{"id":358,"date":"2008-03-26T06:37:59","date_gmt":"2008-03-26T14:37:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/cog-news\/cogaics-david-hulme-and-the-apocalypse\/"},"modified":"2008-03-26T06:37:59","modified_gmt":"2008-03-26T14:37:59","slug":"cogaics-david-hulme-and-the-apocalypse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/cog-news\/cogaics-david-hulme-and-the-apocalypse\/","title":{"rendered":"COGaIC’s David Hulme and the Apocalypse"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n“Orthodox”\u00a016th Century Representation\u00a0of the “Apocalypse”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

In the latest edition of its Vision <\/em>magazine, COGaIC’s David Hulme <\/a>wrote an article titled Apocalypse Now, Later or Never?<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 In it he states:<\/p>\n

Of what value is the book of Revelation? Does it foretell the cataclysmic end of the world? Is it a historical record of events long past, or perhaps a call to moral responsibility? Or should it be read merely as first-century literature aimed at a first-century audience?<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Apocalypse, or book of Revelation, is a puzzle to most people who take the time to read it. Filled with strange visions, blood and smoke, terrifying warfare, fearsome beasts, and evil rulers, it reads like a nightmare of the worst kind. It was set down by a man named John as a result of his extraordinary experiences on the Roman prison island of Patmos, near the coast of what is today western Turkey.<\/p>\n

The Greek term apokalypsis,\u00a0<\/em>from which the book\u2019s titles come, means \u201cthe revealing\u201d or \u201cthe unveiling\u201d\u2014in this case, of things to come. Yet most people\u2019s reactions suggest that, far from uncovering the future, the book\u2019s contents remain little understood. The one exception concerns the massive confrontation between God and unrepentant humanity near the close of \u201cthe present age.\u201d Thus apocalypse<\/em>\u00a0has developed the variant meanings of \u201coverwhelming catastrophe,\u201d \u201ccataclysm,\u201d or even \u201cArmageddon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps there\u2019s a good reason for this general lack of clarity\u2014something to discuss as we proceed.<\/p>\n

In the preface to early editions of Martin Luther\u2019s New Testament translation, the reformer famously said of Revelation,\u00a0\u201cLet everyone think of it as his own spirit leads him.\u201d He judged the record of John\u2019s visions to be \u201cneither apostolic nor prophetic\u201d (though over time he came to a different view). English Bible scholar J.B. Phillips expressed similar misgivings…<\/p>\n

Not everyone has felt that way…<\/p>\n

Harry Maier is a Canadian scholar of German extraction, whose Lutheran parents fled Soviet-occupied Eastern Europe following the Second World War…<\/p>\n

Maier eschews the gloom and doom approach of fundamentalists who focus only on the catastrophic end of human society. He takes the second of Kovacs\u2019 and Rowland\u2019s approaches and emphasizes concerned action in the present.<\/p>\n

A similar view comes from New Testament scholar Craig Evans, for whom the Apocalypse is primarily a call to Christian responsibility and responsiveness…<\/p>\n

Like Maier, Evans is not enamored of the \u201cend-time\u201d approach. He told Vision,<\/em>\u00a0\u201cPeople get into the type of interpretation that I don\u2019t like. It involves taking Bible passages and comparing them to newspaper headlines and trying to draw inferences about eschatology. I find it reckless and irresponsible. And though it seems to meet a lot of needs for a lot of Christians, especially in the West, I find it frankly deplorable.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Frankfurter is a scholar who represents the third approach. He is interested in Revelation from a different perspective: \u201cI think this is very important as historical literature, and I think it has had a tremendous impact on the history of art, the history of literature, the history of culture\u2014and I think it should be studied for that. I would be afraid of talking about this as having a helpful message, either for people who are in difficult straits in this world or for people who are hoping for a better world, because the violence that is committed\u2014against, not oppressors, but those who are unclean in this text\u2014is quite extreme.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet a complete reading of the Apocalypse cannot avoid the conclusion that while there is certainly the call to moral responsibility, there is also a clearly defined cataclysmic end to human evil. What Kovacs and Rowland have defined as either\/or approaches in Revelation\u2019s reception history are not the only way to read the book. Nor is Frankfurter\u2019s purely historical view the only alternative. We can have all three, without the pitfalls of fundamentalism…<\/p>\n

As the book\u2019s opening verse clearly states, Revelation\u2019s initial audience was limited to the servants of God. It was not a public message. Today, of course, it is public in the sense that it appears in millions of Bibles in hundreds of languages and dialects. But that does not necessarily mean that it is understood by a wider group than originally. In fact, as we have seen, its reception throughout history tells us otherwise. Despite its ready availability, it is poorly understood by the majority.<\/p>\n

The reason is bound up in a seldom-grasped biblical truth: most people will not understand God\u2019s purpose and plan and respond positively to Him in this lifetime. In fact, the very negative reaction of most of humanity is itself part of the story as the book of Revelation unfolds…<\/p>\n

It is clear that so many parts of the Bible are interconnected and consistent with each other. When we connect the dots, it becomes obvious that one day God will intervene to resolve human problems. Earlier we saw that, broadly speaking, readers have adopted one of two perspectives on the book. Harry Maier is one who takes the view that action in the present is the appropriate response to the book\u2019s themes, rather than belief that the end of the world is in sight…<\/p>\n

While we cannot know exactly when the present age of human self-government will end, nor the precise moment of Jesus Christ\u2019s return, the Apocalypse does unveil the kind of world that will precede His coming. It also teaches those who have ears to hear, how they must distance themselves from the way of man\u2014the \u201cgovernment of Caesar\u201d\u2014and anticipate, by their way of living, the coming sovereignty of God and His Son.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

One of the many problems with how\u00a0David Hulme\u00a0writes is that while he brings up subjects and worldly perspectives, he rarely provides clear answers as to what he is teaching (COGaIC is light on prophetic understanding as far as I have been able to tell, more information is in the article on the teachings of the Church of God, an International Community (COG aic)<\/a>).\u00a0 Of course, this may be intentional to not offend those inside or outside his church.<\/p>\n

But\u00a0he is correct that Martin Luther did not care for the Book of Revelation–he also did not care for 17 other books of the Bible either(please see the article Sola Scriptura <\/em>or Prima Luther? <\/em>What Did Martin Luther Really Believe About the Bible?<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The Roman Catholics<\/a>\u00a0tend to minimize the prophecies of the book (and oppose its teachings on the millennium<\/a>).\u00a0 And the Apocalypse is the only book of the Bible that the Eastern Orthodox <\/a>never read in their church services.<\/p>\n

And most Protestants<\/a> either discount it because Martin Luther and many of the early “reformers” did, or they misunderstand it and teach a rapture concept that allows them to ignore what it shows (although there are a minority of people who consider themselves Protestant that have not fallen into either of those ditches and some few of them are seeking to understand it).<\/p>\n

The truth is that the end is coming, the Book of Revelation itself gives a variety of details on it, and David Hulme is correct that by connecting the dots a fuller picture of end-time events can be understood.<\/p>\n

And, although he did not mention it, many current world news events are occurring that show that the prophecies of the Bible, including those in the Apocalypse are soon coming to pass.<\/p>\n

A couple of articles of possibly related interest may include:<\/p>\n

The Churches of Revelation 2 & 3<\/a> Do they matter? Most say they must, but act like they do not. This article contains some history about the Church of God (sometimes referred to as the continuation of Primitive Christianity) over the past 2000 years.
\nDid The Early Church Teach Millenarianism and a 6000 Year Plan?<\/a>Was a 6,000 year time allowed for humans to rule followed by a literal thousand year reign of Christ on Earth (often called the millennium or sometimes chiliasm) taught by the early Christians? Is this time near?
\nDo Certain Catholic Prophecies About Antichrist Warn Against Jesus?<\/a> Will the final “Anti-Christ” be Jewish, insist on Saturday, be opposed to the trinity, and bring in the millennium? Catholic writings indicate this, but what does the Bible show?
\nWho Are The Two Witnesses?<\/a> What is their job? What does the Bible reveal? What has the Church of God taught on this subject? Might even Roman Catholic prophecies give some clues here?
\nIs There A Secret Rapture for the Church? When and Where is the Church Protected?<\/a>\u00a0What does the Bible really teach? Who really is left behind<\/em>?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Orthodox”\u00a016th Century Representation\u00a0of the “Apocalypse”\u00a0 In the latest edition of its Vision magazine, COGaIC’s David Hulme wrote an article titled Apocalypse Now, Later or Never?\u00a0 In it he states: Of what value is the book of Revelation? Does it foretell the cataclysmic end of the world? Is it a historical record of events long past, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cog-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cogwriter.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}