Is This the, "Big One"?

When you see this picture today, it might make you laugh. But, at least in the Western Hemisphere, in a much more Biblically literate world, in light of Matthew 24:7, no one was laughing in 1918. In a world with one-fourth the population of today, 16 million people died in a series of wars that, for the first time, engulfed the entire world. Between 50 and 100 million people died of the Spanish flu epidemic. The Balfour Declaration had been signed declaring the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine; Jerusalem was occupied by a foreign army. There was a major series of earthquakes and volcanic activity from 1912 to 1918, filling the atmosphere with ash clouds that circled the world. My grandfather told me about the sky appearing red and in 1917 having frost every month of the year in Illinois, USA. There were crop failures and famines in many parts of the world. My Great Uncle died of this "Spanish Flu". It was a different kind of bug. It attacked the young and healthy! It would take a strong immune system and turn it against you. My Great Uncle was a 24 year old, strong carpenter, fresh out of the army. He felt a little sick, but went to work anyway. He came home that night and died. Undertakers were overwhelmed, so my grandmother went to her sister’s house and prepared his body for burial on the kitchen table.

This woman by the car, Aimee Semple McPherson, went on to found the Foursquare Church with one of the four tenets being, Jesus Christ, “The Soon-Coming King”. Jesus said, in the next to the last verse of the Bible, “Surely I am coming quickly”. Unless you’re in the group that believes that this was fulfilled in 70 AD, He’s still not here. So? Sister McPherson was not a, “nut case”.  She never set dates, but was an anointed follower of Jesus Christ, expounding on the events as she saw them in light of the Gospel.

Once more we have a lot of people making all kinds of predictions. Several years ago our Missions Director, Jim Scott, paid us a quick visit, and in our whirlwind trip around the “Great Lake”. The conversation turned to eschatology (theology concerning the final events in world history). He quizzed me, “What’s your position?” I replied, “We don’t have much other than that Jesus is coming back.”  He asked, “What about the fourth tenet?”  I said, “If it was quickly 2000 years ago, it’s got to be sooner now!” He nodded at our General Supervisor, Som Adt, who was in the back seat. “What does he think?” I shrugged, “Ask him.” So, I interpreted the question, “When is Jesus coming back?”, and without hesitation, Som Adt stated, “When we’ve reached all the people with the Gospel!” Jim thought for a second and then affirmed, “I guess that is what the Bible says!”

Now in 2020, our pastors are being flooded with questions, the social media is filled with all kinds of theories and predictions, many scaring the people. Now, I get the need to teach hygiene and social distancing. But fear is not my choice of methods. it does give our pastors the opportunity to share Christ, but, people need hope! The surprising reaction of many Cambodian non-believers, when they hear fear broadcast, is they conclude that their karma is set, that it’s too late for them, so; “Let’s eat, drink, and be merry. For tomorrow we die!” We have a different approach.