Category: Theology Refresh

The 12-21-12 scare of the Mayan calendar is one practical reason why we need to pay attention to eschatology. I am not kidding.

As Christians, we can not afford to ignore these things while many misguided teachings fly around. Many of us have seen the tragedy of people believing erroneous teachings about end times. Some have even sold their properties and stopped pursuing the advancement of their careers in anticipation of the coming of Christ. It shouldn’t be that way. The coming of Christ is supposed to be our blessed hope, not something that causes us to stop being reasonable.

When I was in college, I personally know of a well-meaning Christian family who sold their properties (and carabaos!) because of a prediction that the world will end in the midnight between December 31, 1999 and January 1, 2000. The disappointment (and embarrassment) that dawned with the morning of the year 2000 was too painful to watch. While the neighbors sneered at their misplaced faith, I was struck with a sobering truth: wrong eschatology is no laughing matter.

During our Eschatology Lecture last Saturday with Pastor Noel Landicho, a victory group leader approached me with an interesting question. He asked why we need to study the end times in the first place. To him, it sounded like all these things all boil down to having head knowledge.

I can understand where the question was coming from. If you’ve attended Victory for quite a while, you must have noticed that we always trumpet relevance and practical application in our preaching. Even our church events (like Marriage Boosters or Finance seminars) all point back to how we can apply the Word in our lives today. We are a church that doesn’t spend much time speculating the nuances of doctrines. Instead of debating the validity of, say, infant baptism, we’d rather go and preach the gospel to the nations.

So why preach on eschatology now? Where’s the practical application in that?

Continue reading Is Eschatology Just for Head Knowledge?

Three major things I learned during our Eschatology Lecture last Saturday:

First, when you talk about the second coming of Christ, it is better to focus on positive application. Anything that produces fear and panic doesn’t come from Christ. And anything that comes from Christ builds up faith.

Many people have the tendency to make eschatology morbid and terrifying. This is not the way of our Lord and His apostles. When the Bible talks about the end of the world, it also talks about the bigger themes of hope and eternal life. In 2 Peter 3:11-13, Peter emphasized that our knowledge of end times should challenge us to live holy and godly lives.

Second, eschatology is a broad and, errr, difficult (read: confusing) topic for most people. The abundance of symbolism in Daniel, Joel, Ezekiel and Revelation doesn’t help much. I mean, seriously, does anyone know what the dragon, the seven vials and the seven hills mean? Continue reading This Is Not to Scare You

God’s plan of salvation is so simple that the least among the sons of men can grasp enough of it to experience its transforming power. At the same time, it is so profound that no inadequacy has ever been discovered in it. In fact, those who know it best are continuously amazed that one, and only one, plan of salvation is needed to meet that vast array of spiritual needs among the almost limitless varieties of the needs of men in every race, culture and condition among the nations of this world.

Guy P. Duffield and Nathaniel M. Van Cleave, Foundations of Pentecostal Theology, p179