I’m going to publicly admit right here that I do not know exactly what I believe when it comes to eschatology. I grew up in a home where “Christ was coming” any minute. I remember when the Burnsville Center (a local mall) was being built, the woman discipling my recently saved mom predicted that we’d all be raptured before it was finished being built. Oh boy, was I excited!
That mall is old now. And the news that made headlines back then and caused us to think the anti-Christ was right around the corner is old too. Now the headlines herald new “news” of impending anti-Christs (Obama is a good candidate), pestilence and a world-wide plunge into the dark ages if not just plain old oblivion.
I fully expected NEVER to get old enough to get married and have kids…and I was disappointed in huge ways when I considered that as a child. I used to pray that God would at LEAST let me get married and experience one child. I’ve been married almost 18 years now and have 12 children. 5 in heaven and 7 on earth.
When I was first married with my two little boys…I never dreamed they would actually grow up and have families of their own. I was bored being a mother. I had very little vision…other than the vision of us flying up to heaven and being rescued from this cruddy world. Now that I had my husband and two kids…I really hoped it would be soon. I mean…I dreamed it…thought of it EVERY DAY…and begged God in my prayers to come THAT DAY. Life was dull. I had no motivation. I was in this super boring “holding pattern”…just waiting…and waiting…and waiting. I started wondering what the point was in doing ANYTHING…building ANYTHING…planning ANYTHING for the future??
My brother and sister-in-law gave us David Chilton’s book, Paradise Restored, about this time. But my husband and I read the first few pages and threw the book away. Clearly, we had made up our minds about eschatology based on our “studying” the topic (which consisted of reading a total of one book…a book written by a dispensationalist…) and by just believing what every other Christian we personally knew believed. We knew absolutely ZERO about the history of this important subject…what Christians have historically believed and why…as well as a whole lot of other things that one needs to know in order to make an educated decision about this subject. (I want to reiterate that I have not made my “decision” about what I exactly believe. But I am learning and studying as time permits. My views are slowly developing, and I will hold to them because I’ve studied them on my own. Not because someone spoon fed them to me. I will also admit that I could be wrong. Nobody is right about everything.)
About that time I started listening to teachings published by Vision Forum, and while I didn’t notice anything about the topic of eschatology, their VISION for future generations captivated me. I listened to everything I could get my hands on…and my excitement about being a mother grew by leaps and bounds. It dawned on me that I was “building” something eternal…and that my children must be raised to do the same thing.
But the nagging question in the back of my mind was this: if we are just going to be raptured anyway…then who cares? We would just be building something for absolutely no reason. Why bother?
I ignored the question and started reading my Bible with new eyes. ALL of the Bible suddenly became applicable to life…not just the New Testament. In addition, our children were getting older, and as I started teaching them history in our home school…I started LEARNING history for the first time in my life! Church history…ALL of history. Pieces of the puzzle were coming together every day in rapid succession! I have to say, the last 6 years or so have been the most exciting, most motivating, most life-changing years of my life! In that time, God has given us several more children…and a much larger vision for our work in their lives.
Recently I heard a fellow Christian say, “I hope things just totally fall apart in this world…I welcome it. It just means Christ will be here sooner.” How sad. How meaningless. God did not give us LIFE on this earth to throw it away simply waiting for “the end”. There is a parable about that in the gospels. The parable of the talents.
I no longer desire to “bury” all the things (responsibilities like raising children, making a home, investing in other believers, rescuing the innocent, studying the Word, etc.) and just “sit around hoping for death and destruction” and the rescue of Christ. Christ has already rescued me from something far worse than this world!!! And Christ is already reigning in this universe…no matter what Christians or unbelievers say! I am as excited as any Christian to see my Savior face to face! I can’t wait!! But I’m OK with waiting until I die for that if that is God’s plan. And I pray that on my death bed that I will not have any regrets of “wasting” all those years in simply “waiting” instead of investing!! I want my children to be all around me…and lots of grandchildren/great grandchildren too…all walking with the Lord and full of vision and full of excitement as they walk in victory by the power of the Holy Spirit at work in them because of Jesus Christ’s victory on the cross!
Will they be perfect? No. But my prayer is that they will be humble learners. Repentant sinners. Loving Christ-followers. Lights shining in a dark world. Culture-changers. Visionaries. Patriarchs. Heroes whose stories will be told in heaven. Servants who will not need to be ashamed when the “Master” comes home and asks them what they did with what He gave to them.
These are the kinds of Christians who founded America.
So am I trying to get you to believe something specific about eschatology? No. But I do hope to inspire you to be more like our founding fathers.
Because look what has happened to America while Christians have sat around “waiting”, “doing nothing” and actually “hoping” for the world to fall apart. They may get their wish, as far as that goes. But I hope my posterity will be part of God’s plan to shine a light and rebuild what this current visionless church has lost.
And if Christ raptures us while we are rebuilding? Well, my voice will be one of the loudest ones singing praises to the King!
Take heart! Be filled with vision! Because no matter where you fall on the eschatology issue, THE KING REIGNS! NOW AND FOREVER!
About Wemmick Girl Saved by Grace
Amen! Thanks, Natalie!!