James McKeever

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The late '''James McKeever''' was the [[author]] of numerous [[evangelical]] [[Christian]] books, mostly with heterodox views on the [[End Times]].  

==Tribulation ready, not rapture ready==
One of his best known books was ''Christians Will Go Through the Tribulation: And How To Prepare For It'' published 1978, which made a case that the Christian scriptures do not support such doctrines as [[Dispensationalism]] or Christians being [[rapture]]d off the planet.  It contained large sections of material about [[survivalism]] to urge Christians to be prepared for tough times ahead.  

His other well known early book, also from 1978, was ''Close Encounters of the Highest Kind'', which used the film ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'' as a jumping off point for a discussion of [[UFO]]s, [[spiritual warfare]], [[demonic possession]], and the [[Holy Spirit]], including a verbatim transcript (complete with foul language) of an [[exorcism]].  As with most such evangelistic books, it ends with a [[salvation]] pitch for the reader to experience a close encounter of the ''highest'' kind by accepting Jesus into their life.

Several of his subsequent books (''Now You Can Understand the Book of Revelation'' (1980), ''The Coming Climax of History'' (1982), ''The Rapture Book'' (1987)), continued to expound his views about the End Times.  Among evangelical End Times books they seem reasonably "wise" and moderate,<ref>[http://www.amazon.com/Now-You-Understand-Book-Revelation/product-reviews/0931608074/ref=cm_cr_dp_all_helpful?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending See quotes from ''Now You Can Understand the Book of Revelation'']</ref> but that would almost be a given considering [[Mary Stewart Relfe|some of]] [[Harold Camping|the other]] [[Jack Van Impe|offerings]] [[Left Behind|in the genre]].  They engage in some gentle skepticism to counter [[Hal Lindsey]], and even display a penchant for critical reasoning.  However, his 1985 book ''The AIDS Plague'' didn't come across so wise or moderate as it cited almost 80 percent to [[Lyndon LaRouche]] publications and proposed that everyone carry a mandatory health card with their HIV status.  It is unclear why he went down that particular tangent.  He was not known for citing LaRouche publications before or since.  The book was wisely soon taken out of print.

==End Times overcomers and bondslaves==
His most distinctive, and most heterodox doctrine is that there will be a special category of believers during the End Times known as "overcomers" or "bondslaves" of [[Jesus|Christ]].  He wrote several books on the subject such as ''Become Like Jesus'' and ''You Can Overcome''.

According to this belief, there is a third stage of grace bestowed on believers, the first being [[salvation]] or the [[born again]] experience, the second being the [[Pentecostal]] experience of the "baptism of the Holy Spirit".  The third stage of grace is to become, through faith, a "bondslave" of Christ who is then bestowed with [[supernatural]] power.  These bondslaves have the ability to achieve the goal of becoming just like Jesus, losing their [[original sin]] nature, and will become the small number of "overcomers" referred to in the book of [[Book of Revelation|Revelation]] during the End Times.

This doctrine seems to be McKeever's own innovation, but it has some resemblance to the doctrine of sanctification held by the [[Holiness movement]], and to the End Time beliefs of [[Joel's Army]] and [[William Branham]].

==Financial newsletter==

James McKeever was also a financial writer by profession, and was associated for some time in the 1970s with [[libertarianism|libertarian]] [[sound money|hard money]] oriented newsletters along with Harry Browne, Harry Schultz, Howard Ruff, Don Stephens, Doug Casey, and so forth, before starting his own ''McKeever's Investment Strategy Letter'' with a more explicitly Christian slant.  An article in the left-wing ''New Internationalist'' magazine states that McKeever and Harry Schultz were partners with Las Vegas millionaire Michael J. Oliver and his Phoenix Foundation, which attempted to launch libertarian [[micronation]]s and [[secession]]ist movements during the 1970s.<ref>[http://www.newint.org/features/1981/07/01/phoenix/ Ashes to Ashes: Pacific Islands High Finance Pirates], ''New Internationalist'', July 1981</ref>  His 1981 book ''The Almighty and the Dollar'', later reissued as ''Financial Guidance for Christians'', had an introduction by [[Pat Robertson]] and advised Christians to get their financial advice ''only'' from fellow Christian believers,<ref group=Note>This is awful advice, considering all the greedy [[televangelist]]s begging for money and preaching the [[law of reciprocity]].  Should one take financial advice from ''them'' solely because they profess to be Christians?</ref> among which he recommended besides his own newsletter, the financial newsletters published by Don McAlvaney, [[Gary North]], and R.E. McMaster.

His books were all published by Omega Publications and distributed by Omega Ministries of Medford, Oregon, which has been renamed The Cutting Edge Ministries since his death (not to be confused with [[Cutting Edge Ministries]] of Lexington, South Carolina, which is infinitely more whacked).  Omega Publications also published Jim Spillman's ''The Great Treasure Hunt'', which inspired one John Brown to found [[Zion Oil and Gas]] drilling for oil in [[Israel]] based on texts in the [[Bible]].

==Notes==
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==References==
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Categories: Authors, Christians, Survivalism