Be Careful About the Writer You Read!
Charles Cooper
At the risk of offending some people, I want to express what’s on my heart – because I believe it’s essentially true and needs to be shared. One of the beautiful things about the PreWrath position in my estimation is the ease with which the average lay person can comprehend the scriptural foundation that supports it. This feature makes it very easy for a person to teach and defend it. One does not have to be a seminary professor to be able to do this. It is, therefore, unlike the pretrib position, for which even seminary professors have a difficult time developing their own biblical presentation. The same set of teaching notes from Dallas Theological Seminary forms the basis for countless thousands of Bible colleges, churches and Bible experts trying to teach the position. Very little original work exists these days. I challenge anyone to prove me wrong in this regard.
The PreWrath position allows the average lay person to teach the material that he or she can very easily develop on his or her own. Once a person utilizes the normal, natural, customary sense of the text, that is, a face value method of approaching the Scriptures, the timing of the Lord’s return is more easily understood in my opinion.
Some lay people will be emboldened by this fact, as is evident by the rising number of new books being published. Almost daily a new book defending or arguing some fine point about the PreWrath position hits the market. Much of this is made possible by the evolution in self-publishing. With eBooks, self-publishing, and cheap printing, anyone can publish a book these days. Therefore, a word to the wise: be very careful about what you read and knowledgeable regarding its author.
As with any book, before I buy and read it, I look at the author. What are his credentials? While one does not have to be an authority on a subject, he should certainly have the skills necessary to make his case. In my opinion, making one’s case does not mean having the ability to use a few Bible study tools. Strong’s Concordance, Vine’s dictionary, and a couple of study Bibles are insufficient to establish the precise meaning of a passage of Scripture. If one is reading devotionally, he or she can gain insights about a verse through the aforementioned tools. However, if one is attempting to discover the precise meaning of a difficult passage, those Bible helps are basic at best and will only provide possible alternatives for the correct usage of terms in the text. However, only a grammatical, historical, contextual, and theological evaluation of a passage can insure that the correct interpretation is found.
I was told as a young child that practice makes perfect. I believed that statement for most of my life, until recently, when I met a professional baseball player. He told me that practicing correctly makes perfect. In other words, it does not matter how long one practices. If he is practicing incorrectly, he will never get it right. Just because a person studies Scripture for a lifetime does not automatically mean that the insights he or she gains are true. Many good Armenians prove that point every day.
Watch what you read, but also be informed about the author who wrote it.
