OK, be honest. How many of you were really really into reading books such as Hal Lindsey’s “The Late Great Planet Earth” and the 20 years later “Left Behind” series. Yes, Father Orthoduck has read both series of books. We engaged in what ended up getting nicknamed as “newspaper exegesis.” What did that term mean? Well, for those who were against both series of books, that is the interpretation of every news article that you see, in terms of the soon-to-begin end times. When President Ronald Reagan was shot, there were a very few that wondered whether this was the great world leader who would be apparently killed but would come back to life. But, when Gorbachev became the supreme leader of the Soviet Union, many people in that camp wondered whether the mark on his head forecast that he was to become the anti-Christ. Of course, instead of being the anti-Christ, he helped to end the Soviet Union and eventually gave the Russian Orthodox Church (and other recognized churches) back her freedom of worship and evangelism.
In other words, newspaper exegesis was the attempt to see God’s hand at work within the current news cycle. At its best, it was the attempt to correctly read the signs of the times. And, there are Scriptures that encourage us to be aware of what God is doing by being aware of the signs of the times. In Matthew 24, Jesus has a long discourse about the end times. Near the end he says, “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.” So, Our Lord Jesus Christ does say that we need to maintain a certain awareness of what is happening in history.
But, all too often newspaper exegesis showed more about the person’s personal opinions than it did about God’s work in the world. It also led all too often to silly speculation and even to bizarre conclusions. Let’s face it, Hal Lindsey was wrong in all his dating attempts, as was the author of “88 reasons why The Rapture will be in 1988.” It also led to some rather strange fears. When social security numbers first came out, there were Christians back then who refused to get them on the grounds that this was the government’s attempt to give us the mark of the beast. In fact, the concept of the mark of the beast has figured prominently in many speculations about this or that piece of new technology. There have been Christians in every decade since social security cards that have decried some piece of new technology as the technology that will be used by Satan to impose the mark of the beast upon us.
Right now technology is at the point that those involved in newspaper exegesis back when Father Orthoduck was young could have never imagined. Who could have imagined cell phones with GPS in them, or the modern Internet, or even the ubiquity of mini-computer technology in many items, such as cell phones, iPads, Roku boxes, etc. And, Father Orthoduck thinks that this is the biggest strike against those involved in newspaper exegesis. The beloved dream of having the European Community become the 10 nation confederacy of the Antichrist appears to be quite gone. No one foresaw the technological changes of the last 30 years. In fact, rather than seeing the signs of the time, those of us who eagerly read the newspapers, back in the 1970’s, in order to see God’s plan at work were utter failures. Nothing has come out as we imagined back then. Nor has technology been misused in any of the ways that we feared.
In fact, perhaps our attitude would have better been that “no one knows the day nor the hour” as Our Lord Jesus counseled. To watch and be aware of what is happening around us is a good thing. But, to try to set up timelines, or to interpret events in the light of our understanding of the books of Daniel and Revelation is not.
Does this mean I can ignore the billboard along the highway that states the rapture will occur on May 21, 2011? Couldn’t help wondering if that sponsor had some insider info 🙂
Sally, that billboard is the fruit of Harold Camping, whose ministry was behind my conversion to Christianity. He’s made about 7 or 8 false predictions since 1994. This one’s the time, though, for sure! 🙂 Really! I mean it!
Yes, I was really, really into Hal Lindsey (thanks, in large part, to my father’s devotion to the eschatological dispensationalism of Scofield and his predecessors, read, of course, through a Wesleyan/Holiness lens).
By the time “Left Behind” came along, I had acquired a very different of eschatology in general and the Book of Revelation in particular.
However, be that as it may, I will never accept having any sort of non-medical electronic device implanted into my body, and I am very open about telling others to refuse this as well.
I remember well ole Hal as well as the Left Behind series…..guess maybe we should take Jesus at His Word-no one knows the time and the place. A good friend of mine taught on the Jewish Wedding Feast and how it is the symbolism of Christ returning for His Bride-what a beautiful concept and we need to have our oil ready and our lamps trimmed for we do not know when He will come for us.
Yeah, the End Times made a lot more sense in 1980 :-\
Now thirty-some years later, I think the best perspective I’ve ever seen on eschatology is Richard Beck’s outstanding article “Time Traveler”.
I’ve heard that in Revelation, when it says “Thee was silence in heaven for half an hour” that’s when the Dispensationalists are updating their End Times charts.
Yep, big Hal Lindsey follower back in the day. Even went to see the “Late Great Planet Earth” movie when it was released to theaters. I recall some particularly nightmarish scenes from it, but little else. By the time the “88 Reasons” came along though, I was pretty sure it was bunk, but I didn’t know why. I didn’t keep the original “88 Reasons” pamphlet, but I still have his follow-up effort “90-91-92 Countdown…” (or something like that). After the first two misses, he really hedged his bets.
When “Left Behind” came along, I wouldn’t touch it with a gloved hand. I recognized it. 🙂
Good thoughts about interpreting scripture by reading the newspaper (or vice-versa). It’s not just the dispensationalists that do this though. I’ve seen some pretty loopy “reporting” in Ortho-world, tying this or that event with the proclamations of one Elder or another. It’s a human thing, I suspect. 🙂
Amen, Betty.
If one takes these efforts as a rather odd sort of science fiction…..
OK, be honest. How many of you were really really into reading books such as Hal Lindsey’s “The Late Great Planet Earth” and the 20 years later “Left Behind” series. Yes, Father Orthoduck has read both series of books.
The Gospel According to Hal Lindsay (TM) messed me up so bad in the Seventies that my reaction to The Gospeal According to Left Behind (TM) is “Ridicule with Maximum Cruelty.” Anything to keep another generation from getting messed up like I did.
Because when The World Ends Tomorrow (at the latest) and It’s All Gonna Burn, you’re NOT going to dare great things or make plans and work towards future goals. Only hide in your church’s basement and keep your nose squeeky-clean to pass God’s Litmus Test and get beamed up. (And maybe high-pressure sell the same kind of Fire Insurance along the way.) When you have NO Future, the future tends to happen on its own without you — until you find yourself Left Behind.
Let’s face it, Hal Lindsey was wrong in all his dating attempts, as was the author of “88 reasons why The Rapture will be in 1988.”
Ah, yes. Edgar Whatshisname. Him and John Todd messed up my writing partner’s head like Hal Lindsay messed up mine. (And according to the Cerulean Sanctum guy, caused the Moonie-like mass wedding of near the entire student body of a local Bible college in an attempt to pop their cherries and Beat The Date.) You forgot to mention the sequel that came out the next year, “89 Reasons Why The Rapture WILL Be in 1989”; for some reason, it didn’t sell as well as the original.
It also led to some rather strange fears.
I was on the fringe of a group who refused to register to vote or get driver licenses because “then The Antichrist can track you down with them.” This was in the 1970s, when Henry Kissinger and the King of Spain were the odds-on favorites to be the Antichrist and Prophecy was Fulfilled when the EU got its’ tenth member. “All the Prophecies are Being Fulfilled As We Speak! We Might Not Have a 1978!!!! Or Even a 1977!!!!!!!!!”
It is now 2011.
Hum along! “Life was filled with guns and wars, and everyone got trampled on the floor. I wish we’d all been ready. . .”
Remember that Larry Norman sang that as a tragic lament.
Not a crow of triumph like you hear so often.
Stamping Out Harold Camping
I don’t care a fig for date-setters, especially those who predict when Christ will return. The current champion is 89-year-old, headline-grabbing Harold Camping of Family Radio fame.
Is Second Coming date-setter Harold Camping worthy of death? He already has a zero batting average after his September 1994 prediction fizzle and, according to the Bible, is a false prophet.
Nevertheless that California shaman, who should be ashamed, claims he’s found out that Christ’s return will be on May 21, 2011 even though Matt. 24:36 says that no one knows the “day” or “hour” of it!
A Google article (“Obama Fulfilling the Bible”) points out that “Deut. 18:20-22 in the Old Testament requires the death penalty for false prophets.”
The same article reveals that “Christians are commanded to ask God to send severe judgment on persons who commit and support the worst forms of evil (see I Cor. 5 and note ‘taken away’).”
Theologically radioactive Harold Camping and his ga-ga groupies (with their billboards featuring “May 21, 2011”) should worry about being “stamped out” if many persons decide to follow the I Cor. 5 command.
The above article concludes: “False prophets in the OT were stoned to death. Today they are just stoned!”
PS – For many years Camping was not known as a pretrib rapture teacher. But now, for $ome my$teriou$ rea$on, he seeks support from those who believe in and teach an imminent, pretrib rapture which supposedly will occur SEVERAL YEARS BEFORE the traditional SECOND COMING to earth! For a behind-the-scenes, documented look at the 181-year-old pretrib rapture belief (which was never a part of any official theology or organized church before 1830!), Google “Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty,” “Pretrib Rapture Diehards” and “Pretrib Rapture – Hidden Facts.” These are from the pen of journalist/historian Dave MacPherson a.k.a the “Pretrib Rapture Answerman” & the “Rush Limbaugh of the Rapture” – author of the bestselling book “The Rapture Plot,” an “encyclopedia” of pretrib rapture history (see Armageddon Books).