Kato Mivule | March 23, 2009
With the release of the movie ‘Knowing’ starring of course Nicholas Cage, it might be that pop culture is finally throwing all the ‘Left Behind’ books back to Tim LaHaye. Although the movie received not very good ratings among the ‘Movie Critics’, it is serving its purpose to ‘engineer’ public opinion and perception towards Bible Prophecy and Christianity in general.
2 Peter 3:3-4Tim LaHaye and the ‘Left Behind’ book series turned bible prophecy into a pop culture gig and Hollywood took notice. The ‘Left Behind’ book series made a fortune for Tim LaHaye and company but with the current global economic crisis, it seems that at least Tim LaHaye is among the CEOs ‘Left Behind’ with a Bonus large enough to attract the envy of some Wall Street CEOs…he doesn’t have to give anything back…
(3) Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
(4) And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
In the Movie ‘Knowing’ Hollywood takes its aim at Evangelical America and the popular eschatological views taught in Westernized Christianity today.
The movie mainly is about a MIT astrophysics professor (Nicholas Cage) who comes across numerological material that predicts the future. The professor comes across a piece of paper that was kept in a time capsule at a local elementary school about fifty years ago. By using numerology, the professor is stunned by the accuracy of the predictions, two of which he witnesses first hand.
In the Movie a number of references are made overtly and subtly about the eschatological teachings in Evangelical America… From the agnostic professor not believing in Heaven when confronted by his son but providing a ‘Relativism’ answer to the kid; references to the Book of Ezekiel, and the professor’s dad who happens to be a Pastor who taught Bible Prophecy to his congregation but his son the professor seemed to be in disagreement with him.
Images are placed in the movie purposely at the ‘end of the world’ showing a Christian Van with a ‘Jesus is the Truth’ sign in the midst of New York, with individuals preaching the gospel yet oblivious to the fact that their end had come.
However, the movie takes aim at America’s Academia by subtly drawing parallels with the Ben Stein ‘Expelled: No Intelligence allowed’ documentary in which Ben Stein documents how the Evolution Theory cannot be plainly sustained in any civil debate and how Evolution academics instead have resorted to harassment of those in Academia who believe in Intelligent Design.
In the movie ‘Knowing’, the astrophysics professor is stunned at the propinquity of the planet Earth in terms of distance to the Sun to allow for life yet this relationship is not duplicated in the solar system. At the end of his class the agnostic professor shocks students when he tells them how he does not know the answer as to if Creationism, Intelligent Design, and the Big Bang theory are responsible – he does not know…at least humble enough to tell his students that he does not have the answers. I wonder if the Mainstream Media will ‘harass’ Nicholas Cage for that statement as they did to Ben Stein…
However, the movie took synchronized punches at both evangelicals and secular academia to place a point across that none knows what the future holds. To evangelicals, it seems that they were ignorant that there existed some other forces in outer space that seemed superior to the God of the Bible…and that they did not have it all together when it came to knowing the future. Yet to the Academia, the movie paints a picture that most have cast aside spirituality and relied on science and reason alone which cannot explain the predictions about the future. Yet both the Bible Eschatologists and MIT scientist are wrong, both don’t have the answers but some spiritual beings other than the God of the Bible are accorded prophetic accuracy.
In the Movie, the end of the American Civilization – at least the ‘New York Civilization’ is ended with a global catastrophe in which the sun sends flares that destroy New York causing convulsions of nature that destroy the earth.
As if to make mockery of the popular Rapture teaching, the professor’s son is among those chosen by some spiritual entities to be “raptured” out of the earth before the destruction. The professor now ‘believing’ in Bible Prophecy returns to his Dad, a Bible Prophecy teacher and they all embrace each other as they are destroyed in the fire – None is Left Behind.
Jesus Christ is put out of the picture and not seen as the Alpha and Omega to all Bible Prophecy – an assailing of the Jesus Christ of the Bible who alone holds the keys to Life and Death. Of course we don’t expect the opposite from Hollywood but have we as Christians contributed to the growing antagonism towards Christianity today?
Surely if you have been a student of bible prophecy you cannot fail to see the mockery and ridicule in all its subtleties as portrayed in the movie ‘Knowing’. However, we cannot blame pop culture and the rising antipathy towards bible prophecy and Christianity in general. It is we Christians who have made ourselves a laughing-stock when it comes to our faith and especially eschatology for a number of reasons.
Consumer Driven Eschatology…
I believe that Bible Prophecy was written primarily to believers and meant to be understood by Christian believers and not a consumer driven product to be bought at Wal-Mart. The introduction of the book of Revelation is clear in this fact that it is addressed to the Saints, Christians, the Elect in letting them know what was to come ahead and it calls for the patience and endurance of the saints, two things that are lacking in almost all Bible Prophecy camps, from the Pretribulation Theory, Post Tribulation, and including Historicists.
Nevertheless Christian consumerism is what has driven a large part of eschatological teachings in Westernized Christianity today. The Prophets of old in the Bible never asked money so as to reveal the future to the people of Israel. In the New Testament we do not see Paul the apostle and John the Revelator ask for money so as to tell Christians what was going to happen. We do not see Paul market his letter to the Thessalonians, we do not see John market the book of Revelation to the Saints, and neither did Jesus Christ ask for money so the disciples would learn from him lessons in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21. Regardless of whatever ‘little truth’ that the Left Behind series might try to portray, consumerism and money destroyed any credibility.
Eschatology as a Political Tool…
Westernized Christianity has not only turned Bible Prophecy into a consumer product but also a political tool. Much of Dominionism in Evangelical America today steams from a thought that Christians are to take over governments through political maneuvers and establish a Christian Nation otherwise the judgments prophesied in the Bible would be hastened.
Recent political events in the USA showed this folly among political evangelicals; predicting an apocalypse just because a ‘liberal’ President is in the White House. Some Political Evangelicals are predicting the ‘End of the USA’ because a Democratic President who supports abortion and Gays is in office. Yet this is not what Bible Prophecy teaches but instead Bible prophecy is used in this case to install fear and threats to the masses if they don’t vote or oppose governments that Evangelical Christians deem immoral.
Another case of this duplicity is the relationship between Evangelical America and Israel. Many Evangelicals have made it mandatory for anyone who is a Christians to support the nation of Israel. Bible Prophecy is evoked in such instances. John Hagee for example called on the USA to support Israel and ‘Nuke Iran’ if need be otherwise God would judge the USA for ‘forsaking’ Israel.
Yet at the same time Evangelical Americans are oblivious to the many Christian Palestinians living inside Palestinian Territories… Are these Palestinian Christians who live among Moslem populations not ‘real’ Christians in the eyes of Westernized Christianity?
I believe it is a noble thing to pray for Israel and her peace but I believe that we as Christians have a mission to reach every nation and tribe with The Gospel of Jesus Christ The Prince of Peace. The Psalmist is very clear when he calls on us to pray for the Peace of Jerusalem and not the bombing and nuking of our enemies.
As Christians, we are supposed to be ambassadors of peace and even though the reality is that real peace will never be achieved until Jesus Christ returns on earth, our call is to endeavor and keep working towards peace, and advocates for peace first between Man and God through Jesus Christ…which the Secular Peace advocates omit…for them Peace is without The Lord.
Eschatology as a tool of fear, fatalism, irrationality, and presumption…
As I continue to study Bible Prophecy, I find that the Bible Prophecy does not call Christians to fear-mongering but to faith and trust in Jesus Christ while taking action by preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and living a Christian Life in this day and age; being faithful to this call until Jesus Christ returns.
However, many Bible Prophecy students catch themselves in the politics of fear mongering and try to relate Bible prophecy with the same political trepidations. Of recent the Evangelical Blogsphere in the USA has been filled with fear that the USA is coming to an end because of a Liberal President in the White House. Interesting as it may sound, most of the major overseas wars the USA has faced have occurred at the watch of “Conservative Christian Presidents”…
Countless emails have been sent by some evangelicals claiming the end of the USA. Most of this is just plain old fear and no merit to it. The whole ‘Flee Babylon USA’ teaching is based on the premise of fear, presumption, and fretfulness… Yet God’s eschatological judgments are targeted not just to the USA alone but the whole world, for the system of sin, evil, and rebellion against God has been engineered by Satan to cover the whole world. This is in no way to trivialize the influence of the USA and her culture in the world in the promotion of conducts that the Bible considers abominable. This is not to trivialize the fact that The Lord will surely judge The USA in His time but this will be a Global Judgment on a Global System rather than a single nation.
When one continues to study Bible Prophecy, the Bible offers hope and faith in Jesus Christ… He alone is able to save us from the wrath to come; He is our protection and provider. Reading the Book of Revelation shows that those who trust and hope in Jesus Christ are NEVER disappointed. The Book of Revelation was given to the Saints to show them that at the end of all the turmoil we see is Jesus Christ and His promise to keep us and save us through all that we have to endure with patience. Those who teach bible Prophecy minus the Hope in Jesus Christ, teach Fatalism.
It is imperative that Christians beware of Cultic Groups that arise during times of Global catastrophes and disasters. Many such cultic groups use Bible Prophecy to install fear and irrationality into the minds of unsuspecting Christians and then take advantage of them. I find that many emails that are circulating around the Evangelical Blogosphere fall into this category.
Rather than using this current global economic crisis to reach out to as many people as possible with The Gospel of Jesus Christ, some Christians are busy looking or the safest cave, nation, and bunker to hide from the coming disasters. On the contrary, in the book of Revelation, we see Christians who are engaged boldly in preaching the Gospel despite the heavy persecution and global catastrophes that take place.
Others have turned Bible Prophecy as a tool to hide from reality and not take action. Yes, whatever the Bible says will come to pass will but we have to focus on reaching out to the lost and ministry to other Christians, we are to do this until Jesus Christ comes back regardless of if we go through an economic downturn or not.
On the other side are those who are very impatient when it comes to Bible Prophecy and its fulfillment. Such groups have resorted to a “Historicist’ mindset that all prophecy was fulfilled and nothing else will happen.
Others again with impatience try to fix timelines so as to make Bible Prophecy look as if it is being fulfilled in their own eyes… I have always found such teachings lacking and not standing up to the test of time. Always events tend to happen at times least expected that what the “experts” say. Many times the Timelines that depend on secular History conflict with Secular Historians who for the most part have a bias against the Bible and when secular historians engage in revisionism, then the Bible Prophecy Timelines based on secular history fall apart.
However, the Bible is very clear that timings and seasons belong to The Lord. Yet at the same time we are called to watch with all patience and endurance until the day The Lord is revealed from Heaven in the clouds. There are two groups of Bible Prophecy ‘Timers’, the first group uses Secular History Timelines and dates in order to project the future. The second group use personal prophecies, premonitions, and current events to make futuristic timelines as to when Bible Prophecy will be fulfilled. The former group is more rational in their approach but still deceptive while the latter would be considered irrational and weird though at times they borrow from the former group in making their projections. Jesus Christ gave us the signs that point to His second coming but never did He set Dates…Jesus Christ never said He would return in 2010 or 2012…
Acts 1:6-8Some Bible Students have instead used Bible Prophecy as a sword for divisionism by claiming to have the perfect picture… Yet we prophecy in part and see in part and should be humble to keep ‘ever learning’ attitude otherwise the outcome is being puffed up, folly, spiritual arrogance, and the sin of presumption.
(6) When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
(7) And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
(8) But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
It is for some of these reasons that Bible Prophecy and Christianity have become a mockery of Hollywood and pop culture today…and rightly so.
1 Corinthians 13:9-13I believe it is time to re-examine our selves as Bible Prophecy students and leave behind childish ways; let us allow for the Sovereignty of God and His Providence... The Lord is not bound by our limited knowledge and we cannot fix Him in our manmade timelines. This is why we are called to Patience and Endurance as we await the Return of Jesus Christ, we cannot hurry Him up and neither can we delay Him.
(9) For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
(10) But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
(11) When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
(12) For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
(13) And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
In Christ Jesus
Kato Mivule
