The end of the world

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The end of the world

By Jane Lampman | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

When David got home from school, the third grader looked everywhere for his mom and sisters. They couldn't be found in the house or the yard. Suddenly the youngster panicked. What he'd been taught in church must have happened - they'd disappeared in the "rapture," and he'd been "left behind." For children raised in a fundamentalist Protestant background, "that wasn't an uncommon experience," says David Currie of his frantic moments years ago. They were taught Jesus could come at any moment to whisk believers to heaven and leave others to face seven years of "the great tribulation." Only after that period of suffering, violence, and disasters on Earth would Christ return in the Second Coming.
Today, as belief in this end-times prophecy sees a resurgence among Americans - partly because of the phenomenal success of the "Left Behind" series of novels (58 million sold) and the disturbing "signs" of terrorism and war - Mr. Currie and others are seeking to refute the apocalyptic theology.
Fundamentalists represent a minority of Christians - an estimated 25 million - but the interest in end-times prophecy has spread beyond their circles, and is not only shaping people's lives, but, say supporters and critics, even influencing US foreign policy.
A 2002 survey showed that 59 percent of Americans believe that the events in the Bible book of Revelation will occur in the future.
The theology behind end-time prophecy - premillennial dispensationalism (from the idea that God has divided history into ages, or dispensations) - emerged in 19th-century England. It was brought to America by missionary John Nelson Darby and spread at evangelistic conferences.
While believers say it spurs righteous living and helps discern God's plan for the world, others see it as fostering a skewed sense of history and of what Christianity is about.
Rather than the single Second Coming of Christ expected by other Christians, it presents a two-stage return of Jesus, with the plagues and catastrophes depicted in Revelation literally to take place on Earth in between. The current "church age" will end with the rapture, when Jesus will take true Christians to heaven, and the rest of humanity will face the outpouring of God's wrath, designed to turn them to Him. Many insist it will occur within a generation.
"I know people who have sold their houses and lived with relatives because they thought the world would soon come to an end," Currie says. "I know others who've cut their education short because they thought it more important to witness to people than to get their degree."
After becoming a missionary and preaching the rapturist prophecy, Currie eventually came to a very different conclusion - that this teaching was not true, and is not in the Bible.
Premillennialism is not consistent with Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, or mainline Protestant teaching - but it has been avidly promoted by televangelists and on Christian radio for decades. And one 2002 poll found that more Americans experience the Christian faith through radio, television, or books than by attending church.
The Left Behind series of novels, which begins with the rapture (with planes and cars crashing as Christians disappear) and carries through the tribulation years to Armageddon and the Second Coming, is a blend of fast-paced violence, catastrophes, miracles, and heartfelt faith.
According to end-times teaching, Bible prophecies in Daniel, Revelation, and elsewhere apply literally to current events (there is much debate over who the Antichrist is) and are the key to understanding world history. Other fundamental points are that the state of Israel is central to God's plan for the end times, and Jesus' return is imminent.
"He could come tomorrow, and that grips my life and changes the way I live," says Mark Hitchcock, pastor of Faith Bible Church in Edmond, Okla. "It encourages holy living and evangelism."
Currie, who has become a Catholic, says thousands of young Catholics have been won over to fundamentalist churches through rapture theology.
Barbara White, a Jewish African-American mortician from Buffalo, N.Y., was "saved" at age 7 by a pastor "who was heavy on the rapture." It shapes her whole life.
"The priority is time - every day I cram five days into that day because of the sense of urgency," she says. "I feel I have to love every day, encourage someone every day." She has also become pastor of an interdenominational church.
Those who dispute the theology, however, say it often encourages fatalism and escapism. A prominent premillennialist, Dwight L. Moody, famously asked, "Why polish the brass on a sinking ship?"
Barbara Rossing, who teaches the New Testament at Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, gets calls for help from pastors with congregation members who are avid readers of the Left Behind series. She tells of a friend who mentored a confirmation student at her church who'd read all the novels.
"As my friend talked with her about world problems, the student said, 'I don't have to worry about that because I'm going to be raptured before things get too bad,' " Dr. Rossing says. "People think they don't have to worry about the environment or other situations because God is going to take them away from it."
She recalls the stir during her own college years three decades ago, when Hal Lindsey's "The Late Great Planet Earth," which predicted the end of the world in 1988, sold millions of copies.
"I can relate to the fear teenagers feel and the yearning to know what God's plan is and not be left behind," Rossing adds. So she's written a book, "The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation," to be released in April. "I'm trying to offer an alternative way of understanding God's presence in the world."
She and Currie - who has written "Rapture: The End-Times Error That Leaves the Bible Behind" - explore the Bible sources for rapturist theology, aiming to demonstrate that it's a modern literalist interpretation based on selective passages taken out of context.
While some have experienced the fundamentalist teaching as fear- driven, others find comfort in it. Tim LaHaye, who created the Left Behind series to spread the theology, described in a Monitor interview last year what sparked his intense focus on prophecy.
When Mr. LaHaye was 9, his father died. The bereaved boy was inconsolable. "Then the minister at the funeral said these words: 'This is not the end of Frank LaHaye; because he accepted Jesus, the day will come when the Lord will shout from heaven and descend, and the dead in Christ will rise first and then we'll be caught up together to meet him in the air," LaHaye recalled. "All of a sudden, there was hope in my heart I'd see my father again."
LaHaye has since built an industry around the rapture theology, including the fiction series (the final volume comes out March 30), a Left Behind kids series, a prophecy club on the Web, nonfiction prophecy books, a new series of novels, and a Pre-Trib[ulation] Research Center.
Mr. Hitchcock, the Oklahoma pastor, is active in the movement and is coauthoring a new book, "The Truth Behind Left Behind," to respond to critics.
He doesn't agree with colleagues who predict dates for the rapture, or those who are against trying to improve a world they expect to only get worse. "This is not a monolithic movement," he says. "You find people who are separatistic, and people who are very involved."
In fact, the involvement of premillennialists in politics is stirring concern among some observers. As the religious right has become more prominent in political circles, critics say, they are influencing and even undermining US policy on the Israeli- Palestinian conflict.
Dispensationalists are also called Christian Zionists, and since the 19th century have supported the "regathering of the Jews" in the Holy Land, which they say is an essential step toward the end times. It also says the temple will be rebuilt on the Temple Mount, where the Muslim Dome of the Rock now stands.
Hitchcock says the return of Jews to Israel is "a stage-setting event for the tribulation period, when God's going to deal again with the Jewish people," giving them a last chance to recognize Jesus as Messiah.
In the meantime, dispensationalists believe that, according to Genesis, God will bless those who bless the Jews and curse those who curse them. They are therefore among Israel's staunchest supporters, backing its "ownership" of the entire West Bank. They have raised money in churches to support illegal settlements.
Don Wagner, who teaches religion and Middle East studies at North Park University in Chicago, points to specific examples of Christian Zionists' political influence: When President Bush started to call on Israel to pull the military back from Jenin refugee camp in 2002, they helped mobilize 100,000 e-mails to the White House; the president never said another word in public. And when Mr. Bush started pushing his latest peace plan, House leader "Tom DeLay headed off to Israel to speak to the Knesset and told them not to worry about it," he adds.
Dr. Wagner says that Christian Zionists are ignoring and undermining indigenous Christians in the Middle East, many of whom are descendants of the earliest Christians. A Palestinian Christian center, Sabeel, will hold a conference this spring, "Challenging Christian Zionism."
What distresses some other Christians is that the fixation on prophecy can lead genuine seekers astray about what Christianity teaches.
"Now if you talk to a man on the street he'll think Christians believe in a God who is quixotic, plays games with humanity, and is going to cheerfully zap flight crews out of planes and see the planes crash," says Paul Maier, professor of ancient history at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. "How do you counteract that?"
To challenge the prophecy buffs, he recently published "More Than a Skeleton," a theological thriller about what happens when a man appears in contemporary Israel who begins to say and do the same things Jesus did.
Rossing agrees with the power of storytelling. "What these [Left Behind] novels are fulfilling is the hunger to see God in the world, and they point to earthquakes, wars, and plagues like SARS," she says. "We need to help people see God's presence in other ways - in stories of healing and love and justice.
And Bush caters to these people.

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yes...i have long suspected the rapture theory to be damaging...i hold to amillinialism myself....

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As long as they don't insist on taking me down with them, they can think whatever they want.

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I agree with the misconceptions - Here's a couple verses on the antichrist & some info on the end prophecies

1 John 4:3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

Rev 13:16-18 He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666

Rev 14:9-10 A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: "If anyone worships and beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink of the wine of God's fury.....

Rev 12: 11-12 They overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.

Prophecy-

In order for a prophecy to show evidence of divine inspiration, it must have info that the person speaking or writing the prophecy could not have known by natural means. One way is for the prophecy to occur prior to the prophesied event. Therefore, it is important to first show that the 39 books of the Old Testament are truly ancient. We know that the Old Testament scriptures were written before the time of Jesus Christ because He frequently quoted from them

The Bible was written by about 40 different writers scattered over a period of about 1500 years. The writers could not have collaborated on the effort, since they lived in different periods of time. Yet the Bible has the unity of a book written by one Author. There are many prophecies in the Old Testament, going as far back as Genesis, which prophesy things which will not be completed until the future events described in the book of Revelation take place. Are we supposed to believe that the Old Testament prophets each decided to write the beginning of a great story and then said, "Maybe in a thousand years or so, someone will come along and write a good ending to this?" That would be ridiculous. No man would decide to do that on his own, much less a large group of men who did not know each other or even live at the same time.

There are hundreds of prophecies in the Bible. Many have already been fulfilled. For example, Daniel prophesied the coming of the Medo-Persian, Greek, and Roman empires, Alexander the Great, and the details of many military battles-- plus many other prophecies are still awaiting their fulfillment

Prophecies that we may see the fulfillment being set up today:

(Sorry for the long explanations of each prophecy but I wanted to be sure and get as much relevant information as possible - I'm not going 2 write everything because it would take up waaaay to much room- pm me if you want more info Smile

)

***- Jerusalem to be a burdensome stone for all people,-------In 520 BC, more than 500 years before the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ, God said in Zechariah 12:2-3,

"Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it."

There was no political or religious contention over the city of Jerusalem at the time. 500 years before Christianity and 1200 years before Islam, the tiny nation of Israel had just rebuilt Jerusalem from the ruins of the Babylonian conquest. Israel was a tiny nation of less than 50,000 men who had returned from Babylon (Ezra 2:64), a shadow of the ancient glory days.

Since then Jerusalem has been conquered and has changed hands more than 30 times. Jerusalem has been swapped between the Medo-Persians, Greeks, Romans, Turks, Egyptians, Moslems, European Crusaders, and others repeatedly over the last 2500 years. Much of the warring over Jerusalem has been provoked by two errant theologies that came into being around 1000 years after the prophecy above was given. One came from the Moslems who claim that Mohammed ascended to heaven from the temple mount in Jerusalem, which they now claim as an Islamic holy site. That is where they built the Dome of the Rock. The other is replacement theology, a doctrine teaching that the Gentile Christian churches have forever replaced Israel in God's eyes. This teaching was used to fuel the crusades and much anti-Semitism.

In 1996, Israel made plans to proceed with building a new housing subdivision on a barren hillside in East Jerusalem. The Palestinians and Moslem nations were outraged. The European Union wanted in on the negotiations, and updates were broadcast on worldwide television every day. How incredible! Virtually anywhere else in the world, the addition of a new subdivision would do good to get an occasional mention in the local paper. This is not an isolated incident, when Israel broke through an 18 inch wall of rock to create a doorway at the end of a tunnel near the Wailing Wall, it made headlines worldwide. It produced a severe outcry from the Palestinians, and was followed shortly by a retaliatory bombing that killed more than 50 people. Just try to imagine the fury that will be unleashed if Israel were to attempt to rebuild the temple on the same hill as the Islamic Dome of the Rock! God said in the Bible, "all the people of the earth be gathered together against it."

Another interesting note is found in Zechariah 14:1-3, "Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle." Note that prior to 1967, this prophecy could not have been fulfilled, since Israel did not have possession of the city of Jerusalem. In the 1967 war with the Arab nations, Israel took back Jerusalem for the first time in nearly 2000 years.

***- the people of Israel to be regathered to the land of Israel,------------Just as the scattering of the the people of Israel was prophesied, the Bible also prophesied that the people of Israel would be regathered to the land of Israel.

"... the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee" (Deuteronomy 30:3).

"... Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel" (Ezekiel 17:11).

In 1948, Israel became an independent nation for the first time since the Babylonian takeover in 606 BC (more than 2500 years). In the 1990's around half a million Jews have returned to Israel from the former Soviet Union. Hebrew, the language of the Old Testament has been revived. By 300 BC the language of the Jews had changed from Hebrew to Aramaic and Greek. Hebrew had remained an unspoken and dead language until recently. Dead for about 2200 years, in 1948, it was proclaimed the national language of Israel. Today there are around 5 million Jews in the land of Israel, about one third of the estimated total number in the world. There are still about 5 million in the United States and about another 5 million scattered around the rest of the world, but mostly in the former Soviet Union, where there is still of steady stream of Russian Jews returning to Israel.

***- the sacrificial system of worship in the temple to be resumed,--------The Bible prophesied that Israel in the end-times would be under the Mosaic law including worship in the rebuilt temple (Daniel 9:27, Matthew 24:15, and Revelation 11:1). Recently the orthodox Jews of Israel have been gaining much greater political power in Israel. In the wake of the 1999 elections, the different religious factions hold a large number of the 120 positions in the Knesset, Israel's legislature. The two largest secular political parties, Labor and Likud, must work to appease them and create alliances in order to establish a majority in the government. As a result, the religious parties were able to secure 5 cabinet posts in the new government. Also, most all businesses and many streets are now closed on the Sabbath in Israel in observance of the day of rest. Many of the ancient bowls, utensils, and other artifacts used in the ancient worship in Israel have been either made or uncovered by archeologists. New priestly robes have been designed and now hang in the closets, and a group of young Israeli men have already been selected to carry out the priestly duties. Groups of orthodox Jews have gone so far as to make blueprints for the new temple

***-a mark in the right hand or forehead to be required to buy or sell, --------- Revelation 13:16-18, verse is at top. For the first time in 1900 plus years since this book was written, we now have the technology to do this. A tiny chip could be placed under the skin of ones hand that contained identification plus medical and financial records. Purchases would be made by electronic transfer without the use of cash. In addition, this could serve as a global positioning device, so someone could track one's position within a few feet, anywhere on the planet. The idea is sure to sell--- A cashless society could solve muggings, the drug trade, and tax evasion. We can't presume for sure, that this chip will be the vehicle through which the mark of the beast will be given, but it would effectively perform the function. There is also talk of the New World Order in it's planning phases / one world government. I actually think the idea is good so I'm hoping this is not the avenue of the mark! The bible tells us to be wise and decifer the mark of the beast - big difference from assuming that anything put on the body by a gov. agency is the mark u know?

-**tribulation ------In Matthew 24:22, Jesus Christ prophesied about the coming great tribulation "... except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved ...." The rider of the red horse in Revelation 6:4 takes "... peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword." The red horse is followed by the black horse of famine in verses 5-6.

Sorry so long, I'm going 2 bed

~Kristin

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kristin, welcome to A2K!

i'm glad you are a Christian! I am as well!

i'm curious how you interpret 2nd peter 3:10...
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

i'm sure you know we should always interpret difficult scripture in light of clear scripture....are you familar with amillenialism??

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micah wrote:

kristin, welcome to A2K!

i'm glad you are a Christian! I am as well!

i'm curious how you interpret 2nd peter 3:10...
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

i'm sure you know we should always interpret difficult scripture in light of clear scripture....are you familar with amillenialism??

I think if we all go it will be by the hand of humans, not g-d. Look at the nuclear situation the US and Soviets got themselves into during the cold war. Once every nut out there gets powererful weapons, it won't be very long. I don't think everything will be annihilated though. Iceland has existed in relative peace for a long time because they don't bother anyone and it's so cold no one wants to conquer them! A lot of island nations might also be safe.

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Glad 2 meet you Micah Smile

I think 2Peter 3:10 means that the end will come when we're not even expecting it.......which in reality could be at any moment, and that the old heaven (sky/universe/the elements) earth, and everything man has made on earth will be destroyed by fire and a new one begun. When it's all said and done, revelation says how the New Jerusalem will be here on earth and God will walk among us as he did before original sin. So the verse is describing the very last thing that will happen- below I jotted down the things the bible says will happen right before the action of verse 3:10 (you probably already know this) Smile

A) The return of the Lord (Matt.24:29-30).
B) The resurrection of Old Testament and tribulation saints (John 6:39-40; Rev.20:4).
C) The destruction of the Beast and all his armies and the False Prophet and his followers in the Beast worship (Rev.19:11-21).
D) The judgment on the nations (Matt.25:31-46).
E) The regathering of Israel (Ezek.37:1-14).
F) The judgment on living Israel (Ezek.20:33-38).
G) The restoration of Israel to the
land (Amos 9:15).
H) The binding of Satan (Rev.20:2-3). ----- In the Millennial Kingdom
A) The final revolt of Satan (Rev.20:7-10).
B) The great white throne judgment (Rev.20:11-15).
C) The purging of earth (2 Peter.3:10-13).

......& we all know who wins in the end- wohoo

The only thing I've heard of the Amillennial view /no millennial kingdom is that it ignores the literal interpretation of many passages by spiritualizing the Day of the Lord because it does not conform to their theological view. I personally think that the Day of the Lord is an actual, literal event that will be fulfilled by God over a period of time. I try to put my trust in God's Word and not man's views that do not conform to God's Word. Just my opinion though, by no means do I know everything and I am in the long process of studying right now............I still have so much to learn! - so I'm always up to hearing different views and theologies, who knows, maybe it's something I've never heard before Smile

I also think there is some stuff in Bible that is symbolic and represents a spiritual side of things-one ex. would be in parables- But really, when we're talking about the future, in reality we (unfortunately) do not know anything for sure

I agree with you Portal Star, It's very easy 2 see how our technology is going 2 put mass destructive forces in the wrong hands.......very scary! Not only that but we have no regard for our atmosphere & earth so yeah, I wouldn't be surprised at all if we destroyed ourselves. But remember "why" these people who use these horrible weapons are destroying........what makes them do this, what's the origin? It's definitely not love/good! I would say these people are choosing the opposite, hate/evil. Most wars have been started in the 'name of God' yet the people who claim this aren't realizing that they are illusioned and on the wrong end - perfect real-time example would be the bombing terrorists. Look at the motives behind each of those individuals and you can sort of see the larger picture- as in the overall evil behind it. Of course -thank God- we haven't started nuking each other yet so it's all 'up in the air' until it does or does not happen........

I personally like the verse before 2P3:10 Smile

2Peter 3:3-9----First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, "Where is this "coming" He promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation". But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not forget this one thing, dear friends; With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

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Investor4life wrote:

I agree with you Portal Star, It's very easy 2 see how our technology is going 2 put mass destructive forces in the wrong hands.......very scary! Not only that but we have no regard for our atmosphere & earth so yeah, I wouldn't be surprised at all if we destroyed ourselves. But remember "why" these people who use these horrible weapons are destroying........what makes them do this, what's the origin? It's definitely not love/good! I would say these people are choosing the opposite, hate/evil. Most wars have been started in the 'name of God' yet the people who claim this aren't realizing that they are illusioned and on the wrong end - perfect real-time example would be the bombing terrorists. Look at the motives behind each of those individuals and you can sort of see the larger picture- as in the overall evil behind it. Of course -thank God- we haven't started nuking each other yet so it's all 'up in the air' until it does or does not happen........

I don't think it's as straightforward as good and evil. Most people will tell you and some honestly believe that what they are doing is good - some of the people working incredibly hard to try to do the most good are oppressing others - evil. I don't believe in little devils running around, whispering negative thoughts in people's ears or angels whispering positive ones. I do think people should be held personally responsible and accountable for their actions. I think individual tolerance is a good goal for all cultures to aim for. I cannot prevent the chaos in this world, but I have control over my own actions - and that effects more than you would think. So I have no global solutions for preventing mass distruction, only personal goals - places where I do have influence over my environment. If the world ends, it ends, and there is nothing my personal beliefs can do to stop mass destruction. But I intend to make a positive impact in the lives of those I care about and my community - maybe that is all that matters.

The end of the world

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