Irvin Baxter-Endtime Ministries

[penbrat]

Yep, I've heard him on the radio a few times, and he is post trib and also has some other very different ideas that make me uncomfortable

[Jack]

He does not have the gift of the Holy Spirit so his hermeneutics are way off

her·me·neu·tics /ˌhɜrməˈnutɪks, -ˈnyu-/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[hur-muh-noo-tiks, -nyoo-] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun (used with a singular verb) 1. the science of interpretation, esp. of the Scriptures.
2. the branch of theology that deals with the principles of Biblical exegesis.

[MsSophie]

One of the strangest statements on Mr. Baxter's website concerns the Rapture. In response to a question about the timing of the Rapture, he says, "Unfortunately, rapture timing debates between brothers in Christ often become divisive, and for this reason, Endtime has chosen to avoid the issue for now." This non-answer is truly astonishing! Here is a person with an opinion on everything in the prophetic scriptures, yet he chose to "avoid" one of the most important issues!

Thanks everyone. I was watching this show a couple hours ago but didn't have much time to followup on it (had to pick up grandchild from nursery) so I quickly looked at his website and had a difficult time even finding anything about the rapture. That started to ring bells :). I finally found a reference to it by a columnist on his page (Darryl Williams) As you pointed out, the rapture happens at the last trump. The last trump is described in Revelation 11:15–19. That is when the kingdoms of this world become the king-dom of our Lord and his Christ. This hap-pens at the Battle of Armageddon.endtimemagazine | March & April2006

[RaptureReadyGirl82]

I was just wondering if anyone on here signed up for EndTime magazine? I don't but I get copies of the magazines from a Christian friend of mine. Very interesting stuff in there. One thing that I found particularly interesting from a past issue they are saying that if the peace conferences succeed, it'll only be 7 years before Jesus comes back. :yeah

[lisa]

Irvin Baxter and the EndTime ministry is not viewed as a solid Bible Prophecy teaching.

Read here: http://www.raptureready.com/who/Irvin_Baxter.html

Ironically, Irvin Baxter began his search for truth in prophecy when He heard a preacher say that the four beast of revelation were Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Knowing that was not a true statement, Baxter set off to find truth. It is a shame that he stopped looking.

Irvin Baxter is affiliated with the United Pentecostal Church, a group that denies the doctrine of the Trinity and believes its methods are the only true way to salvation.

David Reagan of Lamb and lion Ministries did a wonderful job of detailing some of Baxter's twisted views of prophecy. Here is what Mr. Reagan wrote after visiting Baxter's website: “It doesn't take long to discover that Mr. Baxter is a person with a very personal and unique interpretation of Bible prophecy, something we are warned against in the Scriptures (2 Peter 1:20).”

Due to limited space, it is possible only to identify a few of Baxter’s erroneous teachings and misguided fallacies:

He denies that Revelation is written in chronological order. He does not, therefore, believe that the Seal Judgments will be followed by the Trumpet Judgments during the first three and one-half years of the Tribulation--as the plain sense meaning of Revelation indicates. He argues that several of both the Seal Judgments and the Trumpet Judgments have already taken place. However, the normal, plain sense interpretation of Revelation 6 is that it marks the beginning of the Tribulation with the Antichrist going forth on a white horse to conquer the world. A world war ensues, and one-fourth of the world's population dies from war (the red horse), famine (the black horse), pestilence and wild beasts.

Mr. Baxter argues that the fulfillment of the Seal Judgments has nothing to do with the Tribulation. He asserts that the fulfillment of these judgments began in 325 AD when the Emperor Constantine presided over a Church Council that produced the Nicene Creed (a creed, interestingly enough, that laid the foundation for the doctrine of the Trinity). In short, he identifies the white horse of Revelation 6 as Roman Catholicism, the black horse as Capitalism, and the red horse as Communism. This all makes for very interesting reading, but it simply is not substantiated by the text, for it violates the plain sense meaning.

Another example of Baxter's misinterpretation is found in his assertion that the world empires revealed to Daniel, in Daniel 2, include the Holy Roman Empire. He sees the succession as Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, the Roman Empire, and the Holy Roman Empire. That is not the succession portrayed in Daniel 2. The Roman Empire is followed by an empire of iron mixed with clay--representing the unstable, final world empire of the Antichrist. The proof that this is the last empire of history is found in the fact that this is the empire that is suddenly destroyed by a stone that represents the kingdom of Jesus Christ when He returns.

There is no place in the scenario for the Holy Roman Empire, which was an empire in name only. Baxter tries to insert the Holy Roman Empire because he wants to argue that it is the one that will be revived in the end times, rather than the Roman Empire. And he tries to advance this argument so that he can sustain his contention that the "fatal wound that will be healed," referred to in Revelation 13:3, is a reference to the Berlin Wall being removed so that Germany (which was the heart of the Holy Roman Empire) could be reunited.

Mr. Baxter does further damage to the book of Daniel when he contends that the symbols used in chapter seven refer to Great Britain, Russian, and Germany. Again, this runs contrary to the plain sense meaning of the passage. In Daniel seven, God gives Daniel a vision of the same succession of empires as he was given in chapter two. The difference is that in chapter two they are seen from the viewpoint of Man - as glorious political kingdoms – whereas, in chapter seven they are presented from the viewpoint of God - as ravenous wild beasts.

One of the strangest statements on Mr. Baxter's website concerns the Rapture. In response to a question about the timing of the Rapture, he says, "Unfortunately, rapture timing debates between brothers in Christ often become divisive, and for this reason, Endtime has chosen to avoid the issue for now." This non-answer is truly astonishing! Here is a person with an opinion on everything in the prophetic scriptures, yet he chose to "avoid" one of the most important issues!

Even more astonishing is the very next paragraph, where Mr. Baxter states that he believes that the Rapture and the Second Coming are "the same event." Well, if they are the same event, then the Rapture must take place at the end of the Tribulation--so much for "avoiding" the issue. To sustain this position, Mr. Baxter proceeds to try to explain away some passages that imply a pre-Tribulation Rapture. In doing so, he presents a most peculiar and bizarre interpretation of 2 Thessalonians 2. The passage states that the Antichrist cannot be revealed until that which restrains him is removed. Mr. Baxter contends that the restrainer is "time." Yes, time! It's just not the right time for the Antichrist to be revealed, he says, and when the time is right, the revelation will occur.

Mr. Baxter' approach to prophetic interpretation makes it clear why the plain sense meaning rule is so important. That rule states: "If the plain sense makes sense, don't look for any other sense, or you will end up with nonsense." As with Mr. Baxter, you will end up with a very personal interpretation that no other prophecy teacher is willing to endorse. Exercise extreme caution with regard to Mr. Baxter and his unique interpretations. Remember 1 Peter 1:20 - "No prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation." Frank Stagg in his book, How to Understand the Bible, says, "God does not grant private disclosures that are withheld from other people."

1 Corinthians 14:29 says that when a prophet speaks, his words are to be evaluated by others, for "the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets" (1 Corinthians 14:32). This essay has been written in the spirit of that admonition. It is good that Mr. Baxter is emphasizing the Lord's soon return, but at the same time use great caution regarding his very personal interpretations of Bible prophecy.

By: David Reagan and Nicole Balnius

[Thelion777]

A new update on Irvin Baxter's interpertation of scripture. I have been listening to his podcasts on and off for awile, knowing full well he is off on some of his views. Regardless, I still have listened to his shows for the bible prophecy related news.

I have decided to no longer listen to his show because of what he said on his "open line" podcast on 8/29/08. A caller called in and asked a question about whether you can lose your salvation. Irvin said alot of things about the subject, but the basic answer he gave is that if you are saved and backslide, you have lost your salvation for good. He said all of the pastors out there preaching the "once saved, always saved" view are wrong, and that you only get so many chances before you can no longer be saved (at least that's how I took it).

In my opinion, this type of view totally ignore's the forgiving nature of God. All of us backslide once in awile. I myself am in a constant struggle to stay on path and not get caught up in worldly things. I do not for a moment believe what Irvin Baxtor was saying and believe that we serve and understanding God, who knows our weakness to sin, and knows what's in our hearts.

If your interested in hearing what he had to say and giving your own opinion on it, go to the Endtime ministries website and find the podcast for 8/29/08. I believe it was early in the broadcast, maybe the first caller, who asked that question.

[bookworm1711]

I've listened to Irvin Baxter's Endtime Ministries broadcast over many years. I've heard him in the past on local Christian radio, more recently on shortwave radio, and most recently (as of Friday of last week, my latest opportunity to hear him) on the Internet by streaming audio.

He does not believe in the Pre-tribulation Rapture view, as best as I can understand from his various statements over the years. My reaction: he is one of those who, though sincere, has not done his homework in the study of Bible prophecy (as opposed to prophetic sensationalism, or newspaper prophecy).

His understanding of the book of Revelation appears to me to be in violation of the divinely provided outline of the book given in Revelation 1:19. I seem to recall a broadcast from years ago where he identified Chernobyl with the Wormwood in a passage in the book of Revelation (Revelation 8:11), and thus gave prophetic significance to the incident.

He is wrong, as others above have noted, on the eternal security of the believer issue. Nothing I have read in Scripture suggests at all that our salvation can be lost at the drop of a hat (my wording, not his). We are absolutely eternally secure in Christ so long as we are genuinely true believers in Him.

[Buzzardhut]

I've listened to Irvin Baxter's Endtime Ministries broadcast over many years. I've heard him in the past on local Christian radio, more recently on shortwave radio, and most recently (as of Friday of last week, my latest opportunity to hear him) on the Internet by streaming audio.

He does not believe in the Pre-tribulation Rapture view, as best as I can understand from his various statements over the years. My reaction: he is one of those who, though sincere, has not done his homework in the study of Bible prophecy (as opposed to prophetic sensationalism, or newspaper prophecy).

His understanding of the book of Revelation appears to me to be in violation of the divinely provided outline of the book given in Revelation 1:19. I seem to recall a broadcast from years ago where he identified Chernobyl with the Wormwood in a passage in the book of Revelation (Revelation 8:11), and thus gave prophetic significance to the incident.

He is wrong, as others above have noted, on the eternal security of the believer issue. Nothing I have read in Scripture suggests at all that our salvation can be lost at the drop of a hat (my wording, not his). We are absolutely eternally secure in Christ so long as we are genuinely true believers in Him.

and Irvin does not believe in the Trinity
he believes water baptism is part of the salvation process and you can lose your salvation (the water dries off)

[ihurt]

the "square" is blank... :idunno

[BornAgain123]

the "square" is blank... :idunno

Fixed!