He’s a pre-tribulationist. I still watch him sometimes but don’t care much for him anymore since he started quoting the Pope and Catechism (sorry). I’m not Catholic and I watched his show to hear about Bible prophecy, not listen to him quote the Catholic Catechism.
I agree with Mr. Van Impe on eternal security and end time prophetic events but agree that he has compromised with Catholicism. If I wanted to hear about Popes and Catechisms I could go watch EWTN.I can’t say I have ever seen him…but it seems these people take issue with him because they think he is wrong do to his “amazing compromises” with Catholicism, and his endorsement of various Popes:
evangelicaloutreach.org/vanimpe.htm
Seriously, listen to what he says and then look up whatever he was quoting, and chances are that his explanation will make absolutely no sense.I agree. I watched him before, and couldn’t BELIEVE the number of random Bible verses he threw out to support his very specific interpretations of future events. And his (Stepford) wife gives me the creeps.I once recorded one of his programs and looked up all of the Scripture verses he threw out as evidence for his statements, and almost all of them had NOTHING to do with what he said. I kept rewinding to make sure I heard him correctly, because I couldn’t figure out how an Old Testament census meant that Russia would destroy America with nuclear missiles.
:twocents:
Thanks for your thoughtful answer. Do you think he is looking for cash by trying to appeal to Catholics?His endtimes beliefs are right in line with “Left Behind.” He teaches that Christians will be raptured, the world will suffer a seven year tribulation, and then Christ will establish a thousand year reign on earth. He actually predicted that Jesus would return to rapture the church in Sept. of 1999.
My mom ordered one of his videos about the pope, and it blew me away. In it he stated that the pope after John Paul II would be the leader of the “one world religion” and would lead the Catholic Church to worship the antichrist. Now, its a different story. He has said that Benedict XVI is trying to return the Church to the “biblical faith,” and has even quoted a “high ranking Vatican official” (wouldn’t give a name) as saying that the Pope agrees with Van Impe and supports his ministry. Then he quoted the phrase “Kingdom of God” from the Catechism of the Catholic Church and twisted that to mean that the Catholic Church teaches a literal thousand year reign of Christ on earth. He quoted two sentences from the Catechism about faith and said, “See the Catholic Church teaches salvation by faith alone.”
He will twist anything and everything, and bend it so it supports his views. I once recorded one of his programs and looked up all of the Scripture verses he threw out as evidence for his statements, and almost all of them had NOTHING to do with what he said. I kept rewinding to make sure I heard him correctly, because I couldn’t figure out how an Old Testament census meant that Russia would destroy America with nuclear missiles.
:twocents:
Who’s views about bible prophecy interest you now?
I still agree with his end time Bible prophecy views unless he’s changed them. I don’t know that I personally have heard too many pastors views on end times. So I’m not really sure what the position of some of the others are. Too little time to keep track of them all, lol! I’m interested, really, in what the Bible actually teaches and there’s lots of debate on that.
In my area the airwaves are saturated with rapturists. I find the topic somewhat interesting, but it makes me wonder why there is so much focus on it.
I don’t know. Maybe because many of us believe we’re living in the general time when it could occur.
Absolutely. He’s looking for cash by appealing to anyone who will listen. Every week he’s pushing viewers to buy a new video of his. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard that this or that video is the “final word on end times Bible prophecy,” only to replaced by another video that contains “all you need to know about the end times.” Unfortunately, my mom is a big fan of his, but thankfully, she realized back in the 90’s that his videos don’t contain anything new or different from the tv programs, so she stopped buying them.
I really feel sorry for his wife, Rexella. She seems very sweet and sincere, but sometimes it appears that even she wonders where Van Impe comes up with this stuff.
And his (Stepford) wife gives me the creeps.