In the US recently, I found myself 'channel-hopping' in an effort to locate a serious programme.
Eventually, I came across one that seemed to be what I was looking for: three newsreaders giving an oversweep on the week's world events. However, the longer I watched, the clearer it became that this programme was not quite what I had expected.
Fair enough, it carried plenty of news items, but I soon realised that straightforward news and analysis were not the main agenda. In fact, when all the three presenters were really on about was identifying particular world happenings as fulfilments of various biblical prophecies and therefore as signs of the end times. The claims ranged from the obviously wrong to the downright stupid.
No complacency
There is no shortage of such spiritual drivel on American television, and US fundamentalism, with its predilection for sensational dispensationalism, has perhaps fertile soil for such depressing phenomena. Nevertheless, there is no room for British complacency on this issue: in church life, as in culture, Britain now tends to follow where America leads and, as we move towards the millennium, there are signs that we too will experience increasing levels of millennium lunacy, both without and, more disturbingly, within the church.
The times are indeed ripe for the flourishing of millennium madness. Not only a reaching the end of the second millennium - obviously significant both as a date, and marketing opportunity for all who stand to make money out of sensationalist literature, secular and religious - but we also living during times of immense upheaval - socially, culturally and politically.
The collapse of the Soviet bloc, the growth of the EC, increasing shift towards a world economy based on South East Asia, the information technology revolution, the impending ecological crisis - some, if not all, of these are having an impact on the way we think and live, and very few of the old certainties remain intact.
History tells us that it is at just such points of social turmoil that movements tend to gain significant strength, and the present popularity of books such as the prophecies of Nostradamus, along with the strength of millennial cults such as the Jehovah Witnesses, is a clear indication that the historical pattern is indeed repeating itself.
Earlier 'madness'
Perhaps the most obvious English examples of millennial madness occurred in the first half of the 17th century, where the social turmoil generated by political and ecclesiastical struggles fostered countless sects of varying degrees of outrageousness from the sometimes almost-orthodox Fifth Monarchy Men to such bizarre groups as the Ranters. Indeed, proclamation of the end of the world and of the imminent return of Christ was the basic part of life of most of these groups, and some people, like 'Doomsday' Sedgwick were so confident in their prophetic powers that they even predicted the return of Christ the following week.
Such prophetic speculations reached a crescendo in 1649 with the most catastrophic and traumatic of political events: the execution of Charles I. In the following years, as the world continued and Christ did not return, such speculation gradually died down, although it did persist in some quarters, as in the sad case of one individual when the world did not end when he had predicted, claimed that it had in fact done so but that nobody had noticed!
While the increasing social stability of the latter half of the 17th century and the advance of the Enlightenment no doubt played their role in this decline by creating a predictable world and a more rationally orientated world-view, it is also true that millennial movements, to which the 17th-century varieties (like their contemporary counterparts) were no exception, contain the seeds of their own destruction. The problem is that while millennialists tend to be rather specific about timetable details, from the ascension to the present date, their rate of predictive success has remained a steady zero.
Present day trends
Nevertheless, despite the fact that time and again these characters are proved wrong, public appetite for their fantasies continues. In the 1970s Hal Lindsey's Late Great Earth sold in numbers that were almost as unbelievable as the material which it contained. With the collapse of the Soviet bloc, it can now be seen for the nonsense that it always was, but this has not prevented other similar works selling well. On this issue, the old adage that nobody ever lost money by overestimating the gullibility of the public proves sound this time.
The solution, however, is not simply to pour scorn on such teachings. Foolish they may be, but apparent foolishness should never be the sole criterion for judging the falsehood of a doctrine. After all, the resurrection of Christ is itself 'foolishness'. Furthermore, for all its faults, the kind of bizarre millennial claims of such as Lindsey reflect in a perverse and mutilated way certain emphases within the Bible, and the best way to ensure that we are not taken in by every wind of millennial doctrine is to make sure that we have a good grasp of what the Bible really does teach on these issues.
This is of crucial importance to a proper understanding of the gospel, since it has become clear to biblical scholars this century that eschatology (that part of theology that deals with last things) is a central aspect of New Testament teaching. The writings of Geerhardus Vos, Herman Ridderbos, and George Eldon Ladd, among others, are notable in pointing to the centrality of eschatological emphases in the teaching of Christ and the New Testament.
If this is the case (and the main elements of their arguments do seem convincing), then our theology, our preaching, and our theological witness to the world should also reflect this eschatological dimension.
Lack of teaching
Yet perhaps through an overreaction to the silly excesses of some, or to a lack of confidence in dealing with the relevant passages, church leaders give a very wide berth to teaching on the last things, thus failing to point to the full richness of the New Testament message, and leaving their congregations without the theological resources to deal with the wild claims of various teachings and groups. While such reticence may arise from the best of motives, it is unscriptural and must therefore be wrong.
This is not to say that we should encourage each other to indulge in the kind of speculation to which I referred above - God forbid: such an approach is so obviously contrary to biblical teaching that it is beneath contempt. Reflection on eschatological issues and theological areas should be conducted in the light of the normative authority of Scripture and utilise sound principles of biblical interpretation (Grant Osborne's book, The Hermeneutical Spiral, IVP, is an excellent introduction to this). It should not attempt to speak on issues where Scripture is silent. Careful handling of Scripture and the co-ordination of eschatology with other key doctrines such as the Trinity, the person and work of Christ etc., are sure safeguards against millennium madness, but they do require a theologically-literate church, a church which knows its principles of interpretation, and its doctrine.
Knowing God?
Therefore, on this issue as on most others, we must not be fooled by those who put forward the specious argument that 'knowing God' is more important than 'knowing about God', and who thus rupture the relationship between doctrine and life that is so obvious in Paul's letters and which was so eloquently argued by the Reformers, the Puritans, and the best of the Reformed tradition. Zealous piety has never provided any defence against doctrinal error and subsequent ecclesiastical disaster. Calvin said: 'Zeal without knowledge is like a sword in the hands of a lunatic.'
Church officers should ensure that their pulpits are filled by men who have a sound understanding of a crucial area of the New Testament, and church book stores should perhaps give less shelf space to the latest lightweight biographies and more to solid doctrinal works, including those which deal specifically with eschatology. Congregations must be encouraged to read and study those commentaries and theological books which deal with these issues in a sensible fashion, and which reflect the teaching Scripture contains while respecting the boundaries Scripture imposes.
We do have time
Of all theological issues, those dealing with eschatology are perhaps the most difficult and controversial, and they take time to think and pray through - but are we to ignore something which is of such importance to the teachings of Christ and of the apostle Paul?
And before we adopt the all-too-common modern position that these things are only for the intellectually gifted, we should remind ourselves that even the least intellectual people in our congregations are better equipped in terms of education, resources and time to study these issues than many of those whom Christ, Peter, Paul and John taught in the 1st century, and who were fully expected to benefit from such teaching.
Almost all Christians now find themselves coming into regular contact with dubious millennial teachings of some kind or another, whether in the columns of newspapers or through a visit of the local Jehovah's Witnesses. Confronted by the such claims, we all need to have a sound grasp of biblical eschatology, and need to understand how to interpret those passages of Scripture to which the lunatic fringe always refer with such apparent knowledge and confidence. If this is done, we will be less likely to be fooled by those who claim to have all the answers.
Sadly, in eschatology, as in every other area of theology, it is the emptiest minds which are the most easily led.
Carl Trueman
