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Religion Title: The End - World conflicts give rise to talk of the second coming of Christ and Armageddon While biblical prophecy may be a tricky proposition, some local pastors say the upheaval, especially that unfolding in the Middle East, could be the precedent for fulfilling Christ’s ultimate second coming. Whether such “end times” are near, Christians, they say, need to be on guard for such a return, which will precede a literal battle of Armageddon. Such views aren’t out on the fringe. According to recent Newsweek magazine polls, 55 percent of Americans believe in the rapture, when Christ’s believers will be swept up into heaven before a seven-year period of tribulation and war, and 17 percent of Americans believe the world will end in their lifetimes. “End times” propecy also has spawned a whole cottage industry, most notably the fictional “Left Behind” series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, which has sold 65 million books. There has been a litany of authors and churchmen through the ages who have tried to fix dates to such conclusions, leaving many believers in their wake spiritually, and financially, bankrupted. The Rev. Gary Gilley, senior pastor of Southern View Chapel, an independent Bible church in Springfield, warns that world conflicts don’t necessarily equate to “end times.” “Ever since Christ left, we’ve had tremendous conflict, sometimes in the Middle East, sometimes in other places,” he says. “(Christ) is clear that they don’t tell us about ‘end times.’” “Where,” asks the Rev. Joe Harrod, pastor of First United Pentecostal Church in Springfield, “in 1,000 years hasn’t there been war in the world or earthquakes or other calamities? “It isn’t the good times that tell us (Christ) is coming. It’s the calamities.” Gilley veers off from ministers like LaHaye, the co-founder of the Moral Majority, who recently acknowledged that there’s “never been an accumulation of events as we have today” pointing to Christ’s second coming. “I can see how (they) are trying to connect the dots of end-time prophecies and determine that we are near the end,” Gilley says. “But we simply cannot know for certain at this time whether these events will lead to Christ’s return. (The Gospel of) Luke says, ‘These things must take place first, but the end does not follow immediately.’ ” What has more people excited, Gilley says, is that “Israel is in the land,” a biblical promise from God to Abraham that his descendants would have a home, Israel, to call their own. Such lands would be broader than even Israel’s current borders, including parts of Iraq, Iran and Lebanon, he says. “That goes into the argument of Zionists that Israel should own it all,” Gilley says. “God’s going to honor that promise (to Abraham),” Harrod says. “God promises to bless those nations that are a blessing to Israel and curse those nations that are not.” Israel is central to “end times” prophecy because it would be the locale for a great battle between good and evil forces, culminating in the defeat of the antichrist and ushering in Christ’s second coming. Many “end times” theorists, most notably Hal Lindsey, author of “The Late Great Planet Earth,” used 1948 - the founding of modern-day Israel by a United Nations mandate - as a jumping off point for end-of-the-world predictions. (Lindsey fixed it at 1988, 40 years or a generation removed from the founding of Israel.) While Israel is surrounded by countries “militarily who want to destroy it,” Gilley says the jury is still out on whether it is a set-up for “end times” prophecy. “You never know,” Harrod says. “Each time they’ve been able to put out the fires (in the Middle East). “This is the potential for something larger. In Bible prophecy, it doesn’t give (fixed) years. Every time there’s a conflict, there’s cause for concern. “And no amount of deliberation or negotiation is going to prevent (Armageddon).” Robert Lowery, dean of the Lincoln Christian Seminary in Lincoln, says using contemporary events to predict Christ’s second coming has a perfect batting average: zero. “I’m very skeptical of that approach,” says Lowery, an authority on New Testament scripture and author of “Revelation’s Rhapsody: Listening to the Lyrics of the Lamb (How to Read the Book of Revelation).” “The scripture doesn’t support that,” he says. “The evangelicals don’t even agree among themselves (about these events or dates).” Evangelical Christians particularly, Gilley says, “love Israel because they are a special people and Christ himself was a Jew.” But the evangelicals also are longing for what Gilley characterizes as “a spiritual cleansing” of the people in Israel. “They’re in the land, but they’re not following God,” Gilley says. “Right now, they’re there for economic and personal reasons. Is God gathering them back to change their hearts?” The Rev. Richard Chiola, pastor of St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Church in Springfield and a historical theologian, notes that some Zionist Christians not only support Israel as a pre-cursor for Christ’s second coming, but believe it’s an “obligation of all Christians to help re-build the temple in Jerusalem,” destroyed in 70 A.D. While Catholics believe the promises made to Abraham continue to endure for the sake of the Jews, the Church doesn’t believe the Jewish state or the re-building of the temple has “anything to do with the second coming.” Chiola says that while Christ indicated there would be much chaos prior to his return, ultimately “no one but his father in heaven knows the time of its occurrence.” Harrod says it’s the responsibility of the pulpit to continually preach the second coming. “We have to plan like we’re living for a lifetime, but live like we’re only going to be here one day, that (Christ) might be here tomorrow,” he says. “We have to be serious about our Christian walk. “Without the hope of the second coming, people would just be living their lives.” Chiola says Catholics are constantly reminded in the celebration of the Mass of the second coming, specifically that “Christ has died, is risen and will come again.” Trying to fix certain dates, however, “confuses and disappoints people” when those dates come to pass, Gilley says. “Still, we believe very much that he’s going to come,” he says. “We’re not in fear of it; we’re looking forward to it.” Better yet, says Lowery, heed Christ’s own admonition about his coming back, which he’ll do “like a thief in the night.” Steven Spearie can be reached at 622-1788 or spearie@hotmail.com.
Poster Comment: “We have to plan like we’re living for a lifetime, but live like we’re only going to be here one day, that (Christ) might be here tomorrow,” he says. “We have to be serious about our Christian walk. worth repeating....
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