The Old Testament Witness to Christ and His Kingdom, Mentor's Guide, MG09

/ 2 0 1

T H E O L D T E S T A M E N T W I T N E S S T O C H R I S T A N D H I S K I N G D O M

Great Expectations Gone Wrong

Although every informed Christian would recognize the significance of Messianic prophecy in the ongoing theology, worship, and ministry of the Church, many have serious reservations on how much this ought to be emphasized as the core of Christian belief. For instance, a number of cults today rely heavily on prophetic visions and texts to make their claims about their own peculiar brand of Christian faith. The “Heaven’s Gate” cult of not too many years ago was essentially an eschatological (i.e., oriented around the end times) cult, with a full and steady diet of prophetic material which was twisted by their leaders to produce strange and tragic consequences to those who followed it. Likewise, the cult of Jim Jones and the People’s Church ultimately destroyed itself rooted in Rev. Jones’s bizarre interpretation of the prophetic texts, as did David Koresh and the Branch Davidian group. In many cases of weird, strange, and unbiblical community, one can trace its founding and flourishing to false, misleading interpretations of prophetic Scripture. What is the role of Messianic prophetic Scripture in the worship and preaching of the Church, and how do we avoid these weird and false interpretations as shown through the tragic cases above? (Based on a true story). In a discussion about social justice with a progressive urban ministry and its leaders, one of the key leaders made several critical points on the nature of the motive of urban ministry. She asked the question, “Of all the various motives that underlie genuine justice and peace seeking in the city, what virtue or mindset is most helpful and important to possess?” Those in attendance gave a number of different answers: love, compassion, faith, and resolve. After a brief discussion of these, the Director suggested in her calm and clear voice: “Although the various emotions and motivations that you listed are important and contribute to justice seeking, no motivation is as critical as anger. A true hatred of oppression and evil can provide you with all of the necessary courage and energy to wrestle with the forces that will seek to undermine your efforts and sustain its cruel abuse of others.” In further discussion someone in the forum suggested that the prophetic Word and its vision of the Messianic Kingdom to come could also fuel such justice work without the unintended consequences of anger. Upon hearing this, the Director responded, “Unfortunately, focusing on theological visions of the future can undermine the kind of focus you need to deal with issues before you here and now. Candidly, I have found that overmuch dwelling on the future can actually dull Focusing on the Future Can Dull Your Passion for Justice

page 335 4

4