Revealing Revelation: Amir Tsarfati & Dr. Rick Yohn
Jul 25, 2022 23:38:09 GMT -5
Post by PrisonerOfHope on Jul 25, 2022 23:38:09 GMT -5
Revealing Revelation: How God's Plans for the Future Can Change Your Life Now
by Amir Tsarfati (Author), Dr. Rick Yohn (Contributor)
Once again Amir Tsarfati has partnered with Rick Yohn, this time to write a book about the Book of Revelation. As I've stated repeatedly, Amir is not a Bible scholar (although he fancies himself one) and I had no doubt the "meat" of the book was written by Rick Yohn, who was a senior pastor for over 40 years and Dean of Biblical and Theological Studies for Colorado Christian University. It's more likely that Amir was the contributor, with comments of his sprinkled throughout the book, and Dr. Yohn did the lion's share of the writing, but Amir is listed as the author because let's face it, he has an almost cultish following and his name sells lots of books!
I purchased the book for two reason: so I could write a review for the readers of this forum, and also because I wanted to send a basic book on Bible prophecy to a cousin who is new to the study of eschatology.
The book got off to a decent enough start, although by no means was I not able to put it down every few pages. To be fair, I've been studying Bible prophecy for over 30 years and have a master's degree in Theological Studies from seminary, so everything I read at the start of the book was "old hat" to me, but I plodded on for the reasons stated above.
At page 96 some red flags began to appear. The first was "Before the rider of the white horse left heaven, he was given a stephanos. Remember, this is a victor's crown, and not the crown of a king. He goes out to conquer and becomes victorious over much of the world. Who is this rider? It is the Antichrist."
Say what? The Antichrist does NOT come out of heaven! Wait, it gets better (or worse):
The book continues, "But Amir, what is the Antichrist doing in heaven? He's not in heaven. This rider is a reresentation of the Antichrist and his campaign of deception and intrigue that earns him global loyalty and devotion, including that of the Jews."
Well Amir (or should I say, Dr. Yohn), which is it? How can he come out of heaven if he's not in heaven? Utter rubbish...
On page 98, Amir/Yohn write, "And the next rider came forth. Why two riders on one horse?"
This is in reference to Revelation 6:8: "So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him." Note, the Scripture says "the name of HIM (singular) who sat on it..." After reading many dozens of books on end times, never once have I heard of anyone claiming that the fourth horse had TWO riders...not until reading this nonsense! I guess Amir/Yohn aren't familiar with the FOUR Horsemen of the Apocalypse! In my opinion, it would be better to describe the fourth horseman as having a dual assignment, as there is clearly only ONE rider on that horse.
On page 99 it says, "There are two Greek words for sword. One is rhomphaia and describes a large sword used in battle. This is the kind of weapon that protrudes from the mouth of Jesus as He comes to strike down the nations. The second word is machaira, which describes a short sword or dagger. Rather than being used in major battles, it was employed in close-contact violence and assassinations. The short sword is what the rider of the red horse is carrying. This is why the translation of the Greek adjective magas as "great" makes more sense than the "large" or "huge" in a number of Bible versions."
Right after this Amir/Yohn go on to write about the next seal, leaving the naive reader with the impression that Jesus returns with a literal sword sticking out of His mouth! As both Eph. 6:17 and Heb. 4:12 clearly explain, this is only a metaphor - the sword is the Word of God that comes forth from the mouth, not a literal weapon.
To be honest, I gave up on the book at that point - the examples of poor hermeneutics stated above caused me to lose all confidence in the writers; I'm not surprised at Amir's ignorance on these issues, but Dr. Yohn is without excuse - he should know better!
My final analysis: There are far, far better books and studies about Revelation than this one, books which have been written by knowledgable teachers who have specialized in the study of eschatology for many years and who present an excellent exegesis on Revelation as well as other aspects of Bible prophecy. Don't waste your time and money on one that's poorly written, contains errors, and basically just capitalizes on the name of a popular Christian celebrity.
I don't deny that Amir Tsarfati does an excellent job of presenting news and analysis, but a Bible teacher he's not. He should stick to the gift he's been given and not venture into areas for which he doesn't have the proper education and training. As for Dr. Yohn, he's not a very good writer, as I discovered when reading his and Amir's first novel, 'Operation Joktan.' (Incidentally, given how disappointing that book was - my review is in this forum - I won't be reviewing any more of their novels; they're a waste of time and money.)
If you're looking for a good, basic book about Revelation and Bible prophecy, I suggest the following:
Things to Come: A Study in Biblical Eschatology
by J. Dwight Pentecost
Revelation (The John Walvoord Prophecy Commentaries)
by John F. Walvoord , Philip E. Rawley, et al.
Apocalypse: The Coming Judgment of the Nations
by Grant R. Jeffrey
And for those who are new to the study of Revelation:
The Non-Prophet's Guide™ to the Book of Revelation: Bible Prophecy for Everyone
by Todd Hampson
Of course, there are numerous in-depth studies from good, sound teachers right here on this board - both video series in The Media Room, and Charlie Garrett's study on Revelation in the Bible Studies Forum.
by Amir Tsarfati (Author), Dr. Rick Yohn (Contributor)
Once again Amir Tsarfati has partnered with Rick Yohn, this time to write a book about the Book of Revelation. As I've stated repeatedly, Amir is not a Bible scholar (although he fancies himself one) and I had no doubt the "meat" of the book was written by Rick Yohn, who was a senior pastor for over 40 years and Dean of Biblical and Theological Studies for Colorado Christian University. It's more likely that Amir was the contributor, with comments of his sprinkled throughout the book, and Dr. Yohn did the lion's share of the writing, but Amir is listed as the author because let's face it, he has an almost cultish following and his name sells lots of books!
I purchased the book for two reason: so I could write a review for the readers of this forum, and also because I wanted to send a basic book on Bible prophecy to a cousin who is new to the study of eschatology.
The book got off to a decent enough start, although by no means was I not able to put it down every few pages. To be fair, I've been studying Bible prophecy for over 30 years and have a master's degree in Theological Studies from seminary, so everything I read at the start of the book was "old hat" to me, but I plodded on for the reasons stated above.
At page 96 some red flags began to appear. The first was "Before the rider of the white horse left heaven, he was given a stephanos. Remember, this is a victor's crown, and not the crown of a king. He goes out to conquer and becomes victorious over much of the world. Who is this rider? It is the Antichrist."
Say what? The Antichrist does NOT come out of heaven! Wait, it gets better (or worse):
The book continues, "But Amir, what is the Antichrist doing in heaven? He's not in heaven. This rider is a reresentation of the Antichrist and his campaign of deception and intrigue that earns him global loyalty and devotion, including that of the Jews."
Well Amir (or should I say, Dr. Yohn), which is it? How can he come out of heaven if he's not in heaven? Utter rubbish...
On page 98, Amir/Yohn write, "And the next rider came forth. Why two riders on one horse?"
This is in reference to Revelation 6:8: "So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him." Note, the Scripture says "the name of HIM (singular) who sat on it..." After reading many dozens of books on end times, never once have I heard of anyone claiming that the fourth horse had TWO riders...not until reading this nonsense! I guess Amir/Yohn aren't familiar with the FOUR Horsemen of the Apocalypse! In my opinion, it would be better to describe the fourth horseman as having a dual assignment, as there is clearly only ONE rider on that horse.
On page 99 it says, "There are two Greek words for sword. One is rhomphaia and describes a large sword used in battle. This is the kind of weapon that protrudes from the mouth of Jesus as He comes to strike down the nations. The second word is machaira, which describes a short sword or dagger. Rather than being used in major battles, it was employed in close-contact violence and assassinations. The short sword is what the rider of the red horse is carrying. This is why the translation of the Greek adjective magas as "great" makes more sense than the "large" or "huge" in a number of Bible versions."
Right after this Amir/Yohn go on to write about the next seal, leaving the naive reader with the impression that Jesus returns with a literal sword sticking out of His mouth! As both Eph. 6:17 and Heb. 4:12 clearly explain, this is only a metaphor - the sword is the Word of God that comes forth from the mouth, not a literal weapon.
To be honest, I gave up on the book at that point - the examples of poor hermeneutics stated above caused me to lose all confidence in the writers; I'm not surprised at Amir's ignorance on these issues, but Dr. Yohn is without excuse - he should know better!
My final analysis: There are far, far better books and studies about Revelation than this one, books which have been written by knowledgable teachers who have specialized in the study of eschatology for many years and who present an excellent exegesis on Revelation as well as other aspects of Bible prophecy. Don't waste your time and money on one that's poorly written, contains errors, and basically just capitalizes on the name of a popular Christian celebrity.
I don't deny that Amir Tsarfati does an excellent job of presenting news and analysis, but a Bible teacher he's not. He should stick to the gift he's been given and not venture into areas for which he doesn't have the proper education and training. As for Dr. Yohn, he's not a very good writer, as I discovered when reading his and Amir's first novel, 'Operation Joktan.' (Incidentally, given how disappointing that book was - my review is in this forum - I won't be reviewing any more of their novels; they're a waste of time and money.)
If you're looking for a good, basic book about Revelation and Bible prophecy, I suggest the following:
Things to Come: A Study in Biblical Eschatology
by J. Dwight Pentecost
Revelation (The John Walvoord Prophecy Commentaries)
by John F. Walvoord , Philip E. Rawley, et al.
Apocalypse: The Coming Judgment of the Nations
by Grant R. Jeffrey
And for those who are new to the study of Revelation:
The Non-Prophet's Guide™ to the Book of Revelation: Bible Prophecy for Everyone
by Todd Hampson
Of course, there are numerous in-depth studies from good, sound teachers right here on this board - both video series in The Media Room, and Charlie Garrett's study on Revelation in the Bible Studies Forum.
