Posted on 09/26/2011 1:35:04 PM PDT by lbryce
THE end is near — or so it seems to a segment of Christians aligned with the religious right. The global economic meltdown, numerous natural disasters and the threat of radical Islam have fueled a conviction among some evangelicals that these are the last days. While such beliefs might be dismissed as the rantings of a small but vocal minority, apocalyptic fears helped drive the antigovernment movements of the 1930s and ’40s and could help define the 2012 presidential campaign as well.
Christian apocalypticism has a long and varied history. Its most prevalent modern incarnation took shape a century ago, among the vast network of preachers, evangelists, Bible-college professors and publishers who established the fundamentalist movement. Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals and independents, they shared a commitment to returning the Christian faith to its “fundamentals.”
Biblical criticism, the return of Jews to the Holy Land, evolutionary science and World War I convinced them that the second coming of Jesus was imminent. Basing their predictions on biblical prophecy, they identified signs, drawn especially from the books of Daniel, Ezekiel and Revelation, that would foreshadow the arrival of the last days: the growth of strong central governments and the consolidation of independent nations into one superstate led by a seemingly benevolent leader promising world peace.
This leader would ultimately prove to be the Antichrist, who, after the so-called rapture of true saints to heaven, would lead humanity through a great tribulation culminating in the second coming and Armageddon. Conservative preachers, evangelists and media personalities of the 20th century, like Billy Sunday, Aimee Semple McPherson, Billy Graham and Jerry Falwell, shared these beliefs.
Fundamentalists’ anticipation of a coming superstate pushed them to the political right. As the government grew in response to industrialization, fundamentalists concluded that the rapture was approaching.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
President Franklin D. Roosevelt troubled them as well.
For some evangelicals, President Obama is troubling.
Barring the rapture, Mrs. Bachmann or Mr. Perry could well ride the apocalyptic anti-statism of conservative Christians into the Oval Office. Indeed, the tribulation may be upon us.
So, as it would seem to the demagogic logic in the way the Slimes views the world, the cure for ridding the White House of the Anti-Christ is far worse than the disease.
Troubling was when he was running for president.
FREAKING DISASTER is what he is now. And if he's not the anti christ, he sure is the hand puppet of Soros.
Fixed it.
Obama is NOT the Antichrist. He’s way too stupid. But the Antichrist may be among his handlers.
Anyone opposed to Christ can't be too smart to begin with.....
Soros and Maurice Strong also worth considering.
I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me. Yet if another man comes in his own name, you will accept him. John 5:43
0bama’s the “John the Baptist” of the Antichrist.
I think its the pencil necked geek who is the current Mayor of Chicago...;-)
Oh those crazy, ignorant Christians. See how stupid they are for believing this nonsense!! Don’t you feel so superior, dear Times reader, now that you are reminded that you are so much smarter than those stupid Republican voters?
When the Left begins spewing stuff like this, take heart!
It means the moment of their ultimate crack-up is nearly at hand.
Funny to watch them try to gin up excuses for their huge loss in the next election. I guess they know that they won’t be able to try and ignore it like they did after their losses in 2010.
How did the progressive movement maintain a sharp focus over many generations like it has? The Beast is behind the progressive movement.
Let me correct that!
He is the hand puppet of SATAN.
Yep, I thought that was interesting as well.
The thing the author misses is that reverent, orthodox Christians are—even above free-market economics, and being pro-military—pro-life. Only one party, and one part of the political spectrum allows for people to be pro-life...and that part also happens to most love freedom, and, I believe, historical America.
I’m a evangelical, bible believing Christian, of the Reformed, Covenant-theology type. The theology described—by far the most prevalent in evangelical circles—has a name, called DISPENSATIONALISM. It has a unique understanding—compared to other Christian interpretations—of the book of Revelation, the End Times, and Jesus 2nd Coming. Dispensational eschatology (end times interpretations) has been around for about 180 years or so—and historically, orthodox, evangelical Presbyterians, Lutherans and Anglicans, do not share that interpretation... Neither of course do Roman Catholics or Eastern Orthodox.
The view of non-dispensationalist Christians—even very bible-believing evangelical orthodox ones—is that Jesus is coming again literally at ANY TIME—ending the age all at once (without all the complications of a separate Rapture, 7 year Tribulation, a literal 1000 year Reign, a 2nd (or 3rd?) 2nd Coming, etc.).
Yet still, conservative, orthodox evangelicals who DO NOT accept Dispensationalism (like myself) as well as conservative, orthodox Roman Catholics and E. Orthodox are, statistically overwhelmingly politically conservative.
Why is that? The NYT writer, Matthew Avery Sutton, doesn’t say....
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