The Sign

Rating:
Summary: Bold but Brassy
Review: "It would be hard to overemphasize the urgency of themessage of this book," Van Kampen says (about one hundred timesthroughout the book, thereby overemphasizing it to death).

Van Kampen is willing to stand apart from the majority with regard to questions like the timing of the rapture, but he's just as adament and arrogant about his views as many who stand on the other side of the question. For example, he talks about the symbol of a white horse in the Book of Revelation that goes forth as a conqueror and says, "The white horse can only [only?] represent one thing. . . . Christ tells us [now quoting an entirely different book], 'Many wilI come in my name, saying, "I am the Christ," and will mislead many' . . . . Thus . . . the white horse must [must?] represent the proliferation of false messiahs." Comparing a brief statement from one book is scant ground for being so adamant about the meaning of a symbol in another book. Apparently all other interpretations were forbidden by Jesus' warning of false messiahs.

In fact, Van Kampen almost apologizes when he can't be adamant about something: "This writer cannot be adamant about who this 'foreign god' will be. . . ." Given the way he repeats this kind of statement on those rare occassions when he is not adamant, one gets the feeling he would certainly like to be adamant about it if he could. Van Kampen repeatedly makes it clear that those who don't understand the scriptures in the way he does are going to suffer worse during the tribulation than those who do (ostensibly because they'll be less prepared). "The consequences of faulty thinking will be devastating." But there's also a hint of "That'll teach them to disagree with me."

Oddly, Van Kampen states early in the book that "even when one starts with biblical revelation, indentifying current events with specific biblical end-time events should be done with tentativeness and the utmost caution." Too bad he never takes his own advice. Van Kampen is never tentative. He's not even tentative about how FUTURE events will match with specific prophecies (more or less current events). He's so detailed in his prediction of future events that he actually lays out the war map that the Antichrist will use, showing where he will camp and what routes he will follow through Israel and what race the Antichrist will be.

This Antichrist will be German because, according to Van Kampen, Israel's persecutors have always descended from one of Noah's sons named Japheth. Only problem is Van Kampen never proves that Germans decend from Japheth (nor that Israel's persecutors descend from Japheth). He even admits this briefly: "their [German] lineage cannot unequivocally be traced back to a particular son of Japheth." Well, if they can't be traced back to one of Japheth's sons, they can't be traced back to Japheth either. In spite of this missing link, Van Kampen makes much of this lineage throughout the book.

He's also presumptuous regarding the accuracy of his analyses: "The incredible events outlined here are all founded in truth and will in fact transpire as described in the following pages, not because of any claims that I might make, but because God's Word declares it." Van Kampen is that emphatic throughout. He writes like someone who's been a boss all of his life (which he has) and now thinks he's the boss of his readers, too. If he can't persuade you to his position, he'll cow you to it. Instead of using logic, he often argues by assertion. He considers his case proven by quoting a single verse then stipulating what it means, even though many others have understood it differently. Having, thus, proven the point, he'll use that as his premise for an argument that rages through a whole chapter.

Thus, he argues, "despite the fact that the vast majority of prophetic scholars believe [a certain point]. . . Scripture clearly teaches otherwise." Well, if it's so "clear," why have the "vast majority" of scholars missed the point?

If you buy this book just beware that Van Kampen often reads his own thinking into scripture, asserting that it says things that are not there at all. For example, he quotes 2 Peter 3:4,5: "They will say, 'Where is this "coming" he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.' But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water." From this Van Kampen concludes, "as the passage of 2 Peter 3:4,5 predicts, evolution will be the dominant thought of the world as it goes into the [end times]."

Wow! What a leap of logic. We're now near the end because Peter "predicted" evolution would be the dominant belief as the end nears. It seems to me Peter's point was that things on God's time scale take a lot longer than man's time scale, with Creation being a good example of how long things take, for Peter immediately goes on to say that "a day to the Lord is as a thousand years." Peter is simply stating that people will begin to doubt the end is coming because things on God's time scale happen slowly by our reckoning. He was hardly predicting the theory of evolution as the dominant philosophy of the end times.

Even when I believe the same thing Van Kampen does, I find his arguments are often convoluted and insert meanings into verses that simply aren't there.

I would have given Van Kampen two stars instead of one simply because he's willing to step outside the mold and take some flak for it, but I think he enjoys flak. He certainly makes himself a glow-in-the-dark target for it with his brash, combative style. One of the most arrogantly written books I've ever read.

Rating:
Summary: Book Battles
Review: A reviewer below writes, "Despite David Haggith's unfair review, I found The Sign to be more scripturally based then Haggith's End-Time Prophesies of the Bible."

I find that a peculiar comment, since my book contains the entire Book of Revelation and, as much to my ability as possible, every prophecy in the Bible that relates to it, quoted in full. I'm not sure how you can get more scripturally based than that -- other than to merely retranslate the Bible. My intention with my own book was to let one biblical prophecy explain another, rather than assert particular views. In fact, the reviewer calls me to task for that, too. (I invite readers of Van Kampen's book and of the review I'm quoting to check the facts out for themselves by reading other reviews of my book.)

The reviewer states that "At least Van Kampen attempts to explain and confirm the Pre Wrath position with all scriptures explained Hermeneutically. Haggith just leaves things out of his explaination all together in his book or symbolizes events that he cannot explain."

You see, it wasn't scripture that I left out; it was a ready-baked answer to every mystery. At 545 pages, I figured I had said enough to get readers started with their own thinking. I prefer to let my readers draw their own conclusions. And that is what I take Van Kampen to task for. It's not that I disagree with his Pre-Wrath position. I don't. I disagree with his dogmatic approach of believing he's solved all of these mysteries right down to the address where the Antichrist will camp for battle.

I find it ironic that, in the one area of scripture that is most mysterious (the end times), commentators often become most dogmatic -- Van Kampen among them. I eschew dogmatism on matters of mystery and encourage my readers to remain fluid in their own thinking. My commentary is intended only to provide readers with various ways of considering the text in order to spark their own thinking. My hope is that by organizing all of the related scriptures so they can be read together, I will remove a lot of the drudge work so my readers can focus on thinking in context, rather than hunting. I want to facilitate exploration, not end it.

Van Kampen assumes his interpretation is God's. It's statements like "Jesus Christ taught the Pre Wrath Position as did His disciples" that I find presumptuous and dogmatic. (The reviewer's own echo of Van Kampen's statements.) Obviously there is plenty of room to disagree about what Jesus taught on this matter, or there would not be so many divergent and equally dogmatic views out there by people who have spent so many years thinking about it.

Finally, the reviewer writes, "Also I don't think it is fair for an author to sling mud at another author's book simply because he also has a book coming out around the same time. This makes the Christian community think that maybe Haggith is in it for the money and not the edification of the body."

If that was my motive, I would have touted my own book in my review in order to turn readers toward myself, but you can see for yourself that I did not mention my book at all. (It would never have come up on Van Kampen's Amazon page, had this reviewer not brought it up for me.) It's perfectly fair, even if you are an author of a book on the same subject, to criticize what you see as the flaws in another book. (In fact, book review journals and newspapers often choose to have books reviewed by an author who has written on the same subject.) Where I've reviewed other books on prophecy that were not so blatantly dogmatic as Van Kampen, I had many positive things to say. Some reviews were entirely positive.

Rating:
Summary: The Sign explains the truth avoided by many Teachers today
Review: Despite David Haggith's unfair review, I found The Sign to be more scripturally based then Haggith's End-Time Prophesies of the Bible. At least Van Kampen attempts to explain and confirm the Pre Wrath position with all scriptures explained Hermeneutically. Haggith just leaves things out of his explaination all together in his book or symbolizes events that he cannot explain. Also I don’t think it is fair for an author to sling mud at another author's book simply because he also has a book coming out around the same time. This makes the Christian community think that maybe Haggith is in it for the money and not the edification of the body. I give The Sign many more stars then those which can be listed because it is the only view according to Dr Walter Kaiser, former dean at Trinity Seminary (who is considered one of the finest OT scholars of our day) that best understands and properly applies OT prophecy concerning the Day of the Lord as it relates to the 2nd coming of Christ. If the fathers of dispensationalism had been able to choose between the pretribulation and the pre-wrath views, the pre-wrath position would have received their vote, hands down. Why? Because Jesus Christ taught the Pre Wrath Position as did His disciples.

Rating:
Summary: very well thought out and informative book
Review: Praise the Lord!! I've never read any book on the end times which it's content is so accurate and backed up by scriptures. The author has done a superb job of laying out the events in the end times, leading up progressively, answering many questions most people have a hard time understanding- such as: when will the antichrist show up, who will he be, what events MUST happen before others occur, explainations of details organized well, etc etc. There is no way you can deny the scriptures he uses to back up his interpretations. Keep up on prophesies being fulfilled before your eyes, most importantly- to prepare yourself.

Rating:
Summary: An Extremely Valuable And Important Work
Review: Robert Van Kampen has given us an extremely valuable and important work - one of only a handful of books that present the prewrath rapture position of the church. If you are completely new at endtime studies, it will be a tough read, but it will be worth it. Don't let the length put you off. This book is a milestone in Biblical Prophecy. Some may try to discourage you from reading it, knowing that you may never find a book with this view again on your own, because the bookstore shelves are basically saturated with only one view. You may however wish to start with "The Rapture Question Answered Plain And Simple" by the same author, or "The Prewrath Rapture Of The Church" by Marvin Rosenthal. Both of those books are concise and logically presented, and will still give you a firm foundation upon which to build your escatological studies.

Rating:
Summary: An Extremely Valuable And Important Work
Review: Robert Van Kampen has given us an extremely valuable and important work - one of only a handful of books that present the prewrath rapture position of the church. If you are completely new at endtime studies, it will be a tough read, but it will be worth it. Don't let the length put you off. This book is a milestone in Biblical Prophecy. Some may try to discourage you from reading it, knowing that you may never find a book with this view again on your own, because the bookstore shelves are basically saturated with only one view. You may however wish to start with "The Rapture Question Answered Plain And Simple" by the same author, or "The Prewrath Rapture Of The Church" by Marvin Rosenthal. Both of those books are concise and logically presented, and will still give you a firm foundation upon which to build your escatological studies.

Rating:
Summary: A great effort, but..there is certainly room for improvement
Review: Robert Van Kampen is not the first author to try to integrate all of the end-time prophecies into a clear timeline. He is the first one to do it from the post-trib, pre-wrath perspective. While I am not sure I completely agree with some points of his analysis, it is still well worth reading. His editor needs to help him get to the point faster in future editions. The first few chapters felt annoyingly slow paced in their buildup to the really exciting stuff. My other problem is that I think RVK left out some prophecies, either because he didn't understand them or because he overlooked them. RVK is a very logical writer, so before accepting his conclusions, his premises must be carefully examined to make sure they are rock solid. All the solid logic in the world is useless if the starting point is invalid - and that is part of what I am concerned about. His identification of Hitler as the Anti-Christ is based on some premises that I need to further review and see if they really are correct. (If Hitler returned to life is indeed the Anti-Christ, then it is no wonder the Jews would revolt.)

Rating:
Summary: A False View
Review: The Pre-Wrath view doesn't change my view on the rapture. It's a new view on the rapture. There's an old saying that goes like this: "If it's true, it's not new; if it's new, it's not true." The Pre-Wrath view fits the latter part of the phrase. Van Kampen may have done a lot of research on the Pre-Wrath rapture of the church but he started with a false pretense. Because of the false pretense, he ended up with a false conclusion.