Pastor David Wilkerson, author of The Cross and the Switchblade, has issued An Urgent Message about what he has called "an earth-shattering calamity."
Although I do not think the Holy Spirit speaks these prophetic messages to people today—at least not in nations that have easy access to the Bible, I do think he is putting words to a general feeling of unrest that is sweeping the globe. The world is changing and the world that seemed a bit out of whack a few years ago seems to have lost all semblance of order.
These are potentially very scary times and we Christians must keep our focus on Christ. Wilkerson's predictions may not come to fruition in exactly the way he has spoken them, but it is quite likely that civil unrest will spark actions that scare all of us. We must be prepared to share the good news of Jesus Christ with those who have not yet turned to Christ for their salvation and comfort.
Update:
Here's Pastor John Piper's take on David Wilkerson's prophetic message. As usual, it's right on the money.
HT: SimpleGifts3 - Indelible Grace
Here is John Piper's assessment of this:
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Good food for thought.
Thanks - I've added it to my initial post. As usual, Piper has a solid handle on this and has eloquently stated my response to Wilkerson's message.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this good post. You may consider me insane, but I am looking forward with eagerness to what lies ahead. I am eagerly awaiting the Lord's return, and our present culture just seems ripe and ready for an antichrist. Although I wouldn't make any prophecies as Wilkerson did, I believe in being ready ALWAYS.
ReplyDeleteThe internet monk has a good read about it, too, Richard. And he links to a post he'd written a couple years ago, which is also a good read, I think.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I just don't know where the Bible prophecy, "While they are saying, 'peace and safety,' then suddenly destruction shall come upon them" fits into all of this.
ReplyDeleteMy understanding is - there is going to be global unhappiness, which the antichrist will appear to make better for a season, and all nations will march against Israel, and the Lord shall return at that time.
Hopefully, I will be off the planet by then!
Ah - a premillenial pre-tribulationist, eh? I confess to holding to that same eschatology mainly because I really don't want to be here when it all goes down. I agree with your thoughts about the chronology of events and I, too, really hope that I will be watching the whole thing from heaven and not from earth. Yikes!
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna check out iMonk. He's an interesting guy and tends to have thought provoking posts.
I read John Piper's take on the prophecy. I have to admit, I don't like reading prophecies about the end times because I agree with Piper, the Bible is scary enough!
ReplyDeleteThe pastor of our former church likes to "read and interpret the signs of the times" and so does my father-in-law. I find it disturbing, because I believe we have to be watchful, but also trusting God. The people I've met who are always thinking about the end seem to be scared. I don't know how good that is.
Madame - you make a good point that I had not considered. We are not to live in a spirit of fear but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind (2 Tim 1:7). And yet those who focus on prophecy are, as you pointed out, typically quite scared and encouraging people to horde food and stockpile supplies (and arm themselves).
ReplyDeleteThat does not seem to fit with what we are told should be our attitude and our state of concern in scripture.
That spirit of fear we are not to have is what the internet monk spoke of, when he referenced an old blog post in his entry, made yesterday, on this subject. I agree with all of you on this one.
ReplyDeleteThat's the funny thing, I don't feel fearful when I hear that we are in the end times. I'm jumpin outta my skin with joy. Yes, it's going to be painful, but it is LIMITED. There are those women who avoid maternity and motherhood because of a few hours of miserable labor, but I'm not one of them. I knew the pain had a limit, and that the reward would be well worth the struggle. And I know that when you say "end times", it really means spending the rest of my life with Jesus. CAN'T WAIT!!
ReplyDeleteInternet Monk correctly observed that many Evangelicals use fear to force folks to "accept Christ" or to "say the sinner's prayer" or whatever. These people are in essence purchasing a life insurance policy with their conversion because they're afraid of the afterlife.
ReplyDeleteThe fear that bothers me with this focus on eschatology is the fear that it engenders in Christians - those who have already repented and turned to Christ. iMonk spoke of this fear as well.
I must confess to falling to this fear at times myself. I tend to not be quite as eager about the end times as Mary is. I guess I don't like pain and I have gotten quite comfortable here in America where Christianity has been encouraged or at least tolerated for most of my life.
I think my own personal fears about the end times are all rooted in my mind being focused on myself rather than on Christ. John Piper has been mentioned a few times in this ongoing conversation. In his book Desiring God he makes the argument that the only source of true and abiding happiness is Jesus Christ. And if we seek our happiness (hedonistically) in Christ, if we find our comfort in Christ, if we are motivated by love for others to help them find the same source of happiness, then we will not be thrown by the storms of life.
I think that's what is missing in those who use eschatology to bring fear to other Christians - and it is also missing in those who feel fear when they hear the predictions and prophecies. Their focus has lost it's appropriate mark. I think the times are ripe for the beginning of the end. And so we must make sure that our focus is on Christ, the only source of comfort. And we must make sure that those around us know the Christ died to save sinners.
The NEWEST Pretrib Calendar
ReplyDeleteHal (serial polygamist) Lindsey and other pretrib-rapture-trafficking and Mayan-Calendar-hugging hucksters deserve the following message: "2012 may be YOUR latest date. It isn't MAYAN!" Actually, if it weren't for the 179-year-old, fringe-British-invented, American-merchandised pretribulation rapture bunco scheme, Hal might still be piloting a tugboat on the Mississippi, roly-poly Thomas Ice (Tim LaHaye's No. 1 strong-arm enforcer) might still be in his tiny folding-chair church which shares its firewall with a Texas saloon, Jack Van Impe might still be a jazz band musician, Tim LaHaye might still be titillating California matrons with his "Christian" sex manual, Grant Jeffrey might still be taking care of figures up in Canada, Chuck Missler might still be in mysterious hush-hush stuff that rocket scientists don't dare talk about, John Hagee might be making - and eating - world-record pizzas, and Jimmy ("Bye You" Rapture) Swaggart might still be flying on a Ferriday flatbed! To read more details about the eschatological British import that leading British scholarship never adopted - the import that's created some American multi-millionaires - Google "Pretrib Rapture Diehards" (note LaHaye's hypocrisy under "1992"), "Hal Lindsey's Many Divorces," "Thomas Ice (Bloopers)" and "Thomas Ice (Hired Gun)," "LaHaye's Temperament," "Wily Jeffrey," "Chuck Missler - Copyist," "Open Letter to Todd Strandberg" and "The Rapture Index (Mad Theology)," "X-Raying Margaret," "Humbug Huebner," "Thieves' Marketing," "Appendix F: Thou Shalt Not Steal," "The Unoriginal John Darby," "Pretrib Hypocrisy," "The Real Manuel Lacunza," "Roots of (Warlike) Christian Zionism," "America's Pretrib Rapture Traffickers," "Pretrib Rapture - Hidden Facts," "Dolcino? Duh!" and "Scholars Weigh My Research." Most of the above is written by journalist/historian Dave MacPherson who has focused on long-hidden pretrib rapture history for 35+ years. No one else has focused on it for 35 months or even 35 weeks. MacPherson has been a frequent radio talk show guest and he states that all of his royalties have always gone to a nonprofit group and not to any individual. His No. 1 book on all this is "The Rapture Plot" (see Armageddon Books online, etc.). The amazing thing is how long it has taken the mainstream media to finally notice and expose this unbelievably groundless yet extremely lucrative theological hoax!
(Piper is on the ball! BTW, I saw the above web bit recently. Ben)
Ben, I'm always up to listening to the ideas of others -- they either give me information that I need to make a better decision, or convince me that I've actually got it right. So, other than what you think of the money making machine -- to which I can relate, but not to the degree that the bug has bit you -- just what is it that you believe? Has He come already? Will He come in the middle of the tribulation? Is there any tribulation at all? Is Jesus ever coming back?
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