Date Setters

It has been hard the last couple of weeks to avoid all the hoopla surrounding May 21, the supposed date for the end of the world to take place according to Christian radio broadcaster Harold Camping. If you are not aware, Camping is the president of Family Radio, a California-based religious broadcasting network that spans more than 150 outlets in the United States as well as a website. Camping uses Bible-based numerology to predict dates for the end of the world. His current end times prediction is that the Rapture will be on May 21, 2011 and that God will completely destroy the Earth and the universe five months later on October 21. He had previously predicted that the Rapture would occur in September 1994.

I am not sure if Camping actually believes what he is propagating or if he is just looking for 15 minutes of fame but the Bible clearly states in Mark 13:32 that no man, not the angels, and not even the Lord Jesus Himself knows the return of God to Earth. Only the Father knows the date.

Of course date setting is nothing new. Many people over the course of history have predicted the Lord’s return to the earth and all of them have been wrong. This is not surprising in lieu of the fact that the Apostle Paul told the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3 that the Lord’s return would be sudden, “For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman.” When I read this verse I often think of 9/11 and how that event happened on a random Tuesday morning with no one expecting it or ever thinking it would happen. I believe that is how the Lord’s return will take place.

But I think when people, or more importantly Christians, get caught up with date setting and begin spending hours trying to decipher Bible numerology, they miss the true message of Christianity. The Lord Jesus told us when He departed to preach the gospel to every creature. This is the great commission. The message of the cross has always been and will always be the most important message we ever proclaim. It is the cross that saves, it is the cross that forgives, and it is at the cross that we find mercy and grace.

One day the Lord will indeed judge the earth but right now He is in the business of saving the world. When the Lord does return we do not want to be like the Jews during the period of the great prophet Jeremiah and say, “The harvest is past, The summer is ended, And we are not saved!”

Jesus told us in the Gospel of John to not delay in bringing people to the knowledge of the gospel, “Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest?’ Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!”

This is our mission. This is our only mission. As the Lord continues to tarry there is still time to share the gospel with others and affect eternal destinies. While I do long for the appearing of the Lord and look forward with hope toward that day when I will see Him face to face, I cannot let that thought distract me from my true purpose as His child.

In many ways, I hope Camping is right and the Lord does appear tomorrow and if He should that still leaves us with 24 hours to proclaim the gospel to others. Live today like the Lord will return tomorrow and share the gospel with others in love. Time is short and the Lord could return at any moment.

"If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." (Romans 10:9-10)

Another Great Awakening? Why Not?

The professor of my Old Testament survey class recently referenced Jonathan Edward’s great sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." He mentioned it in the context of the Great Awakening that took place circa 1730-1755. Edwards was an American theologian and he preached the sermon on July 8, 1741 in Enfield, Connecticut. Similar to Edwards' other sermons and writings, it combines vivid imagery of Hell with observations of the secular world and citations of scripture. It remains Edwards' most lauded work, and is widely studied both among American Christians and historians.

According to sources close to Edwards, he hoped that the imagery and message of his sermon would awaken his audience to the horrific reality that he argued awaited them should they continue to live without ever knowing Christ as their personal Savior. His underlying point was that God has given humanity a chance to rectify their sins and that it is the will of God that keeps wicked men from the depths of Hell.

As I thought about Edwards sermon, I was reminded about how little we hear about Hell today even among Christian pastors and teachers. Admittedly, it is not a subject that has anyone running to the pulpit to preach, but it was the topic of Hell and judgment in part, that brought about the first Great Awakening in this country. The reality that a revival was spawned due to preaching that stressed God’s judgment of sin seems hard to believe given our society today which emphasizes the rights and happiness of individuals above all that is moral and good. Even sin is not called sin anymore as we have euphemized the word by referring to it as a personality shortcoming, an addiction, or a social quirk. It is no wonder that this mindset has seeped into our churches as sermons focus solely on the honey and not the bitter herbs of scripture.

Of course, the Bible is clear that the same gospel that saves men and women from their sins is also the same gospel that will judge them for all eternity. The same God who loves the world is also the same God who will one day judge it. The same Christ that told people who thirst to come to Him for living water is the same Christ who will proclaim to those who reject His salvation, "I never knew you, depart from me, you that work iniquity" (Matthew 7:23).

Pastor David Jeremiah recently stated that the preacher who only preaches the positive messages of the Bible and not the whole counsel is not only unfaithful to God but has violated God’s Word. I often wonder if we reverted back to preaching the way Edwards and his contemporaries did, if we would not see another revival surface. I know what you are thinking. People do not want to hear about sin, judgment and Hell, but as we watch our world turn itself upside down and plummet further into national debt and lawlessness, perhaps a gospel message that underscores the sovereignty of God and emphasizes divine justice is exactly what people need to hear. After all, this is not a numbers game. We are not trying to grow churches just to say we are the biggest, but are interested in reaping the fields that Jesus Himself said are white unto harvest (John 4:35). Maybe we just need to use a different reaping tool to reach the lost. A pitchfork perhaps, instead of a rake. A plow instead of a spade. A tractor instead of a sickle. We need to get the root and the root is sin and a gospel message that only emphasizes God’s love and mercy fails to instill any accountability to its listener.

All of God’s Word is powerful. God has told us this through His prophet Isaiah, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). Let’s not be afraid to speak it. Even the portions that are unpleasant or make us sad. It may be these very passages that bring a person to salvation.

The Harvest Is Past, The Summer Is Ended, And We Are Not Saved

I am not sure if there is a passage of Scripture that is more somber and terrifying to contemplate than Jeremiah 8:20. Its warning rings even louder today as we begin to enter a watershed moment in the history of our nation as we move toward a more socialist mindset, and even further toward a one world government. These events did not just happen or appear with the election of President Obama as some seem to want to believe. No, this geopolitical course has been in the works for decades as America, along with the rest of the world, has put their faith and trust in humanism instead of the Living God.

It is stunning to see the pages of prophecy as outlined in the prophetic books of the Bible come to pass before our eyes. As I listen to men of God preach the Word of God these days, it is clear that the Spirit of God is focusing on the Lord’s return. It seems as if every preacher of the Word has his message laden with the truths of end time prophecy to warn listeners that Christ is coming and that the age of grace is about to come to an abrupt end.

In Jeremiah 8:20 it is interesting to notice the time frame that is given in the relationship between “the harvest is past” and “summer.” According to Dr. Neal Chadwick, in Israel's agricultural economy, there were three main harvests. The barley harvest was first and it occurred in the spring around the time of Passover. About six weeks later the wheat harvest would commence at Pentecost, and in the fall, corresponding to the Feast of Tabernacles, was the fruit harvest.

When the people cried about the harvest being over and summer being gone, they were no doubt lamenting that the time for the grain harvests had past and they had not been able to reap the fields. This would mean that they would head into winter without any food supplies. Famine and death would follow.

Chadwick goes on to say that in the New Testament, the idea of “harvest” is connected with the ingathering of souls into the Kingdom of God. That's part of the significance of the harvest festival of Pentecost when 3,000 people were welcomed into the first church. When Jesus pointed out the need for evangelists, He said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few” (Luke 10:2). Jesus also referred to the harvest as representing the end of this age when the angels will gather all believers into the heavenly kingdom (Matthew 13:39).

We can surmise from these passages that there is coming a time when God's patience will be exhausted, and He will bring to an end the present age and the world as we know it. This will bring to a conclusion the harvest, and the summer of opportunity to be saved will be over. In that day, there will be many who will repeat the saying first spoken by Jeremiah's contemporaries, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.”

Pretty gloomy, I know. But there is hope. God has NOT returned yet. There is STILL time to be saved.

The way of salvation is outlined in Romans by the Apostle Paul:
“For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” (3:23). You see, man stands guilty before a holy and just God, and the cost of sin, according to divine justice is death, “For the wages of sin is death.” (6:23) But here is the good news, “God demonstrates His own love for us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us!” (5:8) All we need to do is, “Confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God hath raised him from the dead, and thou shall be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (10:9-10)

I hope and pray that if you do not know the Lord personally that today will be your day of salvation and that you will be spared from ever uttering the dreadful words recorded in Jeremiah.

“‘Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.’ Blessed are those who do His commandments that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.” - Revelation 22: 12-14