Oak Hill Baptist Church © 2008-
Interest in Biblical prophecy seems to be on an upswing.
In the late 60’s evangelical churches were coming to the end of just such a surge of interest. Hal Lindsey had written a book called The Late Great Planet Earth which was read by millions. The subtitle was “a penetrating look at incredible prophecies involving this generation.” It was during this time that I started working through the books of Revelation and Daniel.
My interest has continued over the years. In seminary I enjoyed a course on eschatology (the study of last things) and another on Revelation. I have had opportunity to work through many of the prophets in the original languages, finding them fascinating. Hope is an essential part of Christianity, after all, and it is exciting to reflect on the second coming of Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords. This “blessed hope” motivates us to live differently than neighbors without a similar outlook (Titus 2:13).
With every upswing of Biblical prophecy, all sorts of false teachers take advantage of the attention to divert God’s people. False prophets are always around, of course, peddling their wares. (I have a private letter, for example, that circulated in March, 1994, predicting that God would “rip evil out of this world” on Thursday, June 9.) But it seems as if increased talk of the second coming of Christ brings a renewed bunch of claims, perhaps to discredit the genuine article in the minds of Christians and enquirers.
In the late 1970’s a man by the name of John Todd made the rounds of many evangelical churches. (I have several of his tapes.) He warned about Satan’s emissaries called Illuminati, the practice of human sacrifice in the upper levels of Masonic rites, and a shadowy group called the Trilateral Commission. He predicted the beginning of the great tribulation. Supposedly in 1978 no one in the U.S. could buy or sell without the use of their social security number, the mark of the beast.
In the April 24, 1981 edition of Christianity Today, an article exposed a prophecy about the end of the world in 1982. Christian “scientists” contended that a unique alignment of planets would maximize tidal forces on the sun, provoking an abundance of sunspots and slowing the rate of the earth’s rotation. Massive earthquakes would follow, including the destruction of Los Angeles. A similar scheme was pushed with the year 200 in mind when the orbits of six of the nine planets would line up (Chicago Tribune, 1/12/1979).
Many of these earlier experts knew for sure that the U.S.S.R was the army of the north, destined to attack Israel in the last days (Ezekiel 39:1,2). Some pictured Gorbachev as the antichrist. “Doesn’t that birthmark on his forehead kinda look like Israel?” The trigger for these speculations was the rebirth of Israel in 1948. Christ would come before the generation died out that saw the Jewish nation once more on earth (Matthew 24:34), and time was running out. Interest has died out since the fall of the Berlin wall in 1990.
Last year in the Des Moines Register (1/5/08) an article linked Isaiah 35 with the Interstate 35. Supposedly it is the highway of holiness spoken of by the prophet. Worshippers in churches across the U.S. and other countries prayed nonstop for 35 days for forgiveness, our nation, and closeness with God.
Renewed interest in God’s promises and his word is a good thing. With renewed interest can come genuine, spiritual growth. But we must always be on the watch for idle curiosity. Charlatans will be around. Hope should energize, not distract. Besides, our Lord is patient,” holding off his second coming, “not wanting any to perish” (2 Peter 3:9).