Two Schools of Thought on ‘Last Days’ Prophecy

By Helen T. Gray

MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

John Hagee and Stephen Stein are of completely different minds when it comes to predicting whether the world is fast approaching the biblical “last days.”

Hagee, an author of 21 books and a San Antonio pastor with a worldwide radio and television ministry, is convinced recent armed conflict in the Middle East and the specter of Iran are proof that the apocalyptic battle of Armageddon — the war to end all wars to be fought in Israel — is not far off.

“The end of the world as we know it is rapidly approaching,” Hagee writes in “Jerusalem Countdown,” the latest of his six books on the end times.

Stein, on the other hand, is an Indiana University emeritus professor who has made a study of the apocalyptic predictions held by people such as Hagee, and to date, he contends, they have all been wrong.

“There have been evangelical preachers in America talking about the end times for more than 21/2 centuries,” said Stein, author of “The Continuum History of Apocalypticism.” And the end has yet to come.

Historically the volume of talk of “end times” prophecies, of the “final days” and of Armageddon increases when armed conflict breaks out in the Middle East, such as the recent war between Israel and Hezbollah. And now, for Hagee in particular, the standoff involving the United States, Israel and Iran is a sign of biblical prophecy.

To arrive at these predictions, conservative Christian pastors such as Hagee and the Rev. Jerry Falwell interpret sections of the Old Testament, particularly the books of Ezekiel and Daniel, as prophecy, or predictions, of coming events.

Falwell recently said that “the present-day events in the Holy Land may very well serve as a prelude or forerunner to the future battle of Armageddon and the glorious return of Jesus Christ.”

Christians who subscribe to this biblical interpretation generally come from the conservative Protestant wing of Christendom. Other branches of Christianity, such as Roman Catholics and many mainline Protestant denominations, express little interest in end times discussions. Among those who believe certain world events point back to biblical prophecy, not all agree about how it will come or when.

Is Iran Magog?

Recently, President Bush and Iran’s president spoke separately to the United Nations. One issue on which the men disagreed is whether Iran should be allowed to develop its nuclear energy program, with the possibility it could build a nuclear weapon.

Iran plays a major role in how Hagee sees Old Testament prophecy playing out in the present. “Israel cannot allow Iran to be nuclear,” he said, “and America cannot allow Iran to be nuclear.”

Stopping Iran could mean some kind of conflict.

“Just before us is a nuclear countdown with Iran,” he writes in “Jerusalem Countdown,” which came out earlier this year, “followed by Ezekiel’s war (as described in Ezekiel, chapters 38 and 39), and then the final battle — the battle of Armageddon.”

To Craig Koester, however, Hagee and others are reading too much into the Bible. That approach, said the author of “Revelation and the End of All Things,” “generally involves arranging verses from the Bible in different ways to create scenarios of the future.”

“Sometimes,” said Koester, who teaches New Testament at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn., “they try to link specific verses with events happening in the news today.”

Armageddon

To the keepers of the Countdown to Armageddon Web site (www.countdown.org), Armageddon is actually a battle “where God finally comes in and takes over the world and rules it the way it should have been ruled all along.”

In his book “The Shadow of the Apocalypse,” Paul Crouch, co-founder of the conservative Christian-oriented Trinity Broadcast Network, writes, “Jesus Christ … will rescue Israel, avenge those who have suffered in his name, punish the wicked, redeem the earth, imprison Satan and reign victorious over the earth.”

The name Armageddon is found in Revelation 16:16. It is part of a vision of the Apostle John in which kings from the East gather to oppose God. The name in Hebrew means Mount of Megiddo.

“Since Megiddo was a place where various armies were defeated (in history),” Koester said, “the name Armageddon is suitable for the battle at which the forces of evil are defeated at the end of time.”

The battle represents the final showdown between the forces of good and evil, said Cathy Gutierrez, religion professor at Sweet Briar College in Virginia, who writes on religion topics.

“While all three major monotheisms — Judaism, Christianity and Islam — believe in some version of an ultimate conflict between these forces, the use of the word Armageddon itself usually denotes a Christian understanding of these events,” she said.

Koester said he doesn’t think the Bible gives a step-by-step description of events that will take place at the end of time.

“Biblical prophecies give Christians the confident hope that God will defeat evil in the end,” he said. “… The Scriptures call Christians to put their faith in God rather than in their abilities to know where we are on God’s time line.”

But Hagee is unwavering in his faith that his assessment that Ezekiel’s prophecy is coming to life today.

“Following Ezekiel 38, Russia will give military leadership to the radical Islamics who want to destroy the state of Israel and control Jerusalem,” he said. “That is the battle of Gog and Magog. And God himself will destroy the Russian-Arab coalition. The world will see God defending Israel as it hasn’t seen since Pharaoh.”

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