The Bible teaches us many a story and shows us many a lesson, exuding the very wisdom of God and His plan of dealing with recalcitrant humanity. Much of His teachings are plain and open to anyone willing to listen to his call. Some are not as obvious, presenting parts of the overall picture in obscure and, at times, in outright indiscernible tones. Much of this “hidden” heritage constitutes a huge field of prophetic expressions that deal with many events, past and future alike. Many in our ranks feel compelled to respond either by simply devoting our time to deep moments of inner contemplation or diving right into the action packed material that frequently bursts out of the very pages, the fateful words occupy.
When considering prophetic teachings accorded to the events of long past, a plethora of useful and ready to use lessons could be drawn much to the benefit of the Christian cause. Take for example Isaiah 53. The passages in this chapter and their very fulfillment in the figure of the Christ himself constitute the largest and the most insurmountable block in the way Judaic scholars to dismiss Christ’s claims to Messiah-ship. In fact, this passage has been widely used as a focal point of reference when witnessing to Jewish people. When I participated in the Jews for Jesus work in Berlin, Isaiah 53 was the most oft quoted scripture during our morning devotionals. This was for a good reason, as it proved very useful on many occasion during the three week long street ministry.
Clearly delineated historic events such as the live of Christ and preceding prophesies make it for a very potent witness. Prophesies dealing with events whose time has not arrived are much more nebulous and yet extremely exciting to get familiar with. I learned this first hand shortly after becoming a Christian back in the early nineties. I, still very much a product of the Soviet system that espoused materialism at its core; was very excited about some very “scientific” mysticism promoted by some well-known Christian writers in their attempts to de-code certain prophesies. I was utterly fascinated by their erudition and craft. Not only I found their predictions interesting from a scholarly perspective but also their very authoritative styles seemed to make for a great witnessing tool to those who accepted hard-core scientific proofs as a sole measure of authenticity. I understood that a claim to science could hardly be granted to subjects dealing with punditry on future events; but this was the closest thing going.
I was so enthused by these writings that even some discrepancies failed to put me on the alert. My enthusiasm eventually went on the wane only after years of prophetic disappointments. I have learned my lesson and for good reasons. Just check out a current world map and you will hard time find a country called USSR – an irksome omission since it is supposed to play a key role in the battle of Armageddon that is yet to take place. Or remember the impending gloom of Y2K when our New Year’s lights did not flicker once while many were predicting cyber chaos if not the end of the world. If you do not believe me, just check out various prophetic bestsellers of those heady times.
Today, with my antennas a little more alert I can hardly miss a chance to marvel at pseudo science so easily accepted in Christian circles. I think we can and should do better than this. If you are not sure, just check out Grant Jeffrey’s “Armageddon”, which laced with unfulfilled predictions and much obvious looseness around its many “scientific” assertions. One of these deals with probabilities of Christ being an “accidental” fulfillment of relevant prophesies. Instead of mounting his counter-odds using extra-biblical references to those of the Bible, Mr. Jeffrey mostly used duality of Biblical references to build prodigiously huge odds against Christ “Accidental”. While thoroughly agreeing with Mr. Jeffrey’s beliefs, I cannot disagree more with his methods, which are like constructing pre-game guesses after the final whistle has been blown. Such weak construction of presumably “statistical” arguments could be easily used by Bible’s opponents bent to undermining Bible’s authority with the famous “I told you so”. One has to be cognisant that such writings, while serving a marginally positive purpose of grounding the faith of some “fact”- based individuals, can do a tremendous amount of disservice to Christianity when subjected to external scrutiny and ensuing ridicule.
We should be extremely careful when using word “science” or purport to describe events of the future. Some of these can and probably will come true through a simple law of coincidence without attesting too much in a way of true prescience to their authors. Some such claimants seem unable to cede certain amount of sovereignty to God in the area of prophesies. Or at least as long as such works continue to sell, I guess…
Alas, Mr. Jeffrey is not the only one to participate in the wild parade of outlandish claims, which, while exciting, do not accomplish much in a way of witness to the world unbelieving. In fact, he is of a milder ilk when compared to some exhibitions I recently caught on Christian TV. Some of those would have been impossible without the fateful events of September 11, 2001, the tragedy that spawned more pollution in futuristic punditry, prophetic and otherwise, than any other event of recent memory.
On the one hand one could hardly fault the increased interest given the presumed magnitude of the event itself and the change it engendered. On the other hand one could not be too careful when making categorical statements in the field of prophesy. God is sublime in his mysteries and trying to elevate one’s position to the point of certainty could be even a little blasphemous. In other words use of moderation and caveats should be a preferred course of action. But this would not do as any lack of sensationalism is bad for TV ratings, Christian TV ratings…
Unfortunately, sensationalism is a second name of the prophetic fundamentalism, the phenomenon that feeds more on current cultural values than on the long-standing biblical truths. Less and less attention is paid to well-balanced and nuanced, more and more time is devoted to empty claims lest ability of modern seers to goad the masses is heavily compromised. It is hard to ask for donations on the basis of doubt; certainty is the only weapon it seems. Maybe there is another road (?) - the road that does not lose the bigger picture of God’s plan for humanity and yet is circumspect enough to attest to our own frailties. I am perfectly content with this approach especially when it comes with a higher purpose of warning unbelievers of the upcoming wrath. After all even the first twelve did not shy away from using apocalyptic language on more than one occasion, most notably in Acts II. But one has to be careful here as certainty of the upcoming wrath is cloaked in much mystery when it comes to certain events, their purpose and timing.
Regretfully, this is hardly the case as so many broadcasters invite numerous prophets of doom regardless of inherent contradictions of views and at the expense of much more balanced discussion. All for the sake of sensationalism and ratings it seems.
>>>>>>>>>>>
Here, I have to admit to some things personal and little ugly as despite my disagreements with some Christian TV personalities, I have a nagging habit of spying on their latest activities with some consistency when twiddling around the morning dial. A couple of weeks ago, one ministry that is heavily into addressing sickness and diseases decided to feature a prophesy scholar who seemed to do very little with the ministry itself other than a penchant for heavy self-admiration.
This time the invitee, a purported nuclear expert (Prophet A) preached inevitability of a nuclear conflict with certain “rogue” states. According to his “well-founded” sources, an attack on the United States with a nuclear terrorist weapon was inevitable and it was only a matter of time before such horrendous event takes place. I found his convictions interesting in view of the biblical witness, which he used fluently. First of all, Bible seems to be silent with respect to a certain little country called the United States of America, making it difficult for the dim-witted fellow that I am to follow. Second of all, the “rogue” states Prophet A loved to refer to, appear to have very little of current nuclear capabilities that could only be rivalled by their complete lack of an ability to deliver such weapons across the seas, as North Korea aptly proved with its recent failure to launch a single rocket with a meagre range of less than 1,000 clicks. The idea of this one rocket actually working looks like a bit of a stretch when juxtaposed with a small pond of water named Pacific Ocean. The second “rogue” state, firmly entrenched in Prophet’s vernacular, was of course the Evil himself otherwise known as Iran. Here Prophet engaged in a long laundry list of misdeeds that have one factual basis in common – imagination. Not yours or mine but that of the American war machine. The machine that has long had a habit of inculcating certain beliefs based exclusively on hard facts as well-demonstrated by famous weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Now, as all of the above was not enough, Prophet ploughed right into another tantalizing possibility – a bomb brought aboard a tanker, or a ship of some kind. Again he spoke of his predictions as facts indisputable, cleverly failing to mention that such a possibility would be of some challenge as proven by many a nuclear expert. First of all, procuring necessary amounts of highly enriched uranium would be a challenge to say the least, especially considering the safeguards imposed on nuclear states by International Atomic Agency. Besides, if even acquired, such weapon cannot fit in suitcase and is a nightmare to transport, making it more than dicey.
As sensing some weakness amidst his fear-mongering rhetoric, our Prophet, encouraged by vigorous and profound nods from the host, resorted to describing yet another remotely possible event that was sure to take place in the near future. Now, he was authoritatively talking about a so called “dirty” bomb, one that is based on low-grade uranium and other funny chemicals. One thing he forgot to mention was that viability of such “deadly” devise had long been put in question by many, as it became evident during the fateful proceedings, judicial and PR alike, against the “dirty bomber” himself, Mr. Padilla.
Finally, as summing up, Prophet proceeded along the lines of “what do we need to do given the virtual certainty of such an attack” heavily hinting at something parallel to Armageddon itself. Finding such summary to be particularly amusing, I decided to do summing up of my own.
The Armageddon is a biblical certainty, which is going to take place regardless of our best intentions and actions. While unlikely to take place on either extremity of the United States, it seems peculiar to worry about as if we can do something about its timing or place short of whispering direct commands in the ear of God Himself. So if we are not to worry about Armageddon, why do we fret about a very remote if not entirely fact-less nuclear threat, why do we engage in featuring such discussions under the guise of Biblical prophesy? In my mind the purpose is clear - to seed fear into the audience. And since the audience is more likely to be Christian anyway, why do not we need to buy into this fear-mongering when we have more than enough faith-based material in twenty two chapters of Revelations? And if some of the audience happens to be searching for salvation why not offer them Gospel unadulterated instead of chaotic mishmash of worthless predictions.
Wouldn’t it more productive to mention the coming wrath without near lunacy of representing hardly possible as thorough, well-researched and complete facts? Sure, Iran might in the end develop a nuclear weapon, and North Korea could commit suicide by launching one against San Francisco. Anything could happen. But is it a reason enough to pollute our expensive airways. And if history is any guide, just ask folks in Hiroshima about what they think about it.
Needless to say, by the end of the program I felt amused and saddened by this puppetry. However, this was not the end of the proceedings as Prophet had a book to sell and judging by its heavy promotion, it was going to sell like hot pancakes. Amazing!
>>>>>>>>>>>>
The following week, most likely out of boredom, I unwittingly flipped on the same show. Lo and behold, the host was interviewing yet another apocalyptic guest (Prophet B). I could not resist the temptation.
At first, Prophet opened by numerous debunking prophetic myths regarding European Union, its evil origins and the birthplace of the anti-Christ himself. “Great!” I felt some relief; at least somebody was willing to challenge some far-fetched assertions of prophetic status quo. Well, my lighter feelings were short lived as Prophet promptly proceeded to make “factual” statements of his own. Mercifully, his insight did not take as far as anti-Christ occupying some nook in the White House; instead he gleefully pounced on Assyrians, or modern day Iran to be exact – a very convenient bunch of whipping boys headed by the psycho in charge, Mr. Ahmadeenajad. How convenient! Now we were rolling. It turned out that Iranians (Shiite Muslims) await their own version of a messiah who is supposed to emerge out of the chaos of the current Middle East and more specifically, the blessed nation of Iraq.
Having established these facts, our Prophet indulged me in naming things as they should be. The hereto unknown Muslim messiah was no less than Anti-Christ himself, thirsting for ever more violence to be in a truly good form to emerge at the world’s stage.
You see, their (Shiite) dream is to see their messiah (or last Imam) to arrive pronto. Unfortunately, this providence from Allah is a little delayed, waiting for ever more precipitous amounts of violence to slake messiah’s sanguinary appetites. In “fact”, the escalating violence in Iraq is to be blamed on these psychotic Islamists bent on advancing the prophetic age of their own. Most of killings and kidnappings in Iraq these days takes place for this very reason alone. How cares about “tooth for a tooth” when higher purpose is on the line? “They are for violence and we are against it” tersely summed up Prophet, implying that continuing warfare was the only option.
“The same line as the previous dude!” I thought, i.e. as if being against or for violence was going to adjust God’s timetable one iota. Besides, there is nothing new about the fratricide that is taking place in Iraq today. Why it is about messiah now and not hundred years ago when the British were calling the shots. Beats me! All of this is just as laughable as if we stood yet another chance to whisper in the ear of the Almighty. And as far as the current root of the latest cycle of violence in the Middle East?
Hmm… Shall we say “the United States of America” since it is precisely the US (God’s country to some) that started the ill-fated war back in 2003, it is precisely George Bush who conjured up the “Axis of Evil” that included Iran, and it is the very TV program participants who, among many other notable evangelicals, cheered him on. Pitiful! The only one prophesy they can bet on coming true – a self-fulfilling one. “Eye for an Eye!”
How far our standards have fallen!
Do not forget though! God is merciful and rejoices when we, instead of feeding our unfounded fascination with “facts” connecting the ageless Biblical prophesy with momentary geopolitics, seriously reflect on the Biblical prophesy by standing on the firm ground of what we know for sure – our faith in Christ as God, Messiah and World’s Redeemer and Judge; all these while keeping his two greatest commandments “Love Your God with All Your Might” and “Love Your Neighbour as Thyself”. The latter commandment might, just might, include Iranians.
When considering prophetic teachings accorded to the events of long past, a plethora of useful and ready to use lessons could be drawn much to the benefit of the Christian cause. Take for example Isaiah 53. The passages in this chapter and their very fulfillment in the figure of the Christ himself constitute the largest and the most insurmountable block in the way Judaic scholars to dismiss Christ’s claims to Messiah-ship. In fact, this passage has been widely used as a focal point of reference when witnessing to Jewish people. When I participated in the Jews for Jesus work in Berlin, Isaiah 53 was the most oft quoted scripture during our morning devotionals. This was for a good reason, as it proved very useful on many occasion during the three week long street ministry.
Clearly delineated historic events such as the live of Christ and preceding prophesies make it for a very potent witness. Prophesies dealing with events whose time has not arrived are much more nebulous and yet extremely exciting to get familiar with. I learned this first hand shortly after becoming a Christian back in the early nineties. I, still very much a product of the Soviet system that espoused materialism at its core; was very excited about some very “scientific” mysticism promoted by some well-known Christian writers in their attempts to de-code certain prophesies. I was utterly fascinated by their erudition and craft. Not only I found their predictions interesting from a scholarly perspective but also their very authoritative styles seemed to make for a great witnessing tool to those who accepted hard-core scientific proofs as a sole measure of authenticity. I understood that a claim to science could hardly be granted to subjects dealing with punditry on future events; but this was the closest thing going.
I was so enthused by these writings that even some discrepancies failed to put me on the alert. My enthusiasm eventually went on the wane only after years of prophetic disappointments. I have learned my lesson and for good reasons. Just check out a current world map and you will hard time find a country called USSR – an irksome omission since it is supposed to play a key role in the battle of Armageddon that is yet to take place. Or remember the impending gloom of Y2K when our New Year’s lights did not flicker once while many were predicting cyber chaos if not the end of the world. If you do not believe me, just check out various prophetic bestsellers of those heady times.
Today, with my antennas a little more alert I can hardly miss a chance to marvel at pseudo science so easily accepted in Christian circles. I think we can and should do better than this. If you are not sure, just check out Grant Jeffrey’s “Armageddon”, which laced with unfulfilled predictions and much obvious looseness around its many “scientific” assertions. One of these deals with probabilities of Christ being an “accidental” fulfillment of relevant prophesies. Instead of mounting his counter-odds using extra-biblical references to those of the Bible, Mr. Jeffrey mostly used duality of Biblical references to build prodigiously huge odds against Christ “Accidental”. While thoroughly agreeing with Mr. Jeffrey’s beliefs, I cannot disagree more with his methods, which are like constructing pre-game guesses after the final whistle has been blown. Such weak construction of presumably “statistical” arguments could be easily used by Bible’s opponents bent to undermining Bible’s authority with the famous “I told you so”. One has to be cognisant that such writings, while serving a marginally positive purpose of grounding the faith of some “fact”- based individuals, can do a tremendous amount of disservice to Christianity when subjected to external scrutiny and ensuing ridicule.
We should be extremely careful when using word “science” or purport to describe events of the future. Some of these can and probably will come true through a simple law of coincidence without attesting too much in a way of true prescience to their authors. Some such claimants seem unable to cede certain amount of sovereignty to God in the area of prophesies. Or at least as long as such works continue to sell, I guess…
Alas, Mr. Jeffrey is not the only one to participate in the wild parade of outlandish claims, which, while exciting, do not accomplish much in a way of witness to the world unbelieving. In fact, he is of a milder ilk when compared to some exhibitions I recently caught on Christian TV. Some of those would have been impossible without the fateful events of September 11, 2001, the tragedy that spawned more pollution in futuristic punditry, prophetic and otherwise, than any other event of recent memory.
On the one hand one could hardly fault the increased interest given the presumed magnitude of the event itself and the change it engendered. On the other hand one could not be too careful when making categorical statements in the field of prophesy. God is sublime in his mysteries and trying to elevate one’s position to the point of certainty could be even a little blasphemous. In other words use of moderation and caveats should be a preferred course of action. But this would not do as any lack of sensationalism is bad for TV ratings, Christian TV ratings…
Unfortunately, sensationalism is a second name of the prophetic fundamentalism, the phenomenon that feeds more on current cultural values than on the long-standing biblical truths. Less and less attention is paid to well-balanced and nuanced, more and more time is devoted to empty claims lest ability of modern seers to goad the masses is heavily compromised. It is hard to ask for donations on the basis of doubt; certainty is the only weapon it seems. Maybe there is another road (?) - the road that does not lose the bigger picture of God’s plan for humanity and yet is circumspect enough to attest to our own frailties. I am perfectly content with this approach especially when it comes with a higher purpose of warning unbelievers of the upcoming wrath. After all even the first twelve did not shy away from using apocalyptic language on more than one occasion, most notably in Acts II. But one has to be careful here as certainty of the upcoming wrath is cloaked in much mystery when it comes to certain events, their purpose and timing.
Regretfully, this is hardly the case as so many broadcasters invite numerous prophets of doom regardless of inherent contradictions of views and at the expense of much more balanced discussion. All for the sake of sensationalism and ratings it seems.
>>>>>>>>>>>
Here, I have to admit to some things personal and little ugly as despite my disagreements with some Christian TV personalities, I have a nagging habit of spying on their latest activities with some consistency when twiddling around the morning dial. A couple of weeks ago, one ministry that is heavily into addressing sickness and diseases decided to feature a prophesy scholar who seemed to do very little with the ministry itself other than a penchant for heavy self-admiration.
This time the invitee, a purported nuclear expert (Prophet A) preached inevitability of a nuclear conflict with certain “rogue” states. According to his “well-founded” sources, an attack on the United States with a nuclear terrorist weapon was inevitable and it was only a matter of time before such horrendous event takes place. I found his convictions interesting in view of the biblical witness, which he used fluently. First of all, Bible seems to be silent with respect to a certain little country called the United States of America, making it difficult for the dim-witted fellow that I am to follow. Second of all, the “rogue” states Prophet A loved to refer to, appear to have very little of current nuclear capabilities that could only be rivalled by their complete lack of an ability to deliver such weapons across the seas, as North Korea aptly proved with its recent failure to launch a single rocket with a meagre range of less than 1,000 clicks. The idea of this one rocket actually working looks like a bit of a stretch when juxtaposed with a small pond of water named Pacific Ocean. The second “rogue” state, firmly entrenched in Prophet’s vernacular, was of course the Evil himself otherwise known as Iran. Here Prophet engaged in a long laundry list of misdeeds that have one factual basis in common – imagination. Not yours or mine but that of the American war machine. The machine that has long had a habit of inculcating certain beliefs based exclusively on hard facts as well-demonstrated by famous weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Now, as all of the above was not enough, Prophet ploughed right into another tantalizing possibility – a bomb brought aboard a tanker, or a ship of some kind. Again he spoke of his predictions as facts indisputable, cleverly failing to mention that such a possibility would be of some challenge as proven by many a nuclear expert. First of all, procuring necessary amounts of highly enriched uranium would be a challenge to say the least, especially considering the safeguards imposed on nuclear states by International Atomic Agency. Besides, if even acquired, such weapon cannot fit in suitcase and is a nightmare to transport, making it more than dicey.
As sensing some weakness amidst his fear-mongering rhetoric, our Prophet, encouraged by vigorous and profound nods from the host, resorted to describing yet another remotely possible event that was sure to take place in the near future. Now, he was authoritatively talking about a so called “dirty” bomb, one that is based on low-grade uranium and other funny chemicals. One thing he forgot to mention was that viability of such “deadly” devise had long been put in question by many, as it became evident during the fateful proceedings, judicial and PR alike, against the “dirty bomber” himself, Mr. Padilla.
Finally, as summing up, Prophet proceeded along the lines of “what do we need to do given the virtual certainty of such an attack” heavily hinting at something parallel to Armageddon itself. Finding such summary to be particularly amusing, I decided to do summing up of my own.
The Armageddon is a biblical certainty, which is going to take place regardless of our best intentions and actions. While unlikely to take place on either extremity of the United States, it seems peculiar to worry about as if we can do something about its timing or place short of whispering direct commands in the ear of God Himself. So if we are not to worry about Armageddon, why do we fret about a very remote if not entirely fact-less nuclear threat, why do we engage in featuring such discussions under the guise of Biblical prophesy? In my mind the purpose is clear - to seed fear into the audience. And since the audience is more likely to be Christian anyway, why do not we need to buy into this fear-mongering when we have more than enough faith-based material in twenty two chapters of Revelations? And if some of the audience happens to be searching for salvation why not offer them Gospel unadulterated instead of chaotic mishmash of worthless predictions.
Wouldn’t it more productive to mention the coming wrath without near lunacy of representing hardly possible as thorough, well-researched and complete facts? Sure, Iran might in the end develop a nuclear weapon, and North Korea could commit suicide by launching one against San Francisco. Anything could happen. But is it a reason enough to pollute our expensive airways. And if history is any guide, just ask folks in Hiroshima about what they think about it.
Needless to say, by the end of the program I felt amused and saddened by this puppetry. However, this was not the end of the proceedings as Prophet had a book to sell and judging by its heavy promotion, it was going to sell like hot pancakes. Amazing!
>>>>>>>>>>>>
The following week, most likely out of boredom, I unwittingly flipped on the same show. Lo and behold, the host was interviewing yet another apocalyptic guest (Prophet B). I could not resist the temptation.
At first, Prophet opened by numerous debunking prophetic myths regarding European Union, its evil origins and the birthplace of the anti-Christ himself. “Great!” I felt some relief; at least somebody was willing to challenge some far-fetched assertions of prophetic status quo. Well, my lighter feelings were short lived as Prophet promptly proceeded to make “factual” statements of his own. Mercifully, his insight did not take as far as anti-Christ occupying some nook in the White House; instead he gleefully pounced on Assyrians, or modern day Iran to be exact – a very convenient bunch of whipping boys headed by the psycho in charge, Mr. Ahmadeenajad. How convenient! Now we were rolling. It turned out that Iranians (Shiite Muslims) await their own version of a messiah who is supposed to emerge out of the chaos of the current Middle East and more specifically, the blessed nation of Iraq.
Having established these facts, our Prophet indulged me in naming things as they should be. The hereto unknown Muslim messiah was no less than Anti-Christ himself, thirsting for ever more violence to be in a truly good form to emerge at the world’s stage.
You see, their (Shiite) dream is to see their messiah (or last Imam) to arrive pronto. Unfortunately, this providence from Allah is a little delayed, waiting for ever more precipitous amounts of violence to slake messiah’s sanguinary appetites. In “fact”, the escalating violence in Iraq is to be blamed on these psychotic Islamists bent on advancing the prophetic age of their own. Most of killings and kidnappings in Iraq these days takes place for this very reason alone. How cares about “tooth for a tooth” when higher purpose is on the line? “They are for violence and we are against it” tersely summed up Prophet, implying that continuing warfare was the only option.
“The same line as the previous dude!” I thought, i.e. as if being against or for violence was going to adjust God’s timetable one iota. Besides, there is nothing new about the fratricide that is taking place in Iraq today. Why it is about messiah now and not hundred years ago when the British were calling the shots. Beats me! All of this is just as laughable as if we stood yet another chance to whisper in the ear of the Almighty. And as far as the current root of the latest cycle of violence in the Middle East?
Hmm… Shall we say “the United States of America” since it is precisely the US (God’s country to some) that started the ill-fated war back in 2003, it is precisely George Bush who conjured up the “Axis of Evil” that included Iran, and it is the very TV program participants who, among many other notable evangelicals, cheered him on. Pitiful! The only one prophesy they can bet on coming true – a self-fulfilling one. “Eye for an Eye!”
How far our standards have fallen!
Do not forget though! God is merciful and rejoices when we, instead of feeding our unfounded fascination with “facts” connecting the ageless Biblical prophesy with momentary geopolitics, seriously reflect on the Biblical prophesy by standing on the firm ground of what we know for sure – our faith in Christ as God, Messiah and World’s Redeemer and Judge; all these while keeping his two greatest commandments “Love Your God with All Your Might” and “Love Your Neighbour as Thyself”. The latter commandment might, just might, include Iranians.
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