“Don’t censor what scares you” Alana Newhouse, Chief Editor, Tablet Magazine.
When I saw that headline, something in my head screamed, “Wow! I have to write on that thought!” I gained some insight into the Passover Seder and Jewish thought from the article. You really should follow the link and read it, if you haven’t. I however, am not going there… I am a gentile Christian… I am going to take free rein with the title and depart from there.
Pastors, God fearing, Jesus loving, Men of God are frightened to death to approach the subject of the end times. “What if I get it wrong? How would I ever explain it to my congregation?” I have heard that question paraphrased in a hundred different ways.
“What if I get it wrong? How would I ever explain it to my congregation?”
Jesus repeatedly commanded us to “Watch!”.
Jesus told us what to watch for…
Scripture goes into great detail, giving us long lists of things to watch for…
Paul tells us, “But you, brothers, are not in the dark, for this day to overtake you like a thief.” (1 Thessalonians 5:4)
The problem is, most Christians are in the dark… not because they are in sin but because their Pastors and Teachers are censoring the Word of God, refusing to preach that which frightens them.
Why are they frightened?
- Eighty-Eight Reasons in Eighty-Eight, Edgar C. Whisenant
- Y2K
- The World did not end in 2012
- Etc.
So many Pastors lost face when they went overboard on these issues. Now, Satan has used those things to frighten them into silence.
I might point out that it is quite possible to preach the Word concerning the end times, enumerate the signs and compare them with current events, preach fact as fact and conjecture as conjecture, and never go off the deep end with dates or dire predictions tied to a particular season.
I might point out that:
- Whisenent was a good Engineer and a bad Theologian… setting dates is a bad idea.
- Y2K was a very real problem, solved beforehand. If no one had sounded the alarm, it could have been a real disaster.
- Times did change in 2012. The Maya and the Aztec predicted major change and the end of the age in 2012 but never predicted the end of the World.
- Other people’s mistakes can serve as a warning against specific actions without causing us to disobey the command of Jesus.
You do not have to remain in the dark. You do not have to disobey the command of your Lord to “watch”. You can shed light on the subject in a manner that takes your congregation out of darkness and into the light. I have it on the authority of the word of God that that day does not have to take you or your congregation by surprise…
Do not censor the parts of the Word of God that frighten you. You owe it to God, yourself and your congregation to study until the light comes on in your life and share the Word until the light comes on in the lives of your members… Do not be taken by surprise by what is happening and what is about to happen. Do not allow your flock to wander about in the dark, blind to what God has said about the times in which we live.
Take the advice of the Editor of a Jewish Magazine and stop censoring the things that frighten you…
David…
End Time Thinker 