When members left services at Grace Fellowship on Sibley Road a few weeks ago, they found a newsletter under their windshield wipers with a warning about the End Times and a coming nuclear war, predicted to start Sept. 12.
The day passed with no war.
Being wrong doesn't stop End Time prognosticators, said the Rev. Wade Trimmer, Grace Fellowship's pastor. "They don't lose credibility. They just regroup and come back on the field."
History pulses with predictions of the final days anytime instability intensifies.
"Wars and rumors of war ... famine and earthquakes," persecution and other troubles, according to Matthew 24, will lead up to the second coming of Christ. Guessing when that will happen has tantalized generations of his followers.
Contemporary books such as Tim LaHaye's and Jerry Jenkins' Left Behind series popularized End Times scenarios, including the belief that Christians would escape the tribulation that was coming on Earth, an episode called the rapture. Hal Lindsey, the author of several books, including Late Great Planet Earth and Planet Earth, the Final Chapter, regularly writes of political events and trends through the lens of biblical prophecy.
It is a perspective that the Rev. Trimmer does not share.
"I see no indications that time is about to end or that Jesus will come back tomorrow," he said. He believes in Christ's second coming and a rapture, he said, but not one in two parts, with believers going first and unbelievers left to suffer. Nor does he place a future messianic kingdom in Israel.
The Rev. Trimmer has written several books, including The Joy of Being Left Behind, which urges Christians to fulfill the mission Christ gave them and make disciples.
"It is hard to make an impact when you believe you are going out of business any day," he said.
Other people see the world moving toward a climax.
The recent conflict between Israel and Lebanon is part of the process, said Lynda Bannecke, the founder of Augusta-based Hadassah World Outreach and a member of Whole Life Ministries.
"I'm not sure if what happened with Lebanon is not one of a number of conflicts that we will see in this winding-down process," she said.
She identifies the alignment of nations against Israel with Ezekiel 38 and 39, which tell of divine providence saving Israel. The biggest signal to her that the world is in the End Times, however, is the birth of the Jewish nation.
On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion declared Israel's independence. Ms. Bannecke sees that as a fulfillment of Isaiah 66:7-8, which says: "Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child. Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children."
Ms. Bannecke said: "God has only one plan, Plan A. He is an all-wise and all-knowing God, and the promises he made to Israel, he will keep."
Reach Virginia Norton at (706) 823-3336 or virginia.norton@augustachronicle.com.
SIGN OF THE TIMES? SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
Luke 21:25
And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring.
Revelation 13:16-17
And he (anti-Christ) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
Matthew 24:6,7
And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
1 Thessalonians 4:15-17
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Revelation 6:1-8
And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer. And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword. And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
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