Michele Bachmann says we have to convert as many Jews as we can, for Christ’s return is imminent

November 8, 2015 • 10:00 am

Right Wing Watch reproduces a conversation between former (thank G*d!) Representative Michele Bachmann and Family Research Council (FRC) president Tony Perkins. Both were in Israel for an FRC tour. Click on the screenshot below to hear the brief, four-minute segment in which Bachmann

Screen Shot 2015-11-08 at 7.40.30 AM

“We recognize the shortness of the hour,” she said, “and that’s why we as a remnant want to be faithful in these days and do what it is that the Holy Spirit is speaking to each one of us, to be faithful in the Kingdom and to help bring in as many as we can — even among the Jews — share Jesus Christ with everyone that we possibly can because, again, He’s coming soon.”

I wonder how soon? And why is she so sure, given the abysmal record of predictions about Jesus’s return. Remember, Jesus himself predicted that he’d return before his contemporaries were dead:

Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. (Matthew 16:28).

I’m not sure how theologians have explained that one away, but informed readers should tell us. At any rate, a 2010 Pew Poll found this:

By the year 2050, 41% of Americans believe that Jesus Christ definitely (23%) or probably (18%) will have returned to earth. However, a 46%-plurality of the public does not believe Christ will return during the next 40 years. Fully 58% of white evangelical Christians say Christ will return to earth in this period, by far the highest percentage in any religious group.

Why do they think that? What’s the evidence? Don’t these people realize that such predictions of Jesus’s imminent return have been made for centuries? Why now?

Such a belief is, of course, disasterious for environmentalism and conservation, for why bother to take care of the planet if the End Times are coming within four decades?
Michele-Bachmann-Newsweek

 

111 thoughts on “Michele Bachmann says we have to convert as many Jews as we can, for Christ’s return is imminent”

    1. Ms Bachmann is of the ‘lunacy’ as of the Ben Carson – genre. She is very book – smart: a mother or foster mother of a bagazillion kiddos and an attorney with a spouse himself of an ‘extremely high’ (?) level of education as well.

      I believe, and did before when she, with a childhood of Iowan and Minnesotan churchy upbringing both, was a national presidential candidate, that that genre is of the “say and do anything goddy for my own personal gains” – club.

      Albeit … … these clubbers, existent in massive numbers, are so frighteningly damaging to both other Humans and to All other thereupon the Earth.

      Blue

      1. “ … … existent in massive numbers” .visibly. and ‘out there’ = about which I meant to be clearer.

        Fortunately, and as has been pointed out by PCC(E) here @ WEIT countless times, the nones rapidly (and, happily, ! not ! vapidly) are increasing and “soon, soon and very soon” will overtake any and all o’these religiously drenched clubber – narcissistic – soooo, so selfish types !

        Blue

      2. Her husband is educated, but it didn’t work very well with him either. He has (or maybe had?) one of those clinics to turn gay people straight.

  2. Christ’s return has been imminent for almost 2000 years. His failure to do so became a big problem in early christianity. But the author of 2 Peter reassures his readers:

    4 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” […] 8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

    1. With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

      You know, it’s about bloody time the fool learned how to tell time and read a calendar. Little kids can figure out that, when the little hand is pointing to the four and the big hand is pointing straight up, it’s four o’clock and time for milk and cookies…so what’s his excuse? Forgot to wind up Mickey Mouse again again?

      And why hasn’t the slacker been fired yet? Try pulling that bullshit at any job where I’ve ever worked and that’s the last paycheck you’ll collect.

      b&

      2. cf. Maimonides’ “I believe with a full heart in the coming of the Messiah, and even though he may tarry I will still wait for him.”

        These Jewish and Christian Messiahs are lazy barks: Oblomov on sleeping pills. x

    2. One thinks of the Millerites in the 1840s in the U. S. All dressed up for the Rapture, atop the highest hill (not exactly a mountain there in Ohio) awaiting the End that never came. It never does come but that isn’t a problem for the new generation of reconfigurers of the date and time.

      You know, the persistence of this delusion tells me that those deluded are so resentful of the rest of us that they want us ‘left behind’ to whatever fiery fate is in store, just as they want paradise only for themselves.

      I don’t think Ms. Bachmann would let me into the gondola of her heaven-bound balloon even were I to point to the Blood of the Lamb still fresh on my tunic. . . ‘Oh, no, not you buddy, you can’t be saved because you’re still a socialist. I can smell it on you.’

      1. Bachmann and her legion of ignorant fools should be informed that failed predictions of the second coming are almost routine, although perhaps it wouldn’t do any good. The Millerite movement of the 1840s is indeed a classic example. Wikipedia has a good article on its rise and fail.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millerism

        But, for the faithful, so trapped in their delusions, so hungry for eternal life, their rational faculties so dimmed by their constant exposure to religious propaganda, they are the perfect dupes for the next charismatic figure to come along. Some of these figures may actually believe in what they say or they may just be garden variety hucksters, but it doesn’t really matter. In either case, their “victims” are the perfect marks.

      2. The Millerites changed their prophecy when Jesus didn’t turn up – they “realized” they made a mistake and Jesus actually went into a celestial waitin roon for 1,000 years in 1840. He’ll be back after a bit more prep.

        1. Isn’t part of the problem that, despite our best efforts, we just haven’t yet gotten enough Armageddon going in the Middle East to suit his tastes?

          We’ve just gotta up our game…

          1. Don’t encourage them! 🙂

            I’ve got a bit of a fear of Armageddon etc being a self-fulfilling prophecy, so I’m partly serious here. It doesn’t take many irrational people in the wrong place for disaster to strike when they’re all so sure of themselves.

          2. You’re absolutely right. The mix of antiquated apocalyptic religious views and modern destructive capabilities is very worrisome, indeed. I’ve been following risksandreligion.org lately–lots of interesting material on this topic. Apparently, the site’s founder will soon have a book out, entitled The End. Should make for a chilling read.

  3. Before he can return, doesn’t he have to have had come in the first place?

    Or, in other words: when will Zeus, Superman, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and the Easter bunny “return”?

    b&

          1. A comedian said once, “I spent all Xmas eve sitting in front of the fireplace with a knife and a billy club; I wuz gonna get me ALL of them presents!”

  4. Some theologians, the Preterists, think that since the Bible is inerrant, Jesus must have actually returned to earth already, but that nobody noticed!

    1. I thought Preterism was only the belief that Revelation referred to events occurring in the 1st century AD, and that the Second Coming was still in our future? But I’m not exactly an expert so I may not know what I’m talking about.

    2. Re:

      “Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. (Matthew 16:28).”

      I’ll put money on the apologists redefining “taste of death” into something other than death. If I were to scam this, that’s the direction I’d take.

        1. It’s the alternate name for Fisherman’s Friend throat lozenges. :S

          If you think I’m kidding, pick up a pack at your nearest drug store (apothecary) and try one. How they work: You have a sore throat. You allow one of these to dissolve in your mouth. Afterwards, you’re so thankful that the lozenge is gone that you’ve totally forgotten about your sore throat.

          2. The best OTC stuff for sore throats are the citrus-flavored lozenges, at lease in my experience.

            The best thing to get over the first-part-of-a-cold sore throat stage is 2 Percocet, 6 hours apart. (I had some left over from a prior surgery and tried one.) Works wonders. And there’s no reason a GP shouldn’t be able to Rx you 4 Percocet at the start of a cold. You’re NOT going to get hooked on the stuff with just 4 pills (which are also actually cheaper than the throat lozenges).

            Seriously.

          3. My doctor spiny prescribe anything known to be at all addictive in the least. He doesn’t care how much the pain.

            I like honey lozenges though I find I get a sore stomach taking a lot of them.

          5. I’m guessing autocowrecked, but I can’t for the life of me figure out what the original would have been. “Won’t” is the obvious answer from context, but I don’t know how you get from that to, “spiny.”

            Regardless…Diana, it’s inexcusable in this day and age for a physician to take that sort of attitude towards pain management. It’s about as barbaric as not autoclaving surgical tools between uses. Indeed, ever since the discovery that ether could mitigate the pain of childbirth, it’s been inexcusable…but the Puritanical bastards, like the Whore of Calcutta, see suffering either as a virtue for you to endure or just punishment for your transgressions. And the empirical claims are unfounded…with proper management and oversight, there’s no more chances of you getting addicted to prescription painkillers than there is of you developing a resistant bacterial infection from taking antibiotics. It’d cost him his license to generally fail to prescribe indicated antibiotics on such fears, and it should equally cost him his license to generally fail to prescribe indicated painkillers on the same fears.

            Any chance you can find a civilized physician rather than this bloodletting barber?

            b&

          6. I think “spiny” was supposed to be “doesn’t” but I actually like the name and wonder if it weren’t Freudian.

            Thankfully, he prescribed me the beta blockers and they seem to be working. So far I have gone 5 days without a migraine. Tomorrow will be the test as there is a huge weather change and many people are already suffering with headaches.

          7. …and the five days should be plenty for the beta blockers to have built up in your system and done whatever it is they’re supposed to do.

            Even if you do get an headache, see if you can tell if it’s as bad as normal. But here’s hoping for no headache at all….

            b&

          8. So far still good – it’s pouring rain here & I don’t have a migraine. However, by Thursday, we are supposed to get a lot of wind as a front moves through so that will be a good test too.

          11. Are there, Diana, gypsies in your ancestry, perhaps? I ask this, because I had a friend who was a gypsy in my youth who was wheezing away and looking dreadful one day to the extent that I told him he should rest for a day or two. But the next day he turned , bright as a button. ‘How did you get over that, Eric?’ I asked. ‘You looked to be at death’s door yesterday.’ ‘Cuppa warm hedgehog fat,’ he replied. ‘Get that down you, and it makes you clean as a whistle!’ So perhaps that ‘spiny’ might be some sort of ancestral memory jogging your fingers as you type… (And the above really happened – in a local pub in a small village in Bedfordshire where in my mis-spent youth I was lodging.)

        2. I think that taste of death is a flavor in Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans. Ask Dumbledore.

      2. I think you nailed the mainstream protestant view in one.

        That view is; this passage is referring to spiritual death, as in going to hell. Because of Jesus, people will go to heaven now and so not ‘taste death’ in this way. At least, the saved will.

    3. Mormons get around the “shall not taste death” issue by believing that John the Beloved is still alive. Search for “mormon immortal john” to find more information, and “mormon twinkling” for a related general concept of being made immortal without leaving Earth.

  6. It’s hard not to see these people to be deluded as scientologists. It is all indoctrination, brain washing and shame that keeps this insane belief going. It is dangerous in the modern world.

    2. +1! All we need is for someone to believe they rule by divine appointment and could hasten the return of the messiah/prophet etc to get their hands on some nukes.

  7. She keeps saying everything is speeding up and they all nod, yes. What the hell is speeding up Michelle? Is it the trains, the molecules, what? Then – we all have a job to do. What is the job Michelle? Maybe it is just embarrassing the rest of us.

    She needs to stop by Dr. Carson’s place and get the next date. I think their first one was 1844 and they are all really tired of waiting.

    1. What is ‘speeding up’ is the rate of change of cultural evolution. Like Ms. Bachmann, I find this dizzyingly incomprehensible; unlike her, I would urge us all to wake up from our puerile daydreams and try to get a grip on fast-changing reality. Might fail, but it’s our only chance.

      1. You finish with – It’s our only chance. Our only chance to what? Try to get a grip on fast changing reality.

        With modern technology society does move and change faster but I do not see this as something to fear or something we need to be awakened to. We just have to adjust and evolve with it, just as all living things do.

  8. The religious ramblings that either make you a hobo shouting at random pedestrians or an elected politician. But only in America.

    1. As for shouting at pedestrians, listening to Michelle’s drivel, I was reminded of something that happened to me. Years ago, before they “cleaned up” Times Square in Manhattan for tourists, it was far more interesting. I was walking through it on my daily commute from work when a “hobo” waved a bible in my face, shouting “Jesus is coming”. My reply was “Please be sure to let me know when he gets here.”

  9. “I’m not sure how theologians have explained that one away, but informed readers should tell us.”

    I think the idea is that they don’t die if their Christian. But that is a huge stretch of the words used.

  10. This movement is real and growing. Last week, for the first time, we were accosted at our door by two creepy people who actually tried to push in past my wife while saying, “We’re from our church’s Jewish outreach program.” They had come to our (largely Jewish) neighbourhood in southwest Calgary to help us all find Jesus. We were (seriously) pushing against our own door while one of the people on the other side is yelling, “Do you own a Bible? I’m reading Isaiah right now and you should, too.” I’d like to say that it is none of their f*g business, but that’s the problem – this actually is their business.

    2. The disturbing thing is, they believe they’re doing Good Work, saving you. Brought up in a different environment, these are the same people who believe the proper response to your “failure” to believe is to kill you.

      At least all the most they probably did was go home and pray for you and plan another approach, rather than plan your death.

      I don’t know how the law works there. I looked into getting a protection order so these people couldn’t even knock on my door to assault me with their ideas, but it wasn’t possible.

      1. Unfortunately, much as I’d like an excuse to kick proselytisers off my porch (aren’t I nasty?), the only ones we get are a couple of Polynesian JW ladies, sometimes with a kid in tow, who knock gently on the door and go away politely when I tell them the missus is (a) out or (b) asleep.

        I think they’re only doing it because they’re obliged to.

        cr

        1. The JWs bug me the most – it’s nearly always old ladies and kids, and I just can’t be rude to them. They have to do it whether they want to or not, and the kids don’t understand. It’s probably reinforcing their stereotypes if I’m nasty. Which is what annoys me. The leaders of these effing churches know exactly what they’re doing.

          I don’t mind the Mormons. They’re usually nice young men, and always scrupulously friendly and polite and never pushy.

          The main problem is they always come around when I’m still in bed, and I struggle to the door thinking no-one I know would be disturbing me this early unless it was important, and it’s a bloody six-year-old and their great-grandmother wanting to tell me about Jesus, and I have to be nice to them while I’m thinking horrible things about the people who sent them out. I’d rather just avoid the whole situation.

          1. I think I’ve posted it here before, but a trick for dealing with JWs is as follows: Greet them, tell them, “I’d love to hear more about your amazing religion, but I’ve got a roast in the oven I have to check; I’ll be back soon.” Then, shut the door and never go back, secure in the knowledge that they understand that the word, “soon” is VERY flexible!

    3. Thanks for the commiserating overtures. If these people become regulars at our door, we may need to install that ice bucket or ask the police for advice. As it is, I feel sorry for anyone who suffer from delusions and/or are sent out by their leaders to do this sort of ‘work’. But they are unwelcome, invasive, and annoying. When they left, we had to have a chat with our youngsters regarding the people who had been shoving our door open a few moments earlier.

  11. “Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. (Matthew 16:28).”

    Another interpretation of those sentences would be that some of the people that Jesus is addressing are still alive. It would have produced some interesting consequences for the development of Christianity if some of his disciples had turned out to be immortal….

    1. Jesus was talking to aliens who were hanging around at that time. Surely they must live very long or otherwise they couldn’t have travelled to earth.

      1. Or time travelers. There have been several stories in which the crowd at the crucifixion is composed mostly of time travelers. Then they could just zip along to the end of time and see how it turned out.

  12. I don’t know if there is a standard line about that verse from Matthew, but I always thought it was comparatively easy to explain. (The more serious challenges, which helped unsettle my faith, are the different genealogies, the inconsistent post-crucifixion timelines, and Jesus’ very odd behavior toward a fig tree.) Anyway, I’m not sure I’m a more informed reader but … here’s how I think it’s supposed to go.

    The bit where Jesus says that some of those standing there won’t taste death till they see him coming in his kingdom is from the very end of Chapter 16. The very first thing that happens in Chapter 17 is the “transfiguration.” Jesus takes his three closest disciples up a mountain, where: “His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.” I think the idea is that the transfiguration is the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise. The original text doesn’t have chapter or verse markings. So, I suspect that the connection was a bit clearer to ancient readers.

    1. Jesus’ very odd behavior toward a fig tree

      That’s a rather naked example of the anti-Semitism that runs rampant throughout Christianity and the Gospels. The fig tree was and remains a symbol of the Torah and Torah scholarship.

      b&

      1. Ironically, “throwing a fig” is a medievalism for giving the finger or our modern euphemism of “flipping the bird”. The circle of blasphemers in Dante’s Inferno are “throwing figs at God”. I don’t think there’s any connection to the figs being a symbol of Judaism, but it’s still a strange irony.

        (When Laurence Olivier’s film of “Henry V” was released in America in 1944, the Hayes office insisted on editing out all uses of the word “bastard” and “damn” but the line “A figo for thee, Harry” remained because they didn’t know what it meant.)

    2. Yes this is the traditional orthodox explanation for these embarrassing words but there is clear evidence in the tradition that the earliest strain of the Jesus “movement” was apocalypticist and immanentist.

      John the Baptist is quoted as saying “The ax is already at the root of the trees…”. Paul clearly expected the end in his own lifetime (“we who are alive and remain…). I think the teachings of the historical Jesus are pretty much encapsulated in Mark 1:15 –

      “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

    3. But if the transfiguration was what Jesus was supposedly referring to then it would make no sense for him to have said that some there at that moment would still be alive. Because, as you said, that happened soon after that proclamation.

      And also, there are at least two other verses in the Gospels that indicate that Jesus was indeed referring to the time span of his followers lives.

      Bart Ehrman detailed those verses in one of his books, though at this moment I can’t recall the exact one.

  13. You know if it was just a few people like this we could have a good guffaw but the truth is there are millions of Americans who think in just this way. This is why Israel is playing such a dangerous game in accepting the support of these folks simply because they perceive them as pro-Israel.

    “Useful idiots” maybe but in the end these people believe that a small remnant of Jews will convert and the rest will be consumed in the fires of Jehovah’s vengeance. If push comes to shove do you really imagine these folks would be reluctant to help that come about?

      1. Surely, Israel is in a position to pick its allies, and would, had it some sensible politicians in charge.

        ‘…even among the Jews…’, says Bachman: one wonders if she begins to recognise the depth of the anti-Semitism that lies in that seemingly innocuous little phrase.

        1. I don’t know your definition of what “sensible politicians” are, but it might be that Israel already had them in charge at some point in the past, yet had no allies besides the U.S. either.

          1. ‘…it might be that Israel already had them in charge at some point in the past…’

            ‘might be’? Here’s an example:

            Yitzhak Rabin (1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995)

            Those in charge at present seem to be doing their best to spoil alliances, not maintain them or make new ones.

          2. I used “might be” because the definition of “sensible Israeli leader” varies from “no Israeli leader can be sensible when the whole country is illegitimate” to “Netanyahu or someone even tougher”. I probably agree with you on Rabin, but did Israel had any allies then aside from the US?

  14. Ah yes believing the big lie of eternal life, John 3:16, John 6:54 and others. They forget the fact that everyone goes into the grave, body and soul and Jesus raises everyone believers and nonbelievers alike on the last day, believers go to heaven nonbelievers to hell with satan. There isn’t anyone in heaven now except the trinity.

    It gets a bit confusing. There are some contradictions, go figure but the theme is we’ll all be raised and judged on the last day or in other places nonbelievers may not be raised and have eternal death, oh it’s so confusing!

  15. This is actually a commonplace among fundamentalist christians of the dispensationalist variety. It comes from Romans 11. The whole chapter speaks to the issue; the key verses are: 25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

    26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.

    This is what is referenced in the lines from Marvell’s To His Coy Mistress:

    I would
    Love you ten years before the Flood;
    And you should, if you please, refuse
    Till the conversion of the Jews.

    It probably also played a large part in Hal Lindsey’s The Late Great Planet Earth, but it’s been (thankfully) so long since I read that that I don’t remember for sure.

    It’s all religious babbling, of course, but it’s probably important for us to know whence cometh such babbling.

    1. Puke!! That Is a funny Word!! I am still waiting for John Lennon to return. For if a mythical character Can return, why not an actual Person? Sucks to Be me!! I think I’ll Be waiting a long, long time. I got time.

  19. It is a little chilling to see even today that there are Christians who are one step away from a policy of forced conversions. If we were a theocracy I have no doubt that such things would start to happen. And in theocracies will come people who believe it is right to kill apostates, as it is commanded several times in the Bible.

    1. My responses to the three sentences of your post are, respectively, correct, correct, and correct.

      But, for a touch more detail on the first sentence, for some truly terrifying reading, check out American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America by Chris Hedges and Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism by Michelle Goldberg.

  20. Such a belief is, of course, disasterious for environmentalism and conservation, for why bother to take care of the planet if the End Times are coming within four decades?

    That reminded me of how religion – all religion – is disastrous for generosity and forgiveness.

    “With so many children from different cultures, the new study offers vital insights, said Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi, a psychologist at the University of Haifa in Israel and an expert in the psychology of religion. He suspects the results are connected to the importance many religions place on an external authority and threats of divine punishment. Whereas children in religious households learn to act out of obedience to a watchful higher power, children raised in secular homes could be taught to follow moral rules just because it’s “the right thing to do,” he says. Then, “when no one is watching, the kids from nonreligious families behave better.””

    [ http://news.sciencemag.org/brain-behavior/2015/11/nonreligious-children-are-more-generous ]

    In the paper (that I have just browsed) they did a t-test for significance. But, how is this for irony:

    “This research was supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation”.

    [ http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(15)01167-7 ]

  21. Some of the research on Ms Bachmann shows her to be a fan of Dominion Theology. Isn’t this something like the ISIS version of Christianity?

    1. Yes, not unlike the global totalitarian ambitions of ISIS. Dominion Theology is rather scary because of the way it mixes religion and politics.

      (www.risksandreligion.org)

  22. Ms. Bachmann would be headed for legal troubles if she is proselytizing Christianity in Israel. Such actions are illegal there.

  23. I don’t know which group is worse; the Delusional or the Self-delusional. Either way, it’s a form of mental illness. The lunatics have escaped the Asylum and now they’re taking over the world!

  24. Apocalyptic fervour is very, very scary!

    I had a ‘happy clappy’ (pentecostalist) neighbour who refused to recycle her garbage – because, the sooner we trashed the planet, the sooner Jesus would return.

    Oi vey?

  26. This is the woman who demonstrated her Americanness by wishing Elvis a happy birthday on the Aug 16 death anniversary

    then claimed to be from the same town as cowboy actor John Wayne

    when she’s from the same town as child killer John Wayne Gacey

    1. Maybe she is a fan of Elvis?

      John Wayne, same state but different towns.

      John Gasy, different state.

      1. He died in August, his birthday was January. HE is also the basis of one of the first internet religions, but didn’t get the traction of the Invisible Pink Unicorn or the Flying Spagetti monster – RAmen

  27. The types of Christians I find most disconcerting are theocratic Christians and apocalypse-obsessed Christians.

    (I’ll make a rare exception in the first case for Leibnitz, the co-inventor of calculus and I’ll make a rare exception in the second case for the other co-inventor of calculus and the discoverer of gravity, Isaac Newton.)

    Bachmann is both, and a lethal combination of the two. She is also my 3rd place most disconcerting type of Christian, deeply anti-science. (Her remarks in Congress over carbon dioxide levels really grate.)

    Ditto with modification Jonathan Livengood above. The verse has been interpreted both as an account of the transfiguration and/or the combined events of resurrection, ascension, and Pentecost.

    In a moment of intellectual honesty, C.S. Lewis once called this (or the corresponding passage in Mark 13:30-3) one of the most embarrassing verses of the Bible (essay “The World’s Last Night”) which it is from a historical perspective, though from a moral perspective, there are worse.

    1. My apologies for flagrant and tacky self-promotion, but this is an issue I genuinely find extremely interesting and have researched a lot. You can read more about the dangers of dispensationalism, as well as apocalyptic beliefs among Muslims, on my Institute’s website: http://www.risksandreligion.org. I’m really quite scared about the collision of ancient normative worldviews and unprecedentedly powerful advanced technologies.

  28. I can’t help but wonder how many evangelical politicians serving in the U.S. Congress today are making policy decisions influenced by the assumption the world will end soon or by some other deeply ingrained religious doctrine. It has to be happening, and I think if we knew how often, we would be very afraid.

    1. That reminds me of James Watt, sec of interior under R.Regan. He, I believe, said the world would soon end so no need to protect the environment.

        1. No, it was a long time ago.
          Here’s Wikipedia’s take on him being misquoted on that point.
          ————————————–
          One apocryphal quote attributed to Watt is “After the last tree is felled, Christ will come back”, although the statement has not been confirmed. Glenn Scherer, writing for Grist magazine, erroneously attributed this remark to the 1981 testimony by Watt before Congress.[11] Journalist Bill Moyers, relying on the Grist article, also attributed the comment to Watt. After it was discovered that the quote was mistaken, Grist corrected the error, and Moyers apologized.[12] Watt denied the attribution, and protested such characterization of his policy.[13]
          ————————————–
          So, he’s off the hook on that quote, but, even without it, Watt was a pretty nasty fox guarding the hen house as secretary of interior.

          1. I’m reposting something I mentioned above, but it’s relevant to this thread: I discuss James Watt’s view in a forthcoming book, but the gist is summarized in some detail on my Institute’s website: http://www.risksandreligion.org. Watt really did believe in the imminent return of Christ, as did Reagan when he first entered office. In fact, he specifically talked about how the world’s end is rapidly approaching, and how Russia must be Gog, mentioned in Ezekiel. The influence of apocalyptic beliefs on politics is a fascinating and *ongoing* issue that’s worth taking seriously, and seriously studying.

          2. I recall reading that Bush was going on about Gog to, I believe to Jacques Chirac & Chriac was baffled & had to ask his people what the heck he was going on about.

          3. *sigh*
            I do take it seriously. Presidential candidates should be evaluated by a board of psychiatrists. These loonies would be eliminated from consideration before American democracy embarrasses itself once again.

  30. Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. (Matthew 16:28).

    I’m not sure how theologians have explained that one away, but informed readers should tell us

    There are probably as many dodges to this as there are sects. The sect I grew up with interpreted “his kingdom” as the church (the collection of believers he made). This was exemplified by Jesus’ transfiguration and, a bit later, by the “coming of the Holy Spirit” as described in Acts (the whole flames on the disciple’s heads thing).

    As other commenters have noted, there is obvious evidence in the New Testament that early Christians were bothered by the failure of Jesus to have already returned. “Peter” assures them that God’s idea of time is different than theirs, which might have worked for people who just had a general sense that Jesus is taking a long time, but it totally fails for anyone who has the text of Matthew in hand because, no matter how relative a year is to God, the measure “some shall not taste death” can’t really be stretched that far. Probably most of the audience for the book of 2 Peter did not have the text of Matthew at hand to puzzle over, so they might not even have suffered the little hit of cognitive dissonance that modern Christians do when they encounter this verse for the first time.

      1. Ant, 2 Peter is Norman Hunter, really late, the last of the NT books if memory serves: so it counts as an out-and-out forgery. And yes, you just robbed Paul to say ‘Peter’ – you’re crossing your Ps. x

  31. You could make a pretty good horror movie just about that woman’s eyes……the very epitome of, “glassy-eyed fanaticism”: what’s REALLY scary is that she was on the House Committee on “Intelligence”!

  32. If Carson gets in we are all f*$&”d! He’s a Seventh Day Adventist, a product of the Great Disappointment, & likely to be one himself if he has control… seriously, nutters like him could encourage catastrophic behaviour.

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