David B. Curtis
David B. Curtis
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Good morning, Bereans. How many of you think that truth matters? Would this include any truth, all truth? As our Lord said, "truth sets us free."
So Yeshua said to the Jews who had believed him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:31-32 ESV
Whom is he talking to? Believers—"to the Jews who had believed Him." And He says, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples." So, these Christians can become disciples if they "abide in His word." "If" introduces is a third-class conditional sentence that gives the meaning of "potential action" [Maybe you will and maybe you won't continue].
If as disciples we abide in the Word, we will know the truth. And knowing truth will set us free. When we know the truth about eschatology, we won't get caught up in the fear mongering of false prophecies.
Back in the summer of 1988, while we were on vacation, I was sitting at the pool reading the book, "88 Reasons why the Rapture Will Be in 1988." The book was written by Edgar C. Whisenant, an American former NASA engineer and Bible student from Little Rock, Arkansas, who predicted that the rapture and World War lll would occur during Rosh Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets) in 1988 (sometime between September 11 and September 13).
I was a dispensationalist at the time, and the book threw me for a loop. According to the book, we only had a couple of months until World War lll and the rapture. This was upsetting to me because I did not at that time understand the truth of eschatology, so I believed his false timeline.
False eschatologies are dangerous because most Christians are Bible ignorant. I don't say that to be mean; it's just the truth. The reason most Christians are Bible ignorant is because they don't read their Bibles. When we're Bible ignorant, we can fall prey to any false teaching that uses Bible verses.
I came across a false prophecy teacher on this past Resurrection Sunday. When I got home from Church, I sat down on the couch and was looking at the social media site Truth Social. An article by The Health Ranger, Mike Adams, caught my attention.
In case you aren't familiar with him, Mike Adams (aka the "Health Ranger") is the founding editor of NaturalNews.com, a best-selling author of the #1 best-selling science book on Amazon called "Food Forensics." Adams is an environmental scientist, a science news publisher, and an influential commentator on topics ranging from science and medicine to culture and politics. He has a large following.
Here's what Mike has to say in the article:
"It's astonishing to me that nearly all Christians readily accept the story of the Great Deluge (the flood) as being caused by God specifically for the purpose of wiping out most of humankind to defeat evil, yet those very same Christians will mostly not accept the idea that God will use giant space rocks (comets) to achieve the same result on a larger scale, even when Jesus Christ himself directly and specifically describes these events yet to come. Giant space rocks are specifically, repeatedly mentioned in great detail throughout the Bible, both Old and New Testament, including Matthew 24 and much of Revelation, which directly describes actual comet impact events on Earth."
Mike says we accept the story of the flood but won't accept that God is going to destroy the earth again. How would you respond to this? I would answer by stating that God clearly promised that he would not destroy the earth again.
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease." Genesis 8:20-22 ESV
Now, Mike is saying that the Lord destroyed the earth by water one time and He'll destroy it by comets the next time. Is God's promise here to just change His method of destroying everything? Is there comfort in being destroyed by a comet instead of water? Or is He promising not to destroy the earth again?
Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the LORD! For he commanded and they were created. And he established them forever and ever; he gave a decree, and it shall not pass away. Psalms 148:4-6 ESV
What decree did God make concerning the establishment of the heaven and the earth that will never pass away? Could it be Genesis 8:21? God said that He would never again destroy every living thing. God can be trusted; He keeps His word.
He built his sanctuary like the high heavens, like the earth, which he has founded forever. Psalms 78:69 ESV
If God has established the earth forever, how could it end?
Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast. Psalms 119:90 ESV
A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. Ecclesiastes 1:4 ESV
It sounds like these verses teach that the earth will last forever. But what about those verses that Mike uses saying that God is going to destroy the earth with comets? We'll look at those in a minute.
Mike goes on in the article to say,
You are about to learn something truly astonishing. This is something that almost no church will dare teach, and no mainstream pastor will discuss for fear of being ostracized… What you are about to learn is that according to a credible interpretation of the Book of Revelation, all of human civilization, including Israel, will be destroyed by God. The undeniable details are written in the Bible, and I cover them here. According to what is written, every human being will be vaporized or killed, and those with worthy souls will be lifted into Heaven (a higher dimension, not of this 3D space) to join together with God and Jesus.
Human nations, kingdoms, kings and people have become evil. Too evil for God to allow to continue to exist. So according to what is stated in Revelation, God "resets" the entire planet with a series of seven great cosmic impact events. These events happen in sequence, and they are beyond catastrophic. They end all human life on Earth, and Earth is left with a giant gaping wound that opens it up far deeper than the planetary crust, revealing a "lake of fire" (molten lava) deep within Earth's core.
This prophecy is carefully described in great detail to John of Patmos (by angels) and to Matthew by Jesus himself.
In the article, Mike goes through the seven bowl and seven trumpet judgments found in Revelation and gives his analysis. For the third trumpet he says, "A comet strikes the United States of America while angels rejoice." He continues,
The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter. Revelation 8:10-11 ESV
His Analysis of these verses is:
The phrase ‘a great star fell from Heaven' is self-explanatory. It is describing a comet impact. It even burned ‘like a torch.' It fell on a land area rich with rivers and springs. The nation on planet Earth that is blessed with, by far, the greatest number of rivers and springs is the United States of America.
The seventh Bowl describes the complete flattening of Earth's crust, both above and below the ocean water level. No life is left on the planet. This is God's ‘cosmic reset' event that cleanses the planet of evil and defeats the Beast.
You might buy what he is saying if you are not familiar with the apocalyptic language of the Scriptures. If you approach the New Testament's apocalyptic language without recognizing it for what it is and do not know how to deal with its tone, images, and symbols, you are sure to go astray. Notice the use of apocalyptic language in Psalm 114.
When Israel went out from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language, Judah became his sanctuary, Israel his dominion. The sea looked and fled; Jordan turned back. The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs. Psalm 114:1-4 ESV
Did the mountains literally skip? No! This is apocalyptic language. Apocalyptic literature uses figurative language and symbolism to describe divine revelations, often focusing on the end times or cataclysmic events. In apocalyptic language, great commotions and judgments upon earth are often represented by commotions and changes in the heavens. This language is not to be taken literally.
Near the end of the article Mike says,
Jesus isn't coming to save humankind, in other words. That's the ‘great lie' of modern Christianity. There will be no saving of humanity in physical form but only the saving of souls after the extermination of humanity.
To reset to the ‘new Earth' mentioned in Revelation 21, God is sending an Extinction-Level-Event comet to wipe out humankind and start over, because God deems the human race ‘irredeemable' due to its demonstration of intense evil, violence, greed, pride and disloyalty to Him.
Now if you are a new Christian or a biblically illiterate Christian, this would probably scare you to death. The entire world is about to be vaporized. Can you see from this why truth matters? How much damage has this false teaching done?
So, Mike sees the book of Revelation as talking about comets that are to strike the earth in our future and totally destroy it. Let's look at the book of Revelation and see if there is any truth to this. Before we look, however, let's consider the following scenario: You are walking through the park and see a letter on the ground. You are curious so you pick it up and begin to read.
Dear John,
I'm writing to warn you of an imminent attack that I was just made aware of. As you know, I am an analyst for the Agency, and we were made aware of an attack planned on your city. The attack is to take place within the month. It will be a chemical attack that will quite literally wipe out the entire population of the city. Please gather up your family and get out of town as soon as you possible can.
What's the first thing you want to know about this letter? When was it written? Obviously if the letter were true, you would definitely want to know the date it was written so that you could know if you, as the letter finder, also needed to get ready for this attack. What city is it talking about? Whom was it written to? Let's apply these questions to the book of Revelation.
The revelation of Yeshua the Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Yeshua the Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. Revelation 1:1-3 ESV
When was this book written? In the first century. Revelation is the Greek word apokalupsis which means "to uncover," "to fully disclose," or "to make known."
"God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place"—God gave this revelation "to uncover," "to fully disclose," or "to make known" "to his servants the things that must soon take place." His "servants" are believers. He wanted to show them things that must, "Soon take place." If you had been a first- century reader, when would you have expected these things to take place? Soon! Soon to whom? Soon to the original readers. Who were the original readers? To whom was the book of Revelation written? Most Christians today think it was written to them. They act as though it is a newspaper that just arrived. But John tells us to whom he is writing—the seven churches in Asia Minor.
John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, Revelation 1:4 ESV
These were seven real churches that existed in Asia Minor in the first century. They are addressed by name in verses 10 and 11.
I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, "Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea." Revelation 1:10-11 ESV
Notice that John is not told to send it to the church in Virginia Beach, VA in the twenty-first century. This book was to be sent to seven churches in Asia Minor in the first century, and he names the churches.
Notice what he says to the church in Thyatira.
Only hold fast what you have until I come. Revelation 2:25 ESV
Yeshua told the believers in the church of Thyatira, in the first century, to "hold fast what you have until I come." He doesn't say, "Hold fast until you die." If language means anything, that means that he would come in their lifetime, would it not? Most commentators of Revelation violate the basic hermeneutical principle of audience relevance.
In Revelation 1:1, John specifically states that the prophecies of Revelation would begin to take place in a very SHORT TIME.
The revelation of Yeshua the Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, Revelation 1:1 ESV
He emphasized this truth of a soon coming in a variety of ways through language. He carefully varies the manner of his expressions as if to avoid any potential confusion on the matter. The Greek word translated "soon" in Revelation 1:1 is tachos. According to Arndt and Gingrich Lexicon, tachos is used in the LXX and certain non-canonical writings to mean "speed, quickness, swiftness, haste." John uses the same word in Revelation 2:16; 3:11; 22:6, 7, 12, 20. John also uses the Greek word engus which is translated "near" in Revelation 1:3 and 22:10.
Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. Revelation 1:3 ESV
The time for what is near? The time when the things in the letter would happen. This term speaks of temporal nearness, and John uses it to bracket the book. The third Greek word is mello. It is translated as "about to" in Revelation 1:19 and 3:10. The phrase in 1:19, then, is literally "the things which are about to occur."
Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. Revelation 1:19 ESV
Mello also occurs in 3:10.
Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. Revelation 3:10 ESV
The verse should read "is about to come upon the whole world." If we apply the principle of audience relevance, what would the original readers have thought when they read this? John strategically places these words at the introduction and conclusion of the book. John was telling the seven churches to expect these things at any moment.
So, based upon these time statements and many others, we must understand that Yeshua taught that he was coming soon to those who lived in the first century. The book of Revelation ends with the same time statements that it began with.
And he said to me, "These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place." "And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book." Revelation 22:6-7 ESV
And he said to me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near." Revelation 22:10 ESV
"Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. Revelation 22:12 ESV
He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Yeshua! Revelation 22:20 ESV
Five times in the last 16 verses he tells the seven churches in Asia Minor that he is going to come very soon to them. The time statements bracket this book and cover everything in the book including "a great star" falling "from heaven, blazing like a torch" . . ."on a third of the rivers." This is the second coming, the judgment, and the resurrection. It was ALL to happen soon for the first-century audience. This book was written to the seven churches in Asia minor in the first century. It is bracketed by seven time statements (seven is the number of perfection, fullness, and completion). How do people ignore all this and look for the fulfillment of Revelation in our future?
As we read the Bible, we must keep in mind the hermeneutical principle of audience relevance. We must understand that the Bible is written "for" us, but it is not written "to" us. We must seek to understand what Scripture meant to its original audience, then we can apply it to ourselves. As you look at scripture, ask yourself these questions: Whom is this written to? When was it written? When did they expect Christ to return?
Almost every commentary agrees that Revelation 1:7 is the theme of the Book of Revelation.
Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. Revelation 1:7 ESV
The Scriptures give us a number of images of Yahweh. One that we see over and over is the imagery of God riding on the clouds. That probably stirs up various images to us. When you hear the term "cloud rider," what comes to mind? Do you think of Yahweh surfing a white puffy cumulus cloud? When you think of Yahweh's riding a cloud, I want you to think of it as a black storm cloud (the Cumulonimbus). I want you to think of a black, stormy sky—the kind that scares you. Clouds are often associated with strong storms, particularly thunderstorms and hurricanes. We can perceive them as signs of God's power.
What's important to understand here is that this imagery used of God as the rider of the clouds is a way of showing his superiority. Yahweh's riding on a cloud is symbolic of his sovereignty. Cloud-comings speak of when Yahweh came in judgment.
He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters; he makes the clouds his chariot; he rides on the wings of the wind; Psalms 104:3 ESV
An oracle concerning Egypt. Behold, the LORD is riding on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt; and the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence, and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them. Isaiah 19:1 ESV
We know from chapter 20 that God used the Assyrians as instruments of His wrath on Egypt, yet it says "The LORD is riding on a swift cloud…, Egypt will tremble at His presence." God came to Egypt. Did He physically come to Egypt? No, how did He "come" to Egypt? He came in judgment. His presence was made known in judgment. But it was the Assyrians who were literally present.
Notice what Yeshua said to Caiaphas.
But Yeshua remained silent. And the high priest said to him, "I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God." Yeshua said to him, "You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven." Then the high priest tore his robes and said, "He has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy. Matthew 26:63-65 ESV
What did Yeshua say that was blasphemous? When Yeshua said he would come on the clouds, He was using the apocalyptic language of the prophets to identify himself as the Messiah, the Judge. Caiaphas reacted the way he did because he knew that only God came on clouds and, therefore, Yeshua was making a claim to deity. He knew that Yeshua was claiming to be the Messiah of Daniel 7.
Christ's coming spoken of in Revelation 1:7 is a judgment coming, which focuses upon first-century Israel.
Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. Revelation 1:7 ESV
He is coming upon "those who pierced Him." That refers to Israel. As a consequence of His coming in judgment, "all the tribes of the earth [or land] will wail on account of him." Earth is translated from the Greek word ghay, and it means "soil, country, earth, ground, land, world." "The tribes of the land" is a familiar designation for Israel. The Jews crucified Yeshua, and they were punished for it.
So, the book of Revelation was written to the seven churches in the first century telling them of Jerusalem's soon destruction at Christ's second coming. The events in the book of Revelation were to happen soon. All of the cataclysmic events in the book were to happen in the first century. The book of Revelation is history! We don't need to fear any of its dreadful events because they are two thousand years in our past.
Mike ends this very unbiblical article with the following false teaching:
The bottom line? Get right with God, because all human beings are exterminated in a "cosmic reset" event where God wipes Earth clean of all human life and starts over. Your soul may be saved, but only if you are worthy in the eyes of God. And earning that ticket to Heaven has nothing to do with reading the Bible, attending church or singing hymns. It's about being a good person in the eyes of God.
What is your response to that? Mike says, "we have to earn our ticked to heaven by being a good person." This is at odds with the teaching of Christ.
And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" And Yeshua said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. Mark 10:17-18 ESV
Yeshua's question is "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone." Why did Yeshua ask him this? The issue is goodness. In the definitive sense of that word, He could not be "good" if He was a mere man. The Tanakh taught that no one was good except God.
The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good. The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one. Psalm 14:1-3 ESV
No one can earn his way to heaven because no one is good.
So, how does a person get eternal life?
Now Yeshua did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Yeshua is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. John 20:30-31 ESV
"So that you may believe … and that by believing you may have life in his name." What must we do to receive eternal life? We have to believe. "And that by believing"—in the Greek this is kai hina pisteuo, a hina purpose clause (in order that by believing you may have life). The goal of John's' writing these truths about Yeshua is so that we may personally believe in Him unto eternal life. If we miss that, we miss everything! We must believe.
The gospel is the good news that "Christ died for our sins." Believing the gospel is trusting in the substitutionary death and payment of Christ for our sins.
C.H. Spurgeon described the gospel this way:
The gospel is that Jesus Christ suffered in the place of all sinners who trust Him as their Saviour; that He endured what they ought to have endured and made atonement to God for all the sins that they would ever commit; and if you thus trust Him, you are saved. The simple act of relying upon Jesus as your Substitute and Saviour puts away your guilt and sin forever. [Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol. 53, Sermon "Rule of Grace," pp 500-502, Pilgrim Publications, Pasadena TX]
In order to be saved, people must realize that they are sinners without hope. Second, they must recognize that they can do nothing at all to avoid the wages of their sin. Third, they must understand that Christ paid all the penalty for their sin through His atoning sacrifice, enduring what they should endure. Fourth, sinners must trust Yeshua and Yeshua alone as the Substitute for their sins.
One year, when I was speaking at youth camp, during a question-and-answer time, I asked the teens, "How is a person saved?" I got all kinds of crazy answers. We finally nailed it down to faith. I asked them, "So is it just faith?" One teen said, "NO, you have to read your Bible." I said, "So, we are saved by faith plus reading our Bibles." They said, "That's right." So I asked them, "How much do I have to read my Bible?" They said, "You just need to read it." I said, "If we are talking about being saved, and to do so I have to read my Bible, I better know how much I need to read it." They got my point and decided that it was faith alone that brings salvation.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV
So, we are saved by grace "…through faith…"—when he says "though faith," he's talking about the instrumentality of our salvation. The biblical ordo salutis (order of salvation) is that Yahweh, in His grace, first gives us life, we then hear and respond to the Gospel by faith and are saved. We believe; that is our response. God doesn't believe—we believe. But that response is something created in us by God. By grace are ye saved through the instrumentality of faith. Faith is to understand and assent to the propositions of the Gospel. Let me just add here that a person must hear the Gospel before he can understand and assent to it. One cannot believe what he doesn't know. Faith is belief or trust in Christ and in Christ alone for our salvation.
Bereans, the Health Ranger is a false teacher, and many of his followers will buy what he is saying, causing them to live their lives in fear. Truth matters! When we know the truth, we can spot error. Having a correct eschatology will save us from the constant fear that the prophecy pundits are pushing.
This article from the Health Ranger can be found at:
https://www.naturalnews.com/2025-04-20-biblical-truth-god-cosmic-reset-impacts-seven-trumpets.html