The ‘fundamentalist church’ as a whole has an unhealthy obsession with end times prophecy. With that said I know that a number of the readers of this blog are already on the defensive and ready to reject this post, but the bottom line is that it is true. Our Churches are in such a sad state right now with regards to Godliness, and yet everyone is concerned with prophecy, and not prophecy with regards to God’s word about Christ and His character, or instruction and right living. The prophetic obsession revolves around the end times, and abstract apocalyptic teachings, and seems to gloss over the very clear teachings of Jesus Christ and His apostles.
Now a lot of conclusions can be made about why this happens, but there is one glaring conclusion that can be fairly made and that is that if the Church’s focus can be diverted to apocalyptic teachings, symbols and figures, and implicit teachings of the scriptures, then the focus can be diverted from the church’s obvious failures to adhere to the explicit and easily comprehendible teachings of the Word. In other words, if we can focus on clearing the foggy areas we do not have to worry about what already is clear teaching. The result is that the clear teachings have been neglected in favor end times obsession.
Now the exception that people will take with this is that we are commanded clearly in the word to ‘watch’, and the reason we are commanded to watch is that we are in the end times. They are right. It is biblical, and it is clear, that we are supposed to watch. We have been in the end times for 2000 years, and we are closer to the end than we have ever been. Not only that, but the Lord speaks very clearly about things that will be occurring as the age draws to a close, that is true, and it is not up for debate. It is even fairly obvious that many of the things that the Lord warns will occur as the age draws to a close appear to be happening before our eyes. Nonetheless these events are not what we are called to be watching!! We are not called to constantly be watching the situation around us in order to determine if we are heading for destruction and the Lord’s eminent return. What we are called to be watching is ourselves and our conduct so that when the Lord does return we are ready. The call to watch is a call to be constantly examining yourself, making sure you have oil in your lamp. The call is to be watching your brethren, and those around you and warning them to repent and receive salvation. There are some Christian’s whose life is more affected by Iran’s Weapons than the cross of Christ, the Temple Mount as opposed to the Sermon on the Mount, the illuminati as opposed to illumination from the Spirit. It really is sad, and to be honest it burns me a bit.
These people with the end time obsession are longing for this to happen, and almost excited about the destruction that will be wrought in the tribulation and they are just dying to see this all happen so that they can be relieved, their reputation restored, and finally be able to say ‘I told you so.’ They should be crying out that God would stay His hand and have mercy. More over end times obsessionists will view the rest of us non-obsessed as blinded, saying we are the type Peter referred to as ‘saying things continue as they always have…’ The end timers are blind to their own blindness. They visit World Net Daily and read about news items that are so important but for whatever reason rarely pan out, and lap it up like water, and trust the words of this site. Yet if you visit the sight you will see women modeling ‘conservative t-shirts’ with coarse sayings on them, and the marketing attempt is surely sensual. Yet in the end time feeding frenzy the gross immorality goes unnoticed.
Now with all of that said I encourage you to look to a few passages of scripture. Check Luke 12:35-48, Revelation 21:27, Jonah, and the entire account of Noah and the Flood.
Luke 12:35-48
This is the whole dialog about the thief in the night and readiness for the Lord’s return, the focus on this passage is obviously self preparation, the command is not to watch for signs or check the news to see if the time is near. In fact the scriptures go out of their way to let you know that it will come when you are unaware so that you will not fall into the trap of trying to determine where we are on the clock of prophecy. ‘Repent the Kingdom of God is at Hand’ carries a lot more weight than ‘look there is a wall around Jerusalem and China has a big army which might be what such and such passage refers to.’ The point is that His return is eminent and you must prepare yourself, not spend hours reading articles and minutes reading your bible.
Revelation 21:27
Self examination, is your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life? That is your concern more than the dome of the rock is, or what the latest action of the Skull and Bones masons was.
Jonah
This one hit me yesterday as I listened to it read. Jonah did not desire for people to repent, He instead desired the swift destruction of them by God, and of course God rebukes him severely for it. Nonetheless, the majority of end times obsessionists desire to see God bring swift judgment to vindicate their positions on various news events. They would never admit this, but it is true, and it is sad. How many of the end times focused believers pray that God would stay His hand and be merciful according to His loving kindness? Few.
The Flood account and the life of Noah
For whatever reason people who emphasize current events and end of the world focus cling to Noah as their super hero of the faith. Can you imagine the ridicule He must have faced building that boat, preparing for the flood? He was a preacher of righteousness, and he certainly warned others of what was to come. We are to do that as well, no doubt. Nonetheless our preparation is that of a holy life lived in faith and devotion to Christ. Our ridicule is not to come from radical stances on current events, but ‘Blessed are they that are persecuted for Righteousness sake…’ and ‘Blessed are they are persecuted for My (Jesus’) sake…”
Pray that God would be merciful to this nation and this world, that He would in mercy bring forth revival and hold back the tribulation which He has promised. Prepare yourselves, urge others to prepare themselves, and never hinge the need for these preparations on speculations derived from current events.
That is all for now.
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