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About Jesus Steve Sweetman My Journey Through The Ecclesiastical Maze Part 17 The
Last Big Purchase Of My Life There have been many
doctrinal issues that we have allowed to divide us from each other in
the ecclesiastical maze. Doctrine isn’t really the problem.
It’s our attitude towards others who think differently than us
that’s the problem. It’s my opinion that there are certain Biblical
truths that make up the essence of the gospel. These truths cannot be
compromised, and are worth separating over.
Yet there are secondary
Biblical issues that are debatable, and we should not separate over
these issues. I think
end-time prophecy is one of these secondary issues.
It’s not the return of
Jesus that has separated Christians, but the events surrounding His
return that have divided us. There are a few logical views of prophecy
that one could find some scriptural support for.
I tend to be a “Futurist”.
That means I understand the Book of
Revelation to be fulfilled in the future, as in the few years
just before the end. The
opposite view is called the “Historic” view, which understands
Revelation to be symbolic of human history.
After reading Hal
Lindsey’s book entitled “The Late Great Planet Earth” sometime
around 1973 I was convinced the end of this age would come by 1975. With
this in mind, I told my friends that I was about to make my last and
final major purchase of my life. Wow,
I can’t believe I actually said that.
Since I thought there
wasn’t much time left, there was no use spending money on things I
wouldn’t use. There was
one exception though, and that was a set of good stereo speakers I saw
at Radio Shack. Being a
lover of music I thought these speakers could provide some enjoyment for
me before the anti-christ came to arrest me and throw me into jail.
So my friend Gerald Williams drove me to Radio Shack.
To test these speakers I took with me to the store a Larry Norman
album, an Andrae Crouch album, and my stereo receiver. I
connected the receiver to the speakers in the store and blasted everyone
out with my Christian rock music before I made my last and final
purchase of my life. Well, I
thought it would be my last purchase, but obviously it wasn’t.
I didn’t spend a lot of
money on extras back then. I
wanted to be like Paul who made sure his body was in complete submission
to the Lord’s will so that its earthly desires wouldn’t hinder him
from winning the prize Jesus had in store for him. You
can look up 1 Corinthians 9:27 for yourself.
Paul uses much stronger language than I have concerning this. I
thought that there was a good chance I’d end up in a dark, damp prison
for my faith, so I figured I should learn to live with less to prepare
myself for such an event. Less
meant no McDonalds or Burger King, no nice clothes, and of course, no
hair-cuts.
I soon learned that there
was more than one fairly logical way of viewing end time events, so I
pursued a better understanding of these things. As you know, 1975 has
come and gone and the end hasn’t come yet, even though we were once
told in a Full Gospel Christian Businessmen’s meeting in 1973 that the
anti-christ was alive and well as a child, living somewhere in the
middle east. I guess he
would be an adult now. Of course it’s now 2008
and the end still hasn’t come yet, but that doesn’t mean it won’t
ever come. As in 1973, I
think it’s closer than it once was.
That’s a safe position to take.
You can’t argue with me on that point.
In my thinking, the signs of the time are everywhere,
especially when you think in terms of a one world government
system that Futurists believe will mark the end of the age.
When it comes to a
“pre-tribulation rapture”, I’m not convinced it’s Scriptural,
although I can see the reasoning. To
me it takes a good amount of interpretation to come up with this
teaching, because it’s not clearly stated in the New Testament.
It may be inferred, but if something is inferred, you should
teach it as an inference, not as the truth.
That being said, I hope and pray that the “pre-trib rapturists”
are right. I really don’t
feel like being thrown into a dark, damp prison and left to rot. Whatever
the case, we should not divide over this issue.
We should be able to walk together in harmony despite this
difference in thinking. Besides,
if Jesus snatches us up to Heaven before the Great Tribulation, I’m
not going to ask Him to leave me behind because I’m not convinced His
actions are scriptural. I’d
rather go with the rest of you.
2 Thessalonians 2:6 and 7
says, “now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be
revealed at the proper time …
but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he
is taken out of the way”. This
verse is often used to support a pre-trib rapture position because the
one who is holding things back is thought to be the church.
I apologize to the non-churched reader with these strange words,
but they’re often used in the ecclesiastical maze.
In these verses you see
someone who “will be revealed”.
The context clearly states that this person is “the lawless
one”. There’s no need to
interpret that. Someone else
is mentioned who continues to hold “the lawless one” back from being
revealed on earth. At some
point the one holding the lawless one back will be taken
out of the way, allowing the lawless one to appear on the scene.
The text does not tell us who this particular person or identity
is. Therefore, to figure out
who is holding the lawless one back, we need to begin the interpretation
process. Once we start
interpreting, we leave what is certain and clearly stated and enter a
place of opinion. It’s
important to distinguish what the Bible clearly says from what our
interpretation or opinion is. Too
often we teach our interpretation or opinion as truth, resulting in
unnecessary separation between us. So
there you go. You might
firmly believe in a pre-trib rapture while I just hope for it.
But that should be okay. We should be able to walk together
anyway. What will happen,
will happen despite our differences.
One pastor told me that
we should not get involved in end time thinking because it distracts us
from our mission at hand. He
said that such thinking makes us so heavenly minded that we’re no
earthly good. That’s not
so. Jesus specifically told
us to “watch and pray” in Luke 21:36, and in context He is speaking
of watching for signs of the end. There’s
no need to interpret Jesus’ words here.
They are straight forward. So
that’s what I do. I keep
my eyes open for signs of the end. Even
though the end didn’t come in 1975, it sure looks like it’s getting
close. I think it’s best that
the things that are clearly stated in Scripture be obeyed and accepted
as gospel truth. One problem
I see today is that many Christians have no clue what these truths are.
This has led us to a relativism in the church that allows us to believe
whatever we want. This in turn weakens these core truths of Scripture
that we claim to believe in, but really can’t believe in if we don’t
know what they are. Beyond these core truths
there are many secondary issues that we should be humble enough to admit
that they are merely our opinions. I’ve
seen people hold so dogmatically to these secondary issues that they
couldn’t care less about you, or I or the health of the church.
We should extend grace to those who may think differently about
secondary issues, making the ecclesiastical
maze a better place to live.
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