Month: February 2018

Everyone will be the antichrist for 15 minutes

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antichrist history and destiny

Everyone will be the antichrist for 15 minutes.

A prominent feature of American evangelicalism is a theology called dispensationalism.  It was popularized by the Left Behind series and has become What the Bible Says when interpreting Revelation.  The antichrist is the beast described in Revelation 13:1-10, Satan incarnate, a ruler who will turn the world into a living hell before Christ returns to defeat him.

Nearly every pope, American president, and Russian (or Soviet) leader has been called the antichrist at least once.  Barak Obama got a lot of that.  Robert Jeffress, the senior pastor of Dallas’s First Baptist Church,  was careful not to say that Obama was the antichrist, but that he would pave the way for him, saying, “The course he is choosing to lead our nation is paving the way for the future reign of the Antichrist.” I heard another preacher give the standard dispensationalist script on the antichrist.  He said things are going to get so bad that we’ll turn over all our freedom to a dictator – the antichrist, Satan incarnate.

I don’t buy into this, but I could make a case we’re following that preacher’s timeline right now. Our current president said he’s inherited a mess and he’s the only one who can fix it. His followers seem to agree, or don’t disagree enough to speak up. He’s frustrated with the limits of presidential power. The narrative seems to fit that TV preacher’s scenario, but that preacher doesn’t think the president is the antichrist because they have the same politics. Jeffress has moved from a president paving the way to antichrist to a president as an instrument of God. He assumes everyone else will enable the antichrist, but not him. I’m not suggesting anyone is the antichrist. I am asking why a movement that preaches how Satan will emerge by way of politics is so careless with its loyalties.

We now have permission to give in to our worst selves. The president supported violence at his campaign rallies. The alt-right (and many others) interprets his weak condemnation of Charlottesville as support.  We’re free to demonize immigrants.  One of the core truths of the Christian faith is to recognize how we are our own worst enemies, how we oppose what is best for us.  The very people who should be reminding us of that are embracing it.

Maybe this is Jeffress’s 15 minutes. Not as the antichrist, but as another figure from Revelation 13, the one dispensationalists call the false prophet. According to the scenario, he’s the one who persuades us to worship the antichrist. To be clear, I don’t accept the dispensational scenario. But they do. And the way things are going, they seem to fit their own scenarios very well.

(Image is “Antichrist:  History and Destiny” by “Michael Coghlan” on Flickr.  CC BY-SA 2.0.  I didn’t go inside.)

Random Thursday for February 22, 2018

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Unrelated comments, in no particular order.

Candlelight Vigil 4

Considering the Parkland shootings:  I’ve wondered where the expressions of sorrow are from the gun rights advocates.  Other than the usual “thoughts and prayers” from politicians, I haven’t heard anything beyond Wayne LaPierre’s opening remarks at CPAC and he mentioned it on the way to making another point.  Where is the sorrow that young people died?

In light of Billy Graham’s passing, I’m wondering why no other evangelical pastor has Graham’s standing.  It seems that more pastors should have Graham’s reputation for integrity.  Discussions abound about whether or not Graham was used by Nixon; Graham was able to emerge without a lasting stain on his reputation.  It seems so ironic to talk about that now, in light of the relationship between evangelicalism and today’s president.

(Image is “Candlelight Vigil 4” by “Ben Townsend” on Flickr.  CC-BY-2.0.  Pray for Parkland.)

Reflections on Youth Ministry: Math

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What Math looks like

We didn’t teach our kids math. We wanted them to make up their own minds about it. Knowledge is such a personal thing it seemed unfair for us to impose our perspective on our children. Truth is so relative. My generation was raised with math – our parents didn’t give us a choice – but that was back when it was expected, whether you wanted to or not. It’s just different today.

We thought about having them take math, but one of ours wanted to be a dance team officer.  She’s a talented dancer and we want to encourage her to follow her dreams. As drill team season went on, it was harder and harder to fit math in to our schedule. Those coaches expect so much, they schedule extra practices, she also needs private dance lessons, and there are competitions that take up the weekend. We were also worried about how our kids would fit in with the other math kids. They know some of the kids in the math class, but they aren’t close friends. Once more of their friends start going to math, I’m sure they’ll want to go. We said maybe if they started going to math, their friends would join them, but they weren’t interested, and we weren’t going to fight that battle. It’s so hard to get them out of bed for math class. Besides, if the math teacher can’t make it interesting and keep my kid entertained in the process, they won’t learn math anyway. It’s really the math teacher’s job to make sure my kids can do math.

I know math is a life skill. I use it from time to time and it’s helped me through some rough spots. But math will always be there if they want to take it up when they’re older.

[Image is “What Math Looks Like?” by “Diane Horvath” on Flikr.  CC-BY-2.0.  I think that guy likes math.]