We visited a turkey farm in 2007. I can still remember the farmer telling us as we approached the buildings to “ Be quiet ” - not do anything to startle the birds or they might panic. Do you know what happens when turkey’s (or chickens) get frightened? They run to the other end of the building, pile on top of each other and smother.
There is something I bump into from time to time among people who should know better I call “Chicken Little Christianity”
Basically, it works like this. A piece of fear based nonsense gets passed around by word of mouth, e-mail, etc. and it causes a stir in the Chicken house, I mean church. Like this one about the FCC supposedly trying to outlaw Christian radio. If you’re a regular reader , you know I rarely “rant” but I’m feeling one coming on.
Amber posted something today on Oprah. (I loved her thoughts by the way, she was right on) At the end of it she observed some people have gone so far as to say “Oprah is the Anti-Christ. ” I thought to myself, ”Here we go again -”Chicken Little theology,”
WHY do some Christians have to embarrass the rest of us by their stupidity.????”
This Summer I got an e-mail suggesting that maybe Barack Obama was the Anti-Christ. I thought to myself, “Come on people, get your head out of the you know where.”
Back in the mid 90’s I remember a pastor talking about computer chips supposedly being implanted in the hands of people in some Central American country in order to buy and sell, and maybe, just maybe, this was how a portion of the book of Revelations was going to be fulfilled.
I’ve been a Christian since 1980. I’ve been exposed to some of the same nonsense that you have. Two of you (Amber, Sanity Found ) have talked about it on your blogs at different times, and I cringed for both of you.
I’m as familiar with “Pretrib eschatology” as any Christian.
translation: “Pretrib eschatology“ One school of thought among Christians on how the end of the world will play out according to the Bible.
What you rarely hear about (I’m talking to any one still reading this blog piece and gives a hoot) is that there are at least 2 other schools of thought that traditionally have had as much credence in Church history as the one getting all the press today (and in my humble opinion feed these Chicken Little fears).
Bottom line-historically, to be a Christian is to suffer, so what’s all the excitement about?
Maybe- just maybe, it indicates you have way too many eggs in your basket this side of eternity.
I’m going to tell you right up front- If this post ruffles your feathers and you want to make a nasty comment to me on the blog- don’t bother…I’ll just delete it. If on the other hand you can express yourself graciously, then I will.
Thoughts/ questions/ comments?
Tags: end times
October 13, 2008 at 8:51 am |
Perfect illustration !
There is a verse in the Bible that says that no one knows when Christ will return. (perhaps someone who is not nursing a baby and typing 1 handed can find it)
My pastor loves to tell the story of the wealthy televangelist predicting the world would end on 1-1-2000. Pastor called him up an offered to buy his million dollar home for $100 – he’d pay now and take possession 1-2-2000. If the world was truly going to end then the evangelist had nothing to lose. Guess his faith wasn’t that strong – he declined the offer.
October 13, 2008 at 9:43 am |
DM: I think it’s important to remember that Christianity is made up of people. All kinds of people. Some are more easily lead into those “chicken little” theories.
Christianity doesn’t have a lock on nut cases.
I think the reason “we” are more sensative to the nut cases is that we don’t want “those Christians” to make us have to answer for their lack of…
October 13, 2008 at 10:15 am |
Hi DM,
Be blessed!
Saw your post in my reader, and I just had to respond. All I can say is “THANK YOU!” And I do believe there are a few more than a couple other schools of thought, but whether or not they are traditionally held, I have no idea, but that is no matter. All I have to say is I agree wholeheartedly with this post. I too, got the same emails you described above. One of them twice. The one I got twice I debunked using Snopes.com and sent it to everyone that had been sent the original. I just could not allow it to go on. It was just dumb!! A 25 year old (or so) rumor that is still causing problems….with as much ability as we have nowadays to research something, you’d think people would. But that’s my own rant. The other one, well I wrote something about it on my blog too. And Barak Obama being the antichrist…Come on!!! Ok, I’m done ranting now. Thanks for telling it like it is.
October 13, 2008 at 10:35 am |
Claps, applauds, whistles, woot woot woot! Great post! Maybe because you agree with me, but basically because I just think you illustrated it so beautifully! Thank you DM!!!! You are my hero for the day!
October 13, 2008 at 10:59 am |
I’ve taken the position that if it’s making the rounds by email, then it’s probably not true. So far, I’m at about 98% accuracy on that. There have been one or two things that turned out to be true (or mostly true), but the vast majority have been bunk.
The reason that underlies why so many of us are so prone to buying the myths circulating around our worlds, though (at least, IMNSHO), is that we’re looking for a short-cut. We want things to be easy – easily identifiable, easily communicated, and easily understood.
It’s much easier to follow a list of dos and don’ts than to evaluate Scripture for ourselves and decide how we will live. It’s much easier to listen to and repeat what a famous preacher says than to evaluate what he says in the light of Scripture (which is what we’re supposed to do regardless of the speaker) to distinguish truth from error.
It’s much easier to isolate ourselves in a “Bible-bubble” lifestyle than to be salt and light in a world that desperately needs both. It’s easier to just choose things in our lives, like music or literature or decor, that have the word “Christian” in them (or that are sold in a “Christian” bookstore) than to thoughtfully consider whether what we add to our lives is pure, lovely, honest, good, true, of good report, etc.
Our own laziness is the toughest challenge we face…..
(OK, done with the soapbox!
)
October 13, 2008 at 12:43 pm |
i just had someone tell me if obama gets voted in then christian talk radio will be banned and that is McCain gets voted in, then abortion will be overturned.
and that most conservatives are christians.
and that THIS is the MOST important election EVER!
as it was the last time, and the last time before.
we, as a people, have that pack or turkey mentality when confronted with ‘crisis’
(sidenote: i started a post about the word ‘crisis’)
we re-act instead of act above what we hear.
(my mom is like this, so bad that it paralyzes her)
lawyer chik says laziness is the toughest challange we face,
Does re-acting take less energy and thought or does acting?
re-acting=fretting, worrying, gossiping, stupid decisions.
vs
acting=figuring out if the statement heard is truth, picking up the bible, making smart decisions regarding subject matter, praying, being content that the Lord is in control! (BTW, every comment above was good!)
ok, DM,i chimed in my 2 cents in an disorganized fashion) hopefully you can get what i’m saying.
im a bit miffed about stuff like that because of the conversation i had last night with a fellow believer about elections *sigh*
(feel free to edit, my friend)
kristina
October 13, 2008 at 1:55 pm |
Great post.
October 13, 2008 at 3:51 pm |
snopes.com said that email is a hoax…
October 13, 2008 at 4:07 pm |
I think “snopes.com” is voting for Obama.
Any way, that’s what I heard… I mean read in an email I recently received.
October 13, 2008 at 6:48 pm |
michael, ahahahahha!
October 14, 2008 at 7:14 am |
DM: You totally rock…. this is an awesome post….. I pride myself on saying to others that I am a follower of Christ, and I mean that literally. I emulate the teachings that he brought forth, of love, compassion, and caring for your neighbor, even if your neighbor is one whom is reviled…….. I live a blessed, good life, and care for others, and even though I am a believer, have not need to be categorized as anything, or to blindly follow any dogma or doctrine…. I pray, and follow where God sends me, from the depths of my soul. Sounds complicated, but it is really so simple…..
October 16, 2008 at 8:24 am |
Bravo! Bravo!!! Don’t blame the people for the ‘chicken little’ mentality though; it is a fact that a lot of people run to Christianity out of fear, so really! Thank you for this post DM…absolutely inspiring!
October 18, 2008 at 11:08 pm |
Maybe I’ll have to transfer the “ranter” title to you for a while?
A couple of months ago I got a chain email talking about my bank and how it was going under. It was one of those fear based things that get passed around. I of course snoped it back to them; wait a minute, the bank was WAMU! That one slipped through the cracks.
When it comes to this kind of stuff, you’ve got to look at the big picture.
Jesus said, “Watch out for doomsday deceivers. Many leaders are going to show up with forged identities, claiming, ‘I am Christ, the Messiah.’ They will deceive a lot of people. When reports come in of wars and rumored wars, keep your head and don’t panic. This is routine history; this is no sign of the end. Nation will fight nation and ruler fight ruler, over and over. Famines and earthquakes will occur in various places. This is nothing compared to what is coming.
October 27, 2008 at 6:21 pm |
GREAT, GREAT, GREAT post DM! I think this is an excellent subject matter for such a time as this. It’s amazing the ‘crap’ we hear that we actually believe. And the funny thing is … it’s the so-called ‘Christians’ who believe the nonsense many times! We are a fear-driven society. The media feeds this fear mentality, and it’s really up to us, not only as Americans, but as followers of Christ to know what is true and what is false. Not only are we ‘assessing’ information for ourselves, but we are able to then disperse that information to those who have questions … to those who are living in fear and believing only what they hear. It’s an historic time indeed … and our only hope is trusting in God … EXCELLENT post! God Bless! ~Emily
October 30, 2008 at 3:18 pm |
My friend, I agree, and disagree at the same time. We could or could not be facing the end times, but when are we not? But I don’t believe that we should pass our current situations off as “same ole, same ole” and then get caught with our heads in our asses (excuse the phrase). We are called to be ready, to be alert for he will come like a thief in the night. If we forget these words, we become fat, selfish and lazy, and forget the promises of hope that the Lord has for us regarding His Coming, and become susceptible and acceptant of things that we wouldn’t normally tolerate.
Yes – as Christians we WILL and DO suffer. Just look at our lack of rights to free speech, and our right to pray in public schools, among MANY MANY other things that actually take for granted anymore because our forced compliance has made us virtually unaware of the things that we are really called to do, but just don’t because we “can’t.” But the excitement as you refer to it is not necessarily “excitement” as it should be considered encouragement – encouragement to each other to hang on tight, pray hard, BE EDUCATED IN THE WORD, and stay true to the Word of God, for in the end times, the AntiChrist will try to strip that from you, and deceive you, AND WILL DO SO EASILY if you are caught “sleeping.”
We’ve had it really, really easy these last few centuries as our founding fathers (and many others!) have paved the way for us as Americans to have rights to practice what we believe in, with minimal controversy (as what it really could be, as we see in many other countries, and as we’ve read about in history). But if one pays attention to the recent disappearing liberties we have as Christians (and as simply citizens of the US), it can be seen that we face MUCH harder days in the near future.
I believe that there COULD be truth to the Obama / Antichrist theory. I will not deny that. It is scary, yet encouraging at the same time. I have hope that it is not true, but I am aware of its possibilities, and am READY to defend my faith. I hope to GOD that my children will not have to live in such a time as described in the prophecies of Revelation, Daniel and many other books of the Bible. I already face severe criticism within my own household for my skepticism, and it has created much dissention, resentment and distrust – but isnt that what is supposed to happen, according to the Word?
In closing, I just encourage each of you – Obama may or may not be considered the “anti christ” – but that doesn’t mean that we should become lazy in our faith or unsuspecting of the things to come. We have a HOPE and a PEACE which rises above any conflict – now or in the future – and we are promised that NOTHING will separate us from the Love of God. Sure, don’t get caught in the “hype” of the coming of the AntiChrist, but more importantly, don’t get caught “sleeping.”
Be blessed. Thank you DM for the post.