Ted’s Response:

No, I have not read that entire book, but I did go ahead and take the time to read parts of it. I agree with some of his points. For instance, he had a good line of reasoning refuting the notion of a pre-tribulation rapture.

Also, he states that "Jesus Christ and the New Testament uphold every one of the Ten Commandments originally stated in Exodus 20," that "Jesus Christ stood up for the Big Ten and rebuked others for breaking them," and that "the Ten Commandments are unchangeable." I agree with all of that. Furthermore, as one of the Ten Commandments, Wohlberg includes keeping the Sabbath holy. He believes that the seventh day (not the first day) of the week is the Sabbath, as originally written in Exodus 20:8-11, and I absolutely agree with that.

Wohlberg and some others (mainly, some historists and preterists) believe that the one confirming a covenant in Daniel 9:27 was Jesus, not the future Antichrist. The belief is that when Jesus was sacrificed after 3½ years of ministry, He was the one to "cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease." I disagree, and I have written email responses addressing this notion here:

• How do you know that Daniel's 70 weeks did not end in 33 or 34 A.D.?
• The seventy weeks prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27 already has happened, so how can you say it has anything to do with the end-of-the-age prophecies of Matthew 24?

He also believes that the "little horn" (Daniel 7:8) or Antichrist is the Catholic Papacy or Vatican. I understand this claim, which is described more in the Antichrist spirit section of my Beasts commentary.

However, I feel that the Antichrist, who has not yet been revealed, very likely will utilize Islam to gain control of the portion of the world over which he will have dominance. I also feel that focusing on the Catholic Church or Vatican as the endtime "beast" distracts people from what I believe is one of the primary threats to the world's stability and security today, and that is Islam.

Wohlberg makes the assumption that the ten horns of the fourth beast (Daniel 7:7) all apply to ten kingdoms that would arise in Western Europe after the demise of the Roman Empire. However, the Roman Empire or fourth kingdom—the two iron legs of Nebuchadnezzar's statue (Daniel 2:33,40)—had both a western portion and an eastern portion.

It would make more sense, then, that the ten kingdoms will come from both the western (first leg) and eastern (second leg) of what was the area encompassed by the Roman Empire. Most of the eastern leg is Islamic, and Islam also is having an increasing influence on the western leg through coercion, intimidation, and violence.

He acknowledges that the "time of the antichrist" is 3½ times (years), 42 months, and 1,260 days. The 3½ times is "time, times, and half a time" (Daniel 7:25; Revelation 12:14) and is 3½ years or 1,260 days, with which I agree. He even states that all of this is "simple mathematics," and he is right.

But, next, he equates the 1,260 days with 1,260 years. One reference he uses in an attempt to establish this is Ezekiel 4:6, where Ezekiel was told by God to lie on his right side for 40 days to bear the 40-year sin of Judah. However, this is translating years into days, not days into years, since obviously God could not expect Ezekiel to lie on his side for 40 years.

After making what I consider to be a very fragile conversion from days into years, Wohlberg says that the woman fleeing into the wilderness in Revelation 12:6 was "Christ's Church in the wilderness," being persecuted for 1,260 years by the Romish Church (that is, the Roman Catholic Church). However, the "woman" in Revelation 12:1,6 is not the Church; it is Israel, as described in the woman section of my Chronology of Revelation commentary.

Furthermore, the two witnesses will prophesy for the same 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth (Revelation 11:3). Wohlberg gives no explanation about these two witnesses, who are two men who could not possibly live for 1,260 years. The fact is, they will prophesy for 1,260 literal days, then be killed and dead for 3½ days, and then they will be resurrected and go up into heaven (Revelation 11:3,7-12).

The next thing that will happen is that the Seventh Trumpet will sound, Jesus will return to earth, the world will become His kingdom, and He will begin to reign (Revelation 11:15,17). I am convinced that all of this will be during the final 3½ literal years of this age, not during some alleged and arbitrary "1,260-year" period in past history.

Wohlberg seems to equate the Gog/Magog account of Ezekiel 38 & 39 with Revelation 20:8,9. On the contrary, I place Ezekiel 38 & 39 just prior to Jesus' return to earth, at the end of the 70th Week. Then the demonic spirit Gog will return once again, at the end of the Millennium, to possess a second man. My detailed explanations about this and related issues are included in my Final Battles commentary.

I also have written email responses pertaining to Gog and Magog, such as these two:

• When does the Gog/Magog battle, described in Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39, occur?
• Can you contrast the Winepress of Gog/Magog with the Battle of Armageddon?

• What do you think about the views of Seventh Day Adventists in general, but especially on prophecy and Revelation, and particularly on the period known as the Millennium?