'End Times' Religious Groups Want Apocalypse Soon (IT'S LATER THAN YOU THINK...)

The Los Angeles Times ^ | 6/22/06 | Louis Sahagun

[paulat]

'End times' religious groups want apocalypse sooner than later
By Louis Sahagun
Times Staff Writer
June 22, 2006

For thousands of years, prophets have predicted the end of the world. Today, various religious groups, using the latest technology, are trying to hasten it.

Their endgame is to speed the promised arrival of a messiah.

[SNIP]

With that goal in mind, mega-church pastors recently met in Inglewood to polish strategies for using global communications and aircraft to transport missionaries to fulfill the Great Commission: to make every person on Earth aware of Jesus' message. Doing so, they believe, will bring about the end, perhaps within two decades.

In Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has a far different vision. As mayor of Tehran in 2004, he spent millions on improvements to make the city more welcoming for the return of a Muslim messiah known as the Mahdi, according to a recent report by the American Foreign Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank.

To the majority of Shiites, the Mahdi was the last of the prophet Muhammad's true heirs, his 12 righteous descendants chosen by God to lead the faithful.

Ahmadinejad hopes to welcome the Mahdi to Tehran within two years.

Conversely, some Jewish groups in Jerusalem hope to clear the path for their own messiah by rebuilding a temple on a site now occupied by one of Islam's holiest shrines.

Artisans have re-created priestly robes of white linen, gem-studded breastplates, silver trumpets and solid-gold menorahs to be used in the Holy Temple — along with two 6½-ton marble cornerstones for the building's foundation.

[SNIP]

According to various polls, an estimated 40% of Americans believe that a sequence of events presaging the end times is already underway.

[SNIP]

[SteveMcKing]

Forty-Four End-of-the-World Prophecies

[Coyoteman]

What baloney. Armageddon tired of it.

[nmh]

He'll come when He's good and ready and NOT a moment before. This is GOD, you're talking about - not some push over.

[ConservativeMind]

Well, what was printed is basically how I understand it, and I'm a Christian.

That said, I think this newfound Israel religion some Christians have gotten is somewhat misplaced.

Christ can come back at any time. The Temple need not be rebuilt for the end of the world to occur.

No man can know that time. And believing God must listen to their interpretation of Scripture is pretty insulting of Him.

[paulat]

This is GOD, you're talking about - not some push over.

Hey!! I ain't sayin' this...just reportin' what the MSM wants us to believe!!!

[Berlin_Freeper]

"mega-church pastors"

Are they trying to make us laugh?

Or are they just:

mega-idiot pastors

[WestVirginiaRebel]

The End may be near/But I have no fear/Because I'll have plenty of beer/For when the Saviour gets here.

[paulat]

"mega-church pastors" Are they trying to make us laugh? Or are they just: mega-idiot pastors

I think it's just LA Times disdain for Christian churches. I haven't heard of any gettin' ready for the mothership.

Notice, they don't NAME any....or name the SOURCE of their POLL....

[paulat]

***CORRECTING MYSELF***

The article DOES name church pastors...

I was trying to say...name the SOURCE of their polls.

sorry.

[Frwy]

.....mega-church pastors recently met in Inglewood to polish strategies for... to fulfill the Great Commission: to make every person on Earth aware of Jesus' message.

Well they are wasting their time and money. Evangelizing the world will happen if God wills it to happen. If on the other hand God determines that next Tuesday at 12:01PM EST is the end of His patience with man, then that is the end and the next stages of prophesy begins. That has always been the problem with man. He believed it in the garden when the devil offered him the chance to be like God. It was a lie. Adam bought it and sin entered the world. Since then man has believed he can manipulate God into doing it man's way. It's not going to happen any other way but God's way. And to that I say Hallelujah.

[sasportas]

This newfound Israel religion some Christians have gotten...

Say what? Newfound Israel religion? Just what are you talking about?

Sounds like you have bought into liberal eschatological theory. Which is it, Amillennial, Preterist, or Postmillennial?

[NormsRevenge]

like a thief in the night, no one knows when the deed may happen

but a lot of folks will get rich regardless , that much I know for sure

[Publius]

"What we have now in this global age is a vaster and bloodier-than-ever Wagnerian version. But, then, we are a very imaginative race."

Richard Wagner has been blamed for a lot of things, including Naziism, but this is getting a bit ridiculous. All this foolishness about “end times” brings to mind his opera Götterdämmerung, “The Twilight of the Gods”.

[Seruzawa]

Hallelujah Brother! You too can be saved from the Apocalypse. Learn how from Ezra and Buford Picket, the Bible Brothers, for only $19.95!

[paulat]

Oh, when the saints
Go marching in
Oh, when the saints
Go marching in....
Lord, I want to be in that number
When the saints go marching in!!!!

[NormsRevenge]

It ain't over 'til the Fat lady sings.

[Publius]

ROTFLMAO!!!!!

[epow]

I don't think any real Christian eschatologist believes that man can do anything to speed up God's prophetic timetable. The time of Jesus return to earth was set before the foundation of the world, and is known only to the Father. No one is going to speed it up by evangelizing the world.

The LAT would like for everyone to believe that any Christian who believes in the second advent of Jesus Christ is a whacked out nutjob who wants to see the world blown up and all it's unsaved people killed.