The Study Of The History Of The End Of The World, Part 5

 Today, most theologians specializing in eschatology will readily agree that America is likely not directly referenced in the portions of Scripture dealing with the End Times. Interestingly, that belief was not necessarily the case in regards to the eschatologically inclined during the era of early European settlement and formation of America as a nation. Nor has fascination with the consummation of all things gripped as pervasively the imagination of a people as those of the United States of America.

Without a doubt, the Puritans in particular left an indelible mark upon the American psyche and character. And that particular brand of Christianity certainly possessed a number of millenarian proclivities. However, it is interesting to observe that this spiritual way of life was not as unified in its approach to the End Times as one might expect for a system that emphasized conformity to accepted norms in much of its thought. Most Puritans tended towards some form of postmillennialism. For example, Jonathan Edwards taught that the Millennium would transpire before the Second Coming as the Holy Spirit worked through the redeemed to defeat the Antichrist in the form of the papacy as this remnant subdued all of the Earth in the name of Christ. The Mathers --- Cotton and Increase --- on the other hand were more dispensationalist in their thinking, teaching that believers would be snatched up with that event followed by the disasters foretold in prophetic passages such as the Book of Revelation to be completed when Christ returned to establish the millennial kingdom.

Regardless of where individual Puritans stood along the pre or post millennial divide, those endeavoring to view all of life through a particular interpretative lens without a doubt perceived the events of the day in terms of prophetic fulfillment. For example, at the time of the French and Indian Wars, Catholic France was often cast in the role of the Antichrist. When that scenario did not quite unfold as expected, postmillennialists came to believe that the Revolutionary War would be the conflict through which the faithful would usher in the Millennium, with this time around King George III depicted as the Antichrist (Kyle, 81).

Even if the American Revolution and the founding of the Republic did not result in an anticipated utopia, these events in one sense did result in a degree of religious liberty hitherto until then unheard of in history. As such, a number of sects flourishing in such an environment professed eschatologies that could only be described as unconventional. One such group was called the Society for the Public Universal Friend.

In 1770, Quaker Jemina Wilkinson was believed to have died from the plague, with her body even having grown cold. However, she seemed to have miraculously revived. Eerily, the voice that emanated from her claimed that the body was no longer inhabited by Jemina but rather by the Spirit of Life also referred to as the Public Universal Friend (Kyle, 82). This individual professed to be the Second Coming of Christ who would rule for a thousand years. For the record, the body known as Jemina Wilkinson expired in 1819, far short of the end of that being's prophesied reign.

The Shakers were yet another unusual millennial sect to dot the religious landscape of the early American republic. Formally known as the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Coming, the Shakers traced their origins to the Shaking Quakers. Ann Lee Stanley led the group to America in 1774 where they established a communalist settlement. The group came to regard Mother Ann as the incarnation of the feminine attributes of God in the form of the Holy Spirit. In terms of the sect's eschatology, the Second Coming took place in the form of God manifesting the feminine through Ann Stanley. As such, since salvation could only be obtained by abstaining from sex, Shakers were to await the commencement of the Millenniuum in a state of celibacy. Given that Shakers did not reproduce and that it is difficult to hoodwink considerable numbers into embracing perpetual celibacy, the movement eventually petered out.

The millenarian figure that probably had the most profound influence upon American apocalyptic thought was William Miller. Miller was a farmer and Baptist layman from New York with a penchant for what might be categorized as Biblical numerology. Working from Daniel 8:14 that the sanctuary would be cleansed in two-thousand, three hundred days and assuming that this cleansing was a reference to Christ's return to Earth and that one prophetic day equaled a year, Miller calculated using Bishop Usher's chronology that Christ would return in 1843.

Interestingly, initially Miller did little to promote public interest in his speculations. It was not until urging by his friends that Miller took to the preaching circuit. Miller's message made the leap from being a rural movement to a national phenomena when his teachings were publicized through newspapers, pamphlets, and extensive evangelistic outreach which at the time included tents capable of seating up to 4000 souls (Kyle, 89). As the time grew closer, under pressure Miller relaxed his natural hesitancy and advocated a more specific date between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844. When that time frame passed and the world continued on as it always had, the movement attempted to save face by setting the date of the Lord's return as October 22, 1844.

Religious frenzy (one might even categorize it as a panic) gripped the nation. As a result of the ensuing media blitz, many of the fervent sold their homes and quit their jobs for a predicted apocalypse that never materialized. This profound letdown known as the Great Disappointment reverberated across the American religious landscape. Foremost, the Great Disappointment would serve as a lasting reminder as to the dangers of setting firm dates regarding the Second Coming in the minds of the most discerning Christians. It would also serve as the origin of two distinct theological traditions that would grapple with the ramifications of the Great Disappointment each in its own way.

The first group that came to grips with the Great Disappointment over time became what would be known as the Seventh Day Adventists. The Adventists, for the most part, spiritualized their eschatology in order to avoid additional theological upheaval and existential hardship. On October 22, 1844, Christ did not physically return to Earth to clean it as the sanctuary. Instead, Adventists believed, the Lord entered the holiest parts of Heaven to begin investigating the sins of His people in preparation for His imminent return (Abanes, 227). Seventh Day Sabbitarianism became attached to the Adventist movement when Ellen G. White speculated that Christ did not return in 1844 because believers had neglected a literalist application of that particular Old Testament law and He would not do so until God's people once again observed Saturday as the day of rest.

The second prominent sect to come out of the Millerite Great Disappointment was the Jehovah Witnesses. Whereas the majority of Adventists learned from past mistakes and grew more tentative in regards to setting nailed down dates, the Jehovah's Witnesses continued on in this practice with gusto along with the other assorted doctrinal errors for which this sect would become infamous. Charles Taze Russell hoped to preserve Millerite eschatology by postulating that the error was actually to be found in the chronology formulated by Archbishop Usher. As such, it was predicted that Christ would instead return in 1874. When this prophecy did not transpire, it was insisted that Christ had indeed returned to Earth, but that He would remain invisible until the Battle of Armageddon.

Russell continued to tinker with the dates. He then came to the conclusion that all would be revealed by 1881; and, when that did not pan out, it was claimed that 1914 would be the year to end all years. That did turn a few heads as at that time the world was indeed gripped in the overwhelming conflagration then known as the Great War. Yet Russell proved wrong once again and tried to save face by insisting that 1918 would be the year of cosmic significance. However, Russell died in 1916 before getting to realize he would once again be profoundly mistaken.

His successor Joseph Franklin Rutherford, though admitting the mistakes made, did not learn from these by changing course. Instead Rutherford continued on with the pattern, insisting that 1925 would assuredly be the year in which all things would be consummated. The results were once again no different after many Witnesses quit their jobs and sold their homes. It would take for additional embarrassments in 1975 and 1984 for acolytes of the Watchtower to to realize that it might be best simply to hold that Jesus was coming soon without exactly advertising a highly specific estimated time of arrival.

Given that America was in part founded by a people of profound religious motivations, it is expected that fascination with the End Times would play an important role in the psyche of those believing that they were a part of a special destiny or divinely-appointed plan. By studying those motivated in such a manner, discerning Americans can be on guard to protect against such an impulse from getting out of hand.

By Frederick Meekins

Bibibliography

Abanes, Richard. End-Times Visions: The Doomsday Obsession. Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1988.

Kirsch, Jonathan. A History Of The End Of The World: How The Most Controversial Book In The Bible Changed The Course Of Western Civilization. San Francisco, California: Harper Collins Publishers, 2006.

Kagan, Donald, Ozment, Steven and Turner, Frank. The Western Heritage Since 1789 (Fourth Edition). New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1991.

Kyle, Richard. The Last Days Are Here Again: A History Of The End Times. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1988. Hanover, New Hampshire: University Press of New England, 1996.

Ladd, George. The Blessed Hope: A Biblical Study of The Second Advent and The Rapture. Grand Rapids, Michigan: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1956.

Thompson, Damian. The End Of Time: Faith and Fear in the Shadow of the Millennium. 

Pastor Rhetorically Denounces Parachurch Organizations

 A pastor remarked that parachurch organizations are parasite organizations. 

Parachurch organizations are generally defined as Christian entities that work outside of and/or across denominational boundaries in regards to issues that a traditional church body might not be able to. 

Some pursue this manner of ministry because the church has no place for or perhaps even outright refuses such individuals the opportunity to exercise the talents and even the spiritual gifts with which God has imbued such believers. 

More importantly, in this particular sermon, the pastor said that he has no problem forbidding those he allows to speak in the pulpit over which he exercises guardianship from addressing particular topics. 

Foremost among these he ranked the broad category of “politics”. 

From that declaration arises the conundrum from whence will a Christian formulation to these sort of issues be articulated within the church proper if groups not the church are to be just about anathematized? 

This pastor on more than one occasion let it be known he has hobnobbed with Fundamentalist luminaries such as Lee Roberson and Jack Hyles. 

So when he stated that parachurch organizations are parasite organizations, does the pastor intend to direct such hardline vitriol against The Sword Of The Lord?

By Frederick Meekins

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The Study Of The History Of The End Of The World, Part 4

 The early modern period roughly from the time of the Reformation up approximately to the time of the First World War could probably be considered an era of apocalyptic ambiguity. For it was during this time that interest in the Millennium and the End Times ebbed and flowed. It can also be observed that, though there was was a great deal of similarity in terms of the eschatological thinking of this particular era, such speculation was still characterized by noticeable variation with no single interpretation coming to predominate for the most part.

In light of phenomena such as the flagellants, the Taborites, and even Savonarola's exhortations against the corruption of the establishment, it was only a matter of time before more widespread movements erupted hoping to bring about needed ecclesiastical and political change. As has been repeatedly seen, when such disruption occurs the spiritually inclined are prone to conclude that what they are experiencing could very well be history's last hurrah. The discontent simmering beneath what appeared to be the unified Christianity of medieval Europe boiled over in what became known as the Protestant Reformation. The movement instigated by Luther and extended by other preeminent theologians such as Calvin and Knox assured the development of the modern perspective by nothing short of reconceptualizing the relationships between God, man, and the Church. Yet in terms of eschatological reflection, the mainstream of Protestantism did not go very far in breaking new ground.

Despite the divergences in Lutheran and Reformed theology, these outlooks were in agreement that the Antichrist was not so much a particular individual but rather the institution of the papacy. In regards to prophetic events such as the Millennium detailed in Scripture, most mainstream Protestant theologians tended to either allegorize these as symbolic depictions of the cosmic struggle between good and evil or to equate them with events in the past that had already transpired. Many of these leaders and thinkers believed that the world was now at the point where Satan had been released from the Pit with all that needed to be awaited was for Christ to appear to usher in eternity (Kyle, 62).

If the primary luminaries of Protestant thought offered an uninterested or detached analysis of the Apocalypse and the End Times, those considered to be along its fringes and lower classes provided interpretations considerably more passionate. Of those categorized as belonging to the more radical wing of the Reformation, Kyle writes, “In general, the radicals felt that the Lutheran and Zwinglian reforms did not go far enough. Of these diverse groups, the Anabaptists and the Spiritualists generated the most notable apocalyptic upheavals (58).” For the most part, the Anabaptists were in agreement that the persecution they endured at the hands of both Catholics and other Protestants was a sign that Christ's pending return was drawing nigh. As typical of that movement, most of its leaders such as Menno Simmons and Jacob Hutter urged quietist resignation before these events as they unfolded in God's due time. However, there arose among the ranks of the difficult to categorize ecclesiastical drifters and unaffiliated a number of rabble rousers that would give religious nonconformists as well as eschatological speculation a bad name for years and decades to come.

The first of these figures was Thomas Muntzer. Whereas most Reformation luminaries prided themselves on limiting the scope of their pronouncements to the revelation contained within the pages of Scripture, Muntzer believed that the Holy Spirit spoke directly to him as God's instrument for purging the ungodly. Muntzer saw his opportunity to stoke apocalyptic upheaval in what became known as the Peasant's War. Ultimately, Muntzer's assurance that this early form of class warfare would result in the Millennium proved to be idle but destructive bluster, resulting in his beheading at the hands of victorious German princes.

Adding to the sort of confusion that can often turn students off to the study of history, the next outbreak of noticeable apocalyptic violence occurred in the city of Munster. In the interim, Melchoir Hoffmann along the lines of a theory similar to that espoused by Joachim of Fiore argued that the third age of history was dawning with Christ soon to return to establish his kingdom in Strasburg. When such predictions did not transpire, his followers --- known as Melchiorites --- shifted focus to Munster.

Yet unlike Hoffmann who was content to peacefully await the Apocalypse and the Second Advent, Jan Matthys advocated the use of force in turning Munster into a theocracy. Both Protestants and Catholics mobilized to address the threat, eliminating Matthys in the confrontation. However, his successor Jan Bockelson proved to be even worse, proclaiming himself to be the Messiah and advocating polygamy (Abanes, 185-186). Before it was all over with, the extremists were executed, Anabaptists not even involved discredited as subversives, and both mainline Protestants and Catholics leery of where eschatological speculation might lead those susceptible to its promises.

With the practitioners of established respectable religion barely wanting to touch the subject of the End Times for years and decades to come, that area of theology became the provenance of a variety of thinkers that could only be described as bizarre at best and downright kooky at worst. Perhaps one of the most renowned individuals falling into this category was none other than Nostradamus. Born to a Jewish family that converted to Christianity, Michel de Nostredame was a physician that developed an interest in astrology and the occult.

The prophetic works of Nostradamus were compiled into ten books called The Centuries, each consisting of one hundred, four line verses known as quatrains. The staying power of Nostradamus and his prophecies can no doubt be attributed to the fact that most were so nebulous that they could be interpreted in any number of ways. Kyle also observes that Nostradamus probably ranked among the first in viewing the cataclysm of the End Times not so much as a result of divine intervention or judgment but rather as the outcome of secular forces (64).

For the most part, millennial and apocalyptic thinking became increasingly detached from Scripture. Interest in these topics was, if anything, sparked more by the assorted social upheavals occurring at the time. Kyle writes, “English millennialism peaked in the ... 1640's and 1650's. Millennarian ideas may have been more widely circulated during the English Civil War than at any time or place in history. Social, political, and religious forces all combined to produce this millennial explosion (66).”

This spirit was embodied by a movement known as the Fifth Monarchy Men. Deriving their name from the Book of Daniel as the kingdom of God that would end all earthly empires, Fifth Monarchists believed that the golden age would commence in England and spread across the Earth as Cromwell's army would destroy the Papacy and the Jews returned to the Holy Land to drive out the Turks (Kirsch, 175-176). The faction's aspirations never materialized and British millennialism became increasingly eccentric. For example, the “prophetess” Joanna Southcott became convinced at the age of 64 that she was to give birth to the second Jesus Christ in 1814. Oddly enough, physicians confirmed that her body did display signs of pregnancy, However, the child never materialized and she passed away by December of that year.

France was little different in linking political upheaval with speculation about the End Times. Attention there focused upon the French Revolution and the Napoleonic aftermath. In light of the anti-religious violence of that period, a number feared that such signified the commencement of the Tribulation. Those prone to such a perspective postulated that Napoleon was likely the Antichrist. Others such as Suzzette Labrousse did not necessarily fear or condemn the Revolution as negative but embraced the chaos as signs of God's pending reign (Kyle, 71).

It was not until John Nelson Darby that millennial and apocalyptic thinking was once again imbued with a degree of theological respectability and wrest from the hands of those so worked up into a fanatical froth that resulted in psychosomatic pregnancies convincing enough to trick the physicians of the day. Darby was born into an Anglo-Irish family and ordained as a minister in the Church of Ireland. Darby would eventually join the Plymouth Brethren under which he would devise a system of prophetic interpretation that would come to be known as Dispensationalism.

Darby espoused a form of futurism believing that events described in prophetic portions of Scripture such as Revelation were yet to transpire. Borrowing loosely from Joachim of Fiore, Darby hypothesized that God dealt in different ways with His people during particular eras in history. As such, Darby emphasized a distinction between those portions of Scripture pertaining to the future of Israel and those pertaining to the Church. In so doing, Darby was able to provide a system of eschatological interpretation that acknowledged that the return of Christ was imminent in the form of a rising to meet Him in the clouds known as the Rapture while conceding a complex series of events such as the assorted judgments foretold needed to take place before Christ would return in the sense to establish His earthly kingdom.

By Frederick Meekins

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Notes: 

Bibibliography

Abanes, Richard. End-Times Visions: The Doomsday Obsession. Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1988.

Kirsch, Jonathan. A History Of The End Of The World: How The Most Controversial Book In The Bible Changed The Course Of Western Civilization. San Francisco, California: Harper Collins Publishers, 2006.

Kagan, Donald, Ozment, Steven and Turner, Frank. The Western Heritage Since 1789 (Fourth Edition). New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1991.

Kyle, Richard. The Last Days Are Here Again: A History Of The End Times. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1988. Hanover, New Hampshire: University Press of New England, 1996.

Ladd, George. The Blessed Hope: A Biblical Study of The Second Advent and The Rapture. Grand Rapids, Michigan: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1956.

Thompson, Damian. The End Of Time: Faith and Fear in the Shadow of the Millennium.

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