End Times, Conspiracies and The Church Who Cried ‘Wolf’
The ‘Mythistory’ of Genesis 1-11: Creation (part 1 of 2)
24th July 2020
End Times, Conspiracies and The Church Who Cried ‘Wolf’
23rd August 2020The End Wasn't Nigh
For some reason I have always been drawn to ‘apocalyptic’ type disaster movies. You probably know the ones I am talking about, where entire cities are wiped out by a cataclysmic event as people try in vain to flee, and the world would be on brink of extinction if not for the efforts of some hero who saves the day. Now, to be clear, I do not think there is anything particularly special about these movies; the scripts are usually average at best and the acting is not always something to write home about. That being said, the idea of the world coming to an end is an intriguing concept and one that Hollywood has invested much in over recent years and which audiences like myself will gladly pay to watch. Having just passed the half waypoint to 70, I have - in my relatively short years - lived through a number of first-hand doomsday scenarios. Let’s take time to reminisce and appreciate just a few of these close encounters:
Before the end of the second millennium the world was gripped by the 'Y2K bug' fever. It was widely believed that when midnight struck on 31st December 1999, computers across the globe would fail, planes would fall from the sky, banking systems would crash and there would be a worldwide collapse of civilisation as we know it.
Nearly a decade later in 2008, scientists in Geneva, Switzerland, announced their intention to switch on the Hadron Collider in a quest to discover the Higgs Boson or 'god particle'. Some feared, however, that their curiosity would come at a costly price, with the possibility of subatomic particles being accelerated so fast that a black hole would be created which would swallow up the earth.
Then of course we had the infamous 2012 prediction, which had many convinced (an astonishing 10% of the world’s population I might add), that the Mayan calendar, which came to an abrupt end on 21st December 2012, served as a harbinger to warn us of earth's imminent demise.
Thankfully, none of these aforementioned scenarios amounted to anything significant - but you probably already figured that out for yourself! Indeed, the clock struck midnight at the end of 1999, the planes stayed in the sky and billions partied their way into the next millennium. Better still, a black hole did not swallow up our home planet, and life carried on past 2012 and beyond, despite the end of the Mayan calendar. The world and its inhabitants could breathe a sigh of relief…at least for now.
...buzzwords such as rapture, anti-Christ, tribulation and The Beast, [have all been] batted about in an attempt to explain how exactly God will ‘wrap things up’ at the end of history"
For many Christians, the study of The End Times - or to put it in theological terms, ‘Eschatology’ - is both a fascinating and puzzling topic, one that undoubtedly has created much debate with various theories being espoused. Like Hollywood with its apocalyptic disaster movies, the preaching on end-times has been a sure way to draw in the crowds (and beef up church attendance!) with parishioners listening intently as buzzwords such as Rapture, anti-Christ, Tribulation and The Beast are all batted about in an attempt to explain how exactly God will wrap things up at the end of history.
'Prophet?' Harold Camping
Throughout Church history, Christians have attempted to use the Bible as a way to calculate the timing of Christ’s return, with no fewer than forty failed predictions and at least six more which are still future and pending review. Probably one of the most memorable of doomsday prophecies in recent years was that of the American radio and television preacher Harold Camping, who, having already failed in his prediction of judgement day in 1988, believed that Jesus would return on 21st May 2011. The date eventually came and went, leading Camping to concede that he was wrong (presumably he committed the cardinal mathematical sin and forgot to carry the remainder…rookie mistake). After some more number crunching and mild adjustments to his calculations, the date was later revised and judgement day was postponed until 21st October the same year. To the disappointment of Camping and his many followers, the amended date proved to be yet another anti-climax, with the faithful elite failing to be suctioned up into the sky before all sorts of calamities were scheduled to take place down on the earth below.
Tens of millions of dollars were spent on this judgement day marketing campaign, with many leaving their jobs and families to help get the impending message of doom out to the world. Sadly, there was the tragic story of a mother killing her young children before taking her own life, all in an effort to escape the immeasurable pain and suffering that she believed awaited them when judgement day arrived.
The following year Camping apologised and announced his retirement as a professional date-setting prophet, with a less than impressive prophetic track record of zero for four. According to the New York Times1, however, he did manage to find a silver lining amid the confusion and mess, stating that his “incorrect and sinful statement allowed God to get the attention of a great many people who otherwise would not have paid attention.” For Camping, it appears that the end (or in his case, the lack of it) justified the means. I strongly disagree, but more on that later…
That Evil Man Bill '666' Gates
Fast forward 11 years and the world now finds itself in the most peculiar and…wait for it…unprecedented times in recent memory, with a worldwide pandemic to navigate through and unfamiliar practices such as social distancing to try and wrap our heads around. As is the case with most major events or crises, conspiracy theorists across the globe are hastily awakened from their slumber by the smell of hidden agendas and governmental cover-ups. In relation to the coronavirus in particular, it didn’t take long for such conspiracies to circulate around social media platforms...and to my annoyance, clutter up my Facebook feed!
By far, the most commonly supported conspiracy in recent months (excluding 5G of course!) involves that of Bill Gates. Gates, if you were not already aware, is an evil man, who wickedly and selfishly gives away his money to help children in Africa as well as pledging millions of dollars to fund a coronavirus vaccine. Don’t be fooled by Bill’s philanthropy though, as according to many theorists his agenda - along with the other 1% of earth’s elite - is to control the world’s population. How you may ask? Well, obviously it is with the use of Nano-chip technology (which incidentally has the number 060606 in its patent application form) and is stirred into the vaccine itself...[INSERT LONG SIGH AND SOUNDS OF MY HEAD BANGING ON THE OFFICE DESK]
The End (Apparently) is Nigh...Again
Your sarcasm senses may at this point be tingling, and they would be right to do so! Although I do not buy in to such conspiracies quite so easily, I will however be honest in saying that they have been the catalyst for this blog post in particular. My reason for this though, is not so much because of the conspiracies in and of themselves. Rather, my concern is specifically directed towards Christians who are attaching themselves on to these ideas and importing them into their theological thinking and end-time narrative. For some, they are convinced that the stars are aligning (metaphorically speaking of course) and the world is being set up for the grand finale – with the lead role played by the anti-Christ, whose agenda must first play out before Jesus returns.
I am not ignorant of the fact that for a lot of people, reading the Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other, is how they have been conditioned to understand the second coming of Christ. Generally speaking, for those who do side with this approach, the downward trajectory and eventual irreparable damage to our world is to be expected. This is usually seen through a number of occurrences, such as an increase of wars, famines and earthquakes, as well as anything relating to the number 666 or certain geo-political events (more often than not surrounding the nation of Israel), all of which are useful indicators in helping to discern just how near the end really is.
As someone who for many years subscribed to this method of interpretation, I can certainly empathise with those who hold so tightly to it. On many occasions I did, however, find myself in a state of cognitive dissonance as I tried to weigh up the Church’s cry for Jesus to return with the expectation and belief that all sorts of disasters and events must first unfold before He finally did. I found it difficult to escape the idea that holding to such a pessimistic eschatology meant that the desire for Jesus to return should coincide with the desire to want more wars, famines and earthquakes - and at the same time be both saddened and joyful when such tragedies would in fact occur.
Grappling with this theological and ethical conundrum seemed like a catch-22, in that Jesus could not return without the world falling apart and if the world didn't fall apart then Jesus could not return. For me personally, this was always a confusing, jarring and uncomfortable position to be in and one which I now consider to be completely antithetical to our prayer for the will of heaven to be done here on earth (Matt. 6:9-13)...That is of course, unless we believe that heaven's storehouses are stockpiling all sorts of calamities which are just waiting to be gifted to earth through our prayers?
An End-Times Statement of Faith
At this point, I wish to nail my colours to the eschatological mast. Whilst I believe that the return of Jesus is certainly a message for the Church to proclaim, I do feel we should be careful not to attach some kind of extra clause in an attempt to justify the nearness of His coming. In other words, although it is right for us to declare that ‘Jesus, some day, will return’, I find no biblical precedent to say that ‘Jesus is returning very soon because [Insert your interpretation of some current world event].
I can appreciate that for some readers, to suggest a second coming without looking to current world events, may seem somewhat strange, careless and perhaps even an assault against Biblical prophecy itself. I am, however, increasingly persuaded that there are better and perhaps more faithful approaches to understanding the doctrine of eschatology – ways that are not predicated upon a fatalistic and depressive view of where the world is heading or an unhealthy preoccupation with respect to Christian Zionism2.
Whilst a single blog post is not adequate to elaborate upon all I want to say, I will quickly mention just two areas within Scripture which have influenced my theological shift. Firstly, I am convinced that much of what the New Testament writers believed to be ‘the end’ may not necessarily relate to what we as a 21st Century audience have in mind with respect to our future.3 Secondly, I cannot help but feel that the dominant views we hear today pertaining to the book of Revelation4, have been so over-sensationalised and skewed that the purpose which the book served for its original audience has been lost altogether, and has resulted in unnecessary tangents and at times ludicrous explanations of the text.
In time, I hope to explore this topic in much more depth, however, for now I will sum up my eschatological statement of faith as follows...in no particular order:
1. I don’t believe that for Jesus to return there needs to be a great ‘falling away’ or more wars, famines or earthquakes which must first take place. Our hope for Jesus' coming is not contingent upon all hell breaking loose on earth beforehand
2. I don’t believe that God is going to one day take out His divine vacuum cleaner and suction up all the believers into heaven before He returns (i.e. I don’t believe in this kind of a rapture)
3. I don’t believe that we need to wait for an ‘anti-Christ’ to be revealed or concern ourselves with trying to work out what the ‘mark of the beast’ could be in our present day and age
4. I REALLY don’t believe that when Jesus returns it will be to physically slay all the unbelievers in some kind of decisive UFC fight for the end-times unification belt
5. I don’t believe we need to look at events and circumstances surrounding Israel, Russia and China as God’s ‘doomsday clock’
6. I don’t believe heaven is my final home
7. I DO believe that when Jesus returns, the dead in Christ will rise first and those who belong to Him will reign with Him in a new earth
The Church Who Cried 'Wolf'
In closing, I simply wish to highlight what I believe to be the major disadvantage in reading ‘the sign of the times’ as a means to decipher Jesus’ return. You may recall Aesop’s famous fable of ‘The boy who cried wolf’. In the fable, a young shepherd boy tricks villagers nearby into thinking that a wolf is attacking the town’s sheep, when in fact there was no wolf. As it so happens, a wolf does eventually come, however, the boy’s cries for help fall on deaf ears as the villagers believe it to be a hoax.
In a similar manner, I feel that Aesop’s fable loosely serves as an illustration for what the Church is unintentionally doing with regards to the return of Christ. It seems that in every generation someone somewhere, is convinced that the 'signs of the times' all indicate that the coming of Jesus will be soon - most likely in their lifetime. As I have already mentioned, I find such assertions unwarranted and I truly believe that these failed predictions - combined with ‘no-shows’ by Jesus - are resulting in a message which is losing all credibility as the world watches on. Could it be that, as we have cried ‘Second Coming’ too many times, that the world is failing to take notice of our message and anything else we have to say?
Moreover, I find much irony in how the same Christians who shake their heads at the story regarding Harold Camping and pass criticism on his hopeless efforts to date set, are in effect attempting to do the same thing – albeit not as dogmatically or precisely. To put it another way; just as Camping failed miserably in his predictions, making the Church look foolish and bringing discredit to it, so too are we if we are swayed by the wind of current world events and allow them to influence our thinking on Jesus’ return.
The fact of the matter is, Jesus IS coming back…as to exactly how and when, we do not know, and there are no signs to help us discern. We are not to be flat-footed however in our expectation, but ready for the moment when creation is restored and heaven and earth are one. Lets us not allow this wonderful and glorious truth to be lost and overridden by some unnecessary doom and gloom end-time theology.
...to be continued
- Article: Harold Camping, Dogged Forecaster of the End of the World, Dies at 92
- I do not believe that the nation of Israel holds any present or future significance with regards to Biblical prophecy. In short, I think there is a strong argument to be made that Jesus IS the true Israel and that those who are Christians and therefore in Christ can also lay claim to being the true Israel. The Church therefore IS Israel, not by replacement but by extension, as what constitutes the people of God has always been about 'faith' and not as a result of 'ethnicity'.
- In this respect I consider the preterist view extremely compelling, which suggests that 'the end' Jesus and the gospel writers are alluding to (especially in the Olivet discourse - Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21) is the end of the Jewish Age, the temple and the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D.70 - NOT the end of the world/cosmos.
- It is my understanding that most of the book of Revelation is using apocalyptic imagery to provide a prophetic critique of the Roman Empire and the events concerning it and Jerusalem within its 1st Century context.
