By Jan Markell
Scoffing has hit a whole new level but be of
good cheer, it means the hour is very late.
If you have perused headlines recently, or
watched a TV news hour, you are stunned at what's going on. I am every morning
as I post headlines here. I let them sink in and I shake my head. When has the
world been in this much chaos? When have people been this unhappy, confused,
addicted, pagan, angry and tuned out?
So Hollywood is making the apocalypse a joke
in two movies:This is the End and Rapture Palooza. The latter features a scene
where Jesus is blown out of the sky as He returns in His Second Coming. It
doesn't get any more outrageous. (What if a movie shot Mohammed or Allah out of
the sky?!) And one movie critic states, "Satan, God, and Jesus are
ultimately killed, leaving non-believers to live in peace."
Well, not quite because that's not the way it
will happen. And if "the end" plays out sooner rather than later, the
producers of such nonsense will not be laughing for long.
Sadly, it's not just the pagans doing the
mocking and scoffing, however. Many Christians, churches, and even entire denominations
have similar attitudes. And while they are hardly as offensive, the end result
is similar.
When Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life came in
years ago, I was turned off by his scoffing at the Lord's return and the topic
of prophecy. On pages 285-286, he suggested that Jesus said His return was none
of our business.
Excuse me. It's almost one-third of the Bible!
Warren suggests that considering it might get in the way of our purpose.
Two things define eschatology in the church
today: Ignorance or apathy. People will tell you it will all play out as it is
predicted but in the meantime, enjoy life. Or church leaders will tell you it
is divisive and controversial. This is
just another manner of scoffing. It's nowhere near as offensive as the above-referenced
Hollywood movies, but the result is the same. There is a giant turn-off.
We scoff at eschatology (Bible prophecy) by
ignoring the warnings that are a part of it. Haven't you heard: All of the
previous warnings have been false alarms so why should we pay attention to any
of them now? Jesus will get here when He gets here. Settle down. What's there
to get so excited about? You end-time people are so negative! The sky is always
falling for you people. Come on. Beasts coming out of the sea, plagues,
famines, hail and an evil man called the Antichrist. Can we move on to good news? The stock market is doing super
well! Don't talk to me about bad times
and rough sailing ahead! My 401K has
never done better.
We scoff with our apathy. Our unbelief. Our
doubt. Our skepticism. Our boredom of the topic. Our disgust. Our prophecy fatigue. We've heard this story over and over since
Hal Lindsey made the complicated plain over 40 years ago. No, we aren't
radicals like the producers of the sickening films mentioned who literally
glorify the Antichrist and assassinate Jesus Christ in their productions.
But we are still scoffers. And we are oh so
busy. We are running to and fro and we are trying to keep our ducks in a row
and some day when they are all lined up perfectly, we'll sit down and ponder
His return. Maybe happy days will be here again this side of Heaven!
We go to marriage seminars, financial
seminars, how to manage kids' seminars but please spare us from an end-time
focus. Boring. Depressing. Scary. We want to go to Heaven some day but maybe
not right now!
One reviewer says about the This is The End
flick, "When the apocalypse literally sets the world on fire, and the good
people ascend to heaven while the not-so-good people are destroyed in gruesome
fashion, one young star is stunned to learn there really is an afterlife, and a
God, and all that." The movie actually has an "aha moment." It
resonates with some truth although it was likely unintended.
But that comment says it all. Some day wicked
mankind will realize that what the Bible predicted actually will happen and
there will be consequences. There is a surprise ending for the
unsuspecting.
Life on earth during the very end-of-days
won't be a series of silly escapades as portrayed in the Rapture Palooza
andThis is The End movies.
In one of them, the Rapture happened and
millions are left to cope with plagues of trash-talking locusts, foul-mouthed
crows, rains of blood, and fiery rocks from the sky, all preparations for the
return of Jesus. The cast can relish in the fact that the world is a lot less
crowded but the fact is, when this day actually transpires, no one left behind
will even have a smile on their face.
The Bible contains detailed prophecies about
the end times we are living in, and there is just no way to fully understand
much of what is happening today apart from those prophecies. From the meltdown in Egypt to the
surveillance of Americans who thought they were safe and secure, only an
end-of-days scenario can connect the dots and make things make perfect sense.
We can scoff at the scoffers and hold our
heads high as we look up. We have the most marvelous news known to man. The
King is coming and no cannon will shoot Him out of the sky!
He'll be here right on time. It will be in
God's timing and not ours.
Parting thought: I wanted to put a different title for this article in
the subject line: What if They Shot Allah Out of the Sky? I chose not to risk a
Web site hacking for doing that as that has happened to this ministry numerous
times. But I hear very little blow back from Hollywood blowing Jesus out of the
sky with a quick clip of him lying next to his dead white horse in Rapture
Palooza.
Parting
thought: I wanted to put a different title for this article in the subject
line: What if They Shot Allah Out of the Sky? I chose not to risk a Web site
hacking for doing that as that has happened to this ministry numerous times.
But I hear very little blow back from Hollywood blowing Jesus out of the sky
with a quick clip of him lying next to his dead white horse in Rapture Palooza.
Interesting times.
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