TROY, MI – One of my earthly heroes has finished his mortal race. Jack Van Impe is safe in the arms of the Savior he loves.

The January 18 announcement on the Jack Van Impe Ministries website simply stated

“The beloved Dr. Jack Van Impe was welcomed into Heaven by His blessed Savior and Lord, who he had so faithfully served in ministry for over 70 years.

Please pray for his beloved wife and lifelong ministry partner Rexella and their families as they grieve this immense loss and for wisdom as she and the Board lead the ministry in the days ahead.”

One of the reasons Dr. Van Impe was one of my heroes was that he memorized tens of thousands of Bible verses. He learned entire books. And the chapter and verse locations! I was fascinated when attending his evangelistic crusades as he never had to hesitate to turn to a page in his Bible to read a text. He would cite the book, chapter, and verse, then quote it with vigor, never losing a moment to press his message home.

He changed my attitude about Bible verse memorization. The Lord used Jack Van Impe to show me that I was wrong when I had said that I could not memorize Scripture, especially chapter and verse numbers. His dedication to Scripture memorization earned him the tag, “The Walking Bible.”

Van Impe was raised in the decades where modernism and liberalism were creeping into the pulpits of Bible-believing churches. When the inerrancy of Scripture, the virgin birth of Jesus, and His bodily resurrection (among other things) were being challenged, Dr. Van Impe stood resolutely on the verbal, plenary inspiration of the Bible and the fundamental doctrines of the faith once delivered to the saints.

In recent years, Van Impe and his wife, Rexella, have been better known for their weekly television program, Jack Van Impe Presents. The 30-minute program focused primarily on Biblical prophecy through the lens of today’s headlines. Rexella would read excerpts from the latest news. Jack would follow, explaining how that news “reflected exactly the conditions predicted throughout the Bible for the last days of this age.” Dr. Van Impe would always close the program with an invitation for viewers to accept Jesus Christ’s gift of salvation. Jack Van Impe Presents was broadcast in as many as 25,000 cities across North America and 150 countries around the world.

Dr. Van Impe had an unshakeable trust in the accuracy of the Bible and his faith in Jesus. His unwillingness to compromise stoked ill feelings from some other ministry leaders. Regardless, Van Impe would not abandon his love for the purity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The latest broadcast of Jack Van Impe Presents was published on YouTube on January 17, the day before his homegoing. The program featured a rebroadcast of Dr. Van Impe’s teaching on “The Final Seven Signs” before a live audience. He appears in the studio at the end of the video in what may have been his final plea for people to come to the Savior.

Jack Van Impe was 88 years of age.

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