Wednesday, December 18, 2013

The End is Near!

I have always loved End of the Earth predictions.  I was in high school when Hal Lindsey came out with his "Late Great Planet Earth".  I expected something on the wastage of earth resources and how to respect the planet and what it has remaining.  You have to remember I was raised in Germany and one of our lessons was the consumption of earth resources - as in, World War II consumed roughly 20% of the worlds known resources at that point.

So, I was interested, I wanted to be a responsible citizen of the earth.  I was stunned by what I read in those pages.  Really, if you do not own a First Edition - find it, buy it, read it, it was heavily rewritten for the second edition.  Why?  Well, the First Edition was pretty much gloom and doom - lots of dates of wars and battles and players all leading up to the return of Jesus - as prophesied in the Bible.

Apparently, Hal was wrong or the Bible was, so his book was rewritten allowing for less Hal and more Bible - all of those dates were removed.

But, we have always had this gloom and doom approach during my adult lifetime.  Why?  Well it all goes back to a heretic name Dwight Pentecost, whom mentored Hal Lindsey, C.C. Carson and a host of other heretics to come out of the Dallas school of heresy.  Am I being too strong here?  No, the Bible calls this group: heretics, vipers, wolves, etc - we are not to have fellowship with them for they are apostate.  In the pre-Christian days we were told to stone them!  Yet, the Western Theology instead embraces them and welcomes them into their churches to teach and corrupt the next generation. Just in case you wonder if your bookstore, your Church, your Denomination, your Synod is Christian - easy litmus test.

So, it has been with amusement I have followed the host of predictors, each trying to out do the others and even themselves to warn, to prepare, for the end of the age.  Hint: we are told we will not know when it is or when it has even started.  If you disagree then you stand in contrast to the Bible - welcome to heresy...

Why bring this up today?  Mostly because of the passing of Harold Camping, whom was quite active in the field of giving doom and gloom pronouncements to gullible Americans.  He was rich, he had his own TV and radio networks, published magazines, spent a fortune telling everyone about one date, after another, after another ....  until he figured it out.  His fate of someone of any veracity was spelled out in 2011 by the world's press whom loves to pass out black eyes to other Christians, just because they are called by the same name as a wacko.....

May 19, 2011 -- Time to break out the champagne and party hats because it's that time of year once again: doomsday.
Now Judgment Day doesn't always come once a year. In fact, it's often much more frequent than that. But that doesn't mean that all apocalypses are created equal.
While waiting for the end of the world, why not take a look at some of the most famous doomsday predictions in history?
We'll begin with the most imminent doomsday prediction: May 21. Pastor Harold Camping, president of Family Radio, is convinced that, after decoding passages in the Bible, the Rapture will take place on May 21, 2011, an event ushered in by an unprecedented global earthquake. The world will cease to exist five months later on October 21, 2011.
Camping has a small, but dedicated following that feels it is their duty to warn nonbelievers of the impending apocalypse. So they travel around the country with signs, hats, painted buses and reading materials all advertising impending doom.
When asked if he had considered what he might do when May 22 rolls around, Camping told NPR: "There is no Plan B."
Despite his faith in his convictions, Camping has been wrong before. He first predicted the end of the world in 1994, which he insists was a premature assessment since he had not completed his Bible research.

And I comment on Mr. Camping for a real reason, he learned from his mistake and until yesterday, shut his mouth up and stopped giving Christianity black eyes.  Of course, the damage was already done, but for him personally, he had the integrity to realize he was wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong and finally and completely wrong in what he had done.

Best of intention but still a problem.  Yeah, because he realized, because he then shut up, I am thinking he was wrong, as any of us can be.  But, as far as I am aware he is alone in his ability to do just that - repent and disappear in silence as we are told to.  The others, well, their testimony is their heresy, for which they stand condemned, if anyone will bother to look.

So, another chapter in Western Theology comes to a close.  The vipers are still with us, looking to corrupt at any opportunity.  Are you sharp enough to catch them before they snare you?

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