The man comes around

Rev. Meg Barnhouse
March 20, 2016
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

Using the lyrics to Johnny Cash’s gripping song, we’ll talk about images of Armageddon and the end times.

This is Palm Sunday, and I’m going to remind you what happened in this story from the Christian tradition. There are two interpretations of the story that are making an enormous difference in the world, two disparate narratives which lead to different political stances The story of Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter, the beginning of the end of the story, is this: Rabbi Jesus was in trouble with the authorities. If he stayed out of Jerusalem the troubles might have blown over. Instead He went to Jerusalem, riding into town on a donkey. The people met him and covered the road with their cloaks and with palm branches, singing hosanna and saluting him as a king. Maybe. Maybe the large Passover crowds knew the prophecy in Zechariah 9 about Israel’s king coming in to Jerusalem riding on a donkey. Or, he rode in on a donkey because the horse was the mount of kings and the donkey was an animal for peacetime. Palm branches were used for victory processions, but also for funeral processions. Maybe the people were acknowledging him as the prince of peace, and worrying about his impending doom. Either way, this is called the “triumphal entry into Jerusalem.”

Was it triumph because he was about to sacrifice his life out of love for the people? That is traditional Christian teaching. The people thought he was going to act like a king, but his kingliness was in his surrender and sacrifice. That is the part of Christianity that is hard for strong people to grasp. Like the people back then, some elements in the broad spectrum of Christianity want a strong triumphal, conquering Christ who takes names, makes everything right again, and enforces all of our favorite rules. The paradox is that this never happens. People don’t stop wishing for it, or trying to make it happen.

So on the one hand there is the strength-in-surrender Jesus, the sacrificial love Jesus, and then there is “Ride On, King Jesus,” The man who comes around taking names, deciding who to free and who to blame. There is terror and whirlwind. Very satisfying. And there are hints of that in Christian Scriptures, that he is both the sacrificial lamb and the king.

You should care about this because of Ted Cruz and his father. First, I’m going to tell you what I have in common with Ted Cruz. I, like Ted, grew up among people who talked about what was going to happen when Jesus came back. When I was anxious about a test, my dad would say, “Cheer up, Meggie, maybe Jesus will come back before you have to take the test.” The return of the lord was framed as a welcome, cheerful destruction of this world. It was ok if the world went up in flames, because all of the believers would be taken up to heaven before the bad tribulations began. When I lived in Jerusalem for six months to study Hebrew in a school for immigrants, I met a lot of Christians who were intense about the book of Revelation. They would chew on the allegories in the book, wondering if the number 153 referred to the United Nations, whether the four horsemen were Catholicism, Communism, Capitalism, and Islam. “It’s right there in the Bible!” Fevered prophecy translation was a common hobby. “Are you pre-trib or post-trib?” They would ask. In other words, did you believe the Christians would be taken before the seven years of tribulation, famine, war, pestilence and death, or would we be taken after, having to suffer here on earth among the unbelievers? Would Jesus come back to reign for a thousand years of the kingdom of God or would Christians reign for a thousand years and then Jesus would return and call off the whole thing? My Uncle Toby had charts and arrows, boxes and numbers on newsprint to illustrate the way he’d worked it all out.

The allegories are like this: In Daniel 7: Daniel dreams of four great beasts from the sea. First was like a lion, with eagle’s wings. Then its wings were plucked off and it stood like a man, and was given the mind of a man. The second beast was like a bear, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. The third was like a leopard, with four wings and a bird on its back, with four heads, and dominion was given to it. The fourth had iron teeth and devoured and stamped things to pieces. It had ten horns, and among them was a little horn. The ancient of days took his seat on a throne and the books were opened. The son of man came and the ancient of days gave him dominion and glory.

This is the flavor of the scriptures people try to interpret to tell them what is going to happen at the end of time. The writings are obviously allegorical, which means each image corresponds with something in the writer’s external world. The interpreter of the allegory has to decide what the images mean and how they fit together. Is the bear the USSR? The iron teeth, the empire of Alexander the Great. Or China. Or the UN again. They hate the UN.

Interpreters in every age have found things in their world that correspond with these images since they were first written, and declaring that the end was at hand. Many Jews in the time of the Romans thought they were living in the end-times. Certainly the writers of the New Testament, having just witnessed the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE thought they were going to see the end soon. The book of the Revelation of John, the book that ends the New Testament, seems obviously to be talking allegorically about the Roman Empire, where the Caesars claimed Divinity, and where the persecution of Christians was beginning as he was writing. Many of Johnny Cash’s references are to this book, or to the parable of the smart girls who were ready with their lamps when the bridegroom showed up and the silly girls who were taken by surprise. Also to his dream where Queen Elizabeth said to him “Johnny, you’re a thorn tree in a whirlwind.” We don’t know if the Apostle John was altered by some substance when he wrote, but we’re pretty sure about Johnny.

The world did not end during the Roman Empire, and there was no more country called Israel about which so many of the prophecies spoke. That didn’t stop people who wanted to believe they were living in the last days, though. Martin Luther, in the 1500’s, interpreted all the scriptures to support his belief that he was in the last generation on earth. Sir Isaac Newton, after he discovered gravity, spent most of the rest of his career puzzling out the dates and sequences of the events at the end of time, poring over Revelation, Daniel, Ezekiel, and writing reams about what the nations could expect. Some critics commented dryly that as a Bible scholar, he was a pretty good scientist.

When the Europeans discovered North America, they called it the “New World”; it fired their imaginations and many crossed the ocean to start their world over again. Some came because they were convinced that they could make a perfect Christian society if they could just start everything from scratch. Believing that God was on their side, they braved tremendous hardships. Believing God was on their side, they eventually killed a lot of the First Nations people and forced the rest onto reservations. America became the New Israel, the land of people who believed they were God’s new chosen nation. That belief has remained at the core of American self-image. That is just one of the ways in which prophecy belief has had a tremendous impact on US domestic and foreign policy. I want to mention just two areas: our relationship with Israel and our nuclear policy. Once you get past killing off everyone who gets in the way of having a perfect Christian nation.

Prophecy belief gained momentum with the re-founding of the state of Israel. Finally one piece of the puzzle did not have to be interpreted allegorically any more! Also, seeing America as the shining New Israel was getting harder by 1948, so it was good to have the real Israel back.

The founding of Israel was helped in powerful ways by the prophecy beliefs of policy makers. In Great Britain, Lord Anthony Copper, Earl of Shaftesbury, argued in 1839 that the Jews must be returned to Palestine before the Second Coming. Through his influence, the British opened a consulate in Jerusalem. The consul, a devout evangelical, was instructed to look out for the interests of the 10,000 Jews living there under Ottoman rule. Many Christians are taught that the Jews are God’s Chosen people, and that whoever helps the Jews will be looked on by God with favor, and whoever hurts the Jews will be punished.

When the nation of Israel was established in 1948, one Bible teacher out of LA said this was the most significant event since the birth of Christ. Many were disappointed by the secularism and even Marxism of the Zionists, but managed to be happy for them anyway.

Evangelical tour groups come through filled with folks who believe Israel is the only nation to have its history written in advance…. When I was living in Jerusalem I used to travel sometimes alone and attach myself to tour groups, where I would hear preachers say things like “if we need our return tickets… ” This is why our Evangelical candidates are always so pro Israel.

It is in our nuclear policy, though that the prophecy beliefs have exerted a frightening influence. (read 2 Peter 3:10 2 Peter 3: 1 0-13 King James Version (KJV)

10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

Until the creation of the atomic bomb, the “burning day” of II Peter 3: 10 and the terrifying astronomical events woven through the three short chapters of Joel (O Lord, to thee will I cry; for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field… the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.) Also evocative is Zechariah’s description of the people’s flesh consuming away while they stand on their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth…. typically were interpreted in terms of natural disaster: The earth’s core exploding or earthquakes, fires, etc. Since 1945 technology has caught up with scripture in that now there is something that actually could catch the heavens on fire.

A country music hit in 1945 “Atomic Power” by Fred Kirby talked about brimstone falling from heaven, and atomic energy as given by the mighty hand of God.

Even Truman, in his diary, mused that the A-bomb may be the fire destruction prophesied in the Euphrates valley era after Noah and his ark.

My fundamentalist grandfather Donald Grey Barnhouse suggested in one of his books that when Zechariah asked “Who has despised the day of small things?” that he was alluding to nuclear fission. He felt that NYC was Babylon, whose obliteration “in one hour” was foretold in Revelation. Not to worry, because believers will be in heaven the next second after the bombs fall. Still, I was not allowed to go on the sixth grade trip to NYC because it was Babylon.

Prophecy writers dismissed efforts to ban nuclear weapons, or to improve relations between countries. The unity of governments was a sign of the coming of the anti-Christ. World government increases the potential for world tyranny.

People who think they are going to heaven the very second after the bombs fall aren’t interested in preventing such a thing from happening. They say things about the state of the world like: “The only way out is up.” Jerry Falwell taught that nuclear war would make room for the new heaven and the new earth. Pat Robertson said, “I guarantee you that by 1982 there will be a judgment on the world.” He predicted the ultimate holocaust, the world in flames.

If preachers believe nuclear war is prophesied in the Bible, that’s one thing, but we have government officials who believe that too. Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, in 1982, when asked about the end of time replied “I have read the book of Revelation and yes, I believe the world is going to end–by an act of God I hope–but every day I think that time is running out.”

Reagan’s Interior secretary James Watt, when asked about preserving the environment for future generations said “I do not know how many generations we can count on before the Lord returns.”

In the 80s, Reagan’s interest in prophecy alarmed some. In 1983 Reagan told a lobbyist for Israel: You know, I am turning back to your ancient prophets in the Old Testament and the signs foretelling Armageddon, and I find myself wondering if we’re the generation that’s going to see that come about. I don’t know if you’ve noted any of those prophecies lately, but believe me, they certainly describe the times we’re going through.”

George W Bush shared these Evangelical beliefs, as did people in his administration. War in the middle east had to happen before Jesus comes back, so bring it.

Isn’t this just an oddity, and exotic offshoot of Christianity? Aren’t these quaint quibbles among fringe fanatics? They could be, except the belief in the signs of the end times is fairly commonly held among our evangelical neighbors, and they have voted men into power who are true believers in the theologies around what Christians are supposed to do to usher in the kingdom of God on this earth.

The theological narrative of Evangelicals like the ones I grew up with was that things would get bad, then Jesus comes back. Either he takes the Christians up to heaven for a time and the rest of the people and animals are left behind (that’s where the title of the best sellng “Left Behind” series comes in). After that there is tribulation for seven years, then he comes back to earth and rules for a thousand years with the believers or he takes the Christians and then he comes back after the seven years and rules everyone who was left behind.

That’s where most Evangelicals were, until a teacher named R.J. Rushdoony arose in the fifties and sixties and said that the thousand years of the kingdom of God were to be ushered in by Christians. The tribulation was now, and Jesus would come back, but after the Christians took dominion over the world and applied the laws of the Old Testament, of the Hebrew scriptures, to believers and non-believers alike. As this Reconstruction of the world is accomplished, the damage done by sin will be reversed, and a New Eden will be ushered in.

Most Evangelicals would call themselves “New Testament Christians.” The laws of Leviticus, where children were to be beaten and could even be killed by their parents, where the penalty for homosexuality was death, well, the penalty for many many infractions was death, those laws were not for modern culture. Rushdoony thought that was craven submission to a worldly culture. Christians were to take “dominion” over the world. The seven mountains they were to conquer were: government, media, education, family, business, arts and entertainment and religion. Reconstructionist Christianity gave birth to elements of the Christian homeschooling movement, to the takeover of the school boards, to the closing down of women’s reproductive freedoms. Rushdoony founded the Chalcedon Foundation, which the Southern Povertry Law Center calls a racist and anti-gay hate group. If you listen to Rafael Cruz, he talks about Christians “taking dominion” over the country. Part of that is an enormous transfer of wealth and property to the Christians.

Ted Cruz’s dad, Rafael Cruz, is a follower of Rushdoony. Ted Cruz says this election is about religious freedom. The freedom to make this a Christian nation. The freedom to apply Old Testament law to US culture. This is why you see them hanging out with people who call for the execution of homosexuals. I wouldn’t hold anyone to their father’s views, unless they sent their father as a surrogate to campaign for him, unless he had been anointed by Dominionist preachers as one of the kings who would bring Christian rule to the US. Is Trump scary to me? You bet. I don’t like the things he says and I don’t like the company he keeps. But Cruz, with a conviction that he is a king held in the hand of God, empowered to bring about the kingdom of his view of God here on earth? It makes me long for the man to come around, deciding who to free and who to blame. Because, and I see the irony in this, I think God is on my side on this one.

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