The Rapture in America- Reverend Meg Barnhouse

Home / Sermons / Audio available / The Rapture in America- Reverend Meg Barnhouse

 

Do we have it in our power to begin the world over again? If it were possible, would you want to ? Do things seem to you to be worse than ever, straining painfully toward a doomed future? Are there people you would like to see get what’s coming to them? There are a lot of people who feel this way, and to them there is strong appeal in the picture of a cataclysmic end of the world, where the good are rewarded and the evil “get theirs” and everything burns up and crumbles, leaving a cleansed planet where a good world can finally begin.

There have been people writing down their visions of the end of the world since ancient days. The Egyptians have their Apocalyptic literature (apocalyptic means “the revealing of hidden things), the Akkadians, and the Jews. In the Hebrew Bible, the books of Ezekiel and Daniel are the ones that speak of the end of time.

[Daniel 2: Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. A great image, frightening and bright. Head of gold, arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron and feet partly of iron and partly of clay. A stone was cut by no human hand, struck the image, and it all broke into pieces, and the wind blew the pieces away. The stone became a great mountain and filled the earth. Daniel interpreted it as the rise of successive kingdoms, each inferior to the king’s. In the days of the kings of mixed iron and clay, God will establish his kingdom.

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.

Daniel was told that the fourth beast was a great kingdom that would rule the earth, and ten kings will arise, and after them a king who will put down three kings, and speak against the most high, and will wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change the times and the law… (Antichrist)

Daniel 9: Gabriel comes to Daniel and says 70 weeks of years are required to put and end to sin and bring in everlasting righteousness. From the rebuilding of Jersalem to the coming of an anointed one will be 7 weeks. Then it will be rebuilt then after 62 weeks the anointed one will be cut off, and someone will come destroy the city with a flood. …etc.

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 a something in the writer’s external world. The interpreter of the allegory has to decide what the images mean and how they fit together.

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 about the Roman Empire, where the Caesars claimed Divinity, and where the persecution of Christians was beginning as he was writing.

The world didn’t end during the Roman Empire, though, and there was no more country called of 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 forced the land’s inhabitants 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.

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.

Bible believers saw Palestine as granted to Israel by God, and looked to the reconstitution of the nation of Israel as a necessary event to bring Christ back.

In 1891, 400 business and religious leaders signed a letter urging President Harrison to support establishment of Jewish homeland in Palestine.

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…

In the NT book of Matthew 24, Jesus is quoted as saying: “Now learn a parable of the fig tree: when his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh;

So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.

Verily I say to you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things shall be fulfilled.” Many interpreters said the establishment of Israel was the leafing of the fig tree. They figured a generation as 40 years, so 1948=40=1988…or the fig tree’s “budding” in 1967 when they took the old city, that makes 2007. Take away the seven prophesied years of terrible tribulation (the time when plagues, wars and cruelty will ravish the earth)and you get the “rapture” where all the Christians are taken up into heaven before the real bad stuff starts–in 2000! Do you remember all of the hype about planes falling out of the sky? People were stockpiling water. It passed, as do all the prophesied dates, with just a murmur.

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…”

It is in our nuclear policy, though that the prophecy beliefs have exerted a frightening influence. (read 2 Peter 3:10) 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 Rev. Not to worry, because believers will be in heaven the next second after the bombs fall.

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. When he ran for President he backed off the doomsday stuff a little.

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 Rev. 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, Regan’s interest in prophecy alarmed some. In 1971, then Governor Reagan spoke to a group at a dinner in Sacramento after a leftist coup in Libya (One of the nations mentioned in Ezekiel as invading Israel) “That’s a sign that Armageddon isn’t far off… Everything is falling into place. It can’t be long now. Ezekiel says that fire and brimstone will be rained down on the enemies of God’s people. That must mean they’ll be destroyed by nuclear weapons.” In 1983 Reagan told a lobbyist for Israel: You know, I am turning back to your ancient prophets in the OT 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.”

Our current President, that young man from CT who tries to claim to be a Texan is in this same stream of thought, as are many of the folks in the administration. Who cares if Armageddon comes? The good stuff comes next!

If you think it is futile to try to prevent nuclear war, you lose your energy to do that. Why spend energy on peace activism if it is doomed to failure? If you subscribe to the idea that nuclear competition among nations is part of God’s plan for the world; if you believe that prophecy must be fulfilled in order to bring about the return of Christ; if you believe God is in control, and he is going to use nuclear war to end all things, who are you argue with that?

Now let me talk about “The Beast” sometimes the same as The Anti-Christ, sometimes different. The Beast is a character who controls the economy, who keeps the good guys from getting the food they need, and forces them into terrible hardships. There is a sense among prophecy writers that society has become depersonalized, centralized, and that individual autonomy is doomed. The more centralized government becomes, the easier it would be to take over.

Every bit of evidence that power is being centralized, that automation is replacing human involvement, that governments are merging or currency is becoming alike is seen as a sign of the end time. The debit card is one step away from having your own bar code tattooed on your hand that will be how you pay for everything. Those who don’t conform or obey will not be able to get one. When I was in Jerusalem people were saying there was a new computer in Brussels for the Common Market that could control world currency. They said “They call it—The Beast”

The UN (p.264) is bad. Peter catches 153 fish in the gospel of John, which was in 1979 the membership of the UN minus Israel. To some writers, that signifies the UN’s destruction.

There is a sense of a “web of intrigue” linking the world’s most powerful families. In this way the prophecy buffs are parallel to the New Angers.

The space program was dangerous because it might encourage people to think in terms of “one world”, making it easier for Antichrist to rule over it all.

Computers now link the world, making world domination technologically possible. All talk of oneness, global consciousness is dangerous.

666 is from Rev 13:16-18. quote p. 281

Do these beliefs make believers unwilling to become involved in the world? “We have maintenance crews to maintain our buildings even though we know they won’t last forever.” Hal Lindsay said “I came here to fish, not to clean the fishbowl.” Now fundamentalists are getting more involved in politics. That’s good. Now sometimes they espouse “Dominion” theology, a version of postmillennialist theology. Make it happen here.

What is the appeal of all of this? It feels good to know that there is a symmetry, rationale, harmony coherence and overarching meaning to history. People feel they can understand what is going on. Maybe there are other reasons for the enduring appeal of thought about the End. Maybe it’s like the Flannery O’Connor story called “The Misfit,: where a family runs their car into a ditch, and an escaped bad guy comes along with a couple of henchmen. The family’s grandmother, who up until this point in the story, has been a self-righteous complaining harridan, says the thing to the Misfit that is the last straw, and he holds his gun at her head. As she realizes he is about to kill her, she is transformed in some way, reaches a hand to touch his face, and says “Why, you could have been one of my children.” He shoots her. At the end he turns to one of his men and says “She could’ve been a pretty nice lady if she’d had someone to shoot her every day of her life.” Maybe it’s easier for people to be kind and good if they think it’s not for very long, and that their enemies will get what’s coming to them soon. If you believe the world is going to go on and on and on, your priorities are quite different from what they would be if things were going to be over in a week. I think it is a profitable spiritual exercise to try it on both ways, to ask yourself what you would want to do if it were all going to be over in the year 2010, who you would spend time with, what things you would say. Then imagine it’s going to go on forever, and see what seems important then. Each perspective has its own insights to uncover.