Bad eschatology kills.
On the way to death it leads its adherents deeper and deeper into bondage and darkness. Kinda like what we have going on in America right about now.
For those new to the term, eschatology is just a big way of saying “future things” or “the future of humanity”. It’s a category of thought dealing with what some like to label “end times” or “future path” stuff. It’s about where we’re ultimately going as people and what the path to that destination looks like.
In a recent ZeroHedge article entitled Young People Are Increasingly Blaming “Climate Change” For Not Saving For Retirement, I was reminded of both the destructive power of bad eschatology and the pessimistic views on culture and civilization shared by most American evangelicals and leftist wackos like Al Gore and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC).
The article in question launched with the following:
“An increasing number of younger Americans are blaming climate change for not putting away money for their own retirement. They say that because the world won’t exist when they retire (because of climate change) there’s no need to save any money.”
Indeed.
If all is lost, why do much of anything beyond the bare bones basics?
Why save?
Why study?
Why build?
Why bother even thinking much about the long haul?
Why bother with multigenerational plans?
Why bother having a large family?
Why sacrifice now to pursue depth and maturity when there’s no future to be deep and mature in?
Put another way: Why take the hard work and everything-touching detail of the Gospel-fueled Great Commission seriously?
Why spend yourself – every bit of yourself – trying to make every area of life and culture more Christ-centered when you can just…settle for minimum effort while waiting for the rapture?
See the problems here?
More importantly, do you see the consequences of having such a pessimistic view of culture and its future?
The point/concept that I’d like to focus on in this context is the Great Commission (see: Matthew 28:18-20).
How does the pessimism of Americanized Christians and front line leftists help or hinder the Great Commission?
What does their shared pessimism say about their (shared?) view of the Great Commission?
Let’s explore these questions a bit…
One of the telltale signs of an unbiblical eschatology is an assumption (or even outright proclamation) that the Gospel-fueled Great Commission simply will not work – that it can’t happen here in “the real world”.
For leftists, this core element of bad eschatology (pessimism) is confirmed by dismissing the Great Commission out of hand by dismissing the concept of Jesus as God and King out of hand.
For American evangelicals, it’s a little more slippery and convoluted, with claims of love for Jesus schizophrenically accompanied by explicit and/or implicit denials of the power and inevitable success of His Gospel-fueled Great Commission, often manifested in a personal refusal to submit to Christ as King in politics, education, economics, art, and pretty much every other area of life not labeled “church”.
Where the leftist proudly and openly rebels against Christ, most Americanized Christians claim to love Him as Savior while routinely denying Him as Lord, justifying their dismissal of the challenging, work-requiring, everything-transforming Great Commission by claiming that “there’s no point in fighting for culture and civilization” because it’s “going to hell anyway”. Pessimism where culture is concerned is the shared gateway through which both Americanized Christians and anti-Christian leftists are presently escorting our culture to hell.
For the Americanized Christians in question, this path amounts to self-fulfilling bad prophecy. “See,” they say as they abandon the culture to lawlessness through their personal abandonment of the Great Commission, “we told you it was all going to hell anyway!”
I explored these ideas in several articles a few years back, including Our “End Times” Madness: American Pessimillennialism vs. Biblical Optimillennialism and The True Gospel Conquers Everything; The Modern American “Gospel”…Not So Much. You might want to take a moment to read through those if this subject is intriguing to you.
Where leftists and other overt anti-Christians often use the pessimism in question as a lever by which to promote fear and manipulate people, Americanized evangelicals regularly use pessimillennialism to justify laziness, apathy, shallowness, and a general lameness when it comes to the pursuit of depth and maturity.
If all we’re supposed to do as Christians is “get people saved” as the culture goes to hell around us, why would we spend much time, energy, or resources fighting to make art, politics, music, literature, architecture, games, sports, technology, and civil government more Christ-centered? Why bother? And if we do bother at all, we sure shouldn’t bother too much, right? No need to put too much time, evergy, and resources into that stuff since…[*drumroll*]…it’s all going to hell anyway.
What do American Christians tend to believe most about the Great Commission?
That it can’t be done. (For an earlier FBC article elaborating on this sad reality, click here.)
In this, Americanized Christians and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are in complete agreement.
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Stupid Elephant Tricks – The Other Progressive Party’s War on Christianity takes a painful but much needed look at how Christ-less “conservatism” has captivated Christians and co-opted them into helping march the culture ever deeper into darkness:
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The Beginning of Knowledge: Christ as Truth in Apologetics is an approachable, easy to read introduction to Christ-centered apologetics:
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Apathetic Christianity: The Zombie Religion of American Churchianity explores the tragic true horror story of all-American dead religion masquerading as Christianity:
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On Education is a compilation of some of the most provocative and compelling Fire Breathing Christian articles on the subject of children’s education:
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What are you, some kind of [insert label here] or something?!
What’s with that shark-fishie graphic thing?
Intro to Fire: The Power and Purpose of the Common Believer
When the Bible gets hairy. (Or: Is it right for men to have long hair?)
And especially this one: Never forget that apart from God’s grace you and I are complete morons.
Now that you Christian fundamentalists and conservative evangelicals have gone off the deep end into the Twilight Zone, I need to kindly say a few things to you:
(1) Man induced global warming and climate change are real, and we are running out of time to fix the problem. I am both a Christian and a professional scientist—and my scientific colleagues who study man-induced climate change (many of them Christians) are good and honorable men who are not misleading you on this issue. Grave environmental trouble is indeed just around the corner. You and I will not see its worst effects, but our children and grandchildren will. They will experience great agony and tribulation—and they will look back in anger at you for not taking the steps that would have saved them from all of this tragedy—from not being good parents to your children.
(2) There is no rapture. The rapture was invented by an Anglo-Irish Bible teacher by the name of John Nelson Darby in the year 1830. It is based on a single small verse in the New Testament. The fact that it is so recent in some quarters of the Christian faith is the chief reason for doubting it. Serious Christian scholars had studied every verse of the Bible for 1,800 years prior to Darby, and none of them saw fit to declare a pre-tribulation rapture. Darby did not experience a spiritual vision of a rapture—a lie that has misled many Christians. He invented the rapture out of thin air just like the so-called "Christian" prophets who predict the world will end on June 3, 2019 at 8:36 a.m. All charlatans just like Darby!!!
Christian fundamentalists and conservative evangelicals view the rapture as a "Get Out of Physical Death Free Card" to soothe their nerves and make themselves look extra-preferred and extra-special in the eyes of men—the sin of spiritual pride. The Bible says that physical death is appointed to every man and woman on this Earth, and God is not kidding about that. There is no rapture, and there will be no rapture.
(3) No man or woman is going to get a free ticket out of death and destruction from man-induced global warming. God gave us brains so we can think, act, and do what is right. It is not too late to fix the man-induced global warming problem, but time is running out. God has a clear message for all Christians and nonChristians who fail to respond positively to this issue, and he will enforce it against you one day—each and every one of you fundies who stand in his way.
"And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth."
Right now, your fundie roadblocks to fixing the man-induced climate change problem means that you are willfully counting yourselves among those "which destroy the earth." The Earth is God's special creation—his personal garden that he loves—a gem of life floating in a vast universe of desolate worlds. You fundies are setting yourselves up to personally trash God's own personal garden. God plans to destroy those like you fundies—those who are destroying the Earth through the sins of personal greed and corporate greed—-with your total lack of discernment and conscience.
Man-induced global warning catastrophe is on its way. It is heading straight toward you right now, and God has given you fair warning along with the brains and the power to stop it. That is a holy gift from God that has been placed into your hands. When we fail to use the gifts God gives us at the right times and places—that is when we all get into enormous trouble.
It is time to wise up fundies. Eli is a comin' for you—with a broken heart!!
Hi Scott,
Another good one. I do believe in Jesus imminent return in the context of that I can be confident that He will at His desired time. When I think of the hundreds of years between the old and new testaments; the old testament prophecies concerning Jesus all came to pass.
Your statement on the Christian's self fulfilling prophecy is true. What I hear can be summarized as when it gets really bad in America, Jesus will come to the rescue and get us out. I think the idea of making disciples is a lost art in the church anyway to the extent that very few have seen it done and if it is attempted it's usually tried in an impersonal classroom type setting where knowledge is divorced from application.
Instead of reaching the lost and then getting our hands dirty training them; what I see is church building through transfer growth. That way we only have to deal with the "clean" ones. It builds our club but not God's kingdom.
Truly, the last time I experienced being discipled was in a Christian fellowship when I was in the military overseas in the late '70's. I am indebted to those seasoned Christians who selflessly took the time to get us newly saved believers started on the right track.
I do think there's a renewal in the making; at least at my church. Just within the last year.
It is a non sequitur to equate pre-mill/pre-trib/rapture views with the climate change issue. Even climate change hysteria should not lead to pessimism or lack of retirement savings. This is an unnecessary/illogical over reaction to rapture/climate views. Many rapture proponents who defend the position biblically (the imminent return of Christ/blessed hope of the church/or even visible Second Coming) does not have to lead to passivity at all. Is there evidence for rapture (yes), manmade climate change (debatable)? Whether so or not, it does not preclude active involvement in our world.
The best eschatology recognizes that Jesus will return and that we are to occupy until He does so. We can proclaim the gospel and be involved in all kinds of works regardless of our eschatological view (our life times are short compared to the big picture). Escapism may be held by some, but they are not the necessary conclusions of either view.
You're right brother. Occupying until He comes shouldn't lead to passivity. All the evil listed in Romans 1 seems to be happening now but the early church forged ahead anyway.