Hank Hanegraaff - The Apocalypse Code: Find Out What the Bible REALLY Says About the End Times... and Why It Matters Today

This book is a withering and unrelenting critique of the positions of apocalyptic enthusiasts such as Tim LaHaye and Hal Lindsey. Hanegraaff not only demonstrates the tenuousness of their views on the rapture, tribulation, Israel, even Armageddon, but he shows us the hidden anti-Semitism at the heart of early dispensationalism. Every fan of LaHayes Left Behind series or Lindseys Apocalypse Code owes it to himself to read this book. The fog will clear and common sense will return to our reading of the Bible.

GARY M. BURGE,
Professor of New Testament,
Wheaton College & Graduate School

This is a very readable and well-argued book which deserves the widest possible circulation. With all that is unfolding in the Middle East at the present time, the stakes could hardly be higher, and what Christians believe about the interpretation of the book of Revelation has profound implications for the peace of that region and the world. The people who dont want to read this book are probably the people who need to read it most!

COLIN CHAPMAN,
Former lecturer, Near East School of
Theology, Beirut, and Author of Whose
Promised Land?

The study of the history of prophetic speculation will demonstrate to any careful reader that accuracy takes a back seat to sensationalism when it comes to matching the Bibles prophetic passages to current events. Hank Hanegraaffs The Apocalypse Code outlines a sound interpretive methodology that all Christians can follow and apply so they wont ever be fooled by anyone who claims to know whats on the prophetic horizon.

GARY DEMAR,
President of American Vision
and author of Last Days Madness
and Is Jesus Coming Soon?

The Apocalypse Code is at once a manual on responsible hermeneutics and also a cogent refutation of the bizarre system of end-times speculation that has become the benchmark of orthodoxy in the minds of many evangelicals. Thus Hank Hanegraaff has given the body of Christ two valuable books in oneboth greatly needed in this age of biblical illiteracy and eschatological naivet.

STEVE GREGG,
Host of The Narrow Path radio
broadcast and Author of Revelation:
Four Views: A Parallel Commentary

Provocative and passionate, this fascinating book is a must-read for everyone whos interested in end-times controversies.

LEE STROBEL,
Author of The Case for the Real Jesus

Throughout the history of the Christian church, wrongheaded teachings have appeared that temporarily attracted a large following, only to become fading fads once the light of proper biblical interpretation illuminated their error. A current example is the dispensational, pretribulational-rapture theology promoted by such prophecy pundits as Hal Lindsey, Tim LaHaye, John Walvoord, Thomas Ice, John Hagee, and others. For years now, Ive been wondering what might convince such prophecy specialists to recognize that the eschatology they are foisting on the world is simply embarrassing to the church, and so prompt them to back out of their dispensational cul-de-sac. Hank Hanegraaffs The Apocalypse Code may well be the answer. In brilliant fashion, the Bible Answer Man not only dismantles the fantastic claims made by these errorists, but supplies a healthy corrective by presenting proper methods of biblical interpretation that resonate so handsomely with what the church has always taught through the ages. I cannot recommend this book highly enough!

PAUL L. MAIER,
Professor of Ancient History, Western
Michigan University, and coauthor of
The Da Vinci Code: Fact or Fiction?

The Apocalypse Code is that rare combination of theologically complex discussion and practical, concise exposition that provides even novice readers of prophetic scripture with the sound biblical principles that reveal the plan of redemption and kingdom fulfillment in the fullness of Gods glory. Without sacrificing crucial scriptural teaching for simplistic imagining, Hanegraaff has brought the excitement of historical, apocalyptic theology into the twenty-first-century church. Readers will especially appreciate his willingness to engage popularbut misguidedspeculations about the last days with firm but fair criticism.

GRETCHEN PASSANTINO,
Cofounder & Director, Answers In Action

Hank Hanegraaff has done it again. What his Christianity in Crisis did for charismania, The Apocalypse Code will do for armaggedonites. Hank exposes how dangerous and destructive faulty exegesis really isinviting not only bad theology but dangerous politicsand, in this very readable book, shows us all, from the young believer to the scholar, how to handle Scripture accurately and reverently and not to be afraid of the apocalyptic Scriptures.

STEPHEN SIZER,
Vicar of Christ Church, Virginia Water,
Chairman of the International Bible
Society UK, and Author of Christian
Zionism: Roadmap or Armageddon?

THE APOCALYPSE CODE

OTHER BOOKS BY HANK HANEGRAAFF

Nonfiction

The Legacy Study Bible

The Bible Answer Book, Volume 2

Seven Questions of a Promise Keeper

The DaVinci Code: Fact or Fiction?

The Bible Answer Book, Volume 1

The Covering

The Prayer of Jesus

Fatal Flaws: What Evolutionists Dont Want You to Know

The Third Day

The Millennium Bug Debugged

Resurrection

The Face That Demonstrates the Farce of Evolution

Counterfeit Revival

Christianity in Crisis

Fiction

Fuse of Armageddon

The Last Sacrifice

The Last Disciple

THE APOCALYPSE CODE

Copyright 2007 Hank Hanegraaff

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version (NIV). Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. Italics added to NIV quotations indicate the authors emphasis.

Other Scripture references are from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV).

Editorial Staff: Greg Daniel, acquisition editor; Thom Chittom, managing editor
Cover Design: John Hamilton

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hanegraaff, Hank.

The apocalypse code : find out what the Bible really says about the end times... and why it matters today / Hank Hanegraaff.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8499-0184-3 (hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-8499-0184-7 (hardcover)
1. EschatologyBiblical teaching. I. Title.
BS680.E8H36 2007
236'.9dc22

2007004633

Printed in the United States of America

07 08 09 10 11 QW 5 4 3 2 1

To Brian and Kay Mulvaney
with deep appreciation for your friendship and faithfulness.

The Apocalypse Code

Contents