It’s been almost 190 years since the beginnings of dispensationalism and not one dispensationalist has predicted the right date yet. Maybe it’s time to rethink your methodology; it doesn’t seem to be working.

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