David Reagan - Whats the Difference in a Millennium and a Millipede?: Understanding End Time Viewpoints

Whats the Difference in a Millennium and a Millipede?

Dr. David R. Reagan

Dedicated to

Linda Reagan

my wife, my dearest friend and my encourager who shares

my desire for the soon return of Jesus.

First edition, 2022

Copyright 2022 by Lamb & Lion Ministries ISBN: 978-0-945593-36-2

Library of Congress Control Number: 9780945593362

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. Nor may any part of this book be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or copied by

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Lamb & Lion Ministries

P.O. Box 919 McKinney, Texas 75070

www.lamblion.com

Cover design by Todd Hampson.

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the New American Standard Version, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation.

Scripture references labeled LBP are from TheLivingBible Paraphrased 1971 by Tyndale House Publishers.

Scripture quotations labeled NLT are from TheNewLiving Translation 2015 by Tyndale House Publishers.

Printed in the United States of America.

BooksbyDr.DavidR. Reagan

The Christ in Prophecy Study Guide (McKinney, TX: Lamb & Lion Ministries, 1987). Second edition in 2001.

Trusting God: Learning to Walk by Faith (Lafayette, LA: Huntington House, 1987). Second edition in 1994. Third edition in 2015.

Jesus is Coming Again! (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 1992).

The Master Plan: Making Sense of the Controversies Surrounding Bible Prophecy Today (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 1993).

Living for Christ in the End Times (Green Forest, AR: New Leaf Press, 2000). Second edition in 2015.

Wrath and Glory: Unveiling the Majestic Book of Revelation (Green Forest, AR: New Leaf Press, 2001). Second edition in 2016.

America the Beautiful? The United States in Bible Prophecy (McKinney, TX: Lamb & Lion Ministries, 2003). Second edition in 2006; third, 2009.

Gods Plan for the Ages: The Blueprint of Bible Prophecy (McKinney, TX: Lamb & Lion Ministries, 2005). Second edition in 2020.

Eternity: Heaven or Hell? (McKinney, TX: Lamb & Lion Ministries, 2010).

Jesus: The Lamb and The Lion (McKinney, TX: Lamb & Lion Minis- tries, 2011).

The Man of Lawlessness: The Antichrist in the Tribulation (McKinney, TX: Lamb & Lion Ministries, 2012).

A Prophetic Manifesto (McKinney, TX: Lamb & Lion Ministries, 2012).

Living on Borrowed Time: the Imminent Return of Jesus (McKinney, TX: Lamb & Lion Ministries, 2013).

The Jewish People: Rejected or Beloved? (McKinney, TX: Lamb & Lion Ministries, 2014).

Israel in Bible Prophecy: Past, Present & Future (McKinney, TX: Lamb & Lion Ministries, 2017).

The Basics of Bible Prophecy (McKinney, TX: Lamb & Lion Ministries, 2018). Written together with Darryl Nunnelley.

The Rapture: Fact or Fiction? (McKinney, TX: Lamb & Lion Ministries, 2019).

Americas Suicide (McKinney, TX: Lamb & Lion Ministries, 2020).

The title of this book comes from experiences I have had in discussing end-time Bible prophecy with many people over the past 40 years. Often, the person I was talking to (usually someone who wanted to argue with me) would exhibit so much ignorance of Bible prophecy that I would be tempted to ask them, Do you know the difference in a Millennium and a Millipede? I never did so, but I was often tempted to do so.

The ignorance about end-time Bible prophecy among people in the church pews of America is abysmal, but it is not entirely their fault. The major source of the problem is the fact that Bible prophecy is ignored in the teaching and preaching programs of most churches.

There are a variety of reasons why Bible prophecy is overlooked by most pastors today.

1) Seminaries The key reason is that the study of prophecy is not included in most seminaries. Thus, most pastors have never been introduced to it as a legitimate area of Bible study, and they, therefore, know little or nothing about it.

Why do seminaries avoid it? The liberal ones (the majority) pay no attention to it because they deny the inspiration and inerrancy of the Scriptures. They openly scoff at prophecy, claiming it is just poetic expression of wishful thinking and should never be understood for its plain sense meaning.

2) Abuse Another reason seminaries and pastors avoid prophecy is because it has been so terribly abused by those who truly believe in it. Consequently, prophecy is often viewed as a playground for fanatics who are intent on identifying the Antichrist or setting a date for the return of Jesus. The negative reaction to this abuse is certainly understand- able, but those who ignore prophecy for this reason do not understand that prophecy can also be green pastures for disciples, giving them understanding of current events and a vibrant hope for the future.

3) Irrelevant A third reason pastors ignore Bible prophecy is that they consider it to be irrelevant to current Christian living. Over and over, I have had pastors say to me, I dont have time to study or preach something like prophecy when I have so many day-to-day problems in my congregation that I must deal with. And so, they treat Bible prophecy as pie-in-the-sky with no contemporary relevance.

My response to this attitude is to point out that if they can ever convince their congregation of two prophetic facts, their peoples lives will be transformed. Those facts are: 1) Jesus is coming back, and 2) The signs of the times indicate that His return could occur any moment. People convinced of those two facts will commit themselves to holy living and evangelism. What more could a pastor hope for?

4) Divisive A fourth reason pastors avoid Bible prophecy is due to a fear that teaching or preaching it will prove to be divisive. This fear is rooted in the fact that there are so many different views about the meaning of end-time prophecy. Also, Bible prophecy can definitely be divisive if is taught dogmatically.

5) Complexity Another reason prophecy is often ignored is because it appears to be so complex. It has a very specialized vocabulary that often frightens people away from studying it. The average Christian frequently assumes that you have to have a seminary degree in systematic theology to understand it. The bottom line is that mastering Bible prophecy takes time and a five letter word we often want to shun: STUDY.

The tragic result of all this ignorance of Bible prophecy is that even though we are definitely living in the season of the Lords return, the people in the pews are not being alerted to that fact. Additionally, they are being given little under- standing of the chaotic times in which we are living,

Christians need to know that for the first time in history, ALL the signs of the time have converged, clearly pointing to the fact that we are living on borrowed time. This means they need to get their lives lined up with Gods Word and start sharing the Gospel with as many family members, friends and co-workers as they possibly can.

Christians also need to know that the growing immorality and anarchy they are witnessing in America and worldwide is clearly prophesied as one of the characteristics of the end- times, pointing to the Lords imminent return. Instead, the chaos is causing many Christians to question whether or not God is for real. After all, if He is, then why isnt He doing something about the evil that is expanding exponentially in both scope and depth? Bible prophecy answers these ques tions.