Never Let A Crisis Go To Waste (In Jesus Name)
Greg Laurie is saying (but not saying) that the current conflict in Israel is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy.
There are some things one must understand here.
Any crisis in the Middle East (especially involving Israel) is a cash cow of biblical proportions to evangelical preachers who fancy themselves as “students of biblical prophecy”.
Laurie and his like minded kin will milk this for everything they can get out of it, then move on to right wing politics to fill the seats and their bank accounts.
Just know that there are other ways to interpret the same texts…indeed, the church has interpreted them differently for centuries.
Let’s say for the sake of argument that Laurie and the prophecy wonks are (finally) right and the end is near.
The most salient fact of bible prophecy is that the main actor is God and all the other actors are acting in His behest…even, and maybe especially, the evil ones.
According to Scripture, God will allow evil to be as evil as it can be…in order to fully destroy it.
There is nothing we can say or do that will change the course of history in God’s hands.
What is our role?
First, we are carriers of the gospel, emissaries of peace, and agents of reconciliation.
We hold all human life as precious.
We are beholden to no state or earthly empire…we work for the King.
We are praying that His kingdom come and His will be done.
Our primary concern is the strengthening of the church and preparing God’s people to endure to the end.
In truth, we simply continue doing what we have already been called to do.
These are the works set before us…if you find them inadequate, you argue with God, not me.
AMEN!!
Thanks, CK…
I would think this mainly appeals to the older crowd that grew up during the Cold War decades. Back then, the USSR was a menacing villain, but it’s gone now. Russia just doesn’t have that same weight. Russia can barely hold its own against Ukraine, but you want me to imagine that it is this huge juggernaut that will surge from the north and overwhelm Israel.
Maybe it’s time to edit the script to declare a new “enemy” for everyone to fear. Hmmm, China perhaps. Or maybe dust off the EU fears and hatred of Rome. Yeah, one of those might bring in a new audience. I’m sure they’ll get to that soon enough. Maybe after we get past “the most important election in our lifetime”- got to finish our domestic rage before we move on to international rage.
Fearmongering for Jesus!
Michael, thank you for addressing this latest thing by Greg Laurie, I had hoped you would.
Now you really have my attention…
“Just know that there are other ways to interpret the same textsâŠindeed, the church has interpreted them differently for centuries.”
Having wasted my life and destroyed relationships with family & friends by believing Chuck Smith SR and the teaching from Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, I would really like to have references (maybe even links) to how the church taught BEFORE the Millerites and the PreTrib Dispensationalist narrative hijacked the church.
Thanks for the consideration.
GMan,
Prior to around 1860, any commentary or book written on Daniel or the book of Revelation would have had a different reading than dispensational.
There was no monolithic view…mainly took the writings allegorically or just interpreted them as they read…understanding the historical and symbolic nature of both.
My hands down, no question, author on both those books is Tremper Longman.
Revelation – https://amzn.to/3QcyHTj
Daniel- https://amzn.to/48RYtne
Both are written for the lay reader, but are helpful for teachers as well.
EricL,
Whatever the subject fear fills the coffers…
GMan,
I got roped into the Calvary Chapel (Costa Mesa) cult as a young army vet back during the wind-down of Vietnam.
Papa Chuck was the big kahuna then, and that’s where Laurie learned the tricks of his trade.
I’m one of the lucky ones who cut ties with all that horse-poo-poo and left early.
Even so, it took me awhile to learn to relax and breathe free again.
It was an authoritarian culture with all the earmarks of a dictatorship.
I will say yâall CCers have all the marks of exiting a cult. Whatever people think about Baptists thinking for yourself was deeply imbedded as part of our priesthood of the believer thinking. Wonât argue thatâs the point of priesthood but the freedom bundle of doctrines made us contrary with each other and never in lockstep.
Amillennialism was a strong doctrine among the Baptist theologians of the 1930s-50s. Dispensationalism prevailed among the pop teaching of the pulpits but never in the schools.
Helicopters as locusts was just cartoon theology to me even in my 20s.
I always said the Late Great ⊠crowd talked like history unfolds very naturally until the end when a superhero cartoon breaks out.
If one compares the savagery of the war in Ukraine, where villages, towns and cities are reduced to ash, children are stolen and given new identities, land is stolen, captives are tortured and the entire population is terrorized, with the atrocities in Palestine, why do theologians attach an eschatological meaning to the latter but not the former? Why are many American politicians more concerned with the latter than the former? Let me ask: Who is the greater threat to American interests throughout the world, Iran or Russia? I would think the answer is obvious.
I still believe that the idea of being raptured outta here before the fertilizer hits the ventilator appealed strongly to a generation that embraced “turn on, tune in, and drop out.”
When I was young growing up in an SBC church, dispensationalism was the framework by which we were taught. It made the transition to Calvary Chapel in my early teens an easy process. Having returned to the SBC some time ago, most of them do not appear to be dispensational, but then again, I don’t get out much these days.
As a former CCer who swallowed the hook through the fishermanâs arm, some foundational truths are no longer shouted, and conveniently ignored NOW from their pulpits:
– âthis generation shall not passâ now requires Methuselah lifespans to be current for the text and ALL their prophesy interpretation to be true.
– I have decades of CS teaching basing everything else on that single interpretation.
– ever other interpretation has required ridicule, which doesnât leave a lot of options now.
– Chuck predicted Jesusâ return, then spent much time ridiculing many others for much smaller obvious fallacies.
– Many pastors made little/no preparation financially for their future because of direct and other influence from this âinspiredâ theology, requiring them to decompose in the pulpit long after theyâd admit (if allowed to), they wish they could retire.
Just sad.
Sorry,
Forgot the most important detriment to CC âtheology.â
We might have been the first generation to officially ignore Jesusâ teaching for daily living, in favor of, screw liberals/Dems, weâre outta here doctrine.
Think how sad it is for many who now have no idea what to do with huge chunks of the Bible and wasted decades when they couldâve been living for Jesus!
Is there no possible path to safety for women, children and the elderly in Gaza? No one can with moral integrity support a war that shows no mercy. Destroying Hamas cannot mean genocide.
I don’t doubt the money & attendance angles on this, but I also would submit that these opportunities reestablish the ‘credibility’ of the speaker–underscores the fact that people look to him/them for guidance in circumstances like these…he’s ‘needed.’ The flip side of that twofold; one that the people haven’t been taught to figure it out themselves via the template which has been revisited countless times, and second, whose keeping track of how many times the narrative has needed to be changed because the template is inaccurate?
Alan,
I agree, but I’m also dumbfounded as to alternatives…
fil,
Laurie’s opinion on something is literally published daily.
You nailed it …he has not taught his flock to think, nor how to use the tools available to aid them in doing so.
I don’t know if this is actually intentional, or simply the way this sect operates.
Michael, it is indirectly intentional, the fruit of the mindset of the sect leaders, that the congregants are sheeple, simple-minded, easily led, gullible, and need the pastor to tend them in their every choice and action. Condescending in every way.
fil,
I think the sheep prefer it this way…as do the leaders…
it is an unhealthy symbiotic relationship where both parties are dependent on the other and foster damaging outcomes in each other. Those who wake up, or find their backbones typically leave in pretty short order.
Alan’s comment regarding a pathway out is the crux of my anxiety regarding this situation. There are no easy answers, but easy answers are usually shortsighted, simplistic, and easily dismissed. Moments like these require deeper thought & true wisdom–the stuff real leadership personifies.
fil,
I think your anxiety is warranted…we have no leaders…
so, rather than listening to the talking heads like Laurie, believers should be praying for leaders, wisdom, and courage…
This is the most profound thing Iâve read today:
âWe demand access to the weapons we can physically kill with while refusing to use the ones God has given us to fight the spirit of murder.â
I interpret this assertion as âWeâ being the church and her teachings and advocacy.
Thank you, Jean…and yes, I’m referring to the church. We’re also on the wrong thread… đ
can’t crique Chuck Smith much – he led 2 of my cousins to Christ
“Weâre also on the wrong thread⊔
Wow! I am getting old. I wonder if that’s how folks at the dentist get the wrong tooth pulled. đ
What teeth? đ
Jean and Michael đ€đ€Ł