Text 229, 188 rader
Skriven 2006-06-26 17:06:16 av God Dan (1:138/666.0)
Ärende: fundies are scary
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== Forwarded Message Follows =========================================
* Originally By: Alan Hess
* Originally To: all
* Originally Re: fundies are scary
* Original Date: 25 Jun 06 12:56:52
* Original Area: Crossfire flame/politics
* Forwarded by : Blue Wave/DOS v2.30
whatever their religion. I don't need anyone working to bring the world to an
end.
*********
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.endtimes25jun25,0,95773.st
ory?coll=bal-pe-asection
From the Baltimore Sun
Religious groups work to hurry apocalypse
By Louis Sahagun
June 25, 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 end game is to speed the promised arrival of a messiah.
For some Christians this means laying the groundwork for Armageddon. With that
goal in mind, mega-church pastors recently met in Inglewood, Calif., 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. Ahmadinejad,
defiantly pursuing a nuclear option, has suggested that the elimination of
Israel would herald the return of a 9th-century Muslim cleric known as the
Mahdi, the 12th Imam. He hopes to welcome that messiah 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 6-ton marble cornerstones for its foundation.
Then there is Clyde Lott, a Mississippi revivalist preacher and cattle rancher.
He is trying to raise a unique herd of red heifers to satisfy an obscure
injunction in the Book of Numbers: the sacrifice of a blemish-free red heifer
for purification rituals needed to pave the way for the messiah.
So far, only one of his cows has been verified by rabbis as worthy, meaning
they failed to turn up even three white or black hairs on the animal's body.
Linking these efforts is a belief that modern technologies and communications
have made it possible to induce completion of God's plan within this
generation.
While there are myriad interpretations of how it will play out, the basic
Christian apocalyptic countdown - as described by Old Testament Scripture and
the Book of Revelation in the New Testament - is as follows:
Jews return to Israel after 2,000 years; the Holy Temple is rebuilt; billions
of people perish during seven years of natural disasters and plagues; the
antichrist arises and rules the world; the battle of Armageddon erupts in the
vicinity of Israel; Jesus returns to defeat Satan's armies and preside over
Judgment Day.
Generations of Christians have hoped for the Second Coming of Jesus, said UCLA
historian Eugen Weber, author of the 1999 book Apocalypses: Prophecies, Cults
and Millennial Beliefs through the Ages.
"And it's always been an ultimately bloody hope, a slaughterhouse hope," he
said with a sigh. "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."
Apocalyptic movements are nothing new; Christopher Columbus hoped to assist in
the Great Commission by evangelizing New World inhabitants. Some religious
scholars saw apocalyptic fever rise as the year 2000 approached, and they
expected it to subside after the millennium arrived.
It didn't. According to various polls, an estimated 40 percent of Americans
believe that a sequence of events presaging the end times is under way. Among
the believers are pastors of some of the largest evangelical churches in
America, who converged at Faith Central Bible Church in Inglewood in February
to finalize plans to start 5 million new churches worldwide in 10 years.
"Jesus Christ commissioned his disciples to go to the ends of the Earth and
tell everyone how they could achieve eternal life," said James Davis, president
of the Global Pastors Network's "Billion Souls Initiative," one of an estimated
2,000 programs worldwide designed to boost the Christian population.
"As we advance around the world," he said, "we'll be shortening the time needed
to fulfill that Great Commission. Then, the Bible says, the end will come."
An opposing vision, invoked by Ahmadinejad in an address before the United
Nations last year, suggests that the Imam Mahdi will soon emerge from a well to
conquer the world and convert everyone to Islam.
"O mighty Lord," he said, "I pray to you to hasten the emergence of your last
repository, the promised one, that perfect and pure human being, the one that
will fill this world with justice and peace."
While mayor of Tehran in 2004, Ahmadinejad spent millions on improvements to
make the city more welcoming to Imam Mahdi, according to a report by the
American Foreign Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank.
For some Christians, the future of Israel is the key to any end-times scenario.
Various groups are reaching out to Jews - or proselytizing among them - to
advance the Second Coming.
A growing number of fundamentalist Christians in mostly Southern states are
adopting Jewish religious practices to align themselves with prophecies saying
that Gentiles will stand as one with Jews when the end is near.
Evangelist John C. Hagee of the 19,000-member Cornerstone Church in San Antonio
has helped 12,000 Russian Jews move to Israel, and donated several million
dollars to Israeli hospitals and orphanages.
"In Christian theology, the first thing that happens when Christ returns to
Earth is the judgment of nations," said Hagee, who wears a Jewish prayer shawl
when he ministers. "It will have one criterion: How did you treat the Jewish
people? Anyone who understands that will want to be on the right side of that
question. Those who are anti-Semitic will go to eternal damnation."
On July 18, Hagee plans to lead a contingent of high-profile evangelists to
Washington to make their concerns about Israel's security known to
congressional leaders. More than 1,200 evangelists are expected.
"Twenty-five years ago, I called a meeting of evangelists to discuss such an
effort, and the conversation didn't last an hour," he said. "This time, I
called and they all came and stayed. And when the meeting was over, they all
agreed to speak up for Israel."
Underlining the sense of urgency is a belief that the end-times clock started
ticking May 15, 1948, when the United Nations formally recognized Israel.
"I'll never forget that night," Hagee said. "I was 8 years old at the time and
in the kitchen with my father listening to the news about Israel's rebirth on
the radio. He said, 'Son, this is the most important day in the 20th century.'"
Hagee's message is carried on 160 television stations and 50 radio stations.
By contrast, Bill McCartney, former University of Colorado football coach and
co-founder of the evangelical Promise Keepers movement for men, which became
huge in the 1990s, has had a hard time getting his apocalyptic campaign off the
ground.
It's called the Road to Jerusalem, and its mission is to convert Jews to
Christianity - while there is still time.
"Our whole purpose is to hasten the end times," he said. "The Bible says Jews
will be brought to jealousy when they see Christians and Jewish believers
together as one - they'll want to be a part of that. That's going to signal
Jesus' return."
Jews and others who don't accept Jesus, he added matter-of-factly, "are toast."
McCartney, who only a decade ago sermonized to stadium-size crowds of Promise
Keepers, said finding people to back his sputtering cause has been "like
plowing cement."
Given end-times scenarios saying that nonbelievers will die before Jesus
returns - and that the antichrist will rule from Jerusalem's rebuilt Holy
Temple - Jews have mixed feelings about the outpouring of support Israel has
been getting from evangelical organizations.
"I truly believe John Hagee is at once a daring, beautiful person - and quite
dangerous," said Orthodox Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, vice president of the
National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership in New York.
"I sincerely recognize him as a hero for bringing planeloads of people to
Israel at a time when people there were getting blown up by the busloads,"
Hirschfield said. "But he also believes that the only path to the father is
through Jesus. That leaves me out."
Louis Sahagun writes for the Los Angels Times.
Copyright + 2006, The Baltimore Sun | Get Sun home delivery
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