The one thing ISIS just might be right about
Lutheran scholar Gene Veith writes on the strong apocalyptic strain in Islam, its impact on ISIS, and why the next seven years are crucial in the fight against Islamofascism.
Christianity- obviously- also has a strong apocalyptic strain. Despite its unbiblical character, wild speculation about the mythical "rapture" and millennium and the precise details of the End Times is a strong feature of "evangelical" Protestant thought, and takes up a great deal of space in the dwindling number of Christian bookstores in America.
Of course, every generation of Christians has believed that it was living in the end times- which I've always suspected was more or less what Jesus intended when the gave a list of signs which plug into pretty much any period since His Ascension (with a few time-specific ones which seem to refer to the Fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. mixed in) in Matthew 24. After all, He strongly discouraged speculation on the subject; emphasizing the need to always be ready for the end because "the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect" (Matthew. 24:44).
But I have to admit, as I see what's becoming of our culture, that I'm beginning to wonder, too. Maybe ISIS is one of the signs. And maybe, too ISIS is actually right about one thing, anyway.
Perhaps the end of the world is at hand. If so, of course, they're in for some nasty surprises.
Christianity- obviously- also has a strong apocalyptic strain. Despite its unbiblical character, wild speculation about the mythical "rapture" and millennium and the precise details of the End Times is a strong feature of "evangelical" Protestant thought, and takes up a great deal of space in the dwindling number of Christian bookstores in America.
Of course, every generation of Christians has believed that it was living in the end times- which I've always suspected was more or less what Jesus intended when the gave a list of signs which plug into pretty much any period since His Ascension (with a few time-specific ones which seem to refer to the Fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. mixed in) in Matthew 24. After all, He strongly discouraged speculation on the subject; emphasizing the need to always be ready for the end because "the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect" (Matthew. 24:44).
But I have to admit, as I see what's becoming of our culture, that I'm beginning to wonder, too. Maybe ISIS is one of the signs. And maybe, too ISIS is actually right about one thing, anyway.
Perhaps the end of the world is at hand. If so, of course, they're in for some nasty surprises.
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