On
September 23rd Dana wrote:
Hey John,
I apologize for not giving you any
advanced notice, but I just found out myself. Today is September 23,
2017. Little did I know that a rogue, phantom planet named Nibiru, or
Planet X is supposed to crash into the Earth today, and then, unfortunately, it's
"lights out," permanently.
At least that's what some Christian
numerologists (Is there such a thing? Isn't that like saying Christian
pornographers or Christian bank robbers?) and doomsday forecasters are
saying is going to happen today--I saw it on the internet this morning, so it
has to be right. Right?
If there's going to be a rapture and a 2nd
coming, then the Lord had better get a move on, because I'm guessing that this
could happen any time. By the way, I hate to rub it in, but, uh...no
millennium Brother...I mean, there will be no earth to have one on...so when I
meet you in Heaven, you're buying the coffee.
In light of that, I guess the blog is
Kaput! No sense in writing anything since everything is going to
(insert here whatever happens when two planets collide) and total destruction
of multiple worlds will probably mean no internet service, so you won't be able
to post it anyway. And the Braves were supposed to play the Phillies
today...rats!
Anyway, it's been nice knowing you, and
I've really enjoyed working on the blog with you. I am a little perturbed
that this couldn't have happened at the beginning of harvest, or at least have
been given some advanced warning, so I could have told the boss and saved all
the expense and time. Grrrrrrr.
See you in Heaven!
Dana
P.S. Just in case
our Christian numerologists friends are off just a bit in their
calculations, got any ideas for the next blog? Again, just in case.
+++++++++++++++++++++
On Mon, Sep 25, 2017 at 10:13
AM
Well, John, I guess the doomsday
folks were wrong (again). We're all still here (obviously--the internet
is still up
), so it wouldn't be
too presumptuous to assume the world didn't end as predicted.
Now, they are saying it will end in October!
), so it wouldn't be
too presumptuous to assume the world didn't end as predicted. Now, they are saying it will end in October!
https://www.yahoo.com/celebrity/m/d14dbd91-480f-32ae-9795-4ba685319d4e/ss_the-world-is-ending-in.html ....how about what
Jesus said in Mark 13:22? Jesus says regarding the end of the world and His 2nd coming
“But concerning that day or that
hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the
Father. " (ESV)
I'm guessing they didn't get the memo about considering that passage before setting the date.
Also in Acts 1:8 Luke records
the words of Jesus, when His disciples asked if it was right then and there
(after His resurrection) that He was going to restore the Kingdom (which they
saw as the end of the world as they knew it):
“...It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority." (ESV)
Duh...it's downright amazing
what one finds when one actually reads his or her Bible, isn't it?
Yet they continue to try to
figure it out still....
Might there be a potential
blog topic in this, John?
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
John
quickly replied Mon, Sep 25, 2017 at 11:17 AM
We're trying to clean up, pack up, and
get up and out to the airport and home. Let's go with the two emails you end
about the world's end for next week. Hopefully by Wed or Thurs at latest, I'll
send you something but this is a good direction.
But first, I do have one quick thought. You remember Brother Hartwick? He was a
stickler for correct theology, even in hymns. I think he would not agree
with this, but I think I’ll stick to one of my old time favorite hymns when it
comes to the world ending or Armageddon or whatever the numerologists want to
call it. "I'll Fly Away",
is the hymn written in 1929 by Albert E. Brumley and published in 1932 by the
Hartford Music Company.
Some bright morning when this life is
over
I'll fly away
To that home on God's celestial shore
I'll fly away
I'll fly away
To that home on God's celestial shore
I'll fly away
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
On
September 26th Dana wrote:
John,
Well, all the end of the world tom foolery
aside, there are some serious overtones to it all. While we can laugh at that which is genuinely
laughable, what isn’t laughable is the perception of the Christian Church at
large by non-Christians, who read such nonsense written by Christians and think
we’re all crazy. We’ve blogged about the
Church losing relevance, and it’s precisely things like this which contribute
to loss.
A
short while back it was Harold Camping who got all his followers to sell their
property and divest themselves of everything but their travelling shoes because
he had figured out THE DATE. The same
DATE of which even the Lord Jesus said He didn’t know, and that it wasn’t for us
(His followers) to know.
What’s worse than misguided prophets of
doom or outright charlatans, however, are the Christians who are led astray by
them. God gave us His Word, and if we
get taken advantage of by some end times huckster because we do not read and
study the Bible, then woe be unto us.
Granted, end times passages can be
difficult to interpret, as there are several schools of thought on multiple
aspects of the theology of the last days, but that does not give us license to
simply ignore them. The end times
passages are still God’s Word, and we are responsible to know them to the
measure of grace and understanding the Holy Spirit bestows upon us.
If we throw up our hands in desperation
because we cannot figure out the rapture or the millennium or the sometimes
cryptic, highly visual and figurative language of the Apocalypse, and just run
away from such passages, we are opening ourselves to potential problems and
dangers. As surely as the turning of the
earth, someone claiming to know all about it will show up and the next thing
you know, we’re selling the house, giving away the dog, and moving up to the
mountain top to wait on the Lord’s appearing.
No wonder why the “world” thinks we’re nuts; we are!
Most of my adult life I have studied
eschatology (the theology of the end times) and I still don’t have a handle on
all of it—probably most of it, if truth be told. But that doesn’t stop me from prayerfully
seeking and studying. There are many
excellent, intellectually honest theologians, scholars, pastors, teachers, and
commentators who have written many books on the subject at all levels of
readability. We owe it to ourselves to
read as much on the subject as we can.
And, we should not just read that which
favors our particular view of the end times.
It is important for us to be able to articulate that which we believe,
but it is beneficial for us to know and understand why we do not believe what
someone from another school of thought holds.
Personally I think it important to study
many of the schools of thought. It is a shame that many churches and
denominations discourage their members from studying another eschatological
school of thought as if it were heresy so to do. It is not!
There is not a heretical position one can hold on the end times, unless
it denies the actual, physical, visual return of Jesus. The “when’s,”
“why’s,” and “wherefores” of said return can be something to discuss
over coffee, but the return itself has to be in the picture. All of the accepted schools of thought have a
literal 2nd coming of Christ.
The particular view of the end times to
which I currently subscribe, has been formed, reformed, and changed several
times over my adult life, and I reserve the right to form, reform, and or
change my beliefs on the subject as I feel the need to.
The
adherents of every school of thought on the end times believe that they are
correct, but the truth is no one really knows.
We will only learn the truth in hindsight. We endeavor to get as close as we can to the
truth in this life, but we have to see others who see things differently with
charity and love. We can all be wrong,
but we cannot all be right, and we will not know who was correct until the
final trumpet sounds.
What I believe about the end times is
probably an amalgamation of different aspects from several different schools of
thought. I do not believe any of the schools of thought solely have the market
cornered on end times truth. The schools
of thought all tend to take their particular distinctives to the Scriptures,
rather than vice versa. As Dr. Michael
Heiser says, “All the systems cheat.”
As end times passages inevitably raise
questions, I have found comfort in those interpretations which leave me with
the least amount of unanswered questions, and I think that is a decent model
for personal (end times) belief.
When it gets right down to it, eschatology
is a very broad topic. It’s much bigger
than Pre-Millennialism, or A-Millennialism, or Post-Millennialism and all their
subsidiaries put together. “The Day of
the LORD” is an almost incomprehensible thing to contemplate. There is rich symbolism in both Testaments
and also the Second Temple period literature, especially the Apocalyptic
writings, to which Revelation, the second half of Daniel and Zechariah all
belong. We miss a lot by rigidly
sticking with one view and excluding everything other views might have to
offer.
It’s not wrong to adopt a view as your go
to view, if that helps in your understanding, but it also helps to be somewhat
flexible and open to ideas others have expounded. Biblical scholarship today, much more so than
previous generations has begun paying attention to the aforementioned Second
Temple period literature—the same literature read by and sometimes quoted by
New Testament writers. As a result the
picture becomes much more “colorful” where once it was black and white with
shades of gray. It is a good thing to
view the Bible the way the original recipients saw it when they got it hot off
the press, as it were.
But over and above all the schools of
thought on all the topics, and all the confusion many seem to have with the end
times passages, I still maintain that there are three things with which one
must walk away after studying such. They
are the “punch lines” of eschatology, so to speak. They are:
Philippians 2:9-11
“Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him
the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
1 Thessalonians 4:17
”Then
we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the
clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will
always be with the Lord.”
And….
Rev. 22:4
“They will see his face, and his name will be on
their foreheads.”
If after studying end times material you
can remember that it all points to those three things and all they entail, then
you’re on the right track. The rest is
icing on the cake—and
we all love icing.
Dana
+++++++++++++++++++++++
On
9/28/17 John wrote
Hey
Dana
I remember well Harold Camping. When
I first got to Valley Forge Christian College, WKDN in Camden became my station
of choice. Not because of Mr. Camping but because of the music (hymns) and many
of the speakers. Remember James Montgomery Boice or Chuck Swindoll or Tony
Campolo? While I often didn’t agree with Camping’s Biblical interpretations,
God never-the-less used him in a great way to start and then grow Family Radio.
He was single-minded focused on evangelism, all around the world. But,
unfortunately, when his numerology got the best of his Biblical understanding (see
above Mark 13:22), much of the good God had done through him was washed away in
a storm of controversies that Jesus could not still. While the radio ministry
never admitted this, it was what I believe caused Family Radio to shrink to the
place of insignificance and
suffer an ignominious ending.
Perhaps we just need to trust God,
and take Him at His word.
Love
you Brother.
John
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