calamity, disaster, and war ...are we witnessing the end times? depends who's talking.
what a month it's been in international affairs! on americans independence day north korea launched almost a dozen nuclear-capable test missiles. a week later, india's commercial capital, mumbai, experienced horrific bombings on its train network that killed four times as many innocent commuters as the equally terrifying london underground bombings of 7 july 2005. deadly darfur didn't go away either: in july more aid workers were killed there than in the previous and bloody two years. sri lanka's fragile peace started to unravel in deadly fashion...
to put the final apocalyptic flourish on top of the armageddon scenario, the warfare between israel's defense forces and lebanon's hizbullah movement shows no signs of letting up, despite some much-needed but troubled diplomatic activity in the u.n. security council. add to that record heat across north america and europe combined with the environmental dust storm stirred up by al gore's documentary and there's enough end-times speculation to send even the most revisionist episcopalian running for a refresher course on the book of revelation.
i had expected the usual bible prophecy crowd to confirm this was indeed the beginning of the end. but something even more apocalyptic than that happened - pat robertson became a believer in global warming! reuters reported robertson saying on his 700 club broadcast: "we really need to address the burning of fossil fuels. It is getting hotter, and the icecaps are
melting and there is a buildup of carbon dioxide in the air." and then jerry falwell invited john mccain to speak at liberty university! but i digress.
well the premillennial dispensationalists did weigh in, and media matters tracked many of their "yes, this is armageddon comments".
worldnetdaily.com ran a rev. jerry falwell commentary on 22 july contending that the current situation portends the second coming of Christ: 'present-day events in the holy land may
very well serve as a prelude or forerunner to the future battle of armageddon." well-known tv 'prophet' jack van impe joined in, apparently saying on july 4 on his show that armageddon was coming, and perennial doomsday-er hal lindsey chimed in on worldnetdaily, saying 'armageddon looms large'. but big deal, these guys have been saying that in their books and on tv for decades, observes a perceptive atheist student writing in texas a&m's college mag, the battalion.
pat robertson did meet this week with israeli generals near the lebanese border, showing his unqualified support for israel, and calling on christians to pray for all those suffering, both israelis and lebanese (pittsburgh tribune, 9 august 2006). but he notably refrained from saying 'bring on the four horsemen!' falwell colorfully said "If someone were to lob
missiles over our cities from either canada or mexico, I have no doubt
we'd make black bottom swimming holes over whoever did it. And if
someone didn't like what we did, we'd probably talk a little Texan to
them. So why should we harass Israel for defending their citizens?" but he too refrained from using the two big a-words.
only this rather level-headed story from beliefnet's patton dodd got carried in last week's newsweek in print and on msnbc online. patton, who runs therevealer.org a fascinating site on faith and the media, said that even best-selling apocalyptic author tim lahaye is praying that the whole thing will die down. dodd also brought some historical and denominational breadth to the topic by ending: "Christians are not monolithic in their views, and end times beliefs are varied, disparate, and in flux."
what's my take? calamity, disaster, and war were all predicted by Jesus. He also said the timing of his second coming would not be know by anyone. so let's get on with the golden rule, loving God and loving neighbors. what do you think? click on 'comment' to join the discussion.
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