End Times Prophecy Expert, TBN Host Grant Jeffrey Dead at 64
Correction appended
Grant Jeffrey, a Canadian Bible teacher known as an expert on Bible prophecies, an advocate of dispensationalism and host of TBN's "Bible Prophecy Revealed," passed away over the weekend after a cardiac arrest. He was 63.
"He is now without pain, he is healed and now with his Heavenly Father. He will be missed sorely," reads a statement published on the Grant Jeffrey Ministries website. The funeral will be held in Toronto, at a location to be announced soon, ministry officials said.
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Jeffrey was hospitalized in Toronto, Canada, on May 7, in critical condition. The ministry said in a statement Saturday that Jeffrey died after suffering a cardiac arrest Friday night. He is survived by his wife Kaye, with whom he had been in full-time ministry since 1988.
Though a controversial figure, Jeffrey was popular and had many followers.
His 27 books, both fiction and non-fiction, were translated into 24 languages and sold an estimated seven million copies worldwide, according to the ministry. They were put out by giant publishing houses like Harper Collins, Zondervan and Bantam. Some of the best-selling titles include those focusing on prophecies, like Armageddon, Prince of Darkness, Final Warning or Countdown to Apocalypse, but also others, like Finding Financial Freedom (Jeffrey was an accredited financial expert) and The War on Terror (politics and history were other topics he indulged in). Among the latest titles are The Next World War, Shadow Government and The Global Warming Deception.
His novel based on prophetic theories, By Dawn's Early Light, co-authored by Angela Hunt, received a Christy Award for the Best Prophetic Fiction novel of 1999. The same year another of Jeffrey's books, The Millennium Meltdown, reached second on Publishers Weekly's bestseller list for religious paperbacks.
Jeffrey was working on a new book, One Nation Under Attack, at the time of his passing. It was to be released next year.
The popular author was a dispensationalist, who believes the Rapture – where the church will be caught up to meet Jesus – will occur right before a period of great tribulation; afterward, Jesus will return again with the saints for his final manifestation and reign for a thousand years.
He has argued, "Some critics have claimed that those who teach the hope of the pretribulation rapture are leaving Christians unprepared for the possibility of the coming persecution of the Tribulation period. However, in thirty-five years of teaching Bible prophecy, I have not witnessed pretribulation Rapture teachers instructing Christians that they are immune from end-time persecution. The prophecy teachers, myself included, who believe God promises that Christians will escape 'wrath of God' in the Tribulation often warn believers that persecution is coming, even in North America, if the Lord tarries much longer."
Other roles he has served in include chairman of Frontier Research Publications, Inc., for more than 20 years; public speaker at prophecy conferences around the world; part-time teacher of eschatology at several colleges; and host of the 30-minute show "Bible Prophecy Revealed" on TBN since 2007, which was broadcast twice a week. The show explored "the fascinating prophecies that point to the soon return of Jesus Christ" and demonstrated "the supernatural nature of the Scriptures." He also appeared often as a guest on other TV and radio shows.
The author embarked on multiple research trips to the Middle East and held interviews with military and intelligence experts, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres.
Jeffrey's passion for research led him to acquire a personal library of over 7,000 books on prophecy, theology and biblical archeology.
He earned a Master's Degree and a PhD in Biblical Studies from Louisiana Baptist University. Previously, the minister and televangelist was "a professional in the financial planning and insurance brokerage field" for 18 years, according to the ministry. Jeffrey held a Chartered Life Underwriter degree (law, pensions, accounting) from the University of Toronto extension program, earned in 1982.
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Correction: Monday, June 4, 2012:
An article on May 15 about the death of Grant Jeffrey incorrectly reported that he died at age 64. He was 63.
