Here’s a sermon I gave at a friend’s college ministry last week…
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Beware, Or You Too May Be – Left Below! (When the Simpsons and Harold Camping Collide)
Leave it to Homer Simpson to help us understand the “end times” better. Beware, or you too may be – Left Below!
This warning filled our TV screens, our newspapers, and our digital news feeds. The world watched as people quit their jobs, gave all their money to advertising the rapture, and traveled throughout the world to spread the message of May 21, 2011. Through various internal mathematical calculations, Harold Camping and followers, convinced themselves that they could predict the second coming of Jesus. On May 22, the world was unchanged except for the poor folks who had given up their various forms of livelihood for this false teaching.
When Harold Camping spoke out about his false prediction, instead of recanting, he’s convinced that God truly did come back. Here is the explanation from the Family Radio website:
What really happened this past May 21st ? What really happened is that God accomplished exactly what He wanted to happen. That was to warn the whole world that on May 21 God’s salvation program would be finished on that day. For the next five months, except for the elect (the true believers), the whole world is under God’s final judgment. To accomplish this goal God withheld from the true believers the way in which two phrases were to be understood. Had He not done so, the world would never have been shaken in fear as it was… Continue Reading…
Death, Trump Cards, and Honesty: Thoughts from a Funeral Director (Caleb Wilde)
TrumpCard via Creative Commons
I shouldn’t be surprised at how adverse we evangelicals are to thinking about death, but I have to admit that I am. Here are five major reasons I think evangelicals don’t like confronting it in an honest manner:
For one, we love to spiritualize everything, so that we’re more comfortable and confident in a world we can’t see than the one we live in at present. We put more thought, more energy and more “action” into the spiritual than we do the present. And nothing underscores the over spiritualization of everything like death. In fact, we act as though it doesn’t exist all together. We act as though death is fake … a mere false reality because we know the soul lives on. Since we see it as fake, it’s not wonder we’re willing to offer up rather cheap explanations.
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Second, heaven too easily acts as a trump card for anything related to suffering, death and doubt. We’re so quick to use clichés like, “You can rest your mind because he’s in a better place.” Or, “Don’t worry about her; she’s in the arms of Jesus.” The implication being … why the hell are you sad when you know “so and so” is in heaven?” And while this relates to the first reason of spiritualization, it’s slightly different because not only do we see death as a fake out, but we use heaven as a cop out. Jesus sees death as an enemy and we … we like to think it’s a mirage. Continue Reading…
Greg Boyd Believes in Purgatory… Sort Of
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this video. To be honest, when I first saw it I was caught off guard. Yet, the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Ultimately, the afterlife is a mystery, but this is interesting nonetheless! Continue Reading…
Getting Into Heaven BEFORE You Die (Dallas Willard)
Dallas Willard is a stud. Every time I have heard him speak, I want to hear more. His vision for the kingdom of God and for the transformation of the people of God is awe inspiring.
In the following video, Dallas is interviewed by John Ortberg. They discuss what Dallas believes to be the biggest problem in the church today: the central message is wrong! I couldn’t agree more. The message of “repent and eventually someday you know that when you die you will go to a non-physical place of bliss called heaven” is so far removed from the Gospels, yet it is central in our evangelical communities. Dallas critiques this view and says that the gospel isn’t about ‘getting into heaven after you die’ but rather its about “getting into heaven before you die!” That is, well, beautiful. Continue Reading…
The Rapture IS Coming THIS Saturday: May 21, 2011
I grew up in church. Not a typical middle class, white picket fence, awkwardly perfect church goin’ family situation, but in church nonetheless. Most of what I recall from those early childhood and teenage years bring memories of good things. People genuinely taught me that loving Jesus matters more than anything else in the world. The world, after all, is corrupt and the place we truly long for is far, far away – heaven. So we are to love Jesus and hate the world.
Now, this is not hatred toward the people on earth. I did not grow up going to a church that taught that we ought to tell outsiders how much they suck, but that this “world is not my home, I’m just a passin’ through.” World and physicality = bad. Jesus and spiritual bliss in a distant heaven = goal of the game. Continue Reading…
