Deafening Silence! :: By Jan Markell
A ministry supporter in Washington State a few years ago sent me a flyer that was handed out in his church. It is more mocking. The flyer asks if folks have met “End-Times Eddie” in the church. It denigrates “Eddie” and suggests he is so focused on end times that he has missed all the present opportunities and people in front of him.
“Eddie” is gloom and doom. Why isn’t he looking for Jesus to bring Heaven to earth right now, they ask?
Then, the flyer suggests some questions for the church’s small groups. Here are a few samples:
- What are your emotions when you encounter “End-Times Eddie”?
- Is the last days’ message one of hope or fear?
- Jesus told us to pray for “your will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven. “What does Heaven on Earth look like today?
- Who in your life needs Heaven to come to earth right now?
Two things stand out to me:
1) Here is just one more church preaching, “Come, Lord Jesus, but not too soon.”
2) They have embraced the false teaching promoted heavily by the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) that we can have Heaven on earth now. This is called Kingdom Now or Dominion Theology.
Show me just one square mile of this planet that can demonstrate a Garden of Eden-like Heaven on Earth. You will find only chaos. And the church trying to perfect the world for the next one million years won’t fix it.
Those of us who have promoted the important message that the King is coming are painfully aware that young believers no longer uphold Bible prophecy as a key component of the faith. They would rather focus on social justice, the green agenda, and Christian Palestinianism.
When I was a teenager in my church, we had regular prophecy conferences, and I never once heard that Israel was “occupying” her God-given country. I never would have heard the denigrating title of “End-Times Eddie.”
I was never taught that we had to “save the planet” because I learned that it was hopelessly lost until Christ’s return. I was never given the delusional teaching that, in time, my church would be able to “save the planet” by seizing the Genesis mandate of dominion — which is about dominion over animals and not mankind.
Kingdom Now or Dominion Theology tries to humanize God and deify man. Sadly, the world will continue to deteriorate and spiral into chaos, forcing man to consider the hope of Heaven and abandon thoughts of a glorified earth. Only when Jesus Christ returns at the Second Coming will all things be made new!
The church is not in the business of taking anything away from Satan but the souls of men. The world is a sinking Titanic ripe for judgment, not Garden of Eden perfection. Jesus will take dominion of the cleansed earth. For men to speak of doing that before the judgment of this earth is spiritually arrogant.
Yet “End-Times Eddie” is the one with unsound theology according to the Washington church, not those preaching this unsound theology that the church can perfect the world.
One of my conference attendees wrote me recently. He had been tagged an “End-Times Eddie.” He writes, “I no longer feel safe talking about the issues you deal with in your ministry. I am scorned and ridiculed by friends, family, and co-workers if I talk about the Lord’s imminent return or any prominent headline. To suggest that life as we know it may end soon is simply the ultimate in lunacy to all of these folks. I feel so alone.”
David Barnhart once wrote in his magazine Vine and Branches, “God’s prophetic clock is counting down to the appointed hour. If you don’t believe it, listen to the latest news reports or read the paper. Scriptures are replete with signs, prophecies, and promises of Christ’s return.”
He continues, “The signs are everywhere, yet the silence of the churches is deafening when it comes to proclaiming this vital truth of Scripture. Slumbering preachers and sleeping saints need to wake up to the reality that the King is coming, and His coming may be sooner than any of us realize.”
Bible prophecy is given as a light shining in a dark place (2 Peter 1:19). Talking about it should not instill fear in the Christian; rather, provide confirmation that the “blessed hope” is ever nearer and the time ever shorter to snatch people from the fire.
There are many “End-Time Eddies” around. May their numbers increase. May our pulpits grow bolder and talk about things that really matter. Our message is hardly doom and gloom. It may be about the only good news left. The supposed ‘good news’ that we’re taking the planet back to the Garden of Eden isn’t the truth — it’s an end-time delusion.
I’m honored to be among the “End-Times Eddie” crowd. I’ve got the best news there is. This world isn’t it. God believed the topic of eschatology was so important that He devoted one book exclusively to it: Revelation. Almost 30% of the Bible is prophecy-focused.
This message, when coupled with warnings, encourages evangelism and repentance like no other. So, I’m looking up because the King is coming, perhaps even today.
And today, we celebrate #76 for Israel – her re-birth 76 years ago today [May 14]. She’s not the miracle of the 21st Century. She’s the miracle of all time! If God says He will do it, He does! He’s a covenant keeper.
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