The Friday Funnies: Lindsey's Exegesis by Current Events

Charles Spurgeon decried and belittled his contemporaries who engaged in what he called "exegesis by current events," the dubious practice of reading Scripture in the light of history rather than history in the light of Scripture, especially in the area of eschatology. Stephen Sizer has pointed out the danger of this novel approach to biblical interpretation in his recent volume, Zion's Christian Soldiers? The Bible, Israel and the Church. There persists within the evangelical Christian community a mistaken view of biblical prophecy which ignores the contemporary contextual significance of the prophetic writings and insists that the events foretold by Daniel, Ezekiel, and John of Patmos (just to name a few) apply primarily to the present generation.

The chief purveyor of "exegesis by current events" over the last forty years has been Hal Lindsey. His column published today at WorldNetDaily is yet another quintessential example of his hokey hermeneutics. After describing the events presently unfolding in the Middle East (where else?), Lindsey predictably observes:

Taking a step back and looking at the Big Picture, it is hard not to miss the fact that events are developing in concert with the ancient prophecies of Scripture.

The Prophet Isaiah foretold the "burden of Damascus" (Isaiah 17:1) in which the prophet predicts the overnight destruction of that great city in the last days: "At evening time, behold there is terror! Before morning they are no more. Such will be the portion of those who plunder us, and the lot of those who pillage us." (Isaiah 17:14)

The Prophet Ezekiel predicts an alliance between Russia and an Islamic confederacy headed by Iran, or Persia.

Hamas continues to attack Israel with rocket attacks for the sheer joy of the violence of it all. Related to this, the Prophet Obadiah pronounced this verdict against Edom, who is one of the forefathers of the people of Hamas, saying, "Because of violence to your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame, and you will be cut off forever." Interestingly, the word translated as "violence" in this Scripture is the Hebrew word, chamac, pronounced "hamas."

Of all the generations in history, it is to this generation that the prophecies of the last days are addressed. Previous generations looked for the signs given by Scripture, but only this generation can truly see them all come together at one time – which is itself a key fulfillment of prophecy.

The Prophet Daniel predicted these conditions: "And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, 'Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.'" (Daniel 12:8-9) We are witnessing the "unsealing" of the end-times prophecies.

The fatal flaw of "exegesis by current events" should be obvious to any serious student of the Bible. It violates one of the basic rules of biblical interpretation, namely, that Scripture is its own best interpreter. The prophecies of Daniel which were "closed up and sealed till the time of the end" were, in fact, unsealed in the final book of the New Testament. As I have written before:

In the grand narrative of the Bible, Daniel and Revelation are two parts of the same whole. When John begins to "weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it," he is consoled by one of the elders around the throne of God, who says to him, "Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals" (Revelation 5:4-5).

The book that Daniel had been instructed to seal is now unsealed. The fullness of God's plan for the redemption of the world has been revealed in Jesus Christ. He is "the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David" who "has conquered" the forces of sin, death, and hell through his life, death, and resurrection "so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals."

Just what part of "Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals" does Lindsey not understand?

The Friday Funnies: Oh, my Gog, Indeed!

The re-emergence of Russia as an international bully state will undoubtedly be a boon for the end times scaremongers who have had to make do with a smattering of rogue states and Islamic terrorists to fill in the gaps of their "prophetic timelines" and "rapture indexes" since the collapse of the Evil Empire. Hal Lindsey, who needs no introduction, has wasted little time, dusting off his old "Gog and Magog" scenario based on an imaginative (although hardly original) interpretation of Ezekiel 38-39 which first appeared in his most famous (or infamous) book.

Without taking up too much time, "Gog" refers to modern Russia, from Moscow (Meshech) to Siberia. (Tubal). "Magog" refers to the states along the Black Sea, and in particular, the Republic of Georgia.

I outlined Ezekiel's prophecy in 1969 in my book "The Late, Great, Planet Earth" at a time most of this territory was a well-entrenched part of the Soviet Union.

"After many days you shall be visited: in the latter years you shall come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them." (Ezekiel 38:8)

According to the prophet Ezekiel, this Russian-led alliance of nations would sweep suddenly down upon Israel in a surprise invasion that evokes only a weak diplomatic response from the West.

"Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say to you, Are you come to take a spoil? have you gathered your company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?" (Ezekiel 38:13)

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, most of these republics broke with Russia to form new alliances with NATO and the West – an event for which I was widely ridiculed at the time.

How could most of Magog, like Ukraine, Georgia and Turkey, all firmly allied with the West, also be part of Russia's Gog alliance?

I didn't know. But I didn't pen Ezekiel's prophecy. I only reported it.

Now, Gog has evidently decided to reclaim its former Soviet empire, starting with Magog. Despite weeks of promising to withdraw almost any minute, the Russian military continues to dig in and consolidate its forces in and near the Georgian port of Poti on the Black Sea.

The Russians introduced tight restrictions of movement on Georgian citizens, refusing to accept anything except Russian documents. Despite agreements to the contrary, the Kremlin now says that "Russian forces will leave in their own time."

When Poland was contemplating an agreement that would allow the U.S. to deploy missile interceptor batteries in its territory, Russia warned them that by entering the treaty agreement they ran the risk of a Russian nuclear attack. When the Poles signed the treaty in defiance of the Kremlin, Russia promised its response would "rise above the level of diplomacy," a reference to the principle that "war is the result of failed diplomacy."

The Russian invasion and apparent occupation of Georgia is feared by many analysts, particularly those from former Soviet republics, that Vladimir Putin plans to re-conquer and restore the former empire.

Russia has broken off all ties with NATO, and the NATO alliance is beginning to show signs of strain as analysts warn of "a new Cold War – or worse."

Then, as now, the proxy battleground for the Cold War between East and West is in the Middle. So it was no surprise to read that Russia has targeted Israel for retaliation after Israel refused to honor a military embargo against Georgia.

While Lindsey would have unsuspecting readers accept without question his assertion that "Gog" is Russia and "Magog" is the states along the Black Sea, he is engaging, at best, in irresponsible eisegesis and, at worst, in sheer fantasy. Ezekiel's prophecy has nothing to do with Russia, and the battle he foresees is, from all that can be surmised from within the text itself, one which took place centuries ago. But, as Gary DeMar points out, Lindsey is not the first self-appointed prophecy "expert" to attempt to force it into a contemporary context, despite the obvious textual difficulties.

Ezekiel 38 and 39 has been interpreted in various ways over the centuries. The most popular view is to see the prophecy as a depiction of a future battle that includes an alliance of nations led by modern-day Russia in an attack on Israel. Chuck Missler writes in his book Prophecy 20/20 that “the apparent use of nuclear weapons has made this passage [Ezekiel 38 and 39] appear remarkably timely, and some suspect that it may be on our horizon.” Prophecy writers for nearly 2000 years have made similar claims, of course without the reference to “nuclear weapons.” In the fourth and fifth centuries, Gog was thought to refer to the Goths and Moors. In the seventh century, it was the Huns. By the eighth century, the Islamic empire was making a name for itself, so it was a logical candidate. By the tenth century, the Hungarians briefly replaced Islam. But by the sixteenth century, the Turks and Saracens seemed to fit the Gog and Magog profile with the Papacy thrown in for added prophetic juice. In the seventeenth century, Spain and Rome were the end-time bad guys. In the nineteenth century, Napoleon was Gog leading the forces of Magog-France.8 For most of the twentieth century, Communist Russia was the logical pick with its military aspirations, its atheistic founding, and its designation of being “far north” of Israel. In a word, identifying Gog and Magog with a specific nation or group of nations in the past is legion.

As the above brief study shows, when the headlines change, the interpretation of the Bible changes. The failed interpretive history of Ezekiel 38 and 39 is prime evidence that modern-day prophecy writers are not “profiling the future through the lens of Scripture” but through the ever-changing headlines of the evening news.
A lot has to be read into the Bible in order to make Ezekiel 38 and 39 fit modern-day military realities that include jet planes, “missiles,” and “atomic and explosive” weaponry. Those who claim to interpret the Bible literally have a problem on their hands.

The battle in Ezekiel 38 and 39 is clearly an ancient one or at least one fought with ancient weapons. All the soldiers are riding horses (38:4, 15; 39:20). These horse soldiers are “wielding swords” (38:4), carrying “bows and arrows, war clubs and spears” (39:3, 9). The weapons are made of wood (39:10), and it is these abandoned weapons that serve as fuel for “seven years” (39:9). Tim LaHaye describes a highly technological future when the antichrist rises to power to rule the world. “A wave of technological innovation is sweeping the planet. . . . The future wave has already begun. We cannot stop it. . . . [T]he Antichrist will use some of this technology to control the world.” How does this assessment of the near prophetic future square with a supposed tribulation period when Israelites “take wood from the field” and “gather firewood from the forests”? (39:10). There is nothing in the context that would lead the reader to conclude that horses, war clubs, swords, bows and arrows, and spears mean anything other than horses, war clubs, swords, bows and arrows, and spears. And what is the Russian air force after? Gold, silver, cattle, and goods (38:12­–13). In what modern war can anyone remember armies going after cattle? How much cattle does Israel have? Certainly not enough to feed the Russians! The latest claim is that Israel will discover oil, and this is what will attract the nations to Israel. Where in the Bible do we find this claim?

The first rule of biblical interpretation is always to let the text speak for itself. But this is a rule by which Lindsey and other prophecy "experts" have never felt obliged to abide.

Reflections on Two Centuries of Desperation

Regular readers here will not be surprised to learn that I believe one of the most blatant examples of the preaching of "cheap grace" is the elaborate mythology of Hal Lindsey, John Hagee, Tim LaHaye, and other purveyors of dispensational premillennialism. This grievous hodgepodge of gnosticism, dualism, sensationalism, and escapism has been infecting the evangelical wing of the Christian faith for nearly two centuries. Although apparently in its death throes, it continues to command a large and devoted following because, at its root, it speaks to a deep felt, albeit unredeemed, human need. On the occasion of John Hagee's endorsement of John McCain, Anthony Sacramone reflects on the enduring popularity of "parsing the end times."

For those of you who have not been counting down to Armageddon since that concatenation of false prophecy The Late Great Planet Earth hit bookstores back in 1970, John Hagee’s ministry consists of oversize illustrations of who-is-going-to-invade-Israel before the always imminent Rapture sweeps all true Christians into the clouds with Jesus until the tribulation period, in which the Antichrist pursues some unfortunate economic policies until Christ returns again and establishes his 1,000-year reign on earth until Satan is loosed again to wreak havoc until Christ returns again again and Satan is finally thrown into the lake of fire with his minions and this guy Earl.

Everybody got that? Lots of killing, Rapture, clouds with Jesus (return 1A), Antichrist, Jesus returns (1B), lions and lambs, Satan loosed, Jesus returns (2), The End. (For a more interminably drawn-out version of this scenario, see the Left Behind books, movies, and videogames, which turn the bloodfest that is the end of history into madcap fun for the whole family—and a great Sunday school tool, too!)

The only thing wrong with this parsing of the End Times is that its biblical foundation is based on one or two badly misinterpreted verses of Scripture and a desperate need to hurry divine judgment before an awful reality sets in—sometimes life does not get any better. It bespeaks a now two-centuries-old desperation on the part of some folk who are having a hard time of it and just want out—or at the very least want to be vindicated for their beliefs in the face of so much unbelief. I do not doubt the genuineness of their faith, only the vacuity of some super-preachers’ dividing of the Word.

As N.T. Wright ably demonstrates in his new book, Surprised by Hope, there is work to be done here on the Third Rock from the Sun that is intrinsically linked to the coming Kingdom of God—and not just in terms of evangelism. Oh, and there is only one return of Christ, not two.

In a presidential election year in which we may well have to decide between the lesser of two evils, it is hardly comforting to know that the presumptive Republican nominee now has the endorsement of the man affectionately known as "Dr. Armageddon."

Cloning in the Days of Noah?

Hal Lindsey never seems to tire of putting his blatant ignorance of the Bible on display for all to see. His latest WorldNetDaily column once again illustrates how his interpretive method is influenced more by science fiction than sound exegesis. Lindsey warns of danger ahead because of the coming proliferation of human cloning. But the clones he fears will one day populate the earth will be derived from a digital, rather than a genetic, source.

At the rate human knowledge is expanding, it won't belong before the brain's electrical impulses can be captured and imaged the way a hard drive is today, in effect, storing "you" in a digital format.

And it won't be much longer after that before some whiz kid figures a way to transfer that image.

Add cloning to the mixture and the result would be a form of immortality. One could theoretically clone endless "blanks" of oneself and, barring violent death, live forever. It might be expensive, but how much is too much – if the alternative is death, anyway?

That may not be necessary, in any case. DNA research suggests that somewhere in the genetic code is the secret to eternal life – a kind of master switch that will turn off the normal aging process. That is the Holy Grail of genetic research, but even if such a master switch is never found, DNA research is leading to the eradication of all kinds of killer diseases.

At the very least, humanity will continue to enjoy ever-increasing life spans as medical research moves forward.

Either or both of these scenarios are more than possible; they are probable within the lifetime of some of those who are reading these words.

But both suggest dire consequences for the continuation of the human race. If life spans were extended, there would be less incentive to increase the current population. China's "one-child" policy could seem generous by comparison.

And then there is the possibility of endless cloning. Again, no reason to replenish the earth, and whatever the child of a clone might be, he would not be in the strictest sense of the word, "human." (If there really were no difference, there'd be no word for "clone.")

Within a few generations, the human race would be hopelessly contaminated, assuming there were any meaningful human reproduction at all.

All of these advances in technology, whether real or merely the product of a very fertile imagination, point to the return of Christ "in this generation." For Lindsey, "this generation" has now extended well beyond the forty-year biblical timetable. Believing the rebirth of Israel to be a pivotal prophetic event, Lindsey was confidently predicting the return of Christ during the "generation" between 1948 and 1988. In the twenty years since his initial prediction has gone by the wayside, he has steadfastly refused to repent of his error and merely pressed on with one prediction after another, each surpassing the other in outlandishness.

At the root of the problem for Lindsey is his utter lack of understanding of the most basic principles of biblical exegesis. Rather than reading the ancient text and discerning how it might be appropriately applied to a contemporary situation, he takes a contemporary situation or, as is the case presently, his worst case scenario based on perceived implications of a contemporary situation, and reads it back into the ancient text. The result is an embarrassingly shallow form of proof-texting which trivializes the sacred Word.

According to Genesis 6:1-6, the "sons of God" intermarried with "the daughters of men" and produced offspring that Genesis calls "giants" and "mighty men of renown." Genesis 6:9 records that Noah was found to be a "just" man and "perfect in his generations," i.e., untainted by the hybrid genes introduced into the human bloodline. Genesis 6:12 says that by this time, "all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth."

God saved Noah and his family alive and destroyed the hybrid population by sending the Flood.

When asked by His disciples to outline the signs of His return at the end of the age, Jesus told them, "And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man" (Luke 17:26).

A careful reading of the two chapters preceding Genesis 6 sheds enough light on the terms "sons of God" and "daughters of men" to expose Lindsey's ignorance. First, there is the genealogy of Cain, the firstborn of Adam and Eve, who murdered his brother Abel and became the father of a line of wicked, self-centered descendants who made names for themselves with various worldly accomplishments. The line of Cain culminates with Lamech, the first bigamist, who not only followed the murderous example of his great ancestor, but also boasted of his deed to his two wives.

Contrasted with the genealogy of Cain is the genealogy of Seth, the son born to Adam and Eve after Abel's death and Cain's exile. Unlike the line of Cain, the line of Seth is not noted for any accomplishments. But they are distinguished in that, beginning with Enosh, Seth's firstborn, they "called upon the name of the LORD."

Contrary to Lindsey's wild presuppositions, the intermarriage of "the sons of God" with "the daughters of men" is not a tainting of the human bloodline by some super-human or extra-terrestrial race. The increase of wickedness on the earth in "the days of Noah" was the result of the righteous descendants of Seth being seduced by the unrighteous descendants of Cain. Noah stood out as righteous in the sight of God not because he had avoided being tainted by some "hybrid gene," but because, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, he "called upon the name of the LORD."

Noah was, in his "days," a most unusual man. In fact, the only thing unusual in "the days of Noah" was Noah himself. When Jesus refers to "the days of Noah," he is hearkening back to a time when the people "were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage" (Luke 17:27). In other words, it was a time when daily life was pretty much business as usual. When God acts in judgment, as he did in "the days of Noah" and as he did in the destruction of Jerusalem (the actual event Jesus said would take place within "this generation," that is, the generation of his first disciples), he acts swiftly, decisively, and (for those who have lived in defiance of him) unexpectedly. The Word of God need not be embellished or sensationalized for this truth to come through loud and clear.