Sorry, Jesus Is Not Coming
At Any Moment
Part 2

Click or Tap Icons to Share! Thank you!
Author : Bill Kochman
Publish : Nov. 5, 2007
Update : Jul. 8, 2025
Parts : 07

Synopsis:

Oslo Accords (Declaration Of Principles) And Holy Covenant, Seven-Year Holy Covenant False Doctrine, Temple Mount Beast Or Antichrist, False Prediction: Christ's Year 2,000 Return, Is 1948 Anchor Point Of Bible Prophecy?, Israel Established On May 14, 1948, President Harry Truman Acknowledges Israel, "Shabbos Goy", Iran Was Second Nation To Recognize Israel, Reza Shah Pahlavi And Iran/Persia Naming Controversy, Cyrus The Great, Ezra Zerubbabel Nehemiah And The Return To Israel, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi: The Shah Of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini And 1979 Iranian Revolution, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, 2025 Israel-Iran Twelve Day War And US Strikes, Tel Aviv Versus Jerusalem, Palestinians And Muslim And Arabs' Anti-Israel Stance, 1948 + 52 Years = 2000 Jesus Return False Doctrine, Y2K Glitch, My Own Rejection Of Year 2000 Doctrine, My Former Deception As A Futurist, Widespread Influences Of Futurism, Lie Upon Lie And Deception Upon Deception, The Lord Challenged My Views, The Importance Of Doctrinal Flexibility, Explore BBB Articles, Question Your Beliefs: Man's Opinion Or God's Word, My Approach To Teaching, Be Convinced In Your Own Mind, God's Has A Timetable, Temple Mount Christian Radicals, Double Destruction Of Jewish Temple, Foolishness Of Trying To Force God's Hand, Negative Consequences Of Perverting Meaning Of Scripture, Paul's Difficult Doctrines, Exposing The At Any Moment Folks, My Struggle To Escape False Doctrine, Powerful Influence Of Cultish Belief Systems, Some Cult Warning Signs


Continuing our discussion from part one, of course, in order to convince their gullible followers that their claims were indeed very true -- that is to say, that the Lord's Return was imminent -- these American false prophets had to provide Biblical proof to back up their claims. I remember that one of the arguments which was used by some of these men, was to tell their flocks that the Oslo Accords was the fulfillment of the prophecies regarding the seven-year Holy Covenant, which is discussed in various Books of the Bible, including Daniel, Revelation, 2 Thessalonians 2, and in the Gospels.

As some of my readers will recall, the Oslo Accords -- which were likewise referred to as the Declaration Of Principles -- were signed in Washington, D.C. on September 13, 1993 by Mahmoud Abbas, who represented the Palestinians -- and who is now the Palestinian president -- and by Shimon Peres, who represented the Israelis. Also present at the signing were PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, Israeli P.M. Yitzhak Rabin, U.S. President Bill Clinton, and other dignitaries.

For those of my readers who may possibly be too young to know about them, the goal of the Oslo Accords was to establish a framework for establishing peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. A secondary goal was to lead to a peace treaty between Israel and Jordan. The Accords -- that is to say, the Declaration of Principles -- outlined a two-stage process for resolving the final-status issues between the Israelis and the Palestinians. The issues included the status of the city of Jerusalem itself, the right of return for all Palestinian refugees, the future of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, and of course, the final borders between these two entities. The Principles also established a five-year, probationary period of Palestinian self-rule.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the seven-year Holy Covenant false doctrine, Futurist-leaning Christians believe that the Books of the Bible I mentioned a moment ago predict that Jesus will return to the Earth following a series of both political and religious events which will span a period of seven years. These deceived Christians are very convinced that the seven-year period will commence with the signing of this Holy Covenant -- or peace treaty -- which, among other stipulations, will allow the Orthodox Jews to rebuild their temple on the Temple Mount that's located in East Jerusalem.

As some of you will know, for many centuries now -- over a millennia, in fact -- this controversial site has hosted the Muslim al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. This treaty will supposedly be abrogated at midpoint -- that is to say, after three and a half years -- by a political leader who is commonly referred to in Christian circles as the Beast, or the Antichrist.For more information regarding the covenant, and my personal thoughts concerning it, consider reading my series entitled "Seventy Weeks Prophecy: What It Means". It may open your eyes to certain things you do not currently know or understand.

At any rate, being as the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993, these American shepherds did the simple math and concluded that Jesus would return seven years later in the year 2,000. Thus, that is exactly what they told their gullible flocks who hung on to their every word. Oh what a terrible mistake that was! This deception was compounded by the fact that, as we saw a moment ago, based on their interpretation of Jesus' words as found in Matthew chapter twenty-four regarding the fig tree, these same misguided shepherds convinced themselves -- and erroneously taught their flocks -- that Bible prophecy finds its anchor point in the year 1948.

For those of you who may not be aware of it, it was on May 14, 1948, in Tel Aviv, that Jewish Agency Chairman, David Ben-Gurion, proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel for the first time in 2,000 years. Ben-Gurion also became Israel's first premier after that. While the Jewish Congress -- which at the time was led by its then president, Stephen S. Wise -- played an important role in advocating for a Jewish state, it was David Ben-Gurion who formally made the declaration. It is precisely this subject which I amply discuss -- among a few other important topics -- in the aforementioned series called "Modern Deceptions: Shall a Nation Be Born at Once?". Again, please consider reading it. It may challenge some of your current views.

It may interest you to know that literally within minutes, the government of the United States of America -- then under its 33rd president, Harry S. Truman -- officially recognized the State of Israel. This, in my view, is a clear reflection of how much Zionist power had already influenced America's policy makers. Imagine how much worse it is today. It comes as no surprise then, that on one occasion, Ariel Sharon, the former Prime Minister of Israel, boasted on Israeli radio, that there was no need for Israel to worry about America's policy makers, because the Jews had -- and continue to have I might add -- America in their pocket.

On a related note, one interesting fact I dug up of which I was not previously aware, is that at one time, Harry Truman served as a "Shabbos goy" for his Jewish neighbors. In case you are not aware of it, "goy" is the singular word which is used by Jews to denote non-Jewish people, meaning Gentiles. The plural of "goy" is thus "goyim". At any rate, a "Shabbos goy" is a goy who performs tasks for an observant Jew on the Sabbath day, being as Jewish laws prevent the Jew from doing said tasks himself on the Sabbath.

However, given today's political climate in the Middle East, particularly with Israel and the Islamic Republic of Iran recently engaging in a very serious twelve-day missile war, what may surprise you, is the fact that the second country to officially recognize the new State of Israel was Iran. "How could that possibly be?" you may ask. You see, decades ago, Iran was ruled by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was the second monarch of the Pahlavi dynasty, as well as the last Shah of the Iranian monarchy. The dynasty was begun by his father, Reza Shah Pahlavi, who, among other things, made the controversial declaration on March 21, 1935, that Persia -- as it was then known -- should be renamed and known as Iran.

In actuality, in the past, the country had been previously known as Iran, which translates as "land of the Aryans". However it was changed to Persia due to Western influences, such as the Greeks and the Romans. The Iranian monarchy had ruled continuously for over 2,500 years, since the founding of the Persian Empire by Cyrus the Great. As I amply discuss in other articles such as the series "Seventy Weeks Prophecy: What It Means", Cyrus -- or Koresh, as this ruler was known in the Hebrew language -- is clearly mentioned in the Bible, and was responsible for signing a decree called the "Edict of Reconciliation", which gave the Jews permission to return to Israel, following their Seventy Years of Captivity under Babylonian rule.

As I explain in the aforementioned series, following their return to Israel, under the leadership of such men as Ezra, Zerubbabel and Nehemiah, they rebuilt the temple which had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar II -- thus beginning the Second Temple period -- rebuilt the wall which surrounded Jerusalem, rebuilt the city itself and repopulated it, and returned to obeying the Laws of God. All of these events had been prophesied in the Seventy Weeks Prophecy, as it is found in the Book of Daniel.

At any rate, I find it rather interesting then, that about 2,500 years later, another Persian/Iranian leader would be the second world leader to recognize the young, new State of Israel. Pahlavi was well known for his pomp and ceremony. In fact, the title "Shah" is a shortened version of the Iranian word "shahanshah", which is interpreted as "king of kings". But what is important for our discussion is that Pahlavi was an American ally -- and you might think to say, US puppet -- which partially explains why the Shah may have been so quick to recognize the State of Israel in 1948.

It was precisely because of the fact that the Shah supported Israel, and allowed Western influences to penetrate Islamic society in Iran in both a political and moral sense, as well as the fact that his government was known for its corruption and the oppressive tactics it employed via the secret police known as SAVAK to control Iranian society, that the Iranian clergy turned against him. Pahlavi was overthrown during the 1979 Iranian Revolution, which had been orchestrated by the exiled Shia -- or Shi'ite -- cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who then became Iran's so-called "Supreme Leader". As I have noted before, the Supreme Leader is the true ruler of Iran, and has even more power than the Iranian president.

Upon Ruhollah Khomeini's death in June of 1989 at the age of 86, Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei became the new Supreme Leader. Now 86 years old himself as of 2025, his days are no doubt numbered as well. His country is likewise at a fragile moment, having just suffered a major military blow with the recent American bomb strikes on three of Iran's crucial and major nuclear facilities. While for now a very fragile peace has been respected between Israel and Iran since the strikes occurred, one must truly wonder how much longer said peace will last, being as Iran continues to insist that it will not give up enriching uranium. For additional information regarding this topic, please consider reading the article called "Nuclear States and the Israel-Iran War".

As a matter of historical record, the Soviet Union did not acknowledge Israel as a nation state until three days after the May 14th declaration had been made. Other nations slowly followed suit. However, even to this day, due in large part to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian problem -- which has now been exasperated by the terrible war in Gaza -- Jerusalem is still not officially recognized as the capital of Israel by the international community. In fact, this is precisely why most countries have their embassies in Tel Aviv.

Furthermore, as you will probably already know, some Muslim and Arab countries -- such as Iran, obviously -- even refuse to recognize Israel's legitimacy and right to exist. While the current US President -- Donald J. Trump -- surprised the world by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's official capital, and has been partially successful with getting a few Muslim nations to sign on to the Abraham Accords, for their part, the Saudis refuse to establish formal diplomatic relations with Israel until the Palestinian issue is fully resolved, and a Palestinian State has been formed.

The main reason why I am sharing these historical facts with you, is so that you can better understand how these American shepherds arrived at their erroneous conclusions regarding the Second Coming of our Lord. As the person who wrote to me mentioned, these American preachers arrived at the consensus that a Biblical generation must represent about fifty-two years. Because of their misinterpretation of the Scriptures in Matthew chapter twenty-four, they added 52 to 1948, thus arriving at the wonderful year of 2,000 as the time when the Lord would supposedly arrive in the clouds of heaven, and then whisk off His saved children to the Heavenly Realm.

As we have already seen, based upon the work of Bishop James Ussher, this event -- if it had actually been true -- would have occurred precisely when the world would celebrate and welcome the Seventh Millennium. This apparent confluence of events obviously made this false doctrine seem all the more believable. Well, at least to certain gullible Christians. As I explained earlier, convinced of the year 2,000 doctrine, it must not have been very difficult for them to then factor in the "Declaration of Principles" of 1993 as the prophesied seven-year Holy Covenant, in order to further strengthen the claim that 2,000 would be the year when Jesus would return. Tragically, these misguided shepherds shared this "evidence" with their congregations, who excitedly believed every word of it.

Well, they may have been excited by this news, but I most certainly wasn't. I was absolutely convinced that they were wrong, dead wrong. I had no anticipation whatsoever of Jesus arriving in 2,000. At the time, I was more concerned about the potential negative effects of the Y2K glitch, and I wrote several articles in which I advised my readers how to prepare themselves spiritually, and physically, just in case Y2K did result in a serious disruption of government operations and local services. Thankfully, the fear which had been created proved to be greater than what actually occurred as millions of computer clocks around the world struck the new year. Of course, some technical flukes were reported here and there, but it was nothing like what the profiteering mass media had described. I don't doubt that the freeze-dried food industry and other businesses which cater to survivalist needs, must have made themselves quite a profit during the time leading up to the year 2,000.

As I partially pointed out earlier, the reason why I was not excited by the possibility that Jesus might return in 2,000 was because, in a word, based upon my personal understanding of the Scriptures, particularly Bible verses which concern eschatology, or end of age events, I was absolutely convinced that there was no such possibility. In fact, I am not, and I have never been, one of these "at any moment" folks. In my view, Christians who have embraced this false doctrine just don't know their Bible as they should. Because of this fact, they are living in a state of either unintentional ignorance, or in some case, perhaps even intentional deception.

In fact, to be quite honest and transparent with you, at the time that I wrote the original version of this series back in 2007, in a doctrinal sense, I was of a rather different mindset from what I am today eighteen years later. You see, similar to many other Christians who still haven't woken up, I was also still living under a certain degree of what can only be described as doctrinal deception, plain and simple. I was already starting to come out from under that cloud, but I had not yet made a clean break with it. That would begin to happen in earnest about four years after that.

So exactly what am I talking about? Well, you see, like so many of my Christian peers, as I point out in other articles which are listed at the end of this same series, I'd fallen under, and become very deceived by, what is commonly known as Futurism. In fact, I fervently embraced, lived, breathed and passionately preached Futurism. Now, for those of you who don't know what Futurism is, let me explain it to you in as few words as possible. Futurism is a doctrine and belief system -- that is to say, a theological perspective -- which takes ancient, already-fulfilled prophecies, and places them in our current time -- or in the near future -- as if they have not been fulfilled yet. That is the gist of it.

Furthermore, it is in fact because so many modern Christians still approach Bible prophecy from this false doctrinal base, and this very misguided understanding, that they have become so terribly confused. Earlier I mentioned the Oslo Accords to you and how so many Christians interpreted those events. That was the influence of Futurism in their lives. Then I told you about Donald Trump and the Abraham Accords and how Christians are once again getting all excited. That's likewise clearly a reflection of how much Futurism has influenced their beliefs.

The problem is this. If you start off on a false premise and a false assumption -- which is exactly what Futurism does -- then the end result is that everything you believe after that is false as well. It is just one lie built upon another, and one deception built upon another. That is simply the way it works. Let me give you an easy example you can understand. If you are building a road, and your surveyor is just a little bit off, at first you may not even notice it, simply because the error is so small. However, the longer you keep building that road, and with each mile that you add to it, the more it is going to detour from its intended course.

If you are wondering what happened, and what got me back on track in a doctrinal sense, well, after embracing Futurism for about forty years of my life, the Lord simply began to shake up my Futurist beliefs. He in fact challenged me with certain New Testament Bible verses which clearly contradict what I had so fervently believed for many years of my life. You can learn about the specific whys and wherefores, and how I finally and totally abandoned Futurism, in my rather challenging series entitled "Jesus Christ's Return: Have We Been Deceived?". If you are still a Futurist, I hope that you will patiently and prayerfully consider what I have to say in that series.

In short, the end result of my renewed study of the Bible back then is that I was forced to make a complete U-turn in my understanding and personal belief system. I in fact had to totally re-evaluate everything I had believed regarding Bible prophecy up until that point in my life. If I had not done so, I would no doubt still be sharing the deceptions of Futurism to this very day. Instead, I chose to be flexible, and I let the Lord remold my mind, and give me a different perspective from what I had embraced for those many years. You can thank the Lord for that! A few related articles I encourage you to also read are the following:

Are You Flexible?

My Evolving Theology

Understanding the Bible in Context

Fight Against Futurism!

It Is Time to Wake Up!

Aside from the aforementioned articles, if you are hungry for the truth, and are a persevering student of God's Word who wants to better understand my current perspective as it pertains to Bible prophecy, then I encourage you to delve into the list of articles which you will find at the end of this same series. Just click or tap on the link to be taken to it. Those articles represent many years of personal work, prayer and study in my life. Trust me when I say that you'll find a lot of very interesting and/or challenging material to chew on and ponder.

You may not agree with all of it the first time around the block, but it will get you thinking, and it will motivate you to more closely examine your own personal beliefs, and perhaps even cause you to question why you believe some of the things that you do. But this is a good thing, because we should NOT believe certain things just because we have been spoon-fed by someone else. Our foundation of faith should be firmly based upon our understanding of God's Word, and NOT upon the opinions of other men.

In case you are wondering, yes, this applies my own views as well. In my articles, I always strive to do my very best to present you with what I'm personally convinced is Scriptural truth after performing my own due diligence. As my longtime readers know, I will constantly point you to the Scriptures to validate what I am saying and teaching. I will present you with the Biblical -- and sometimes even the historical -- evidence, and then I leave it up to each of you to arrive at your own conclusions. If after reading what I've written you are not convinced that what I have stated is fully in agreement with God's Word, then you are, of course, under no obligation to accept it. As the Apostle Paul wrote regarding other matters:

"One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind."
Romans 14:5, KJV


But concerning Bible prophecy, one thing which I can tell you with full assurance, is that the omnipotent God has a very precise timetable for the world which He is following. He is very methodical in all of His doings. He is also very patient, and nothing that we say, or do, is going to alter His plans, or hasten the fulfillment of any prophecies that may possibly yet remain unfulfilled. That, of course, also includes our erroneous interpretations of His Word. I am reminded of the following two verses which we find in the powerful Book of Isaiah:

"Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:"
Isaiah 46:9-10, KJV


Contrary to the previous verses, it seems that there are some wayward individuals -- who even claim to be Christians -- who have deceived themselves into believing that they can hurry God along. Quite a few years ago, I remember reading certain news reports regarding some extremists who, according to the reports, had plans to destroy the Muslim "Dome of the Rock", which I briefly mentioned earlier. I believe that this group of radicals may have been from the US state of Colorado. It has been a while since I read this information, so I could be wrong regarding their place of origin.

As many of you will already know, certain Jews and Christians believe that the Temple Mount in East Jerusalem was the site of the former temple, which was destroyed two times in the past; first by King Nebuchadnezzar's forces at the beginning of the Seventy Years of Captivity around 587 BC, and then a second time -- as prophesied by Jesus Himself -- in 70 AD, by Roman general, Titus, who was the oldest son of then Emperor Vespasian. Titus would later became emperor himself for a brief period of only two years. I discuss these events in my compelling twenty-five part series entitled "Vespasian, Titus and the Fall of Jerusalem". If you really want to understand the events of 70 AD, and what led up to them, then this is a series you will definitely want to read.

At any rate, to continue my story, from what I understand, the aforementioned Christian radicals seemed to believe that if they could destroy the Muslim mosque, they would be able to precipitate an inevitable war between the Israelis and the Arab and Muslim nations, which would ultimately result in the foretold Battle of Armageddon, and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. I find the idea of trying to force God to move faster than He wants to absolutely ludicrous. Who did these people think they were? How dare they place themselves above God, or think that they know better than He does!

Let me ask you something. When certain American Christian leaders and preachers pervert the meaning of the Scriptures in order to convince their flocks that the Day of Christ is at hand, aren't they doing the same thing as those radicals? Maybe they are not blowing up anything, but the results of their misguided words can be just as disastrous. Not only are they trying to force God's hand, and trying to dictate their own plan to Him, but their failed prophecies can have very negative effects in the lives of their followers.

Folks, I really have to wonder how many young, impressionable Christians may have lost their faith in God, and in the Bible as His inspired Word, when Jesus didn't make an appearance in 2,000. Their hope, excitement and anticipation must have been extremely high, but were then probably dashed to the ground when nothing happened. Did God fail them? No, most certainly not! It was those misguided church leaders, and the deceived preachers who did that by propagating a false doctrine and a foolish deception. Sadly, as I mentioned earlier, with the recent Israel-Iran "Twelve Day War" as it is now called, and with President Donald Trump and his Abraham Accords, it is the same deception all over again. As I said, I see the very same excitement on the social networks. But oh how it is so very misplaced!

To reiterate a point I made earlier, it is a serious matter to purposely distort the meaning of God's Word, in order to try to support one of our own pet doctrines. Even if it is done in ignorance, it can still have negative consequences. As we learned in part one of this series, the First Century Apostles encountered this same problem when certain people began promoting false doctrines within the Church. On one particular occasion, there were certain disciples who were trying to understand the Apostle Paul's profound writings. Let me share that one verse from the Apostle Peter's second Epistle again. Then I will offer an explanation. I've added a word in brackets for the sake of clarity:

"As also in all his [Paul's] epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction."
2 Peter 3:16, KJV


In the underlying Koine Greek text, the word "wrest" really means to twist, or to turn awry. Metaphorically, it means to pervert or torture language in a false sense. In short, "wrest" means to assign a meaning which is not true to the intent of the author. That is what those disciples seemed to be doing, which is why the Apostle Peter indirectly rebuked them via his Epistle.

It may surprise you to learn that the Apostle Paul also had a problem with the "At any moment" folks, who likewise held the belief that Jesus was going to return at any moment. As I mention in other articles which deal with prophetic events, in his second Epistle to the brethren at Thessalonika, Paul wrote the following lines. Again, I have added a few words for the sake of clarification:

"Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, [the Rapture] that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day [Christ's Return] shall not come, except there come a falling away first, [the Apostasy] and that man of sin [the Antichrist] be revealed, the son of perdition;"
2 Thessalonians 2:1-3, KJV


As I have done in this series, the Apostle Paul then goes on to explain exactly why those people were wrong to assume that Jesus would return at any moment. Please refer to some of my other BBB articles, such as "Who Hindered the Antichrist?", for further details regarding this particular Bible prophecy issue.

Well, some two thousand years have passed, and it seems that the "At any moment" people are still with us today. I know exactly how some of those Christians must have felt in 2,000 when Jesus failed to appear, as their leaders had told them that He most assuredly would. As I mentioned to you earlier, the reason why I know how they must have felt, is because I too was a Futurist for those many years. Being a young and idealistic teenager, and a Christian to boot who was eager to serve the Lord, I absorbed a lot of false information as it related to Bible prophecy. I had no strong foundation in God's Word at the time, so I just assumed that what I was reading and hearing must be true. Well, it wasn't.

But again, thank the Lord that by the Grace of God, and with the leading of His Holy Spirit, I was eventually able to pull myself out from under the deception. However, it wasn't easy. Once one has been involved with a church or organization for any appreciable length of time, it can take literally years before one is able to completely rid himself of their ideas, and other influences. Cult-like organizations and churches use very powerful, persuasive, subtle techniques, and unless one is careful, he can become completely engulfed in their belief system before he realizes it. So let me offer a word to the wise.

Any time that a church or an organization elevates a man or a woman, or its group leadership, above God, beware! You are probably dealing with a cult. In addition, any time that a church or an organization gives precedence and preference to their own teachings, and esteems those doctrines above what is actually contained in the Bible, beware! You are probably dealing with a cult. Even if the church or organization does hold the Bible in high regard, if their doctrines in any way conflict with what is taught in the Bible, beware! You may be dealing with a cult!

My friends, whatever you do, please be careful that you don't fall under the popular misconception that dangerous cults are only comprised of secretive leaders and members who hide away in communes or in basements. You need to understand that there are in fact some high-profile churches, popular preachers and evangelists who do seem to qualify as cults, and cult leaders, even if they have been shrouded in an aura or respectability. If you still haven't understood what I just said, please take the time to read this paragraph again until you are sure that you do understand it.

Please go to part three for the continuation of this series.


⇒ Go To The Next Part . . .


Click or Tap Icons to Share! Thank you!

BBB Tools And Services


Please avail yourself of other areas of the BBB Bible website. There are many treasures for you to discover.