One complicating factor in the current struggle is anticipation of Apocalypse. Apocalypse refers to the end – the end of human history as it has been. It’s the ultimate hope that God will wrap all things up one day, and that as that day draws nearer the struggle between Good and Evil will increase on planet Earth.

Now, Islam is not actually an apocalyptic religion. It does, however, have a strong view of afterlife. And in that sense, stretching the idea a bit, each Muslim has a sense of his own apocalypse – the end of his own life history on Earth, after which his state will forever be determined by the faithfulness of his life in this world. The certainty of one’s ultimate destiny, according to some Muslim teachings, can be assured by dying for Allah and his prophet, Mohammed, in jihad or holy war. In that sense, with the rise of Muslims’ consciousness of other religions and ways of life, a war exists to preserve and extend Islam. Many Muslims, particularly radical fundamentalists see this war as the holy war of our time. One’s role in that war will affect his ultimate destiny. I’m calling that point of view the Islamic version of an apocalyptic vision.

There is, on the other hand, a very clear apocalyptic aspect to the Christian faith, which has existed from the very beginning. Jesus taught about it. The Apostles preached and wrote about it. They believed that it would happen within their lifetime or soon thereafter. Virtually every book in the New Testament describes or refers to it. And this is the basic summary of that apocalyptic vision: God will bring everything to an end. As the time of the end draws nearer the powers of evil will increase – resulting in more widespread sin and intensified persecution of the followers of Jesus. Simultaneously, there will be an increase in wars, conflicts, natural disasters, famines and plagues. Satan’s Antichrist will rise up to dominate the world order -- to mislead people throughout the world to honor himself instead of Christ, and that Antichrist will focus even greater persecution on the faithful. At some point the saints on earth will be gathered up with Christ – raptured. But when evil reaches a crescendo, Christ will return and the last great battle will ensue between good and evil – called Armageddon. Then Christ will establish His Kingdom on Earth and will reign for a thousand years. That will last until Satan escapes to make one last stab at overturning God’s Rule – only to be defeated and sent to hell forever. The Last Judgment will follow, in which all the faithful will be taken into a new Heaven and new Earth – in perfect harmony with God – under Christ’s eternal rule.

Now, when Christ didn’t return during the first generation or so of the Church’s existence it created a bit of a theological crisis. Later, after the Roman Empire was largely converted to Christianity, the leaders of the Church resolved the crisis by reinterpreting the idea of Christ’s return and thousand-year reign to be understood, metaphorically, in terms of the Holy Roman Empire. The Church developed a doctrine now called “post-millennialism”, that’s the idea that Christ would come again after His thousand-year reign through His Body the Church. That’s probably the reason that the last great spike in apocalyptic thinking came about in the 1300’s. That was the time during which Muslims finally drove Christians out of the Eastern Empire, the black and bubonic plagues swept Europe, there was an economic depression, and a schism developed in the Western Church – with 2 popes vying to run the Church. Many saw that as the literal end of the 1,000-year reign of Christ (through the Church after Constantine) and anticipated the immanence of the apocalypse.

200 years later, with the Reformation, renewed visions of the apocalypse emerged. Protestants saw the Pope as Antichrist, and Catholics saw the Reformers in the same light. There were increased European wars and conflicts.

Nowadays apocalyptic thinking is at a fever pitch again – especially among Fundamentalist Protestants in the U.S. America has always drawn more than its fair share of apocalyptic cults, of course. From the beginning there have been those, who came here to establish God’s kingdom on earth. And more recently, while there are general reasons for it, one of the foremost of which is Americans’ preoccupation with our selves, such that, once we’re saved God must be ready to end all of history. Another reason for the rise of apocalypticism is that some of the largest seminaries in this country are explicitly pre-millennialist – that is, they teach that Christ will return before His 1,000-year rule begins. Since preachers teach it, people have been looking for signs of the apocalypse. More generally, though, recent signs, often cited for the immanence of the apocalypse, include the following: Israel’s miraculous restoration after almost 2,000 years, the hatred of the Jewish people and the state of Israel by the Muslim states surrounding them, the rise of the UN as a mechanism for the one world order that some believe will be the medium of Antichrist’s rule, various wars, natural disasters, AIDS, genocides, the rise of hostility toward Christianity among liberals and humanists, as well as the rise of Islamic terrorism. There are books galore that have been written on the subject of the end coming and a plethora of websites dedicated to counting up what their creators call fulfilled prophecies, by which they count down to the return of the Lord and Armageddon.

The rise and political influence of fundamentalist Christianity in the U.S. is focused on three central issues: moral purity in the culture, doctrinal purity in the religion, and that, which galvanizes both – preparation for the apocalypse. It is precisely because of the widespread view of as many as 30% of Americans that the Apocalypse is upon us that such people have a clear theological vision for America. They reason that God has made America strong and prosperous in order to defend Israel in the last days, and that is why America’s foreign policies must be focused upon supporting Israel in the face of terrorism, because that terrorism is inspired by Satan. They reason that America must be morally pure and Christians must be doctrinally pure in order to stand against the rise of the Antichrist – Probably in the form of Humanism, which they see as the likely harbinger of Antichrist. They see the need for what’s called “Biblical Reconstructionism” – to reconstruct the U.S. Constitution around biblical moral teachings. They see the U.N. as something to be resisted or disbanded outright in order to prevent it from becoming an effective tool of the Antichrist, whom they believe inspires everything from radical Muslim terrorism to American liberalism and Humanism. It is a clear agenda and one that has a clear enemy – Satan, himself. America must be strong, morally pure, steadfastly pro-Israel, theologically pure, publicly faithful to God, and ready to stand alone if we are going to be the sword of God in the fight against Antichrist – against Satan – in the Battle of Armageddon, which is a popular conviction.

The culture wars within the U.S., with secular European nations, and against Fundamentalist Islam are the result, at least in part, of this apocalyptic American Fundamentalist Christian agenda. It is the one that the Roves in the current administration have nothing but contempt for, but use – in order to accomplish their own purposes.

The question is “What are followers of Jesus Christ suppose to do about it, though?” What we have been doing is following -- and in many cases leading -- the ideological extremes and becoming increasingly disaffected from each other in the process. But, I wonder, if that’s the way Jesus would have us behave -- siding with one civilization and trying to preserve it. Or, instead, would Jesus have us be above all civilizations, yet involved for the good in each?

I trust that we, as Christians, believe in God’s revelation in Scripture. We believe the Baptismal Covenant and the Creeds. And all of them point to Christ’s return – to God consummating human history on this planet. And so I ask you, as followers of Christ, what, if anything, is wrong with the ideology that I’ve just described and which so many modern day American Christians subscribe to?

When the Apostles, after the resurrection, asked Jesus if it was finally time for Him to establish God’s Kingdom on Earth, Jesus said, “(Acts 1:7 & 8) He replied, "It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

It is not the job of Christians to be trying to determine when the end will come. It is a vain effort – inspired not by God but by sensationalism and self-interest. Jesus never taught us that His followers should change their strategy in ministering the Gospel and helping those in need just because they think that the end is nigh. Least of all are we to fall into the deluded temptation that we can use one nation’s power or power politics in a nation to force God’s hand or His ways on others. That too is vain pride, ironically a tool of evil, which can only turn others against Christ for the wrong reasons.

Likewise, in Mark 9:38, “John said to him, ‘Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.’ But Jesus said, ‘Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.’” Often, those who theologically disagree with us still try to follow what Jesus taught, and that includes secular humanists. Christians ought not to try to find enemies to fight instead of serving the mission that He called upon us to do.