Harold Camping is claiming tomorrow we will be raptured and the 'day' of God's judgment will begin, ending six months from now on October 20th, when the world will end. But that’s not all. Did you know that Harold Camping, who formerly predicted judgment day on September 6, 1994, also teaches that the church age is over, that the Holy Spirit has left the church.
You may be wondering how Camping came to this conclusion. He focuses on the "hidden" meanings of texts and numbers—for example, the number of servants in Abraham's house or the number of swine drowned in the Sea of Galilee. But this is no laughing matter. The whole world is watching this embarrassing debacle—Camping has paid millions to mount a billboard campaign all over America’s freeways, proclaiming the imminent disaster. Pundits and cartoonists are having a heyday!
Last week I read an editorial in USA Today about the future of faith in America. The author Oliver Thomas says the religious landscape is changing: today’s new generation of Christians no longer want to adhere to doctrines and beliefs but want a new brand of Christianity with a “big God who is unbound by Scripture of learned scholarly limitations.” After this, can you blame them?
Paul’s words ought to be shouting at us today: a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching but will follow their own desires and look for teachers to tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear, rejecting truth and chasing after myths. (2 Tim. 4:3-4). Oh, and by the way, I’ll see you Monday!
Greg,
ReplyDeleteThe message of Christ's return and the imminent judgment of God's enemies seems to have faded to the background...as a rule. But just because it has been ignored is not an indicator of it not being true anymore, is it?
I'm not saying that everything was right about the previous generation's handling of this message. People such as Harold Camping have been used by the enemy as a kind of inoculation effect against truth: give 'em just enough truth to develop antibodies against it ("rational" arguments based on irrational thinking founded upon emotional instability).
So, in effect, the Church has the Church to thank for situations like we have today. We played into the enemy's hand. The late David Wilkerson had much to say about this process and we would do well to listen again to his prophetic voice, though he is now in heaven.
Yes, we have some obstacles to overcome in order to have access to the hearts of the unsaved. And yes, it is a challenge with all of the distractions from issues people like Mr. Camping present. But God is just as capable to provide real opportunities for us to speak the truth to prepared hearts that God is a Being worth knowing.
Stan
Stan. you are so right about inoculation; we have anesthesized not only society, but ourselves too, with the idea it's 'out there' somewhere and not present. David Wilkerson's book "America's Last Call" was/is a prophetic word that judgment is coming to Anerica, whether it is going to take place as part of the end-time rapture and second-coming, or not. It will happen. And finally, yes, you're right, we don't talk enough about it.
ReplyDelete[Nice blog, Greg. You may find this snippet interesting; found it while webbing. Roxanne]
ReplyDeleteChrist's return is NOT imminent !
by Bruce Rockwell
(Pretrib rapturists claim that Christ's return is imminent, that is, capable of occurring at any moment. Theologian and pastor Norman MacPherson, in his excellent book "Triumph Through Tribulation," offers proof that the Bible has never taught an any-moment return of Christ. Here are the points brought out and discussed at length by MacPherson:)
1. Great Commission fulfillment implies a long period of time.
2. Seed growth in Matthew 13 is a time-consuming process.
3. Paul expected death, not rapture, in II Timothy 4:6-8.
4. Jesus predicted Peter's martyrdom in John 21:18-19.
5. Matthew 24 teaches that signs must come first.
6. Many passages speak of a large interval between Christ's ascension and return: Jewish dispersion into "all nations" (Luke 21); "man travelling into a far country," "after a long time the lord of those servants cometh" (Matthew 25).
7. Apostasy of last days takes time to develop.
8. Bridegroom tarried in parable of virgins.
9. Pastoral epistles teach Church's continuing ministry, which involves time.
10. Paul says Christ's coming is not imminent (II Thessalonians 2:1-3), for apostasy and Antichrist must come first.
11. View of seven phases of church history (seven churches of Revelation) involves big lapse of time and imminence difficulties for pre-tribs; could Christ have come before the last phase?
12. Exhortations to watch and be ready are tied to what pre-trib teachers regard as the second stage (which is necessarily non-imminent) in Matthew 24 and 25, I Corinthians 1:7, Colossians 3:4, I Thessalonians 3:13, II Thessalonians 1:7-10, I Peter 1:13 and 4:13, and I John 2:28.
(How can an "imminent" return of Christ have a greater practical effect on us than the indwelling of the Holy Spirit already has, or should have, on us? For more on pretrib beliefs and history, Google "Pretrib Rapture Secrecy," "Pretrib Rapture - Hidden Facts," "Pretrib Rapture Diehards," and "Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty.")