I find it interesting when I read about people's responses to all the turmoil in the world today. But there is one response in particular that I am having an issue with. I will explain.
During the elections, I was on Facebook quite a bit, and reading people's posts about the election. There were some of my friends, interestingly enough, that weren't going to vote for Obama's opponent, simply because he didn't take a strong stand against abortion. As a result of their not voting (and there were some who didn't vote at all), guess who we end up with as president *again*?
But, the thing that distresses me most is the whole thinking of us living out the book of Revelation, at present, and giving up, or, at least saying that there is no need to do anything because Jesus is going to come back any day.
Please don't misunderstand what I am saying here. I believe the book of Revelation is included in the Canon. I believe it is truly God's word to us. What disturbs me is the whole doctrine of Dispensationalism.
Dispensationalism is fairly new to us. It didn't start in the book of Acts or with the church fathers. It probably came about around 1830, started by a man named J.N Darby, and was made popular by
Schofield.
There are different time periods in Dispensationalism, and many things in the book of Revelation are taken literally. Books like 'The Late Great Planet Earth' are examples of the theology of Dispensationalism.
In Dispensationalism, there will be a literal 7 year period of Tribulation. There will be a literal AntiChrist known as the 'Beast'. People will literally have a number on their forehead or hand. According to Dispensationalism, Jesus will actually return twice. Once before the Tribulation, and again after the Tribulation.
According to this web site, http://understanding-ministries.co.uk/origins-of-dispensationalism.html , History is divided into specific dispensations where God deals with men in a certain way.
As you can see, while in some ways, Dispensationalism seems to make things clearer as it puts things into categories, but it makes things more confusing at the same time. It brings up a lot of questions as well.
My point isn't to go into depth about Dispensationalism here, but instead I want to bring up the problems it has created in causing many Christians to become indifferent toward issues going on in our society today. For example, when the elections were going on last year (maybe two years ago now), I was reading a post on the damage that Obama would bring. A commenter wrote and said that it didn't matter anyway about voting because we are living in the last days and the AntiChrist will be here and Jesus will come back for His people.
Do we realize what harm this teaching is doing to us today? I can't believe someone would actually respond that way. First of all, if that were true, that would be all the more incentive to vote intelligently. But this woman had a defeatist attitude about the whole thing for in her mind there was nothing we could do since we are living in the last days and everything, according to her understanding, was written in the book of Revelation and would happen (on our timetable, of course) whether we took responsibility or not. In other words, since we are living out the book of Revelation right now, there's nothing we can do to change anything because all the evil coming from the government is God's plan and that can't be thwarted.
If I were that woman and believed that was true, I would be getting my family ready for the rapture and coming Tribulation. But I don't see these people doing that. That is what is so puzzling about it. Maybe they really don't believe it, or maybe they really don't care. I don't know.
If you really believe this is true, then you should be on your knees praying hard. You need to be praying for the strength to go through the Tribulation, or, for your loved ones to come to Christ at this time. You would be living like this is your very last day on earth.
Part of me doubts that they people really believe in this. I think they are just looking for the spectacular. Like one guy I talked to put it, 'I'm just going to sit back and watch the fireworks.'. Really? If Dispensationalism is true, you should be concerned. You just might even be afraid. Are you preparing yourself for the really hard times ahead for you and your family?
Don't misunderstand me again here. I am not saying that we won't face persecution or hard times because I believe we will. I believe we also need to be preparing for the coming hardships, not just sitting back waiting for the fireworks to happen.
Our trust in Jesus Christ as Lord/Savior could cost us our lives. But to categorize all the current events in a way that ties in with Bible prophecy in a literal way is dangerous. I just see these people either not caring or not really believing what is supposed to be happening, for if they did believe it, they would be responding differently. Something is wrong with this picture.
Anyway, if anyone can enlighten me on this, please feel free to comment. I just know that we still need to be praying for the church (first of all), and for the country. And we need to take responsibility for our part in society, even if Jesus comes back tomorrow. Didn't Jesus say 'occupy until I come'?
History is divided into specific dispensations where God deals with men in a certain way.
