I can hardly wait! This Sunday we are starting a new teaching series on the book of Revelation. The theme of this series is "Revelation Responsibly." I have decided to call it this for a very strategic reason: By nature I am a prophecy junkie; and I don't want this fascination of mine to get out of hand - - so I am determined to approach Revelation in a responsible, reasonable way. (Just ask Ken Vanderwest about this, he will confirm my penchant for the extreme). As I have been preparing for this study, I have found that there are many prophesy junkies walking among us. After I first announced this teaching series in church, the junkies have been coming out of the woodwork. So far I have been handed 10 books to read, 20 videos to watch, and a few people even have been suggesting to me the possible date for the return of Christ. This is a hot topic....but why? Well first let me define what I mean by a prophecy junkie. In the Webster dictionary a junkie is, "a person who gets an unusual amount of pleasure from or has an unusual amount of interest in something." And the "something" in this case is prophesy, which includes anything about the return of Christ, the identity of the Anti-Christ, the specifics of the rapture, blood moons and 911 bombings, the rising tide of Islamic jihad, Gog & Magog emergence, and ultimately the timing of the end of the world. And the deeper you go with prophecy clue chasing, the more consuming and intriguing of a passion it can become. If you think we are the only generation who is unusually obsessed with it, the truth is there always has been an immense interest in the great beyond. Death is a dark curtain that hides the eternal and mysterious from humanity, and prophesy gives us a little peak into this mystery. As a kid, there always was a bit of a thrill for me to look into creepy and dark rooms; and this same thrill for many of us accompanies the study of the prophetic. Even the stoic Jonathan Edwards, the famous theologian of the 1700's, was obsessed with trying to link the current events of his day with end time fulfillment. But as we prepare for this journey I need to warn you: If this obsession is not watched closely, it can become quite dangerous. Let me explain why: (1) Junkies seek immediate pleasure in order to escape normal life. Prophesy is not meant to be an end unto itself; but as a way to show the sovereign rule of God over history. But a junkie often sees in prophesy an escape, a forever puzzle to solve, an ongoing thrill of discovery that gives greater meaning to their rather boring existence. The problem with this is that God has revealed only so much of end things; and sooner or later the prophecy junkie will be let down because they will never fully get the answers that they want. Scripture is given to us primarily to live for the "now" of loving God and your neighbor, not for the "later" of ruling and reigning as masters of the universe. Be careful of trying to squeeze more out of prophesy than God has intended you to. (2) Prophesy does not save, the gospel does. Many people think they can scare people into heaven by threatening them with very vivid and frightening end times scenarios and then linking modern day news as proof that they are right. What happens when blood moons come and go with no sight of WW3, or if President Obama leaves office before he sets up the One World Order in Washington D.C.? The people you are witnessing to will think you are nuts if you present the bible only as an escape plan and survival preparation manual for when the stars start falling from the sky. The gospel is the love of God expressed in the person of Christ. And the cross is the central location where this love is on display. If you start threatening non-believers with end time events, often the person you are witnessing to will sadly only see Christianity as the rantings of an angry God bent on destruction. (3) Prophesy is usually a self-obsessive endeavor instead of leading to other centered living. We like to be the person in the know, and often end time buffs like to think they have things figured out before anyone else does. God rarely gives insider information, and the prophesy he gives us in the bible is meant to be handled with honesty, credibility and humility. Not as an arrogant bible code that only you and your decoder ring have figured out. (4) Prophesy obsession can have me believing that I probably am the last man. I know this point sounds strange, but lets be honest, there is nothing more exciting than outlasting the rest of humanity in the fight for survival. As the old 1970's commercial says, "I am the sole survivor!" And in our weird twisted minds, we think the history of the world is my history, not his. Honestly, I love studying prophesy because fantasizing that I will be the only one left is great fun. I have always loved thinking like this. Let me show you how my mind works, and I have a sneaky suspicion yours does too. Tell me, have you ever had these thoughts? TWILIGHT ZONE: The Last Man In this episode the last man was the only one left with nothing but books and canned goods. Wouldn't that be cool to live without other humans around? I would love to read forever with no other pressing demands. MAD MAX: Apocalyptic Dreams Wouldn't it be fun to have an unlimited supply of guns, large vehicles, wearing a rough leather jacket under brown skies? Nothing better than not having to go to work and fighting nuclear mutated humans! I AM LEGEND: A Man & His Dog Just think, in this movie a man gets to hit golf balls off of an air-craft carrier over New York with no one around. He gets his choice of vehicles to drive, and all he has to do is stay alive while possessed vampires try to eat him. How fun is that? WALKING DEAD: Zombies...big deal? America loves walking dead...why? Because it is fun to be able to go from house to house, living off of canned food, picking off zombies like flies and not having to go to school. Isn't it it fun to try to figure out how you would survive? It would be like living at summer camp all year long! I know what you are thinking: Chris, you are weird! I am, I will admit it, but so are people who are obsessed with only talking about the end of the world when you have people to serve and lost people to save right now all around you. Stop trying to be the sole survivor, and live for the glory of one person, Jesus Christ!
3 Comments
Jesse K.
1/28/2015 05:38:26 am
It's true Chris, you are weird. That's all I have to say...
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Chris
1/28/2015 05:50:32 am
jesse, thanks a lot!
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John Vargo
2/13/2015 05:38:04 am
Someone needs to take Photoshop away from you.
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