What is behind the popularity of Harold Camping?

Posted on May 20, 2011 Written by Mark McIntyre 1 Comment

Harold Camping and May 21

As many people know, Harold Camping has predicted that the rapture will happen on May 21. I’m going to go out on a limb and predict that I will be writing a post the morning of May 22 thanking God for another day.

My purpose here is not to catalog a list of reasons why Mr. Camping is wrong. Others better qualified than I have done this. Many blogs and web sites have pointed out the errors in Mr. Camping’s methodology and Biblical interpretation.

Nor is my purpose here to catalog the teaching of Scripture on the Rapture. Again, others with greater ability have done this well. I can contribute little to the discussion.

My purpose here is to ask several questions which come to mind as I reflect on this prediction. I welcome your thoughts in response to these questions:

What is the driving force behind date setting?
Second, why are so many people believing this?
Is Camping providing an illegitimate satisfaction of a legitimate need?

What is the driving force?

Why is it that people feel the need to predict prophetic events? What is it in humans that causes us to crave this type of knowledge?

The thought strikes me that this goes back to the very first sin. In the Garden, we attempted to seize control of our own destiny, chosing to disobey in an attempt to become like God. In our fallen state, we desire knowledge that is reserved for God.

Pride plays a large role in this. Jesus tells us that no man knows the hour, it seems to me that it takes a large measure of pride to go against this statement and set a date.

The opposite of this is trust in God. This is the lesson of manna, a lesson that I find necessary to relearn often. If I am living in fellowship with God, if I am living in dependence upon him, if I am living as if Jesus can return at any moment, then I do not have to know when he will return. If I do these things, I will be ready.

Why are many so easily led astray?

Some are led astray because they want to have the inside track, they want the knowledge that will get them ahead of the people around them. Again, I would point to pride. If I have knowledge that others do not have, I can feel superior to them.

Another factor is the lack of Biblical teaching emanating from many pulpits in America. If the entire Bible was taught and pastors took seriously the call of God to “equip the saints for the work of ministry” (Ephesians 4:12), then there would be fewer people duped by false teachers.

Is there a legitimate need behind this?

I think that there is a legitimate need behind this phenomenon. That need is to be certain of our standing before God. The good news is that we can be assured of good standing with God without setting dates or other false assurances.

Romans 10:9-13 tells us that everyone who calls on the name of Jesus will be saved. Jesus himself tells us that he is the way to God (John 14:6). Through a relationship with Jesus Christ, we can be assured of our standing with God.

As a result, we don’t need date-setters or others who promise secret knowledge. We only need Jesus.

Last Thought

Jesus promised to prepare a place for us (John 14:2-3). When the time is right, he will return to take us there. I trust him to know the proper time – whenever it happens, it will be fantastic.

Growth in trees or believers

Posted on May 18, 2011 Written by Mark McIntyre 1 Comment

The Observation

I walked through our yard yesterday to check out the 25 Colorado Blue Spruce trees I planted a few weeks ago. They were bare root seedlings similar to what is shown in the picture to the left. I was looking at the trees to see if I could observe any growth.

Bare root trees come with no dirt around the roots and therefore, the root system endures a set back as they are shipped and then planted. The trees must expend a lot of energy into producing a healthy root system after being planted. In the first year or so, most of the growth will be below ground and not visible.

When we look at the Church, we have people in all stages of spiritual growth. Like the trees, it is sometimes difficult to assess how much growth is really taking place because we cannot see below the surface.

The Danger

In both trees and people there is danger in assessing the growth by what can be seen on the surface. Just because none can be seen does not mean that growth is not taking place.

In fact, it is the growth below the surface that is the more important. In trees, a strong, developed root system is necessary to sustain the growth above the surface. The developed root system can allow the tree to survive periods of drought, endure high winds and provide the nutrition that the tree requires.

Similarly, the spiritual development in the believer is crucial as a foundation for living the Christian life. Without this spiritual development, the believer will struggle to withstand periods of doubt and trial and will be acting out of superficial conformity rather than conviction.

True change in a person must happen from the inside out. External motivations tend to produce temporary results. The change brought about by external motivation only continues until a stronger motivation replaces it. Whereas internal conviction can withstand the pressures from the outside.

Understand that while we would like to be able to observe and measure the growth in both Christians and trees, without the invisible, subsurface , foundational growth, the external growth cannot be supported.

The Solution

As I see it the solution is quite simple. The solution is to understand that spiritual growth is all about relationship. It cannot be assessed by do’s and don’ts. It cannot be assessed by lists of “spiritual” disciplines. Spiritual growth can only be assessed by a deepening of the relationship with God.

In John 14:15, Jesus tells us that love for him will result in obedience to his commands. To be in obedience, one has to acknowledge that obedience is the proper response and then work toward understanding the desires of the master to whom obedience is due.

In Romans 15:14-17, Paul talks about the role of preaching / teaching in bringing about faith. So perhaps a good test of spiritual growth is the willingness to hear and interact with Scripture.

The Conclusion

The discipleship process has to be focused on deepening the relationship with God. Any process or program that does not have this focus will engender a false sense of maturity or worse yet, spiritual pride.

In focusing on the relationship with God and not on externals, the mentor must not rely too heavily on apparent external change. The external change will eventually show if there is growth, but there may be some lag. Don’t panic and don’t loose sight of the foundation.

If we keep the focus on Jesus Christ and Scripture, growth will come. Isaiah 55:11 says:

so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Giving God Crap | Till He Comes Blog

Posted on May 17, 2011 Written by Mark McIntyre 2 Comments

I love the flowchart (shown above) that Jeremy Myers included in his post on his Till He Comes blog. Check out the post by clicking the link: Giving God Crap | Till He Comes.

A man once confessed to a pastor that there was no way that God could love him since he had spent the night pouring out his anger at God. The pastor wisely told him that the Christian name for this activity is prayer.

In any relationship, we can’t maintain anger and maintain the relationship, either the anger or the relationship has to end. Yet, there is something freeing about being real with God. We all have junk in our lives, so why do we try to hide it?

The word confess in Greek literally means to say the same thing. In other words, confession is acknowledging to God what he already knows. Since God knows already, the best we can to is to give it to him to see how he will use it to his glory.

Thanks Jeremy for the post, even though the title triggers a reaction since I am a recovering legalist. . . . are we allowed to use the “C” word in a Christian blog?

Weird – Because normal isn’t working – Book Review

Posted on May 16, 2011 Written by Mark McIntyre 2 Comments

A Weird Contest Won

One day I saw a tweet which announced a contest to win a new book called Weird. Since free is my favorite price and the title intrigued me, I decided to check it out. One of the ways to win a copy was to promise to write a review of the book as a blog post.

I promised, I won and now I write.

What Weird is About

In the introduction of this book, in a section called “Weird 101”, Craig gives us an idea of where the book is going when he writes:

After a Tuesday night Bible meeting, I walked alone to an empty softball field. NO matter what it cost me – even being normal – I had decided that I wanted to know Jesus and live for him. I wanted to do life his way and not mine. As I knelt beside the dugout and prayed, I left normal behind and embraced whatever it took – being different to the point of the God kind of weird – to follow Jesus. Something melted within me, and I waled away forever changed, with a sense of God’s grace I can’t describe.

To much of society, an all-or-nothing, totally-in following of Jesus looks weird. This is especially true in 21st Century America where we are taught to look after #1, do things our own way and not take direction from anyone.

Too often the church has worked hard at appearing “normal” to the outside world. We try to do things in the way that corporations, civic groups or social clubs do them. We attempt to rely on programs, marketing and techniques, all the normal stuff.

As Groeshel points out, “normal isn’t working.” The churches and individuals that do things the normal way, do not experience the personal and corporate growth (not measured only in numbers) that God wants to provide.

My Perception of Weird

This book convinced me that I may be weird, but not weird enough.

In the book, Craig discusses the impact that a relationship with Jesus should have on our view of time, money, relationships, sex and values. The discussion has challenged me to reexamine the way I approach these topics.

I appreciated the way Craig issued the challenges, even when my initial gut reaction was that he was going a little overboard. For each topic, Groeschel presented principles that apply and gave some clues as to how this worked out in his own life. Craig does this without giving me the sense that he thinks he has it wired and if we only did it his way, things would be OK. By his writing style and the principles he presented, Craig created an environment conducive to considering new points of view.

This isn’t a how-to book. It does not lay out “x steps to spiritual maturity.” What it does provide is thought provoking analysis of what a follower of Jesus should consider as he responds to the challenges of the surrounding culture. The principles are presented and it is up to the reader to work through the principles to figure out how the principles should be applied in his own situation.

Why You Should Get Weird

Near the end of the book, Groeschel writes:

If you have just enough of Christ to satisfy you but not enough to change you, answer his knock and let him make himself at home with you. You’ve purposefully chosen to leave the broad path. You’re gladly traveling the narrow road. Your journey may seem weird to others, but your destination will be infinitely better than anything a settle-for-normal world can offer.

The number one reason I would recommend this book is that it will challenge you in areas where you unconsciously or unknowingly have imbibed the surrounding culture. These areas need to be exposed to the light of Scripture so that we can be “transformed by the renewing of our minds.” (Romans 12:1-2).

This book would be excellent as a small group study resource. The way the material is presented would be conducive to small group discussion.

In Conclusion

Craig Groeschel is right, normal isn’t working. Much of Christendom is disarray and decline. For change to take place, we have to get over our fear of being weird. Weird (the book) is a good place to start.

Weird is available from Barnes & Noble and Amazon in both paper (DTB, Dead Tree Book) and electronic formats.