Secular Fundamentalism and Profane Prophecy

While many secular scholars mock the prophetic writings of the Old and New Testaments as being irrational and fundamentalist, and too many Christians seemingly chime in by eschewing the idea of a literal fulfillment of such apocalyptic predictions, especially when it comes to great events like the Rapture of the Church (1 Cor. 15:51-52; 1 Thess. 4:13-18), the Great Tribulation (Jer. 30:1-7; Rev 6-19), the Second Coming of Christ (Matt 24:30-31; Rev 19:11-16), the glorious Millennial Messianic Kingdom of the future when the people of Israel will finally receive the full benefits of all of their covenants promised to them which will also bless the entire world beyond human imagination (Isa 2:1-4; Mic. 4:1-4; Rev 20:1-6), and the ultimate Eternal State in which there will be a new heavens and a new earth (Isa 66:22; Rev 21-22), perhaps it is time to look at this another way to illustrate why such notions are far more relevant than many might presume. Contrary to popular academic thinking, modernity would not exist without such an apocalyptic worldview. Modern man, and this is especially true of the academics, has imbibed deeply from such apocalyptic wells without the slightest consideration as to where this has all come from. He has placed his future hope in a man made eschaton where science and politics has been hotwired with eschatology by secularizing and profaning the Christian faith. In the process of so doing, he has converted himself into a secular fundamentalist that has been far more apocalyptic and barbaric than most Jihadists could ever imagine.

I am grateful for the fact that the bodily return of my Lord is thousands of years in the future. I want all my children to marry well, and experience the joys of having and raising children who anticipate a future as bright as the promises of God, children who are trained to think, and act, as those who overcome the world, since our Redeemer has overcome the world.

Strange how Christian fortune-tellers can only see doom and gloom ahead. Sad how this insane perspective on time makes folks who love Jesus eager to serve as unpaid cheerleaders for the other team, preaching a “gospel” only Satan could relish — God’s grace, power, and gifts aren’t good enough. The world is doomed, DOOMED, I tell you! to fall under the global triumph of evil.

Sad how a commitment to the triumph of evil blinds God’s people to His victories today.

Still, as long as God is faithful, even fortune-tellers will continue coming to their senses, and finding better things to do with their time and energy, for the glory of the reigning King.

Well, in the book of Deuteronomy, God promised to show His wrath to the third or fourth generation of those who hated Him -- and His mercies to a THOUSAND generations of those who serve Him. This promise was given 100 generations (4,000 years) ago -- so we have at least 900 generations (36,000 years) of history ahead of us. And a galaxy or three to explore! (see my tagline -- and this article! )

Argument B: Jesus is reigning now, and has hardly begun to fight!

God is at work. Our God reigns. Jesus is Lord. As we walk in faith, obey His call upon our lives, and serve our neighbor in word and deed, His enemies are defeated. One by one. Jesus will return when all enemies (but one) have been defeated. When the day comes that only death remains to mar human blessedness, Jesus will come back back to eliminate even that foe. IOW -- there are still too many butts that need to be kicked. The prevalence of the scatological ends implies the remoteness of the eschatological end.

Argument C: Fortune telling is bad for your spiritual health. Have you ever wondered why the doomsayers and fortune tellers can only see the worst when they use God's Word for a crystal ball? What do they gain by celebrating the glories of Satan's imagined triumph over the whole world? What kind of perverted glee can motivate the desire to read the global triumph of evil into the Bible -- when godly men who take His Word seriously see in it a plan for joyous and victorious living?

Will you be a spectator to end-time spectaculars? Or a humble, happy, participant in God's ongoing triumphal procession?

As far as I know, the traffic is only going one way. As godly men who honor His word get burned out on false prophecy after false prophecy, they eventually come to question the validity of fortune telling. And discover the joys of victorious living.

When I was 20 (and a ditzy dispensationalist), I was unable to think more than a week or two ahead. Now, as I approach my 59th birthday, I also prepare to defend a dissertation proposal -- and pray that God may make the next 30 years fruitful for His glory. Expectations shape your future.

Yes, God uses patterns. Check out this book, that I just discovered tonight.

HOWEVER -- the human mind is an analog device that is hard-wired to perceive patterns, whether they are there or not. Think of "the face on Mars."

Bad theology is a harsh taskmaster. Parents with a faulty doctrine of faith healing have watched their children die in diabetic comas. Injecting insulin would have sabotaged the faith they were trying to exert to heal their beloved son or daughter, you see.

Fortune-telling is bad theology, as is evident from its fruits. The cults, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, use fortune telling to make new recruits, and keep current members paralyzed with paranoia and dread of the future.[1] Gypsy fortune tellers know better than to have their own fortunes told. These professionals know, from contact with their customers, that the lust to peek into the future cripples the personality and life of the curious. The fortune-teller's customers are fatalistic, fearful, and impotent -- rather like the fundamentalist Christians who abandoned their God-given assignments (to serve as salt, light, and yeast) in order to push their heads up their fundaments, and play head-games of "pin the name on the Antichrist."

Do you have any idea what harm it does to the credibility of the gospel when we start pontificating about the future, making one bizarre, wild, prediction after another, that never comes to pass? One of the most prominent practitioners of Christian divination has a simple solution -- he recycles his books as each is overcome by time. Same story, but new faces, new places. He also recycles his marriages, perhaps for the same reason. God knows, I don't. But at last count, this "Christian teacher" and "prophecy expert" was on wife #4.

OK, so you think "prophecy teaching" is the exciting new kid on the block, the "relevant" application of God's Word that fits the times. Son, you ain't seen nuthin'. The "Jesus Movement" of 1970 was a genuine act of divine grace that was destroyed by its lust for "prophecy teaching." So, too, were the vocations of thousands of young people who took the apocalyptic hysteria seriously enough to act upon it. Until you drop out of college, drop out of the job market, bum around the country "living by faith" as a "full-time Christian minister" because "time is short" -- do not tell me the wonderful benefits of "prophecy" teaching. In some ways, 35 years later, I am still trying to catch up with a missed five-year window of opportunity. As I approach my 59th birthday, I still wrestle every day with a crippled work ethic and a penchant for short cuts, character defects that were deeply imprinted back then.

However, grace abounds in the neediest places. In 1980, a guy I'd led to Christ in 1970 returned the favor by giving me back my life in Christ, the sense of God's hand and favor and purpose upon me. Jimmie gave me a stack of books by the ArmEnian Calvinist, Rousas John Rushdoony. I discovered, to my surprise, that an uncompromising commitment to God's Word could coexist with optimism. After all, if God be for us, who can be against us? My life, family, vocation, and education have all been transformed by this new perspective on time. When I was 21, I was unable to think more than a week or two ahead. Next week, I am scheduled to defend a proposal for a dissertation that will, I hope, bring Turks to Jesus. The week after that, I just might celebrate my 59th birthday with a 59 mile bike ride. I've set my hand to a project that will, I believe, keep me fruitfully occupied for the next 30 years. Starting a new career, when my younger siblings are talking retirement ...

Your life is shaped by your expectations. If you expect God to hand over the whole world to the forces of evil, if you think global failure is God's will -- then it's hard to trust Him for personal victory. Trust me -- walking in victory is a LOT more fun!

AND you get to insult the fortune-tellers! Heaven knows, they need it! Especially when you think of what they have done to God's dear children.

[1] Leon Festinger coined the term cognitive dissonance to explain the willingness of cultists to be deceived. The cult he examined predicted the end of the world on a specific date. When that date came and went, the faith of most members was actually strengthened. Like the Millerites -- who put on their ascension robes and waited on hilltops for Jesus to come back in 1843. Today, the Seventh Day Adventists are some of the sweetest Christians you'll ever meet -- but they'll tell you Jesus stopped half-way in 1843 to catch up on His paperwork.

Tell me again, please, since I seemed to have missed it the first time.

How, exactly, does fortune-telling empower our witness, enhance our credibility, and enrich our lives? I seemed to have overlooked that interesting bit of data.

How, exactly, did a love for fortune-telling improve the lives of the Jehovah's Witnesses? Or the Millerites?

Do you have any idea how stupid it makes us look to the watching world as we pontificate, time after time, about stuff that never happens? Then we refuse to learn from our errors, and pontificate / prognosticate some more. Those who acquire a taste for fortune-telling keep going back to that poisoned well, like a dog returning to its vomit. Or, by the grace of God, they discover a new and amazing fact:

It doesn't matter what the future holds -- since we know the One who holds the future.

One more question: did the people who solemnly assured us that Soviet Communism was ordained to conquer the world prepare themselves for the day The Wall came down? Probably not -- if I recall correctly, these clowns immediately began a frantic search for another antichrist candidate to grovel/cower before. Meanwhile, post-mil Christians, who were hard-wired to expect victory in Jesus, took advantage of the open door.

It's dangerous to expect too little of God. That got the 10 faithless spies in trouble, you'll recall.

I look forward to comparing notes with you in another thousand years or so.

I place my faith -- not in the next 37,000 years -- but in the God who provides challenges and victories for every believer, and every generation. As we face new enemies, new aspects of His many-folded wisdom are revealed to the universe of angels and men. For example, it's no longer considered cool for white Christians to own black Christians. And there are churches, such as the one where I serve, that deliberately seek to look like the church in heaven, where people from every nation worship around the Throne.

It's helpful to realize that the Bible was written for us, but it was not written to us. John wrote to seven real churches in Anatolia. He gave the seven real churches in Anatolia the information they needed about the challenges they faced. He told the seven real churches in Anatolia about events that the seven real churches in Anatolia would soon face. He wrote about things that were about to happen soon -- to them. Their immediate future, our past. The information John gave the seven real churches in Anatolia was stuff the seven real churches in Anatolia could understand -- it was NOT sealed up for 2,000 years, just so you and I could play head games. Would God so deceive the seven real churches in Anatolia by pretending to address them, when He REALLY meant to be talking to us?

We would agree that much that goes on in the name of "prophecy" teaching is a disgrace to the name of the Lord we both love, and yearn to honor. Some "prophecy" teachers (like John Haggee) even assert that Jesus Christ is unnecessary -- you can be saved by your genetics and traditional religion.

Back to work ... thanks for the conversation!

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