Christian televangelist and popular End Times preacher Jack van Impe has passed away at 88, as was confirmed on his ministry website.
For more than 30 years, Van Impe appeared
on TV as the host of his own half-hour show, Van Impe Presents, a show focused
on commentary on current events.
Well known for his half-hour weekly
television series Jack Van Impe Presents, an eschatological commentary on the
news of the week through an interpretation of the Bible. The program airs
around the world through both religious broadcasters and the purchase of paid
programming time on commercial television stations.
He was known as the “Walking Bible,” having memorized most of the King James Version of the Bible. His wife, Rexella, shared his TV ministry as co-host.
Jack Van Impe believed in one particular
interpretation of the literal meaning of the Bible (King James version) that
states, according to Revelation 13, that a single world political leader (The
Beast) and a single world religious leader (the False Prophet) will emerge, but
The Rapture will happen before either leader comes to power. He believed that
the Bible teaches that the world will be organized into ten political
subdivisions, based on the ten-district plan set up by the Club of Rome and
that this ten-division world empire will be jointly ruled by the European Union
and the Islamic world, which he believed are represented by the two iron legs
of the prophetic dream statue in the Book of Daniel.
Van Impe believed in the Prophecy of the
Popes, and that according to said prophecy, Pope Francis is Peter the Roman,
the predicted pope who will preside during Armageddon.
Van Impe preached a Pre-Tribulation Rapture
of ‘The Body of Christ’ and also said a one-world religion will form, named
“Chrislam”; the joining of the world’s two largest religions
(Christianity and Islam). He believed that the Bible states that the world
political leader will “come in peaceably” (per Daniel 11:21) and
create a seven-year peace deal involving Israel (per Daniel 9:27). Then, three
and a half years into the peace, Russia (the interpreted meaning of ‘Rosh’ from
Ezekiel 38:2 and 39:1; Van Impe also identified Meshech and Tubal from the same
passages as Moscow and Tobolsk respectively), along with its Middle Eastern
allies (‘Persia, Cush, and Put’, from Ezekiel 38:5), will break the peace by
invading Israel, according to Ezekiel 38, and the military of Russia and its
allies will be decimated by nuclear warfare and pushed back to Siberia.
Then China (the interpreted meaning of
‘kings from the east’ from Revelation 16:12) will invade, and the military of
China will likewise be decimated when Jesus returns.
In June 2011, Trinity Broadcasting Network
refused to air an episode of “Jack Van Impe Presents” which criticized
Robert Schuller and Rick Warren for promoting “Chrislam.” In
response, Van Impe ceased airing his show on TBN.