“If the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare for battle?” (I Corinthians 14:8).
A woman in a friend’s Sunday School class took exception to his reading a passage from The Message, the paraphrase of Scripture from the highly esteemed Eugene Peterson. “It’s evil,” she said. She will not be back to that church.
And if you think she’ll be spreading the word that that church is liberal and has gone over to the dark side, I’m betting you’ll be right.
An evangelist asked a man what translation of Scriptures he was reading from. “The NASB,” he said. “The MacArthur Study Bible.” “That’s a terrible translation,” he said. “It’s wrong. And wicked.” Just so easily does he dismiss the work of hundreds of biblical scholars who know far more about Hebrew and Greek and the ancient manuscripts than that evangelist (or this preacher!) can learn in several lifetimes.
One of two things is true. Either the attacker is correct and the overwhelming majority of God’s redeemed are deceived. Or, the attacker has been deceived, is seriously misguided and is now slandering a huge part of the family of God. The latter, I believe, is the case.
Speaking of deceiving and being deceived…
The Friday June 22, 2018, issue of our Clarion-Ledger carried a full-page advertisement from some end-of-the-world people who did not name themselves other than to give their website: www.worldslastchance.com.
According to these doomsdayers, what we are on the eve of beholding is “the seven prophetic trumpets outlined in the Book of Revelation.” These trumpets “represent the Father’s last call of mercy. His final effort to awaken humanity from spiritual blindness and to prepare us for the Second Coming of His Son.”
The seven trumpets are found in Revelation chapters 8-11. For two thousand years, scholars and laypeople alike have read those passages and wondered at their meanings. Some have come up with interpretations and possibilities, but the centuries (and history) have not been good to their theories. But now, apparently, someone has it all figured out. Enough so that they are willing to fork out thousands of dollars to alert humanity to the coming disasters.
In the first trumpet, one-third of all trees and all crops will be destroyed (Revelation 8:7). The second trumpet (8:8-9) says a third of all shipping vessels and sea life will be destroyed. The third trumpet (8:10-11) will destroy all fresh water sources. The article omits the fourth trumpet (8:12) which is going to take away one-third of the sun, moon and stars.
At this point, after the fourth trumpet, the article says, “The powers that be will utterly panic.” Boy, I’ll bet that’s right. And before they can recover, God’s fifth trumpet will sound—ushering in “the most horrifying event in human history: a celestial (sic) invasion of demons posing as ‘aliens.’” While Revelation 9:1ff calls these locusts, we will grant they are demons. Why the article’s writers decided they will pose as aliens is anyone’s guess. And they are celestial? Meaning “from heaven”?
And here’s where it gets interesting…
The demonic aliens will force humanity to rush to a world leader, none other than Pope Francis himself. The head of the Roman Catholic church will emerge as the leader of the world. And the writers of the article even tell us what the Pope will do. “The first thing on Francis’ agenda will be the exaltation of Sunday as a universal day of worship.” The writers reveal their bias when they point out that in reality “Sunday is a counterfeit day of worship and has nothing at all to do with the biblical Sabbath.” OK. We have some legalistic Judaizing Adventists getting their licks in, looks like.
All we have to do is start worshiping on Saturday.
The result of all this is to split the world into two camps: the majority following the Pope and a small remnant choosing to worship on the Sabbath. Believe it or don’t.
At this point, the article says, “Is your jaw on the floor?” Well, sort of. I’m amazed at the sheer foolishness of this. But let us continue…
The article urges us to go to their website “to learn more about the lies that you have been told by every organization that you thought you could trust.’” Every organization? Every one? Even the PTA? The American Automobile Association? Sams Club?
It ends by agreeing that many people will call them crazy. “But what if they are right?” they ask. “Crazy just might save your eternal soul.”
Get that? Moving the day of worship from Sunday to Saturday “just might save your eternal soul.”
The article forewarns us that “there is so much more we want to share with you.” Uh oh. They’re not through yet?
