In spite of the numerous prophecies that pointed to specific dates that have failed over the last several centuries that the world would end, God still holds her in the palm of his hand. I don’t suppose that none of those false prophets have ever admitted they lied, but just miscalculated.

One of the most bizarre prophetic falsehoods ever conceived by man was done in 1988 by a man by the name of Edgar C. Whisenant, Little Rock, Ar. In his book entitled "88 Reasons why the Rapture will be in 1988", he lists 88 reasons why the so-called rapture, the battle of Armageddon, World War III, World War IV and World War V, would take place before the end of 1995. Listed below are several quotes from his book

"Reasons #4 and #5, page 7:

The 70th week of Daniel starts with the Day of Atonement 1988 when Antichrist signs the Seven-Year Peace Pact with Israel on 21 Sept. 1988, and the 70th week of Daniel ends seven Jewish years later on the Day of Atonement 1995, at the battle of Armageddon, 4 Oct. 1995, thus lasting seven Jewish years. (Note: The next paragraph is extremely important.)

Lunar dates of the last three Feasts of Israel for the years 1988 through 1995 provide the beginning and ending dates for the count of the days given by God in Ezekiel, Daniel, and Revelation and verify beyond any reasonable doubt that from the Day of Atonement 1988 through the Day of Atonement 1995 is the 70th week of Daniel. (This single fact is the unchallengable proof that this book is correct and true.)

Reason #6, page 8:

Then the lasts two Feasts of Israel were given to Israel and the Jew - in 1988 on the Day of Atonement (the sixth Feast of Israel, called Yom Kippur), Antichrist signs the Seven-Year Peace Pact with Israel starting the 70th week of Daniel for seven Jewish years, at which time God again deals with Israel as the promised people of God, and on the Feast of Tabernacles, 9 Oct. 1995, (five days after Armageddon), Israel recognizes Jesus as their Messiah whom they crucified 2,000 years ago (see Zech. 12:10-14).

Thus the Church Age began on the fourth Feast of Israel (Pentecost), 28 May, 30 A.D. and ends on the fifth Feast of Israel (Trumpets or Rosh-Hash-Ana), in Sept. 1988.

Reason #7, page 10:

Then all the wicked people on earth will be killed again, but this time by the fire of thermonuclear weapons. (World War III starts sunset 3 Oct. 1988. World War IV is 1 May 1992 when Satan conquers all the people of the earth, and World War V is at Armageddon on 4 Oct. 1995.) So we have three last wicked generations of 40 years each, totaling the days of a man's years of 120 years (see Gen.6:3)"

Sales from Whisenant's fiction were reported to be 6,000,000 copies.

Permission to reprint excerpts from Mr. Wisenant's false prophecies is granted in the book.

Why would an established corporate religion (Jehovah's Witnessess, see "Millions now living that will never die", by Judge J. F. Rutherford, Brooklyn, N.Y., 1920) along with many individuals make such false claims? One reason seems to stick out more than the others; for the sake of lining their pockets with money from those who are easily deceived. God gave the plumb line for guarding against such deceivers long ago in the old testament of Moses. These verses are abhorred by the deceiver, because truth quenches all falsehood.

Deuteronomy 18:20-22 "But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die......And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?.....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, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him."

In other words, pay no attention to him. The tragic disaster of the World Trade Center towers are now great fuel for the fire to advance more false teaching regarding the end of the world. It is not my intent to re-hash all of the verses so recklessly used by the false teacher to justify more predictions of the end of the world, nor the diverse beliefs, but I will focus only on the verses most commonly misunderstood, Matthew chapter 24.

Let us begin:

Matthew 24:1-3 "And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple......And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down......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?"

Three questions asked from the above verses:

Question No. 1

"Tell us, when these things shall be (destruction of the temple)?" The first question asked in verse three.

In reference to the last two questions, "and what shall be the sign of thy coming" "and of the end of the world;" this would be the same as telling someone to purchase you one loaf of bread "and" one gallon of milk. Totally two different items.

The temple and all of Jerusalem were destroyed in A.D.70 by the Roman general Titus. According to Josephus, the great Jewish historian, only a part of one wall was left in order to show any who came that way that a city really did exist there. Moreover, the prophecies of Jeremiah and Micah foretold of this event.

Wars of the Jews, Book V11, ch.1, #1: "Now as soon as the army had no more people to slay or to plunder, because there remained none to be the objects of their fury, (for they would not have spared any, had there remained any other work to be done,) Caesar gave orders that they should now demolish the entire city and temple, but should leave as many of the towers standing as were of the greatest eminency; that is, Phasaelus, and Hippicus, and Mariamne; and so much of the wall as enclosed the city on the west side. This wall was spared, in order to afford a camp for such as were to lie in garrison, as were the towers also spared, in order to demonstrate to posterity what kind of city it was, and how well fortified, which the Roman valour had subdued; but for all the rest of the wall, it was so thoroughly laid even with the ground by those that dug it up to the foundation, that there was left nothing to make those that came thither believe it had ever been inhabited. This was the end which Jerusalem came by the madness of those that were for innovations; a city otherwise of great magnificence, and of mighty fame among all mankind."

Jeremiah 26:18 "Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest."

Micah 3:12 "Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest."

Wars of the Jews, book seven, chapter two, footnotes, declare that the same Roman soldier by the name of Terentius Rufus mentioned by Josephus, also plowed Jerusalem.

"This Terentius Rufus, as Reland in part observes here, is the person whom the Talmudists call Turnus Rufus; of whom they relate, that "he ploughed up Sion as a field, and made Jerusalem become as heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest;" which was long before foretold by the prophet Micah, ch. iii. 12, and quoted from him in the prophecies of Jeremiah, ch. xxvi.18."

Rubble from the burned city was gathered together in heaps and the temple was a huge heap as a hill. There are those who disagree with our Lord, saying, that there were some stones of the temple left one on another and part of a wall still standing. The Lord Jesus Christ is true and faithful in everything that he said and predicted.

(Matthew 24:4-14 "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......And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet......For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places......All these are the beginning of sorrows......Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake......And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another......And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many......And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold......But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved......And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come."

From the time that Jesus spoke these words until the destruction was approximately thirty seven years. During this time, there were wars and rumors of wars, anti Christs, persecution of the saints, false prophets, famines, earthquakes, pestilences, sorrows, afflictions, deceivers and those being deceived, love of many saints grew cold and the gospel of the kingdom was preached into all the habitable world.

But, the "end," would not come until the gospel had been preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations and then shall the "end" come. Our Lord is still answering the first question, "when shall these things be?" That is, the destruction of the temple.

When was the gospel preached into all the world for a witness?

Colossians 1:5-6 "For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;.....which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth:"

Colossians 1:23 "If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;"

The apostle Paul wrote to the Colossians just six years before the destruction, A.D.64. Remember, that our Lord said, that the end would come after the gospel had been preached into all the world.

Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 6, ch.5, relates to deceivers prior to the final destruction of the temple.

"A false prophet was the occasion of these people’s destruction, who had made a public proclamation in the city that very day, that God commanded them to get upon the temple, and that there they should receive miraculous signs of their deliverance. Now there was then a great number of false prophets suborned by the tyrants to impose on the people, who denounced this to them, that they should wait for deliverance from God; and this was in order to keep them from deserting, and that they might be buoyed up above fear and care by such hopes. Now a man that is in adversity does easily comply with such promises; for when such a seducer makes him believe that he shall be delivered from those miseries which oppress him, then it is that the patient is full of hopes of such his deliverance.

Thus were the miserable people persuaded by these deceivers, and such as belied God himself; while they did not attend nor give credit to the signs that were so evident, and did so plainly foretell their future desolation, but, like men infatuated, without either eyes to see or minds to consider, did not regard the denunciations that God made them."

Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 5, chapter 1:

FROM THE COMING OF TITUS TO BESIEGE JERUSALEM, TO THE GREAT EXTREMITY TO WHICH THE JEWS WERE REDUCED.

It only took Titus six months to conquer and destroy the city and temple. These are the facts of the Holy Word of God and the trusted Jewish historian, Josephus.

Matthew 24:15-22 "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:).....Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:.....Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:.....Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes......And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!.....But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:.....For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be...... And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened."

Daniel 9:27 "And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."

When Titus began his siege against the city, inside there were approximately 3,000,000 Jews in addition to foreigners and those who were not considered to be clean to partake of the passover, who knew the desolation had begun. Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 6, ch.10, footnotes, states that this was the time of the passover and that is why there were so many people there. There were about 300,000 lambs slaughtered for this passover; one lamb for ten people. Of the previous times that the temple had been destroyed, none were done during their solemn feasts except this time.

Our Lord was being very specific as to how and when the saints must try to escape. Regardless of what we think to be the worst time in the history of the world as to death and destruction upon any people, our Lord said, that this would be the worst. None before it as bad and none after, verse 21.

Matthew 24:23-28 "Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not......For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect......Behold, I have told you before......Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not......For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be......For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together."

Again, our Lord emphasizes the false Christs and prophets. Unlike the deceivers of today, those could show great signs and wonders, but still the saints were not to believe them. Some authorities say that eagles do not feed upon dead carrion, but this is not true; my son who lives in Alaska, witnessed eagles feeding upon a large dead animal and consumed all of it. The meaning of verse 28 is the Roman army gloating (not literally) upon the kill.

The destruction of Jerusalem was the final nail driven by God to the Jewish religion. The law of Moses was terminated at the cross of Christ, but it still flourished. As a result of the destruction, the law ceased along with the sacrificial priesthood. All records of lineage were destroyed, making it impossible to have future priest of the tribe of Levi. Therefore, without a law and priests to offer sacrifices for atonement, the Jewish religion became dead.