Reconsidering David Gant's testimony
As I was praying yesterday, the name of David Gant flashed through my mind, as well as the idea of a 2,000-year gap from Christ’s first coming until His second coming, as believed by early century Christian leaders. David is the fellow who had a soul-saving and prophetic experience while trapped in an underwater Tennessee River cave for 20 hours in 1992. I first discovered and reported this incident in 1994, but for those not familiar, I will repeat it below, after this introduction.
By way of a brief summary, after David was gloriously saved in this cave, he felt such joy and peace that he actually asked the Lord to take him right then and not leave him in this world. Instead, David said he heard these audible words: "I want you to go and get your family ready to meet Me. Go tell the whole world that I am coming for my children before the year 2000."
Naturally, all who had heard this story were expecting the rapture before January 1, 2000, and were and puzzled when it did not happen. For those of who have analyzed the story and especially those who have spoken with David and have come to know him, we are convinced that he had a real and life-changing experience with the Lord in that cave. By the way, I found out later that this was the same cave on the Tennessee River where music star Johnny Cash had a life-changing experience with the Lord several years earlier.
I felt led to try to call David yesterday and was finally able to reach him last night in northern Alabama. Gracious and humble as always, he reaffirmed that he believed he had heard from God and said he was still looking for the rapture. I believe my calls to him every year or so are an encouragement to him, and I like to encourage people. He has been going through a personal struggle lately because some other logger cheated him out of $42,000. Please pray for David.
THE 2,000 YEARS
But what about his "message"? What about the 2,000 years? Could David have really heard from the Lord but we have not understood the message? I remembered that God often speaks in mysteries, especially about prophetic matters. Old Testament prophets probably understood little if anything that they wrote about the coming of Messiah or anything else.
I also remembered that 6,000 years of Bible history ends about the same time as 2,000 years since Christ. And early Christian writers held that at the end of 6,000 years of history, Christ would return and reign for 1,000 years. These included Barnabas (c. A.D. 100), Justin Martyr and Irenaeus (c. A.D. 150), Lactantius (c. A.D. 325), and Methodius, Bishop of Tyre (c. A.D. 300).
For example, Barnabas wrote: "As there had been 2,000 years from Adam to Abraham, and 2,000 from Abraham to Christ; so there will be 2,000 years for the Christian era and then would come the Millennium."
Typically, we have considered these 2,000 years to be modern, Gregorian years, and counted from the birth of Christ, but I am intrigued by the suggestion of some that they should properly be "God years" (prophetic, 360-day years) and counted from the crucifixion of Christ, not His birth. To convert 2,000 modern (365.24-day) years to "God years" (prophetic, 360-day years), you multiply 2,000 by 360, then divide by 365.24, which = 1971.3 years.
If we add the 1971.3 years to the date of the crucifixion, we may have the answer. However, the year of the crucifixion is very controversial. Very knowledgeable people smarter than I are persuaded beyond all doubt that the correct year was 30 A.D., or 31, or 33, or whatever. If we assume it was one of those years, we have a window of 2001 to 2004. For example, 1971.3 + 31 A.D. = 2002. Adding the 0.3 to the actual month/day of the crucifixion no doubt takes us closer.
CONCLUSION
My point is that if David really did hear from the Lord, the proper interpretation may not have been intended for our Gregorian calendar but based on the "God years" (360-day years) since the crucifixion ("before 2,000 prophetic years have passed"). If so, we may yet see the word to David come to pass, and very soon.
Below is the account of David’s experience.
God bless you,
Jim
THE DAVID GANT STORY
On March 19, 1994, I received information on a first-person spiritual experience. It is about David Gant of Bryant, Alabama, a logging company owner. I have talked with both David and his wife personally, and also his mother, and am totally convinced of his credibility. His story of being trapped in an underwater cave for 20 hours, then miraculously rescued, received international secular news coverage in August of 1992. But virtually all the media ignored and omitted the most significant part of the story -- how God actually visited David in that cave, saved and cleansed his soul, then gave him a startling message to tell the world! Here is a summary of David's 20-hour ordeal and divine encounter.
David Gant got lost while scuba diving with two friends, looking for catfish, in underwater caves in the Tennessee River during the night of August 15-16, 1992. His two friends got out safely. David's air supply was very limited, but he found a small, 18-inch high air pocket and clung to a stalactite for 14 hours, trusting in his own ability to somehow get out. Finally, he decided he was going to die and he prayed for the Lord to save his soul. He had been brought up in the church but had turned from God at about age 15. David is age 33 now (that was in 1994).
At the very moment his prayer was finished, the presence of God strongly came into the cave with him and he began to sense what felt like a hand go down into his heart and center of his being. The hand withdrew full of the evil that was within him. David said as it came out he has never felt better, cleaner and happier in his whole life. He was ecstatic with joy. The hand did it again, and his feeling doubled. Then again. Then the Lord actually turned him over and baptized him in the same water! David knew that God had saved him, and was so joyful and peaceful that he asked the Lord to take him and not leave him in this world.
Instead, the Lord spoke to him very clearly and said: "I want you to go and get your family ready to meet Me." Then he said, "Go tell the whole world that I am coming for my children before the year 2000." The message was clear and without question.
The Lord then gave David a vision of his rescue -- being found, coming out in a boat, finding a crowd of hundreds on shore waiting for him, giving his testimony. Six hours later, David was rescued, just like as it was detailed in the vision. And as in the vision, David told the crowd about what God had done, and His "message." David's life has totally changed.
In obedience, David has shared this message in many churches and meetings. The 700 Club produced and aired a feature on David's experience in May, 1994.
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