Blogging Through Revelation - Part 2

In March of 1975 I traveled traveled out to Los Angeles California to enroll in the spring quarter classes of the newly forming Melodyland School of Theology. (Melodyland was an actual theater/bar across the street from Disneyland that Ralph Wilkerson had bought and converted into a church then added a school of theology where he attracted a lot of high profile charismatic teachers. Each class actually began with a period of worship and prayer and occasionally these times would preempt the planned lesson! At 18 years of age I thought this is was pretty awesome for a school.) Being in the midst of charismatic theology (if there was such a thing) "end time teaching" and charts and dispensations seemed to abound.

While I was enrolled at Melodyland I made Calvary Chapel my "home" church which featured the Marantha Singers (a name like that ought to give you a clue as to there being some end times emphasis). Chuck Smith, the founder and pastor, was a good bible teacher and espoused a pre-millennial pre-tribulational rapture view. (After only a few months in California I had some new lingo to throw around!)

My Christian Doctrine III class that quarter was the first time I heard the term "eschatology" (or at least the first time I was paying attention - there was going to be test this time!) (Eschatology means "the study of the last things" from the Greek "eschatos " meaning "last" and "-ology" meaning "study of", or more literally, "word of"). The professor of this class did a real good job in laying out the major views of the end times not only commonly held today but throughout church history. I became exposed to pre-millennial, post-millennial, and a-millennial views referring to the 1000 year reign of Christ after the "rapture". Ahhh, the rapture - when was that going occur? Before the "Tribulation" (Pre), after it (Post), or in the middle of it (Mid)? And the book of Revelation was it prophetic/apocalyptic, poetic, or historical, literal/spiritual in it's eschalogical interpretation? Our professor laid it all out there and said they all had scriptural support and different views were prevalent at different times of history. Right now it seemed apparent that in the 1970's in Southern California a Pre-tribulational Pre-millenial literalist interpretation of the book of Revelation was the happening thing!

Remember, Hal Lindsay was saying that the earth, as we know it, was doomed - real soon! here's how the thinking went: Israel received nation status in 1948; a generation was about 40 years; the world would be destroyed with fire after the Great Tribulation; if Jesus was going to come back for the church before the destruction - probably 7 years before that, maybe 3 1/2. This return was REAL close to 1975! Don't think I wasn't thinking about this stuff!

As for me at this time - I was still praying my same prayer "Come Lord Jesus, please, after I'm married". I also began to adopt a "Pan -millennial" view - I figured it would all pan out in the end. And since Jesus said no one knew the hour of his return I figured you better hold all of these views rather loosely.

But I remember thinking - if push came to shove - I mean if someone shoved me into a view, I would pick - I would "be" a "Post-Triber" concerning the rapture. It seemed to make the most sense from what Jesus said - if no one was going to know the exact time but we were to be prepared then why not hold to a Post-tribulational view of the rapture? If Jesus did decide to come back before the Great Tribulation then, oops, I guess I was wrong but at least I was ready. Being "right" on my end time view didn't seem to be a requirement to "make" the rapture but being "ready" did.

Blogging Through Revelation

Hello friends out there! As you can see I have been silent for some time.

I've been "challenged" - so I'm going to try to reenter the blogosphere. This post is an acceptance of the invitation issued by my friend Paul Dazet to begin a study in the book of Revelation. Along with Ben Yost we are going to be taking a fresh look at this last book of the Bible posting our thoughts and encouraging discussion as we blog along.

So my first "challenge" is to relate how my view on the "end times" have been formed, influenced and changed during my journey. And rather than post this part all at once ('cause as you can see I'm not used to writing so much at one time). I'll break it down into three sections "Pre-awakening views"; "Mid- awakening views" and "Post -awakening views.

PRE - awaking views

I made an intentional decision to follow Christ when I was 14 years old. In fact I remember the time and place where I did that - it was at an altar in the front of the Methodist Church in Columbiana on a Sunday morning in March of 1969. Prior to that time I had no real strong thought about the "end times". I know we recited a creed occasionally where we proclaimed that we believed God was going "judge the quick and the dead". I had a clear sense that God was going to someday make everything right - that love would eventually win - that doing the right thing mattered as much for now as for a future time.

But after I made this conscience decision to follow Jesus and learn and do what He taught I quickly became more aware of "end time teaching". As I began to really read the Bible for myself - apart from the verses and stories I learned in over 10 years of Sunday School (hey - how's come nobody ever got held back in Sunday School?) - I saw how the early Christians really lived with a sense that Jesus would return to earth someday. My parents began taking us to conferences and to hear speakers who spoke about things I never heard about in the church I grew up. (I had no idea I was becoming an "evangelical" at the time!) Invitations were often given to be sure we were "ready" for Christ's return and I began to seriously think about "end times stuff".

I remember actually praying something along these lines - "Jesus, I know you are going to return and I want to want you to return but if you could please wait until I got married I would appreciate that." At 14 years of age I had a real "fear" that Jesus was going to return before I had a chance to have sex - and I didn't want him to return to catch having sex before I was
married.

My first real "car" that I got to claim as my own was a two-tone brown and white Ford Econoline cargo van that happened to missing a front bumper. I got a 2 by 12 piece of wood from the lumber yard, fashioned it into a bumper and painted the words "Jesus Is Coming" in hot pink psychedelic letters. I thought it would be real cool if people saw that message coming head on down the road or in their rear view mirrors. And apparently I thought it was important that people think about Jesus return and be ready for it.

Another thing that greatly "influenced" me during this time was Hal Lindsay's book "The Late Great Planet Earth" that came out in 1970. This book pushed to the top of the nonfiction best seller list in that year and sold over 9 million copies by 1978. Focusing on apocalyptic passages in Daniel, Ezekiel, and Revelation, Lindsay speculated that these climatic events would take place some time in the 1980’s. A large part of this was based upon the idea of this being the length of one generation from the time of the recognition of Israel as a nation in 1948.

Now I put “influenced” in quotes because I never really ever read this book. I remember people kept talking about it but I didn’t want to read it. Partly because in 1970 I was a Freshman in High School and only read what I had to read for school. But the real inner reason was I was afraid and disappointed - I didn’t want to look at this possibility that the world was going to end before I had the chance to really experience the adult things in life like getting married, having kids, owning a house and a car – living the American Dream I was promised as a baby boomer.

This book – though I never read it – set me up for things like this... One day after school I came home and found no one in the house, which was VERY unusual as my dad had his business at home. I called all through out the house – upstairs, downstairs, in the basement. No answer from brother or sister or mom or dad. Panic flooded my mind and my heart raced – oh, no the rapture occurred and I was left behind! It was real serious panic only to be relieved by finally finding my parents.

And somehow the title of the book really influenced me though I never opened it’s intimidating cover which depicted the entire earth ablaze with fire. It became fixed in my mind - the planet earth was doomed to die and be destroyed.

good reading and good eating

I'm reading an excellent book right now. The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. In this book Pollan seeks to answer the loaded question "what should we have for dinner?

At one time in man's history that was a no-brainer - we ate whatever we could hunt or gather. With all the choices we have today that question has a lot to it.

The subtitle of the book is called "a history of four meals". Pollan tries to trace 4 meals from their source to his belly and tell what he discovers along the journey.

In visiting an "organic" farm Pollan makes some discoveries that apply to the church as well. (This book is not "religious" or about ecclesiology whatsoever.) The farmer spoke of "the impossibility of taking a 'decidedly Eastern, connected, holistic product, and selling it through a decidedly Western, disconnected, reductionist Wall Streetified marketing system.'"

He was speaking about how the governments involvement in the organic food industry has ruined the term and concept of "organic". (Not just the "government" - the capitalistic Western system.)

To me - I can't help but think the same applies to the church. When we take something as pure and natural and organic as the church is to be and try to sell it in a decidedly Western market system - well it's impossible - it ends up ruining the "organic-ness" of the church. (This is my observation or "association" - NOT the author's.)

I wish I could explain this better - but hopefully you catch my drift. Anyway, the book is really good - the guy is not a health food or organic food advocate - he just shares his findings as he tries to follow 4 meals that he puts on his table. He's a good writer and easy to read - for those who only read fiction and find nonfiction "boring" - this would be good one to wet your palate with.

Pun intended but the recommendation is serious.

Speakeasies and Blind Pigs

I told you I think about words.

I didn't tell you this though.

I was strolling in downtown Charlotte on a Saturday morning several weeks ago. I passed an establishment that was known, in it's name (I can't remember it's full name), as a "speakeasy". Obviously it was a bar of sorts and it wasn't open in the morning - in fact it didn't open until 8 pm nightly.

But the term "speak easy" got me thinking, as words sometimes do. What a neat concept or term for a bar I thought. A place where you can relax, speak easy with friends. A 'third place' where one could have conversations with friendly people who might not remain strangers very long.

I can't shake the desire to be involved in a "third place" of this type. A place that would be a place of conversation and healthy discussion. A place where people could meet and linger long.

I just looked up "speakeasy" in Wikipedia. It turns out the term is not as noble as I envisioned - A speakeasy was "an establishment that surreptitiously sold alcoholic beverages during the period of United States history known as Prohibition (1920-1933, longer in some states), when the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol was illegal. The term comes from a patron's manner of ordering alcohol without raising suspicion — a bartender would tell a patron to be quiet and 'speak easy'."

Oohhh...

It went on to say they were related to places known as "blind pigs" - where people would be served a complimentary alcoholic beverage under the pretense of entering the establishment to view an unusual animal (such as a blind pig).

Wikipedia went on to say, at least, that "speak easies" were usually high class establishments where as "blind pigs" were generally low class dives.

Well, I still dream a high class 3rd place where people can speak easy.

Are there any good 'isms' out there?

I've been thinking a lot about consumerism. I can't help being a consumer because I consume. If I stop consuming I die. But consumerism sounds "bad" and I believe it is. One of the causes of death that commonly appeared on death certificates in days gone by was "consumption". Even though it's not a medical condition any more (I think we call it cancer now) people are still dying of consumption.

I know I'm not walking in a straight line with my thoughts but putting an 'ism' on the end of a good or neutral word usually turns it into a bad thing.

Nothing wrong with being a part of a denomination but denominationalism is bad - real bad.

Communism - I'm all for community but not communism.
Socialism - people and societies are important but this isn't usually very good.

OK - how about:
Capitalism?
Globalism?
Colonialism?

Here's a neutral 'ism' I can think of right off the top of my head -
Organism - but that's more in the category of biology so it's off track for my raving discussion here.
How about "idealism"?

There might be some "good" 'isms' -
Optimism - usually a good thing.
Orgasm - oh, wait that's spelled differently. Never mind.

I think about words

Like sometimes I wake up thinking about a particular word - where it comes from - it's roots - how it's related to other words - stuff like that.

This is usually pretty random - most times I don't know how I get stuck on a particular word other than my mind usually doesn't shut off at night and one gets caught in the net of my waking consciousness.

This morning I work up with the word 'espouse' caught in my brain.

Is the word 'espouse' related to 'spouse' and if it is what does it mean for one to espouse something with that connection?

So i just looked it up in the dictionary. Espouse does have the word 'spouse' as it's root. Espouse has two meanings; 1) to marry 2) to pick up the cause of (support).

Hmm... interesting. So if I espouse something maybe I better be sure I want to be married to it.

A Pew Study or a pee-ewe study?

My two most favorite things of newspaper reading are: number one - the Sunday morning Vindicator. (I used to read the "funnies" first. Now I never read them. I read the Business section first, then the Technology section.) The second most favorite - the Saturday morning Vindicator - I read the Religion section religiously. I like to see the "take" the local Vindicator and the Associated Press present on whats happening in the area of spirituality. ( I know - I'm not "normal"; I'll also tell you this - I never read the Sports section.)

Well, this morning there was the recent findings of a interesting study of the Pew Forum of Religion and Public Life. The survey confirms the "no-brainer" hunch that denominational loyalty is fraying.

I found a very provocative comment in the article by the Rev. Eileen Lindner, a Presbyterian minister - "As with most things for Americans religion is a consumer product. So it's not brand loyalty you can rely on. It's marketing, location, and other things. Denominations have been slow to react to that."

Some interesting tidbits I found in the article:

• Many Americans don't want to be associated with with denominations even if they belong to one. (This would definitely include me. (I'll tell you this but don't tell anyone else - I'm a part of a Nazarene church!)
  

• 16% of Americans are not affiliated with any religious tradition - an increase from earlier surveys. Says Alan Wolfe - "What we've been witnessing is a shift from a fixed identity to a fluid identity."
  

• The research identified 20% of nondenominational churchgoers as mainline Protestants. (The mainline tag was applied to people who did not identify themselves as "born-again" or evangelical Christians and to those who said they attend "liberal nondenomiational" or "emergent" churches.)
  

• The nation is on the "cusp" of becoming minority Protestant.
  

In commenting on the findings of the survey Rev. Frank Page, president of the Southern Baptist Convention said, "It points to the shallowness in our society, where people don't care about what really matters. It's a consumer society. People look at what looks good on the surface - the bells and whistles. People are apt to ignore substantial issues they deem unimportant."

Ignoring substantial issues because I deem them unimportant... Is this what consumerism does to us?

That stinks. PU

Reacting to these findings by tweaking our marketing strategies? That really stinks.

As far as denominational loyalty and/or Protestantism shrinking - I think that smells pretty good.