8-1-16<\/p>\n
Tim LaHaye died this week. Many people know him from \u2013 indeed, were mightily affected by \u2013 his books, the famous Left Behind series. <\/p>\n
I never met Tim, but had mutual friends across the landscape. I attended the church he pastored, Scott memorial, later Shadow Mountain, in California. A magazine I edited, Rare Jewel<\/em>, promoted Beverly LaHaye\u2019s organization Concerned Women for America, and we interviewed him. Likewise we profiled the Institute for Creation Research in El Cajon, which spun off the college Tim founded, now known as san Diego Christian College. My friend Stacy Hollenbeck from girlhood was a friend of the LaHayes, and Tim married Stacy and my buddy Mike Atkinson (I mean… he officiated at the ceremony). Finally, my agent, Greg Johnson, was Tim\u2019s literary rep on many of his books.<\/p>\n It sounds amazing, actually, that we never met. In my San Diego years, I did get to know quite well some Christian luminaries (of different camps, truth be told): Mike Yaconelli; Wayne Rice; Jim Garlow; David Jeremiah; Miles McPherson; The Left Behind<\/em> books were a publishing sensation. Co-authored (actually written) by Jerry B Jenkins, they numbered more than a dozen titles and sequels; movies; and uncountable debates. They brought the Tribulation (the awful events at the end of history, foretold in many Bible prophecies), the Rapture (the physical disappearance of believers before the end of the world), and the apocalypse of Daniel and Revelation (and many other places in scripture), into mainstream discussion.<\/p>\n LaHaye\u2019s views and books formed a sort of Second Blessing of Eschatology (study of End Times), following upon the wave of interest generated by Hal Lindsey\u2019s Late Great Planet Earth<\/em> and other books in the 1970s. My wife was one of the followers of the Left Behind<\/em> series, and followed the news with informed interest, finding Biblical parallels that LaHaye\u2019s books made more evident.<\/p>\n The phenomenon peaked about a dozen years ago, and will, if the End Times do not come first and subsume humanity and rapture the faithful in the meantime, assert itself again.<\/p>\n Just as with the \u201cother end\u201d of the Bible\u2019s timeline \u2013 Biblical archaeology \u2013 modern science is explaining things to us that once seemed like fantasy or even nonsense. Ancient cities and rulers once described by \u201cexperts\u201d to be of mythology or legend\u2026 are appearing in diverse places like desert plains shorelines, and under Jerusalem\u2019s streets. Likewise, coins and amulets with faces and names and dates, are now confirmed as real, not fictional. (Just wait \u2013 I have had a glimpse \u2013 until you see the National Center of the Bible, opening soon on the National Mall in Washington DC. It will open many eyes.) (Need I say? NOT sponsored by the Federal Government\u2026)<\/p>\n It is remarkable, just as science is explaining, if not confirming, many of the \u201cmysterious\u201d events and occurrences of Bible prophecy. Thank you, God, for Your timing. Some of us have waited patiently (sometimes impatiently) for scientists to catch up with you. Our next chuckle is when some chucklehead with a degree realizes that the Big Bang is just tech-language for Genesis.<\/p>\n Having asserted all this wise-guy stuff, however \u2013 and no offense to the late Dr LaHaye \u2013 there are some things about End Times that pastors, theologians, fiction writers, and scientists will never explain. And I hope they never do.<\/p>\n The Book of Revelation \u2013 Jesus\u2019s dictation to John on the Isle of Patmos \u2013 even specific letters to specific churches, are shrouded in the type of mystery that leaves us ever conflicted. Literal words? Imagery? Poetry? Warnings? Fearfulness? Hope? Of course, Bible prophecy is a bit of all these\u2026 but in what mixture, with what emphasis here, or there, I believe God means<\/em> to be ambiguous.<\/p>\n The mysterious aspects of the End Times, to the extent they are mysterious, are intended to KEEP US ON OUR SPIRITUAL TOES.<\/p>\n It is a sin that eschatological questions often are the basis of angry disputes among believers. They can claim to be well-intentioned, but Christians think they can improve on God \u2013 who always has been quite clear when He wanted to be. Let us speculate: that is useful. But let us not obsess.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll find out\u2026 maybe sooner than we think.<\/p>\n + + +<\/p>\n
\nJosh McDowell \u2013 forgive me for name-dropping, one of my cardinal sins. Which
\nreminds me, I saw a cardinal in my back yard yesterday\u2026) Maybe I was just Left Behind.<\/p>\n