THE END OF THE END TIMES
MANIA
MIKE CUNNINGHAM
September 27, 2009
It’s fairly common knowledge I consider it a
privilege to serve as your pastor, and also that it’s a responsibility I take
very seriously. I want to honor God in the ministry He has called me to, and
in various ways He lets me know whether or not He approves of the job I’m
doing. For example, last week our friend Guy shared with us how God had used
my last sermon to straighten out his thinking on a particular spiritual issue
he had been wrestling with at the time he received it. I’ve said many times
that it’s always helpful whenever I learn someone’s opinion of my messages
regardless of what it may be. Because our congregation is so small, most of
that kind of feedback arrives by way of email. Allow me to share some excerpts
from a recent posting on my website which I found to be exceptionally encouraging.
“I'm concerned about the direction you're going
in. There is so much darkness in today's sermon, so much evil that you speak
of, that I'm concerned that those who are visiting your site or church for
the first time will be scared off.” “I know that you are having trouble with
some rapture issues and differences in beliefs, but does it help to attempt
to change a person's mind by putting so much emphasis or devote
too many sermons to it? You cannot change another person's mind and time
has always shown people that their end of world ideas were wrong. Please
don't lose focus on the here and now. We can make a difference, we do
make a difference, and we need to be reminded that God loves us and that the
angels are cheering us on. Don't forget that stuff. I love you, dad, Anne-Marie.”
As I mentioned a moment ago, I found it exceptionally
encouraging in learning that my daughter had sensed so much darkness and evil
in my last message because that was exactly what I prayerfully hoped to accomplish.
I named it, “The Dark Age of Millennium Madness” because I believe it’s descriptive
of the age you and I are living in. It’s an age which encompasses an almost
two thousand year period of human history in which Satan has successfully
persuaded only God knows how many people including millions of His children
into spreading his evil works of darkness through false teachings concerning
the Second Coming of Christ. Jesus warned His beloved disciples and all His
followers such as you and me after them to beware of false teachers.
“When the
disciples reached the other side [of the lake], they had forgotten to bring
any bread. 6 Jesus said to them,
"Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
7 And
they began discussing it among themselves, saying, "We brought no bread."
8 But
Jesus, aware of this, said, "O you of little faith, why are you discussing
among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? 9 Do you not yet perceive? Do you not
remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered?
10 Or
the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered?
11 How is it that you
fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven
of the Pharisees and Sadducees." 12 Then they understood that he did not
tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees
and Sadducees, Matthew 16:5-12 (ESV).
The inspired writer of the Letter to the Hebrews reiterated Jesus warning,
“... do not be led astray by diverse teachings,” Hebrews 13:9 (ESV).
Paul began his first letter to Timothy by warning the young man to be on the
lookout for false teachers.
“As
I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus that you may
charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, 4 nor to devote themselves
to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than
the stewardship from God that is by faith. 5 The aim of our charge is love that issues
from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6 Certain persons,
by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, 7 desiring to be
teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or
the things about which they make confident assertions,” 1 Timothy 1:3-7 (ESV.)
Finally, Paul
reminded Timothy again in the first verse of the fourth chapter, “Now the
Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith
by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,”
1 Timothy 4:1 (ESV).
Today’s so-called prophecy experts devote themselves
to promoting a satanic myth concerning the soon to be Rapture and the return
of Christ in judgment. They’re clueless as to what they are asserting with
such confidence. I believe these Christians have been snookered by deceitful
spirits and the teachings of demons.
One of the reasons I’m so concerned about false spiritual
teaching is because of the countless numbers of poor lost sinners who are
already experiencing eternal torment because their church and/or pastor had
deceived them into believing falsehoods such as salvation being possible apart
from experiencing a supernatural re-birth and belief in Christ. Although it’s
too late for them it isn’t for anyone alive today. These are the folks I’m
concerned about; especially the non-Christian members of my own family and
other folks such as you and your loved ones and others I also care about deeply.
This is something which really bothers me. I can’t even begin to imagine the
intensity of torment these nice people may experience. Jesus described it
as being excruciatingly painful as burning in a confined area resembling a
“furnace” or “lake of fire”, while they are totally alone in the “outer darkness”
isolated from the presence of God and His children with no other human being
there to help them, “Matt. 25:41; 46; 13:42; Rev. 20:15; Matt. 8:12).
That’s one of the main reasons I hate Satan with
such a passion and am dedicated to exposing the false teaching he has successfully
conned millions of God’s children into promoting what I have characterized
as being “Millennium Madness” and
“End Times Mania.” This kind of demonically
inspired fear-mongering “Doomsday”
teaching is a major turnoff to any healthy mentally unimpaired person accepting
the gift of salvation through Christ. In order to overcome this obstacle to
evangelism we must never forget to remember we are involved in a fierce unrelenting
spiritual battle “...against the cosmic powers over this present darkness,
against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places,” Ephesians 6:12 (ESV).
Knowledge is the first line of
a powerful offence. Allow me to explain. To overcome the enemy in this kind
of battle we must know what we are up against. Many, perhaps even most of
the non-Christians in our life are sensitive of our feelings and don’t want
to hurt us by telling us what they really think of Christianity or today’s
End Times mania. Allow me to explain by sharing the following “gem”
I came across a couple of days ago while I was crafting this message. It’s about a brother in the Lord through whom
He has blessed many people throughout the years.
David Wilkerson, author of "The Cross and the Switchblade," a
book about his ministry to troubled New York
street kids that was later made into a movie starring Pat Boone, tells
readers of his blog this weekend [Saturday March 7, 2009] that he is "compelled by the Holy Spirit to send
out an urgent message" about his prediction. "An earth-shattering
calamity is about to happen," he writes. "It is going to be so frightening;
we are all going to tremble – even the godliest among us." Wilkerson's
vision
is of fires raging through
Can you imagine how hyper someone indulging in
a steady diet of this kind of doomsday stuff is apt to be? Especially when
they interpret the Bible in light of current events in the Middle East with
Listen to these quotes from the Amazon reader
reviews of a very informative book I’ll be speaking about shortly. “Many of
my neighbors, since I live here in the Bible Belt, are convinced that soon,
within the next few years and certainly within their lifetimes, they will
vanish from the Earth. They won't die, but they will disappear into the skies
because they have a particular relationship with Jesus that will allow this
to happen, and those of us who do not have such a relationship will be left
behind to fend for ourselves. For me, and certainly for most of the world,
this is just not the sort of thing that happens, but such beliefs are not
uncommon here. In fact, 60% of Americans believe that prophecies including
The Rapture are going to come true, and 20% think it will happen in their
lifetimes, according to statistics provided in: Have a Nice Doomsday: Why
Millions of Americans Are Looking Forward to the End of the World, (Harper
Perennial) by Nicholas Guyatt.”
“Using the Bible to predict the future
is nothing new. St. Augustine, Martin Luther, and
“Joel Rosenberg used to be an aide to
Benjamin Netanyahu and left Judaism for evangelical Christianity. His novel:
The Last Jihad, predicted events of 9/11 a year beforehand, with the result
that his books are studied in the White House and he has been interviewed
on Fox and CNN, where the explanatory phrase under his talking head said "Middle
East Expert" rather than "Rapture Enthusiast". The problem
with this sort of expertise is that it can lead to eagerness to have the End
Times happen (if you think it means you get teleported to heaven, who wouldn't
want it soon?) and perhaps, say, an eagerness for the US to attack Iran with
nuclear weapons if it would fulfill prophecy to bring on the Apocalypse. There
are leaders [don’t forget this review was written in 2007 M.C.] who indeed
base policy on the Apocalypse; former Speaker of the House Tom Delay, asked
about the Second Coming, says "obviously, it's what I live for, I hope
it comes tomorrow... we have to be connected to Israel to enjoy the Second
Coming."
False teaching began
in the early Church and intensified greatly in A. D. 313 when the Roman Emperor
Constantine issued a decree that Christianity was to be the official religion
of the Roman Empire and there was an influx of unbelievers into the Church.
People have always been fascinated with the prospects of Christ returning
in judgment. For example, in his excellent highly informative book I have
been speaking about, its author Nicholas Guyatt writes: “In medieval Europe,
countless people were trapped in poverty and forced to endure the hardship
of feudalism. As the Church became more prosperous and powerful, many poorer
people felt that it was unresponsive to their needs. The proliferation of
monasteries from the sixth century onward tended to isolate the purest, most
pious Christians from the population at large; meanwhile, the attempts of
Church leaders to professionalize the clergy, and to create local priests
and grassroots ministries, only led poorer people to conclude that the Church
was corrupt. (The quality of those local priests was notoriously variable).
The apocalypse, and its promise of redemption through suffering, offered an
escape route of sorts. It also encouraged believers to look out for false
Christians in the End-Times, and undermined their confidence in the Church
hierarchy and in the nobles who presided over them. From the perspective of
Europe’s rulers, this was hardly a firm foundation for Christianity or for
any kind of government.”
“So why didn’t the religious and political elite
simply outlaw apocalyptic belief in medieval Europe? To some extent, they
did. Wandering preachers who stirred up enthusiasm for the End Times were
jailed or executed, especially if they succumbed to the adulation of their
followers and proclaimed themselves to be Jesus Christ. A number of confidence
men popped up in France, Germany, Holland, and elsewhere in the Middle Ages,
riding waves of apocalyptic enthusiasm toward personal wealth or political
power.” (Sound familiar? M. C.). “In addition to tricksters like these, the
rulers of the Middle Ages had to contend with pious and sincere preachers
who trained the apocalyptic message on the injustices of the day. These preachers
spawned a number of radical sects that were determined to shake up society
and to inaugurate a new order based on very different principles.” “Meanwhile,
popes, religious leaders, and local rulers tapped into apocalyptic thinking
to justify wars and crusades against their enemies. Since the rise of Islam
in the seventh century, European Christians had protested against the defilement
of the Holy Land by its Muslin conquerors. The Crusades to recapture Jerusalem-
launched between 1097 and 1270-were fueled by propaganda that assured ordinary
believers that the Last Days were imminent.” “Ironically, given the current
enthusiasm among prophecy believers for all things Jewish, the kings, emperors,
and popes who waged the Crusades tested their apocalyptic rhetoric by calling
for Christians to eliminate the Jews who lived in European towns and cities.
Arguing that nonbelievers had to be eliminated before the millennium could
begin, priests and Christian writers stressed that the Jews had rejected Christ,
or that the Antichrist himself be Jewish, or that Jews would willingly follow
the Antichrist in the last days. All these accusations were used to encourage
pogroms, [according to The Merriam-Webster Dictionary: an organized massacre
of helpless people and especially of Jews M. C.] which served as a kind of
warm-up (and recruiting drive) for the more ambitious plan to travel to the
Middle East and kill Muslims.”
“Some Christians refused to go along with this,
and tried to protect Jews for reasons that John Hagee [Pastor Strangelove
M. C.] might relate to: before the End Times could begin, God’s former chosen
people had to be converted to Christianity. But in the main, the apocalyptic
rational for the Crusades intensified the culture clash between Islam and
Christianity and undermined relations between Christians and Jews in Europe.”
Earlier in this message I stated that End Time
mania has been alive and well for almost two thousand years. This morning
I have given you a sample of some of the obstacles we are up against in leading
poor lost sinners to Christ. Do you have any idea what kind of a negative
effect today’s deluded prophecy experts are having on Christian evangelism,
especially amongst intelligent informed people who may be searching for the
meaning of life, but dismiss Christianity as a religion for nut cases? And
with the track record of their predecessors throughout the centuries, how
can you and I fault them? God has planned that each of us would have opportunities
to lead the lost to Christ. He tells us we must always be “...prepared to make a
defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; 1 Peter 3:15 (ESV).
That’s a
command I take very seriously. I’m deeply burdened by the thought of the horrible
eternal destiny awaiting all those who reject Christ’s love. As I mentioned
previously: “I can’t even begin to imagine the intensity of torment these
nice people God has brought into our lives may experience. Jesus described
it as being excruciatingly painful as burning in a confined area resembling
a “furnace” or “lake of fire”, while they are totally alone in the outer darkness
isolated from the presence of God and His children with no other human being
there to help them, “Matt. 25:41; 46; 13:42; Rev. 20:15; Matt. 8:12).”
All too many of today’s Christians are wrapped
up with themselves and their perceived “needs,” so much so, that if the truth
be known, as far as the lost are concerned, they honestly couldn’t care less!
And that’s one of the major reasons today’s Christian Church in our country
and the society we live in is in such a deplorably pitiful spiritual condition.
That’s also why I have been doing my best to expose Satan’s evil works of
darkness at every opportunity. It can be depressing at times. However, my
daughter Anne-Marie will be pleased to know that just this past week God’s angles once again reminded me of His love for me and
cheered me on through her comments which I shared earlier. I also know His angles constantly remind Anne-Marie of His love for her
and that they cheer her on in many ways. And, if you stop to think about it,
they do the same for each of you folks, too.
Whenever I put the faces of my loved ones and others
I care about deeply on these poor souls who have suffered such awful horrors
throughout “The Dark Age of Millennium Madness” because of the false teachings
of all those so called prophecy experts, I feel compelled to do my very best
to silence them and, with the Lord’s blessing, will do my part to bring about
“THE END OF THE END TIMES MANIA.” Lord willing, next week Charlie’s son will
help me out.
(A)
http://www.preteristarchive.com/dEmEnTiA/index.html
(B)
http://davidwilkersontoday.blogspot.com/2009/03/urgent-message.html