Posted on 03/18/2011 8:51:43 AM PDT by Gamecock
The Bible cautions believers against speculating about the date and time of the Apocalypse, although current world events and calamities seem to invite such conjecture. There are the uprisings in the Middle East. In Japan, the tsunami and earthquake disasters are fueling nuclear fears. And then the nuttiness of clergymen fitting Luther’s definition of “false clerics and schismatic spirits” reminds us that Christ listed some signs of the looming end of times, for example the appearance of many bogus prophets. The Rev. Steve Fawler, part-time rector of St. Stephen’s Episcopal church in Ferguson, Missouri, might just fit this rubric.
Fawler decided to “give up church for Lent,” and to adopt Muslim rituals and dietary rules for the 40 days until Easter. Thankfully, his bishop threatened to defrock him if he continued this practice, which manifestly confirms a Roman verity that preceded Christianity: Whom the gods want to destroy they first make mad. As Bishop George Wayne Smith told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “He can’t be both a Christian and a Muslim. If he chooses to practice as Muslim, then he would, by default, give up his Christian identity and priesthood in the church.”
If the times weren’t so dire it would be fun to spin Fawler’s rationale further: How about giving up love for marriage in Lent? How about giving up death for funerals, or birth for adolescence, or motherhood for fatherhood? One must cheer the bishop for trying to maintain theological sanity, which isn’t easy in today’s religious environment where major denominations are degenerating into post-Christian neo-Gnostic sects, to wit the joint celebration of the Eucharist by Episcopalians and Hindus three years ago in Los Angeles, or a same-sex wedding in a sanctuary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), also in southern California. The most titillating moment during this betrothal came when the woman pastor placed a consecrated host on the tongue of a seeing-eye dog; it is worth remembering in this context that according to Lutheran sacramental theology communicants receive Christ’s true body and blood “in with and under” the bread and the wine.
Taken by itself, the emergence of Gnostic sects is of course insufficient evidence for the imminence of Judgment Day. Gnosticism, a set of diverse syncretistic religious movements, has been around since antiquity and a huge threat to the early Church; yet the Church prevailed. St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430) was a Gnostic before his conversion to Christianity in 386 A.D.; be became one of the most important Fathers of the Church.
Spurious end-time prophecies also have a long track record. As Anglican theologian and philosophy professor Gerald R. McDermott points out, Christians in the days of Pope Gregory the Great at the end of the sixth century thought that Judgment Day was nigh when the Lombards, a northern Germanic tribe, invaded present-day Italy. In the 16th century, Martin Luther was certain that the Apocalypse would occur in his lifetime or shortly thereafter. Later less formidable characters obtained their 15 minutes of glory, to paraphrase Andy Warhol, by prophesying precise dates for Christ’s return (parousia), never mind that Jesus said in Matthew 24:25 that nobody could know the time and day.
In 1856, the prophetess of the Seventh-Day Adventists, Ellen G. White, reported that an angel had announced to her the nearness of Christ’s return. The angel, she said, told her what would happen to most people: “Some (will become) food for worms, some subjects for the seven last plagues.” Also in the mid-19th century, Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, predicted that Jesus would be back within 56 years.
Then in the 1970s and 1980s, Hal Lindsay achieved notoriety by informing his millions of readers that 1988 would be the year of the parousia; well, it turned out it wasn’t. This list can be continued ad infinitum and include the fear-mongering forecasters of the impending Rapture.
The craze to hypothesize about the end of time or even advance this event by human means, which according to Martin Luther is the ultimate form of utopianism, spills over to other religions as well. In Japan in the 1980s, a semi-blind charlatan by the name of Shoko Asahara founded a “neo-Buddhist” sect called Aum Shinri-Kyo. It recruited primarily graduates of leading universities and gained worldwide infamy by producing huge amounts of Kalashnikov rifles and developing chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction. In 1995, they set off a sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system killing 12, injuring 54 and affecting thousands of others, a misdeed for which Asahara was sentenced to the gallows; he is now awaiting his execution.
What was that all about? In an interview one of his top lieutenants told me that it was the purpose of this crime to trigger World War III between Japan and the United States, which would result in the destruction of the universe. Why would a bunch of young scientists wish to do that? “Well,” he said, “the Lord Shiva has commanded us to give him a helping hand;” Shiva is the destroyer in the Hindu trinity. When he’s done, Brahma, the Creator, would be able to begin a new cycle of creation.
So here we had a “Buddhist” sectarians killing in behalf of a Hindu god, and to top the syncretistic madness, they explained this in Christian terminology. With his hands on a Bible, Asahara’s white-robed henchman informed me that he and his co-religionists were Christ’s soldiers in the Battle of Armageddon. But who was Christ to them? “An incarnation of Shiva, the god of destruction,” he said.
All this would be hilarious if it weren’t so deadly and in total contradiction of what Scripture is saying. It is possible, suggests Gerald McDermott, that calamities such as the current disaster in Japan, are a warning or even temporal punishment from God. In fact, a prominent devotee of the Shinto religion suggested the same thing. “The character of the Japanese people is selfish. The Japanese people must take advantage of this tsunami to wash away their selfish greed. I really do think this is divine punishment,” Shintaro Ishihara, governor of Tokyo, told a press conference.
As for the ultimate Day of Judgment, the Christ’s message is clear: repent and be watchful! “If you are not watchful, I will come like a thief, and you will never know at what hour I will come upon you” (Revelation 3:3).
Ping list worthy?
Worth reading, considering all that is going on right now.
No it doesn't. It tells us to watch for the signs of it.
No man knoweth the day or the hour. In the mean time, do the right thing every day and every hour.
Amen!
There are warnings on top of warnings and even what to do (e.g. head for the hills).
It tells us to watch for the signs of it.
And not to speculate.
The two are not contradictory. Predicting the date makes Christians look silly.
That happened already. Rome destroyed Israel. Jesus promised that would happen in the lifetime of those who heard his words.
Amen!
BS - Use your brain man/woman ...
Great Christian witness you have going there...
In recognition of that which can't be changed, have a great life friend ...
Nice try, I don’t attack people, I critizize doctrine and those who protect criminals.
Thanks for the post. I’m preaching on 2 Peter 3:1-10 on the Lord’s Day (Going through 2 Peter). I’ve titled it “Last Days Madness,” title supplied by Gary DeMar’s book. You’ve given me some more failed predictions.
TT
Yes, there are a few “kooks” who are actually setting an exact date, but most believers are being watchful, and discerning that indeed we are in the “end times”. Yes, no man can know the hour, but we can certainly know, and are commanded to discern the season.
Actually, the "be alert" warnings were addressed to those who heard our Lord in first-century Israel. The prophecies of Jesus concerning the end of the Jewish dispensation were fulfilled in 70 AD -- and those who heeded His warnings escaped with their lives.
We, today, look back upon the fulfilled prophecies of our Lord with grateful assurance that the one unfulfilled prophecy -- the final resurrection -- will take place as scheduled. Not to worry.
God already knows what is going to happen and when...what does it matter if man knows? We’re certainly no going to change it.
Didn’t those that escaped with their lives, still die?
Yes, of course, and so will we.
The difference is, they were spared the hell of a collapsing culture, where three implacable sects slaughtered one another day and night, where cannibalism, even of one's own children, happened. Those who heard and headed our Lord's prophecies were spared the certainty of doom that grew increasingly clear as the last days of Temple Judaism closed in. Read The Jewish War by turncoat Jewish soldier Flavius Josephus for the details. A thousand or so would-be escapees a day were crucified on the berm surrounding Jerusalem, and expired within earshot of friends and kin inside the damned, doomed, and dying city. Then, a Roman spied one Jewish escapee picking swallowed gold coins out of his dung -- and future escapees were disemboweled, to find other such hidden treasures.
Life, even under the direst conditions, is bearable if sustained by a sense of community, a sense of purpose. Israel had neither by then, just the gloomy conviction that they'd missed their window of opportunity, and the bills had come due, that the blood of all the prophets was being required of that generation, that moment in time. So -- the godly, the faithful, the believers, escaped with their lives -- and with God's blessing upon them. They were spared the hideous tribulation unfolding within the seething cauldron of Jerusalem's walls.
Signs of the Close of the Age
Matthew 24v3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?” 4 And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.
The 10 deadliest earthquakes in recorded history
1: Shensi, China, Jan. 23, 1556 - Magnitude about 8, about 830,000 deaths.
2: Tangshan, China, July 27, 1976 - Magnitude 7.5. Official casualty figure is 255,000 deaths. Estimated death toll as high as 655,000.
3: Aleppo, Syria, Aug. 9, 1138 - Magnitude not known, about 230,000 deaths.
4: Sumatra, Indonesia, Dec. 26, 2004 - Magnitude 9.1, 227,898 deaths.
5: Haiti, Jan 12, 2010 -
Magnitude 7.0. According to official estimates, 222,570 people killed.
6: Damghan, Iran, Dec. 22, 856 - Magnitude not known, about 200,000 deaths.
7: Haiyuan, Ningxia , China, Dec. 16, 1920 - 7.8 magnitude, about 200,000 deaths.
8: Ardabil, Iran, March. 23, 893 - Magnitude not known, about 150,000 deaths
9: Kanto, Japan, Sept. 1, 1923 - 7.9 magnitude, 142,800 deaths.
10: Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Oct. 5, 1948 - 7.3 magnitude, 110,000 deaths.
Death Toll over 1,000,000 in wars
World War II - 72,000,000
Second Sino-Japanese War - 36,000,000
An Shi Rebellion China -60,000,000
Mongol Conquests - 25,000,000
Qing dynasty conquest of the Ming Dynasty - 30,000,000
Taiping Rebellion - 65,000,000
World War I -20,000,000
Conquests of Timur Middle East, India, Central Asia, Russia - 12,000,000
Dungan revolt China - 9,000,000
Russian Civil War - 5,400,000
Second Congo War - 6,500,000
Napoleonic Wars - 11,500,000
Thirty Years’ War - Holy Roman Empire - 7,000,000
Yellow Turban Rebellion - 4,000,000
Deluge Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - 3,500,000
Korean War - 6,020,000
Vietnam War - 4,000,000
French Wars of Religion - 2,000,000
Shaka’s conquests - 2,000,000
Second Sudanese Civil War - 9,000,000
Crusades - 2,000,000
Iran–Iraq War - 2,000,000
9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. 10 And then many will fall away [1] and betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.
Soli Deo Gloria!
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