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Author
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: Bill Kochman
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Publish
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: Oct. 13, 2025
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Update
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: Oct. 13, 2025
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Parts
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: 01
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Synopsis:
Definition Of Futurism, My Personal Introduction To Futurism, My Awakening From Futurism, Faulty And Correct Interpretation Of Daniel 8 Prophecy, Alexander The Great And Four Generals, Ram And He Goat Symbolism, Macedonia And Medo-Persia, Daniel 2 Imagery, Bible Prophecy Is Confirmed By The Historical Record, My View Regarding Doctrinal Debates, Futurism Distorts Meaning Of Bible Prophecy, Fruits Of Futurism: Deception Confusion And Misguided Expectations, Major Disappointment Of 2025 Feast Of Trumpets False Predictions, Misguided Date Setters And False Dreams Visions And Prophecies, Difficulty Of Persuading Some Christians To Abandon Futurism, My Decades-Long Endeavors To Enlighten People, Years Of False Predictions Concerning Feast Of Trumpets, Mr. Scott McAllister And Seven Theory Ministries, Sincere But Sincerely Deceived, Humility And Honesty To Admit Your Error, Wake Up From Futurism's Deception, Accept God's Word For What It Says Instead Of Filtering Everything Through Futurist Lens, Closing Remarks, BBB Suggested Reading List
If you have read Bill's Bible Basics articles such as "Fight Against Futurism!", "It Is Time to Wake Up!" and "The Day I Am Waiting For" -- and maybe even if you have not done so yet -- then you will know that Futurism pertains to the modern doctrine and practice of taking what I am personally convinced are ancient, already-fulfilled Bible prophecies, and then applying them to our modern times, as if they have not been fulfilled yet. It is now a very widespread doctrine which has been embraced by literally millions of Christian Believers. It is heard and taught everywhere, both in the established church system, and online as well.
As I explain in my seven-part series entitled "Jesus Christ's Return: Have We Been Deceived?", I was first introduced to Futurism as a teenage Christian almost fifty-four years ago. Not having a firm foundation in God's Word at the time, I not only eagerly embraced Futurism, but for the next forty years or so, I likewise enthusiastically taught its various tenets to others as well. The reason why I am sharing this portion of my personal life with you, is so that if you are still a Futurist-leaning Christian yourself, you will know that I do understand where you are coming from, and I know the sequence of prophetic events which you are expecting to occur in the near future.
In short, for four decades, I had much the same expectations as many of you still have today. However, as I mention in the aforementioned series, around 2011-2012, the Lord really began to speak to my heart regarding certain Bible verses which quite simply contradicted my Futurist leanings. Thus, being troubled by this for a number of years, I embarked on a very serious, personal study and in-depth re-examination of the Scriptures, in order to ascertain if I had fallen into doctrinal error for all those years. It was after I concluded my study when I wrote the series "Jesus Christ's Return: Have We Been Deceived?". If you are interested in learning about the results of my research, I encourage you to read the series. Trust me; it is quite a meaty affair.
Now, the reason why I am writing this current article, is because over the past few days, I have been encountering a few posts in my news feed from some of my friends, where they are strongly promoting the Futurist point of view. Granted, there are actually many Christians on the social networks who currently promote the Futurist perspective. However, the following Futurist interpretation is the one I have seen the past few days in my news feed, which is why I have chosen to comment on it. In addition to the Prophet Daniel's "Seventy Weeks" prophecy which is found in Daniel 9:25-27, the verses in question are the following:
"Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became great. And as I was considering, behold, an he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power. And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns: and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand. Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven."
Daniel 8:3-8, KJV
Contrary to the Futurist-leaning interpretation of the previous verses which is being promoted by my friends, who claim that these verses describe political and military events which will transpire in the near future, as I have stated before, not only do I believe otherwise, but I am also quite convinced that their interpretation is a false interpretation of these Daniel prophecies. Now, I am not going to actually get into the specifics regarding how my friends interpret the previous verses, because not only am I convinced that they are dead wrong, but also because I simply do not wish to confuse or mislead you by sharing their misguided interpretation.
Thus, instead, I am now going to share with you what I am strongly convinced is the proper and accurate interpretation of the aforementioned Bible verses. So in actuality, these verses which are found in Daniel chapter 8 represent ancient history and already-fulfilled prophecy. They have NOTHING to do with our current time, or with the near future. Neither do they have anything to do with any kind of precursory events which lead to the rise of some kind of modern-day Antichrist figure who invades Israel, as so many deceived Christians now erroneously believe. Allow me to explain this to you in more detail.
It may interest you to know that prior to the invasion by the popular and erroneous doctrine known as Futurism, many Bible scholars and teachers recognized, agreed and taught that in perfect agreement with the historical record, the he goat in the previous Bible verses represents Greece, or Macedonia. Furthermore, the notable horn mentioned by Daniel represents famous Macedonian leader, Alexander the Great. Furthermore, following Alexander's death at a young age, his four generals -- Ptolemy, Antigonus, Cassander, and Seleucus, who are the four horns who are mentioned in Daniel's prophecy -- divided up the Grecian empire amongst themselves into four distinct regions. That is to say, the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, the Seleucid Empire in the east, the Kingdom of Pergamon in Asia Minor, and Macedon, which is also known as Macedonia. My dear friends, this is historical fact which you can very easily verify for yourselves if you take a little initiative.
Furthermore, the ram with two horns which the Prophet Daniel describes as pushing westward, northward and southward, also represents the dual empire of Medo-Persia, which as its name implies, was comprised of the Medes and the Persians. Now, in case you are wondering, the reason why Daniel's prophecy says that one horn was higher and came up last, is because again in agreement with the historical record, the Persians rose to power after the Medes. In fact, they were stronger and more powerful than the Medes. Thus, it was against this ram that Alexander the Macedonian -- or Alexander the Great -- fought, and likewise subdued.
What you may find interesting is the fact that all of these historical events align perfectly with the symbolism of the great image which Nebuchadnezzar saw in a night vision in Daniel chapter two. In that vision, the Medo-Persian empire was represented by the breast and arms which were made of silver -- please notice two arms representing the Medes and the Persians -- while the Grecian empire was represented by the belly and thighs of brass. Let me also inform you that in our modern day, the Persians pertain to the Iranians. As some of my older readers will know, the former name of Iran was in fact Persia. Regarding the Medes, it is believed that their modern descendants pertain to the Kurds.
My friends, I truly hope that you can see how these Biblical prophecies in Daniel, and the actual historical record, fit wonderfully together like a hand in a glove. That is why I have repeatedly states in my Bible prophecy related articles that in order to properly understand and correctly interpret these ancient Bible prophecies, you really do need to possess at the very least, a basic understanding and knowledge of the ancient historical record. Without it, you will be much more prone to misinterpret what has been written, and go off on a tangent. So to reiterate this point, contrary to what some of my online Christian friends believe, the Daniel prophecies do not have anything to do with our current times.
Now, you can stubbornly resist and argue against what I have stated here if you like. However, if you are determined to do that, then please have the courtesy to do it on your own social network pages, and not on mine. As I have shared on previous occasions, my social network pages are not forums for doctrinal debates. I simply don't engage in such futile exercises. If you want to understand why I have adopted this position, then consider reading my two-part article called "Should Christians Engage In Doctrinal Debates?". You can likewise choose to agree with with the modern, misguided Bible teachers who populate the social networks if you like. However, I'm personally convinced that I have presented you with the Biblical and historical truth. That is all that I really care about. That is to say, telling you the truth.
Let me mention here that I have only shared a few verses with you from the Prophet Daniel's amazing prophecies. Just imagine how much more the modern, misguided Bible teachers have misinterpreted the rest of Daniel's prophecies. That is the problem and danger with Futurism. It twists, perverts and distorts so many prophetic passages which are found in the Scriptures, leaving so many modern Christians deceived and confused. Regarding Daniel's prophecies, you may also be interested in reading my thirteen-part series entitled "Seventy Weeks Prophecy: What It Means", as well as a much shorter article called "The 70th Week of Daniel Error: Are You Guilty?". You will find both of these listed at the end of this same article with clickable links.
Aside from leaving modern Christians terribly deceived and confused, another problem with the Futurist interpretation of Bible prophecy is that it also causes them to fall into the error of having false, misguided expectations. In fact, this is precisely what just recently happened. As I write this current article, it hasn't been even three weeks since the 2025 Feast of Trumpets was celebrated by the Jews, and by many Israel-supporting Christians as well.
Sadly, as seems to happen every year, the misguided online date setters were out in full force. In the days leading up to the actual Feast of Trumpets, I encountered so many posts on Facebook where Facebook users assured their friends that this was truly and finally the day that so many Christians had anxiously been waiting for, some for their entire lives! Jesus was going to return to the Earth during the Feast of Trumpets, and rapture His glorious Church to Heaven, before all hell breaks out on the Earth in the form of the Great Tribulation. So if you were one who hadn't yet accepted the Lord, now was the time to do it, because time was growing short!
So how deep was the deception this time around? Well, sadly, some of these misguided Christians insisted that they had been given visions and vivid dreams concerning Jesus' soon return. Others erroneously claimed that the Lord had spoken to them clearly and told them that He would return during the upcoming Feast of Trumpets 2025. I read these posts for myself on Facebook in the month leading up to the feast.
As for me, I just shook my head in dismay, knowing full well that these deceived Christians were headed for a very major disappointment. I didn't even try to refute their personal posts, because not only did I realize that it would be to no avail, but I just didn't wish to start a series of doctrinal fires everywhere which I didn't have time to extinguish. The truth is that I keep very busy with the Bill's Bible Basics ministry as is, and I don't have the time, energy or interest in engaging in verbal doctrinal combat with other Christians who possess absolutely no interest in hearing or accepting the Scriptural truth. Futurism has them so deceived, that it is next-to-impossible to get through to them. I know this for a fact, because I was just like them for some forty years of my life until the Lord woke me up to the truth.
My friends, I will no doubt sound like a broken record to some of you, because the truth of the matter is that I have been warning about this kind of foolishness, date setting, and Jesus-is-coming-at-any-moment nonsense for many years now. In fact, I have been doing it for literally decades. Yet despite my best efforts to set you straight doctrinally speaking, once again in 2025, some of you naive, gullible people just kept on blindly believing in the words of the liars, deceivers and false prophets who erroneously claimed that God spoke to them, or gave them a vision, a dream, or a prophecy, in which He supposedly told them that Jesus would come back during the Feast of Trumpets 2025. Now what do you have to say for yourselves? Are you ready to listen to reason yet?
As I briefly mentioned earlier, sadly, and to our own shame, some of these misguided Christians have been promoting this very same lie regarding the Feast of Trumps for many years now. As I already explained to you, as the feast day begins to approach, they start tooting their false horns with their false, deceptive pronouncements. In fact, after watching a YouTube video back in 2011 in which a fellow named Scott McAllister and the "Seven Theory Ministries" were promoting this same deceptive nonsense, I wrote a five-part series -- which I finally published in September of 2013 -- entitled "Comet Elenin, Hercolubus, Nibiru, and Planet X". You will find it listed at the end of this same article.
But the point is that just like so many people before him, and so many others who have come after him, this McAllister fellow was totally convinced that God had clearly revealed to him that Jesus would return during the Feast of Trumpets, as Comet Elenin passed through the constellation of Virgo in 2011. Scott was fully convinced that this was a fulfillment of the woman who is mentioned in Revelation chapter 12.
I watched the video. In it, Mr. McAllister stood in front of his congregation and emphatically told them that what he was going to share with them that day was in his opinion the most profound revelation that God had ever given to him. And then he gave his presentation with diagrams and such, trying to convince his listeners that what he was sharing was truly of the Lord. Well, tragically, we know how that went. Contrary to Scott McAllister’s expectations, Jesus did NOT return in 2011 during the Feast of Trumpets, and McAllister was exposed as a false teacher and a false prophet in that regard.
So tell me. Does that event sound familiar to you? It should, because as I have already explained to you, these deceivers in 2025 were doing the same thing as the Feast of Trumpets approached this past month. I imagine that some of you came across some of their foolish and misguided posts, because as I mentioned previously, they were spreading their deception all over Facebook and getting some Christians excited over nothing. What a terrible letdown it must have been for them when absolutely nothing happened, and Jesus did not appear in the clouds of heaven as they had been expecting Him to do.
So allow me to now directly address those of you who were responsible for propagating this false information. Look, my friends, I know that many of you were sincerely convinced that God had spoken to you, or that He had given you a dream, vision or prophecy regarding the rapture and Christ’s return. I understand your desire to see Jesus return in the clouds of heaven during your lifetime. In fact, some time ago I wrote an article called "Forget the Express Train!" which you may want to read. Others of you claimed that the signs were all around us, and that there was clear, indisputable proof that Jesus would be returning during the Feast of Trumpets 2025, and that the long-anticipated rapture would soon occur. So while I recognize your sincerity, I also recognize that you were sincerely deceived as well.
I am truly sorry if it offends some of you, but regardless of whether or not you are now honest enough and humble enough to accept it, the indisputable fact of the matter is that God most certainly did NOT speak to you or show you those things which you promoted to your online friends. They were either invented by your own mind, or else you were listening to a lying spirit and simply did not realize it. Do you at least have the honesty to admit this to yourself and to the Lord? And if you have caused others to fall into doctrinal error, resulting in their own disappointment when Jesus did not return, do you have the humility to admit it to them too, and to ask them for their forgiveness for having led them astray?
Now whatever the case may be, and regardless of what you are willing and able to do in order to correct the situation with your friends, you really need to snap out of it, and wake up from that devilish deception which is known as Futurism. You need to honestly recognize how much the tenets of Futurism have clouded your personal understanding, particularly when it concerns the issue of Bible prophecy. You need to desist in filtering everything you read through the deceptive lens of Futurism.
In other words, my friends, instead of trying to force the Scriptures to fit your Futurist interpretation, you need to accept them for exactly what they say. If that means altering your own views, then so be it! In fact, that is exactly the issue which I amply discuss in BBB articles such as "Are You Flexible?", "My Evolving Theology", "Understanding the Bible in Context" and "Humility In Our Understanding of God's Word". You will find all of these articles listed at the end of this same article. Simply put, you need to study the Scriptures more carefully and more prayerfully, because it is obvious that you did not properly understand them, despite what you thought at the time.
In conclusion, you need to understand the serious damage that the doctrines of Futurism have done to your faith. Whether we are discussing the proper interpretation of Daniel 8 and the other Daniel prophecies, or the Book of Revelation, or maybe the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 and other related chapters, you will never properly understand them as long as you insist on clinging to the misguided, deceptive interpretations which are promoted by Futurist theology. You need to break free from it all. Are you willing to do so? The ball is in your court. I have done my part to once again try to wake you up.
With these thoughts, I will bring this article to a close. It is my hope that you've found it informative and enlightening, and I pray that it has been a blessing in your life as well. If you have an account with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or with any other social network, I would really appreciate if you'd take the time to click or tap on the corresponding link that is found on this page. Thanks so much, and may God bless you abundantly!
For additional information and further study, you may want to refer to the list of reading resources below which were either mentioned in this article, or which contain topics which are related to this article. All of these articles are likewise located on the Bill's Bible Basics web server. To read these articles, simply click or tap on any link you see below.
Abomination of Desolation: Explained!
Are You Flexible?
Comet Elenin, Hercolubus, Nibiru, and Planet X
Facebook False Prophets and Misguided Teachers
Fight Against Futurism!
Forget the Express Train!
He That Shall Endure Unto the End
Humility in Our Understanding of God's Word
In the Ages to Come
It Is Time to Wake Up!
Jesus Christ's Return: Have We Been Deceived?
Modern Deception: Shall a Nation Be Born at Once?
Modern Deceptions: Return to Israel, the Fig Tree and This Generation
My Evolving Theology
Please Stop Misinterpreting the Scriptures
Prophetic Comparisons: Mashiach, Mahdi and Messiah
Seventy Weeks Prophecy: What It Means
Should Christians Engage in Doctrinal Debates?
The 70th Week of Daniel Error: Are You Guilty?
The Day I Am Waiting For
The Day of the Lord: What It Really Means
The Great Tribulation and the Rapture
The Last Seven Years Chart
The Triumphant Touchdown of Jesus Christ
The Two Sackcloth Witnesses of Revelation 11
The Woman in the Wilderness and the 144,000
Tradition or Truth? Old Wine or New Wine?
Understanding the Bible in Context
When Was Satan Cast Out of Heaven?
Who Hindered the Antichrist?
Who is Babylon the Great?
Who is Mashiach ben David?
Who is Who?: Defining Important Prophecy Terms