As I state in my August-September print newsletter, I am troubled by the tone I am seeing among believers today and particularly between ministry leaders. I am seeing a lack of civility between ministries that is stunning as well as character assassination and even slander.

Yet I am mindful that we are to contend for the faith! I’m not certain that what I see is contending from a few. I see it crossing a line and becoming mean-spirited growling. Some men and women are caving to the fleshly desire to tear down rather than build up.

So when Gary DeMar came out a couple of weeks ago stating publicly that I host “a nonsense conference,” I felt I needed to respond. I trust I can do so in a manner that is kinder and gentler than his. And, by the way, he was kind and gentle when he called me six years ago and asked me to set up a debate for him here in the Twin Cities. I declined.

When DeMar hosts his Preterist conferences, I do not go online and call his efforts foolish or nonsensical even though some of the tenets of Preterism stretch the imagination. Nero was supposedly the Antichrist. The Tribulation took place in 70 AD with the sacking of Jerusalem. DeMar, R.C. Sproul and Hank Hanegraaff do not take their Preterism to the extreme and believe Christ returned in 70 AD as well. Many Full Preterists do teach that.

Prophecy: Looking in a Rear-View Mirror?

Moderate Preterists like R.C. Sproul, claim they still believe in a future Second Coming, but still insist on interpreting the Olivet Discourse and the Book of Revelation as already fulfilled in the past.  As a result, they reject such basic concepts as: Rapture of the Church; literal seven year Tribulation period; literal Antichrist; conversion of Israel; battle of Armageddon; 1000-year Millennium. Oh, and we’re already in the Millennium, even though it is not literal.

Hank Hanegraaff has spread this theology as well with his vast radio audience. Hank continually slams people such as Tim LaHaye and Hal Lindsey. I am not sure why we cannot disagree without denigrating the other side.  Again, if this isthe new standard in apologetics, God help us.

DeMar states in his article, “Prophetic predictions wouldn’t be much of a problem except that millions of people fall for the claims and the effect on our nation’s social, political, and moral landscape has been devastating.”

Really? How has the message of Christ’s imminent return and the coming hope of Heaven been devastating to people?? I never knew that the thought and belief that the King is coming, and soon, was a downer!

The Rapture Rescue Business

My critics insist that what I and other Dispensationalists believe is just stoking the fuel for a belief that rescues believers before the traumatic Tribulation or that it rescues them in the middle of the Tribulation or just prior to the outpouring of the wrath of God. In any case, God is going to bail out true believers and this is further “nonsense” to many, including DeMar. Since we just want to get out of Dodge before the Antichrist wrecks the earth, this kind of bait offered to unsuspecting Christians leads to DeMar’s claims about my “devastating results” I guess.

So DeMar states, “Once again, the usual suspects are gathering at Grace Church in Eden Prairie, MN, October 5, (for Jan Markell’s conference) to tell an eager and naïve audience that all the signs are aligned for an inevitable end-time event.”

Just throwing out the word “suspects” is denigrating, Gary. We are not guilty of a crime as such a word suggests.

In all honesty, we gather each year to “encourage one another,” Have you noticed the tide of our times? Everything is coming apart. There is little to no good news. So anywhere from three to five thousand followers of this ministry gather a couple times of year just outside Minneapolis to have like-minded fellowship. For that, we are mocked and made fun of. There are dozens of scriptural references admonishing us to encourage, and we can start with Hebrews 10:25.

Regurgitated Speculation?

Again, DeMar states, “I suspect the majority of attendees who will sit under Mark Hitchcock, Ron Rhodes, Jan Markell, Erwin Lutzer, and others, will not realize that only the names and events and dates have been changed. They will be hearing regurgitated speculation in the name of the Bible.”

The theology of my speakers and attendees does not make us an enemy; does not make us mentally off balance; does not make us heretics; does not make us morally debased; does not make us good candidates for a mental institution. But you would think all of those were true. We have a difference of opinion for Pete’s sake.

Yet in the world of apologetics today, those who hold to a different view are too often called everything short of demonic.And that may be next.  At my events, we do not set dates. We do not share elaborate dreams and visions about the end of the world. We don’t even try to name the Antichrist!  The most outlandish statement we might make is that Barack Obama ispaving the way for the Antichrist. We don’t promote global warming, nuclear disarmament, or redistributing the wealth.

I am hereby pleading with ministry leaders to have cooler heads and knock off the harsh rhetoric. No, not to stop contending for the faith, but to do it in such a manner that the above-mentioned style ceases. In Proverbs 6:16-19, “sowing discord among brothers” is right up there with the offense of murder in the eyes of the Lord. As Gary Kah said on my radio program on August 3, unsaved people are turned off to faith when they see Christians slamming and denigrating each other.

Here’s the line-up for some future “nonsense” events I am hosting. All events are free and are held in a suburb of Minneapolis. We look at current events, deception in the church, apologetics, and Bible prophecy.

If you’re like me, you’re fed up. You’re disgusted that evil always seems to win! You wonder why God allows serial liars in government and elsewhere to keep prospering and even to win re-election in many places. Just being aware of the fact that we’re in an Isaiah 5:20 world isn’t enough: that we’re likely in the midst of evil being called good.

We have unspeakable atrocities going on at the highest levels. People are being silenced on Benghazi and the perpetrators are still running free. America funds one of the most evil outfits on earth: the Muslim Brotherhood. All Americans are being spied on! What I’m typing here in real time is likely being recorded somewhere. You and I are being watched and listened to as if we were criminals. Truth is, we are being watched by criminals — the ones who are murdering the Constitution.  And soon we’re going to have to trust the most corrupt institution there is – the IRS – to administer our healthcare.

And even if we rioted in the streets, or started a third, fourth, or fifth political party, we wouldn’t see much of a change for the good. Government is supposed to serve us yet it is clearly operating the other way around and to many, government has now become a god. Just quoting the familiar verse from Proverbs 29:2, “When the wicked rule, the people mourn,” is not a comfort. We want to throw the wicked bums out and cannot.

Most of us are weary of being outraged. We’re outraged at media obsession or, the other side of the coin, media neglect. We’re outraged that those in power never let a good crisis go to waste so they stoke the flames, lie even more, and promote an evil agenda.

And it isn’t enough to suggest that because we’re in the last of the last days that we have to sit and watch as tornadoes, floods, fires, droughts, and more, rip apart the lives of good people who just happened to be in their path. It’s too heartbreaking. On many days, we cannot echo the words of Job, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” because if God is all powerful, He would put a stop to the mayhem and wipe out the corrupt. (That happens, but later!)

Set aside the world for a minute and let’s consider the church. We’re outraged that people love false teachers and that they cannot see that they are false!  We’re driven nuts by the death of discernment. We watch a lot of Christians today beat up on one another probably for their own personal gain. We’re sick of the religious Left deluding Christians to take their focus off of the gospel and onto global warming, immigration, and social justice. And we’re even more outraged when these Christian Leftists parade around as evangelicals, but then we’re saddened that the word evangelical has become so trashed.

My favorite political commentator, Erick Erickson, says, “I think the world is going to hell. But I believe in God the Father and in His son, Jesus Christ, and the Second Coming, and a judgment, and a final victory over death and sin and evil, and a life everlasting where I will walk one day beside my very real Creator. The rest? It’s rather small potatoes in the eternal scheme of things. God is permanent and politics and political coalitions are not.”

Erickson continues, “I get why so many on the secular left, who don’t believe in a Heaven or a Hell, get so upset about certain things and want to politicize everything. To them, this life is all there is and every advantage, in politics and culture, is fair game.”

He concludes, “The grand story is that there is good news available. God didn’t ignore the evil that the Fall produced by sin. He spoke by the entrance of His Son, Jesus, into the world (Hebrews 1:2). When Jesus cried those anguished three words on the cross, ‘It is finished,’ it signaled the beginning of the end. The power of sin and death, which so strangles the human soul, which ravages the planet, which obscures the glory and grandeur of our great God — this has been defeated, and like a helium balloon, is dying a slow death.

“Evil, my friends, is not winning. The story of the Bible is that there is hope in the death, burial, and resurrection of the Perfect One, the Son of God.”

Thanks, Erick, for putting things into a proper perspective!

Yes, war is coming to the Middle East, the dollar will continue to melt, the economy will not recover, people will continue to let you down and betray you, selfishness will always be out of control, and everyone you know will tell big and little lies to cover up their basically rotten human nature.  The very person you just put a trainload of trust in will make a whopper of a mistake and get away with it. The love of money will get even more out of control and mankind will continue to thump his chest and declare that he is the best at you-fill-in-the-blank.

Nothing in this world works very well. That’s by design.

That is why Paul exhorts us to forget the things behind us and to look forward to what lies ahead. He pressed on to win the goal of a Heavenly prize leaving behind all the earthly, broken systems. (Philippians 3:13-14)

Fear is a choice. Frustration is a choice. Trust is a choice. “Do not fear” is in the Bible 365 times.Is there a message there? It is an act of faith to look at this world and not fear. Not be anxious. Not be angry. Not be frustrated. Focusing on eternal things neutralizes the attitude and the angry juices in your gut telling you that you can’t stomach one more dilemma.

So, come quickly, Lord Jesus!