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See other Religion ArticlesTitle: 88 Failed Prophesies Inside a Baptist Church
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WHTT
URL Source: http://www.whtt.org/index_temp.php? ... 3f5182e66d64cc5b4269983608f524
Published: Jun 27, 2005
Author: Charles E. Carlson
Post Date: 2005-07-16 21:14:41 by 1776
Keywords: Prophesies, Baptist, Failed
Views: 71
Comments: 5
Understanding Evangelical's Prophesy of War and the End Times: finding Hope in the Era of the Neo-Crusades
Is America's warring in the Middle East politically or religiously motivated? Some now argue the war is between the Christian Right and its Bush-man in the White house, versus the forces of Islam. In fact this is ethnically close to being true, but not quite. War is a political expedient, and the "Christian Right" is its enabler, not the reverse.
War is the politician's return ticket to office, the only sure answer to full employment. In the 11th Century, the landed gentry and their politicians looked to the Catholic Church for its ennoblement of the 11 Crusades ending with the shameful Children's Crusade two centuries later.
Our Neo-Crusades are enabled by Judaized-Christians of various labels who now make up the majority of President Bush's faltering support for occupation in Iraq. Few would deny this, and one recent poll tells us that only 42% of Americans now approve of the Bush administration's war policy. But this by no means should be interpreted to mean that "Christianity" demands war, or that all those in the Judaized Churches agree or understand what they are a part of.
Project Strait Gate's private church vigils are held periodically on the sidewalks in front of churches. They are a non-scientific, rolling exit poll, revealing to those who hold the BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS signs that the President's wars policy still enjoys very substantial support from evangelicals. This author's guess, after talking to hundreds in front of many major churches and evangelical conventions, is that the vast majority of those who unwaveringly support the Neo-Crusade are Judaized-Christians. We doubt if many would refute this conclusion, including the President himself. This leads to the most important and obvious puzzle of the fledgling 21st Century. How can anything be so incongruous as Christians enabling serial wars?
What has caused those who say they follow Christ to become the enablers of serial wars, and where is the hope?
To understand how and why Judaized churches are enabling serial wars we will go back to a very small seventeen-year-old incident many evangelicals would like to forget. It was the latest major rapture hoax, and its history is found in a shabby little book entitled, 88 REASONS WHY THE RAPTURE WILL BE IN 1988, written by Edgar C. Whisenant. The "Rapture" to evangelicals means the beginning chapter to the end of the world. Whisenant represented himself to be educated in some discipline of an aerospace technician, and had the endorsement of The World Bible Society of Nashville, TN.
A young Southern Baptist family friend, a pro-life activist named Mike, distributed Edgar Whisenant's epistle in his and my large men's church breakfast in the early months of 1988. Mike absolutely believed the book, and considered the rapture not only imminent, but was scheduled by God for October 14 of that very year. Regretfully, this writer did nothing at the time to dissuade Mike, even though the book he gave me appeared to be full of holes. I did not interfere because I did not see it as my business, Mike did not ask my opinion, and I justified my own silence based on not understanding how the book could hurt anyone. Sadly, I was to learn I was very wrong.
At first glance it might appear that 88 REASONS could only harm those who believed the stretched myths found in its pages. Mike was married and had a young family, yet he made a mission project of giving the books to all who would carry one out the door of the church, as I did. I am sure 88 Reasons made a difference in Mike's life, and it could hardly have been positive, for he was truly convinced the world would end only months away.
How could what Mike did hurt anyone except himself? Never mind how much time and money he spent to give away the books. Even if he quit his job to wait for the rapture, his parents were behind him and his children would never go hungry. But, unfortunately, Mike was not the only victim. What he did, although well meaning and a dedicated follower of Christ, may have shortened the natural lives countless persons.
Mike gave up causes he believed were saving lives. He was an activist in the pro-life movement, and the volunteer leader of an important group. But as the spring came, he phased out of this commitment to spend more time with his young family in the months remaining on earth. Mike believed in preserving life, but no one showed him or warned him he was playing into the hands of two political regimes that had little respect for human life. These were the Neo-Cons (by another label) who controlled the first (Sr.) Bush Administration in 1988, and the State of Israel that was in the process of crushing the Philistines who were revolting against its occupations of their land and homes, as the Lebanese had revolted three years before.
As you have guessed by now, "the Rapture" did not happen in1988. But the first war on Iraq was already in the political hopper, and the first blood of the Iraqi innocent would be poured out on us two years later. Edgar Whisenant's book of trash prophesies contributed to the slaughter. Its pages are filled with hints and innuendos of racism and bigotry in the name of Christianity.
88 Reasons more to make war in the Mideast
Most of the 88 Reasons given for the imminent rapture had to do with the State of Israel, directly or indirectly. In fact, Edgar tells us the dating of the "great event" was based on the 40th Anniversary of the creation of the new Zionist state of Israel in 1948. Edgar was most creative in inventing exactly 88 reasons, but almost all of them involved his belief in world Zionism incorporated as a part of his "Christianity." Here are just a few of the 88 Reasons Whisenant suggested that God needed a Rapture to realize the destiny of the Zionist State:
REASON #7 (in part) "this is the last generation, [M1]started on 14 May 1948, the day Israel became a nation. Israel is the time clock of God throughout history, Israel is the blooming fig tree, (Jer 24:4-8) and the last generation will end 40 wicked Gentile years later on 14 May 1988."
REASON # 66: "Israel is the key to this whole scenario. You're again to see how time begins and ends and moves with the nation of Israel. You have noticed how our news events seem to be constantly bringing out attention to the Middle East these last days. And that is just where God wants it"...
Whisenant admits he knows he is not supposed to try to out-guess God. He even quotes the scripture that forbids him to try, and then spins his logic for disobeying God based on a loophole he invented on page 2 of his book. There, he states:
"It is evident that in the minds of most Christians today, Matt 24:36 is believed to prohibit anyone from being able to see the day of our Lord's return approaching. 'No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the father."
But Elmer simply drilled out a loophole based on 24 time zones, and supposedly two distinct days on any turn of the moon. He implies this is what God supposedly meant, that no one could guess the correct day and hour of His coming because of all the time zones they lived in. Here is his justification for writing the book:
"However, this does not preclude or prevent the faithful from knowing the year, the month and the week of the Lord's return." (PAGE 3, REASON #1)
One would truly have to think himself a god to insult the true God by "taking his words in vain." How do self-supposed Christians take this nonsense seriously?
The first reason is that their trusted leaders and pastors do not deny it, and sadly, that included me. Whisenant got his support from the World Bible Society in Nashville, TN. They wrote that they didn't know if the book was true or not, but its conclusion was too important not to share with their friends, just in case, so they joined in mongering the trash books.
The truth is, rapture scares are good business for churches and bible booksellers. Witness the Left Behind book series that sell tens of millions of copies based on pure bible-fictions.
The Pastors at my Baptist church should have issued a statement to the flock. Jesus warned of "false prophets." Had the pastor done so I might have listened, for I supported him as a leader, and Mike might also have listened. Evangelical theologians either support or are silent about prophets of "Rapture." Many of them also fail to see the harm in a little rapture guessing.
Another reason men like Whisenant take themselves seriously is they had a cheering section made up of the most radical element of anti-Arabs in the Mideast: Israel. Elmer quotes none other than Meir Kahane, a man who was among the most violent killers in Israeli history. And Whisenant justifies Kahane:
REASON #8 "Rabbi Meir Kahane, who wants to throw out all of the Arabs in Israel, is acutely aware of the 40-year grace period given by God, beginning in 1948."
Edgar Whisenant goes on quoting Rabbi Kahane page after page, supporting his militancy against Arabs with words of respect. To him Kahane was an oracle for God carrying out His will against the Philistine tribe.
Meir Kahane was in fact an angry terrorist who deliberately incited documented brutality against the Palestinian people. Few Israelis openly advocated the Kahane program for deportation or liquidation of 3.5 million Arab people. He was an embarrassment to the Jews in Israel, who claimed that they themselves were victims of a similar liquidation a generation before. Kahane was founder of the Kach Party, which was committed to violence and repeated assassinations of Arab villagers, encouraging them to leave. He was assassinated in 1990. Kahane's public statements had much to do with agitating the Arabs toward the first Intifada in 1987. Whisenant used Kahane as a scripturally justified weather vane for war.
Most of Whisenant's "88 Reasons" were either tied to present happenings in Israel or based on Hebrew Old Testament prophesy. All 88 pointed unequivocally to war ("Armageddon") being "Gods will." Anyone who took the book seriously could not help but be conditioned to accept bloodshed in the Middle East.
Most of my friends accepted the little book from Mike, who wanted no money for it. After all, what good would money be after October 14th? Most of us probably did not take it seriously, and I would be surprised if many copies, save my own, survived these 18 years. I was later surprised to learn that the 88 Reasons had a national following, especially in the heartland. Edgar prospered, and is said to have sold a million copies at $2.00 each.
But I was wrong about the little book doing no damage. Mike's distribution of the books and the distribution by thousands like him, damaged minds and bodies. He innocently helped convince some that the Arabs were dirt under the feet of the Israelis, and that anything that helped Israel was God's will, no matter how mean and vile it might seem.
One year later, Edgar's rapture promises were forgotten. The first Bush President was pounding the war drums demanding punishment of Sadam Hussein for invading Kuwait, even though Hussein was practically on the federal payroll. When this writer finally woke up, it was too late to convince my church leaders. They would not listen to my plea to take a stand against the pending destruction of Iraq, which was soon destroyed to the cheers of the State of Israel. Before the end of 1991, Arab children were starving in Baghdad's middle class neighborhoods. Evangelicals were whispering, "Biblical prophesy is being fulfilled."
During this terrible period of war, the Philistine uprising called "Intifada" was brutally crushed by American-supplied super war machines. Judaized Christian dispensationalists, remembering Edgar's 88 Reasons, also considered this "God's will." Whisenant, and everyone who did not openly oppose him, contributed to the deaths of every one and every Iraqi, not to mention some Americans.
American churchgoers are conditioned to the idea that war in the Mideast is inevitable and planned by God, and that nothing can be done to stop it. Nor should "Christians" try to prevent it.
There is a cost
The blood is already pouring out on the hands of those who contrived the Neo-Crusade. Rivers of scarlet are trickling down all of our arms, staining each one of us. We, who call ourselves by Christ's name and did nothing to stop it, are guilty of shedding innocent blood. Sad to say, we are in a conflict between the justice and humanity Christ taught, and the pagan superstition and bloodletting of self-serving few who thrive on war. They have found their support in the Judaized, dispensational institutions. Resistance to this is not an option to those who follow Christ.
Where is the hope?
Every empire I can think of has had a state "religion" by some name. Where is the hope in a society whose dominant religion openly supports political plans to destroy human life? This is the USA today; it was also Rome 1900 years ago. If our politicians are the standard for justice, love of one's neighbor, and respect for life, what chance do we have to recover even a glimmer of the morality found in our history? Can anyone or anything save us from the joining the Romans, where the citizens, hardened by serial wars, eventfully accepted and were entertained by torture and public murder inside Vespasian's beautiful work of art and engineering, the Coliseum. .
The hope in this story is in the young Baptist, Mike, and a few like him among a sea of churchgoers. Why Mike? Because he is more experienced by now, but he will remain an activist, driven by love of Christ and a moral imperative to protect human life and dignity. It is Mike's nature to do so. One "Mike" is worth a hundred, perhaps a thousand slumbering "Christians" who are never wrong because they never do enough to make a mistake.
Mike, I would guess, knows by now he should not be part of a church that only pretends to respect the sanctity of human life. He knows he is mismatched or "unequally yoked" as Jesus put it, and he has probably changed "church homes" two or three times since I knew him, looking for answers to the questions that nag at his soul, and not finding ithem.
There are "Mikes" in every church in America. You will find them leading, teaching, volunteering, passing the plate and paying tithes. They are doing their best, working, as they know God commands them to work, but doubting the leadership's acceptance of war. We meet them when we picket big churches. They occasionally come out and join us, and more of them are asking questions reflecting their own doubts about their churches. My guess is Mike continues to be an apostle for Christ, perhaps without fully understanding how he has been betrayed. But he will come out of the failing church when he understands this message. The “Mikes” have power. When they correctly place the blame on their churches for the blood that is on their hands, Judaized Christianity will be finished; it cannot survive in an environment of truth. Christ's words tell us He is still waiting for men like Mike to follow Him out of the corrupted church.
Project Strait Gate's purpose is to find the “Mikes” with millions of letters like this one. We will explain how this is to be accomplished in Part II, made possible, that is, with your help. -End
Background for our views:
Please Permit me to Speak Boldly to a Fellow Believer, by Charles E. Carlson, was written on December 26, 1990, and sent to about 100 to of the leaders of the church that Mike and this author shared. Not one answer was ever received. The final paragraph reads
“May God forgive us if, by our inaction, we allow genocide against Moslem women and children and the sacrifice of even one of our own children. The average Christian could not even tell you the name of the deposed King of Kuwait (Emir Shaikh Iabir al-Ahmad al-Jabir as Sabah) or provide a single reason why we should sacrifice the life of one American boy to put him back in power. If you agree with even a small part of what I have presented, please write to your Congressman before January 15, 1991. Better yet, call him while he is home on Christmas vacation and tell him, "No war and no United Nations One-World Government now or ever." Charles E. Carlson December 26, 1990.
It May be Time to Walk out of Church, By Charles E. Carlson, Jun 14, 2005
Kach and Mayer Kahane: the Emergence of Jewish Fascism, by Ehud Sprinzak
Next: Part II. Join in the Hope.
Poster Comment: Just say "no" to crypto-rabbis in pulpits.
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Institute for Historical Review
"...when a society that believes in nothing, fear becomes the only agenda..."
Institute for Historical Review
"...when a society that believes in nothing, fear becomes the only agenda..."
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