Tradition or Truth? Old Wine or New Wine?

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Authored By  :
Bill Kochman

Published On :
August 3, 2016

Last Updated :
July 1, 2020


Endtime Study And The Endtime Prophecy Net Website, Endtime Prophecy Net Ceases To Exist, My Evolving Spiritual Maturity, Caught Up In The Jesus-Is-Coming-Soon" Phenomenon, Watching And Waiting For Endtime Signs To Be Fulfilled, List Of Events That Are Anticipated, Misguided Predictions Concerning Jesus' Return And Other Endtime Events, Why Haven't We Witnessed The Fulfillment Of Anticipated Endtime Events?, Rejecting And/Or Ignoring Bible Verses Which Challenge Our Beliefs, Importance Of Verifying Doctrines With God's Word, We Must Be Led By The Holy Spirit In Our Understanding, Don't Be In Denial Of What God's Word Plainly States, Be Willing To Re-Examine And Purge Your Misguided Beliefs And Doctrines, Dangerous Leaven Of The Pharisees And Sadducees, Tradition Or Truth?, Old Wine Or New Wine?, We Cannot Resist God's Spirit Forever, New And Better Understanding Of Bible Prophecy, Does Endtime Prophecy Really Apply To Our Current Time?, Why I Chose To Retire The Endtime Prophecy Name And Website, Why I Chose The Name "Bill's Bible Basics", Goal Of Bill's Bible Basics Website, Lengthy Update Process, Slowing Down In my Old Age, Scriptural Pieces Fall Into Place When We Don't Resist The Truth, Reading Resources


For just under two decades -- since 1997 -- in addition to many other subjects, the Endtime Prophecy Net website was dedicated to the study of what is commonly referred to by Christians as the End Times, and Bible prophecies and world events which seemed to be related to the Endtime, and to the anticipated end of the world, or at least to the fall of all human-led governments. This particular field of Bible study regarding death, judgment and humankind's destiny is called eschatology. However, by the time you read this article, you may have already discovered that the Endtime Prophecy Net website has ceased to exist, and that using the domain name "endtimeprophecy.net" -- and perhaps "endtimeprophecy.org" as well, being as I owned both domain names -- in your web browser will take you to a bogus, or false, Endtime Prophecy Net website which advertises a hotel chain.

Sadly, a number of years ago, I tried to get those usurpers to stop using my former domain name to lure people to their hotel chain web page. However, I did not meet with success. In fact, they even refused to communicate with me at all. At any rate, since 2014, my updated website has been known as "Bill's Bible Basics", and the only domain name I use with it is "billkochman.com". So what is the cause behind this website name change and change in direction?

As I explain in my seven-part series called "Jesus Christ's Return: Have We Been Deceived?", this development was not as sudden as it may have appeared to some of my longtime online friends; at least not for me. In fact, I personally viewed retiring the name Endtime Prophecy Net as just another step in the ever-evolving progression of my personal spiritual maturity. Let me explain. When I was a young, idealistic, spiritually-hungry, teenaged Christian fifty years ago, just like many other Christians, I also became caught up in the "Jesus-is-coming-soon" phenomenon. As many of my American readers will know, this doctrine spread like wildfire from the American east coast to the American west coast, and all across the so-called Bible Belt. This belief in fact became a dominant tenet of faith amongst Fundamentalist Christians and other traditional Christians.

As a result of that powerful influence in my life when I was so young -- and not being properly grounded in God's Word at the time, mind you -- for the next forty years, I patiently watched and waited for the anticipated fulfillment of various developments which so many modern Christians associate with Endtime prophecies. As some of you will know, according to the Futurist theological perspective -- which is the driving force behind the "Jesus-is-coming-soon" mentality -- this list of anticipated events has included the following:
• The 7-year Holy Covenant in Israel
• The construction of a third Jewish temple
• The renewal of the Daily Sacrifice
• The rise of the Beast and the False Prophet
• The 666, or the Mark of the Beast
• The Great Tribulation
• The appearance of the Antichrist
• The rise of the two Sackcloth Witnesses
• The destruction of Babylon the Great
• The Abomination of Desolation
• The Second Coming of Christ
• The Battle of Armageddon
• The coming Millennium
• The Rapture of the Saints
Similar to myself, millions of Bible-believing Christians around the world have embraced this very same -- or at least a similar -- list of prophetic events. Some people have been waiting for them to be fulfilled even longer than I have. As you may know, these same prophetic developments were likewise mentioned on the Endtime Prophecy Net home page, as well as throughout my many articles over the years. As I also mention in a few of my articles, faith in the belief that said events would transpire in our own lifetimes, and possibly even in the very near future, spawned a fair share of Christians over the decades who have made some very specific time predictions regarding some of the aforementioned events, including the year of Christ's return.

In fact, to this very day, some of them are still doing it. One of the more recent and well-known examples was the now-deceased Harold Camping, who I discuss in an article that is listed below. While I never got into predicting dates and such -- I learned that important lesson simply by watching other people make mistakes years ago -- I did heavily promote the Futurist point of view in my personal witnessing activities. However, despite our expectations, and despite how long some of us have already waited, to date, we have not seen the materialization of any of the aforementioned events in our current time. Not only that, but many Christians have been embarrassed when their time predictions and prophecies have proved to be false.

So what is going on here? Why have we failed to witness any of the aforementioned events? Are we simply being impatient and just jumping the gun? Are we just getting ahead of the Lord? Is it simply not time for these events to be put in motion by the Lord yet? While this may appear to be a very logical conclusion to a lot of Futurist-thinking Christians, is it possible that there is some other reason which we have failed to see, possibly ignored, and perhaps even rejected?

In my case, I would say that it has been a combination of all three of those possibilities. As I more thoroughly explain in "Jesus Christ's Return: Have We Been Deceived?", it is not that I was unaware of certain verses, it was that I either did not understand them, or else I purposely chose to ignore what they appeared to be saying, because they made me nervous and called into question beliefs I had embraced for forty some years of my life. Have you ever done that? Is God trying to show you something in His Word, but you just don't want to see it or accept it, so you act as if those particular verses are not even there?

If you are a regular reader of my work, then you will already know that for many years now, and throughout my written work, I have emphasized how important it is that our beliefs find a strong foundation in God's Word. I have often told you how we must test all doctrines and beliefs against the Scriptures in order to determine if they hold up to Biblical scrutiny. It is not enough to just search and read the Bible. Anyone can do that. What is important is that we must be led by the Holy Spirit in our understanding of God's Word, and not just led by our human thinking and human wisdom. Following are some of my favorite verses regarding this topic:

"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
2 Timothy 2:15, KJV


"And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so."
Acts 17:10-11, KJV


"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."
1 Thessalonians 5:21, KJV


"Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old."
Matthew 13:52, KJV


"Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."
John 5:39, KJV


"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world."
1 John 4:1, KJV


"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."
James 1:5, KJV


"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."
John 14:26, KJV


"Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come."
John 16:13, KJV


"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."
Romans 8:14, KJV


"But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."
1 Corinthians 2:14, KJV


So as I said, I was resisting certain truths in God's Word. The way in which I was doing it was by telling myself "Oh, that verse can't possibly mean that"; even though it was so clear in black and white that that is precisely what that verse meant. So I was basically in denial of what I already knew to be true; because by accepting what that verse was actually saying, it would turn my entire perspective about Bible prophecy upside-down. It would shake it to the core.

You see, more than a dozen years earlier, I had found it necessary to re-examine and purge a number of my long-held, cherished beliefs. It is not an easy process to go through when you have believed in some particular doctrine since the time that you were both young in age, and young in the faith as well. Nevertheless, sometimes it becomes necessary to do so. We need to purge out the old leaven; that is, we need to forsake the old doctrines and beliefs which are not solidly based upon the Scriptures. Jesus and the Apostles taught the very same thing, as we see by the following verses:

"Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees . . . How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees."
Matthew 16:6, 11-12, KJV


". . . Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition."
Matthew 15:6, KJV


"Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men . . . Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition . . . Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye."
Mark 7:7-13, KJV


"No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse. Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved."
Matthew 9:16-17, KJV


"No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles."
Mark 2:21-22, KJV


"And he spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved. No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better."
Luke 5:36-39, KJV


"And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God."
1 Corinthians 2:4-5, KJV


"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ."
Colossians 2:8, KJV


"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."
2 Timothy 4:3-4, KJV


In my view, that is precisely why so many modern Christians have been deceived by the "Jesus-Is-Coming-At-Any-Moment" mentality, and all of the misguided expectations which come with it. They have embraced the doctrines and traditions of fancy preachers, Bible teachers, movie makers and novelists, instead of the true meaning of God's Word. They have failed to go to the Source, and have been satisfied with bottled water instead. That is what I did for years. Is it possible that you are still doing it?

At any rate, I was not too keen on purging my beliefs again. However, God and His Holy Spirit hound dog are not ones to take "no" for an answer. As I found out, we can't resist the Lord's Spirit of Truth forever. When He wants to get through to us, He eventually will. The conviction of the Spirit will become so heavy upon us, that we really have no choice but to accept the Scriptural truth, even if embracing it and sharing it with others makes us unpopular.

So, as I explain in the "Jesus Christ's Return: Have We Been Deceived?" series, I arrived at a point in 2011-2012 where I began to pay more attention to certain verses which outright challenged some of my beliefs concerning the fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Just as I had many times advised my Christian brethren to do, I began to put some of my own beliefs under the Scriptural microscope. The end result of that process was that not only did I begin to arrive at a new, better and more Biblically agreeable understanding of certain passages, but I likewise began to realize that I could no longer continue to promote some of the prophecy-related doctrines which I had for so long taught on the Endtime Prophecy Net website.

In fact, another by-product of my re-examination of God's Word in recent years is that some of my beliefs regarding Bible prophecy were being reshaped so dramatically, that after a while, even the name of the website -- which I have used for sixteen years now -- began to bother me. In other words, I began to understand that many of the things which I had been classifying and teaching as as-of-yet unfulfilled "Endtime Prophecy" -- just like many other Christian teachers and preachers do -- might not be any such thing after all. As if that is not enough, perhaps we even need to re-examine our usage of such phrases as Endtime, End Times and Last Days, in order to determine if they really apply to this current time in human history. Is it possible that we are in error?

If you are a little confused by the previous paragraph, then I encourage you to read "Jesus Christ's Return: Have We Been Deceived?". Doing so will shed a lot of light on some of the things that I am stating here. At any rate, over the past week or so, I came to the conclusion that it is time for me to retire the long-held name "Endtime Prophecy Net". There are two primary reasons regarding why I made this decision. The first one is that due to the new direction my personal understanding has taken concerning Bible prophecy, the name "Endtime Prophecy Net" is no longer appropriate, because it no longer properly conveys what I currently believe, which is actually still evolving. "Endtime Prophecy Net" tends to give the impression that, like so many other Christians, I am on the "Jesus-is-coming-at-any-minute" bandwagon, which I am not.

The second reason is that because the name "Endtime Prophecy Net" reinforces the belief that we are living in the Endtime, and that Jesus Christ may return soon, it gives some people false hope, which I obviously do not want to do. In other words, when Christians see that name, they get excited and automatically assume that the website is all about the Lord returning soon, and that it will validate their own beliefs. As I have already said, for almost twenty years, that is in fact what the website was all about, and what it promoted. But I have changed course in recent years, and I no longer feel very comfortable with encouraging or supporting said beliefs, because I am no longer fully convinced that they are correct and based on a proper interpretation of God's Word. Again, please read the aforementioned series if you require some clarification.

To continue, while I could have just renamed and redesigned the website in order to lean away from some of my previous teachings regarding Bible prophecy, the problem still would not be completely resolved, because the domain name itself -- endtimeprophecy.net -- conveys the same ideas as the name of the website. So, it seemed to me that both a new domain name and a new website name were in order. Being as I was already running the "Bill's Bible Basics" website at one of my other domain names, it seemed that the easiest thing to do would be to transfer everything over to that website, which is exactly what I have now done. My blog is now hosted there as well. In other words, you don't really need to worry; because all of the articles, KJV Bible verse lists and other tools that were hosted on the "Endtime Prophecy Net" website, are now on the "Bill's Bible Basics" website.

In case anyone is wondering why I chose the name "Bill's Bible Basics" for my new website when I set it up two years ago, it is because it reflects not only what I want to do in my own life, but also the new direction I will be taking -- and have already begun to take -- in my articles. In other words, as I mentioned earlier, it is when we stray away from the basic truths of the Scriptures that we become misguided and confused in our understanding. Thus, it is my intention to use "Bill's Bible Basics" as a tool to correct everything that was wrong regarding Bible prophecy on "Endtime Prophecy Net". We are going to get back to the basic meaning -- and in my opinion, real meaning -- of what God's Word really says in certain passages, which have been erroneously interpreted by some modern Christians as being "Endtime Prophecy". This is one of my goals for the BBB site.

As I mention in the aforementioned series, updating all of my prophecy-related articles so that they properly reflect my current views is going to be a major task. In fact, I'll tell you right now that, due to my various health issues -- I am not a spring chicken anymore -- it is going to take at least months -- and more than likely years -- to update everything. Twenty years ago when I first began this online ministry, I was a lot younger and full of energy, and I was truly burning at both ends, insofar as my writing articles was concerned. However, I am no longer able to do that.

As some of you will already know, my writing has slowed down in recent years; and when I do write lengthy new articles and series, it take me forever to complete them. My back aches so quickly, my eyes begin to burn, and my mind begins to wonder so much more than before. I have to backtrack so often while I am writing, and I re-read sentences over and over again in order to keep my thoughts straight in my head. So I ask all of you for your patience as I undertake this monumental task.

Let me leave you with a final thought. If there is one thing that I can tell you from this experience in my own life, it is that when we stop resisting the Spirit of God, and simply accept what He is trying to show us, the Scriptural pieces just fall into place, one after the other, and things begin to make a lot more sense to us. The cloud of confusion just seems to lift from our minds, as the prophetic dots begin to connect to each other with a lot more ease, without us trying to force them together. Even the actual historical record lends support to what God is trying to show us. Please keep this important point in mind if you are having difficulty in understanding certain passages, particularly those which deal with Bible prophecy.

With these thoughts, I will bring this article to a close. It is my hope that you have found it informative, enlightening, and I pray that it has been a blessing in your life as well. If you have an account with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or with any other social network, I would really appreciate if you'd take the time to click or tap on the corresponding link that is found on this page. Thanks so much, and may God bless you abundantly!

For additional information and further study, you may want to refer to the list of reading resources below which were either mentioned in this article, or which contain topics which are related to this article. All of these articles are likewise located on the Bill's Bible Basics web server. To read these articles, simply click or tap on any link you see below.

Abomination of Desolation: Explained!
Are You Just a Baby Huey?
Elijah: Where Are the True Prophets of God?
Greater Works Than These Shall He Do . . . and Satan Too
Humility in Our Understanding of God's Word
In the Ages to Come
Jesus Christ's Return: Have We Been Deceived?
Leviathan: An Ancient Dragon of the Sea?
Modern False Prophets and Worldly Ecumenism
Who is Babylon the Great?
Satan: His Origin, Purpose And Future
Satan: King of Tyrus, King of Empires
Sorry . . . Jesus Is Not Coming At Any Moment
The Fruits of Disobedience
The Great Tribulation and the Rapture
The Misguided End of the World Predictions of Harold Camping
The Office of Prophets and Teachers
Tradition or Truth? Old Wine or New Wine?
When Was Satan Cast Out of Heaven?
Who Hindered the Antichrist?


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