Antichrist Allegedly Will Appear in 2016

Jim Bakker - Tom Horn

On the Jim Bakker Show in December 2015, Tom Horn promoted his book Zenith 2016 in which he predicts that the Antichrist will appear this year. Like many others, Horn specializes in speculative prophecy. To look at world events and see the “day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25) is biblical, but to engage in prophetic speculation about the timing of the Tribulation and Christ’s return is not biblical, though it does sell books and videos and draw traffic to web sites. Conveniently, Horn also sells survivalist “Prepper” materials, including gas masks and off-grid supplies. There are some fundamental biblical reasons why I know that all date setters and semi-date setters are wrong and not worth listening to. (Semi-date setters are those who present dates for prophetic events as strong possibilities rather than absolutes.)

First, Christ said that no man knows the day of His return (Mat. 24:36; Mark 13:32). If it is not possible to know the day of Christ’s return, then it is not possible to know the time of the Antichrist’s appearance, since Christ’s return can be prophetically dated from that event.

Second, the Bible says that “he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way” (2 Th. 2:7). The context is the devil’s mystery of iniquity program to put the Antichrist on the throne of the world, and the One who restrains this program is God the Holy Spirit. Paul is saying that the Spirit of God will restrain the forces of evil until He is ready to allow the final events to proceed to fulfillment. The times are always in God’s hands (Dan. 2:21). 2 Thessalonians 2:7 has some wonderful implications. For one, regardless of how brightly the prophetic signs glow, we can never know when the church age will end and Daniel’s Seventieth Week will begin. Another implication of 2 Thessalonians 2:7 is that God’s people never have to get into a fret about the times (Psalm 37:1-4).

​Third, Jesus taught His people to focus on the Great Commission, not on speculative prophecy (Acts 1:6-8). This doesn’t mean that the study of prophecy is without value. In fact, a large part of Scripture consists of prophecy, and it has great value. Acts 1:6-8 is a warning that constant speculation about the “times and seasons” is the wrong emphasis, at best.

These three biblical truths have helped me through the years. Not only have they enabled me to reject every date setter but also to avoid being swept up in various hysterias, such as Y2K. Jim Bakker is presenting himself these days as a “seer.” He was called this by Tom Horn in December, and he has been presenting his own dreams as divine revelations and warnings for America, but he has a long history of being full of baloney. In 1989, Bakker went to prison for defrauding the followers of his PTL Club empire out of $158 million. Bakker also committed adultery with his secretary and paid more than a quarter of a million dollars in an attempt to hush up the matter. Bakker’s wife and co-host of the PTL Club, Tammy Faye, divorced Jim while he was in prison and married Roe Messner, an old family friend whose company helped build PTL’s resort complex. After his imprisonment, Bakker got a new wife. Through Christ’s blood, God forgives sin that is confessed and repented of by true and sincere believers, but preachers who have brought this level of public reproach upon the cause of Jesus Christ should be content to keep their mouths shut and to stay out of the ministry, even if they are sound in doctrine, which Bakker certainly isn’t.

(Friday Church News Notes, January 29, 2016, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

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