Evangelicals: Oppose Park51 At Your Own Eschatological Risk

From Religion Dispatch (RD) Magazine, Zionica.com and The Christian Reader:

OpinionSeptember 2, 2010Evangelicals, Oppose Park51 At Your Own Eschatological Risk


For evangelicals and fundamentalists opposed to the Muslim Community Center in Manhattan

By Stephen V. Anderson

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Thy will (will) be done.

Stephen V. Anderson





Stephen V. Anderson practices his faith in a nondenominational evangelical church just north of Albany, New York. He teaches at the University at Albany (SUNY).



Alright evangelical and/or fundamentalist pundits* opposed to Park51, the ‘Ground Zero mosque,’ who art thou?



Are thee the faithful, praying/hoping/waiting for the imminent return of Christ, or are thee like the believers in Ephesus who forsook their first love in the name of zealotry (Revelation 2**)?



What if each mosque is (a not uncommon allegation) a potential recruitment and training center the ultimate purpose of which is to bring about the One World Government prophesized in the book of Revelation (17:12-13)?



What if “God has put it into their hearts (the powers that be, e.g., Bloomberg, Paterson, the president) to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to give the beast (the Antichrist) their power to rule, until God’s words are fulfilled (Revelation 17:17)?”



What if Islam (or a variant thereof) is the false religion referred to in the Bible to effectuate the prophetic rise and the ultimate destruction (Revelation 20:10) of:



Babylon the Great

The Mother of the Prostitutes

And the Abominations of the Earth?

Keeping in mind that “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father (Matthew 24:36)” what if the efforts of those who oppose the Park mosque (or any mosque) are impediments to the Second Coming of Christ?



Of course, whether anyone opposes Park51, any mosque, or the spread of Islam, God’s will be done, and God’s will will be done, despite a few blog posts, op-eds, protests, or commentary from an observer in upstate New York.



A recent blog post by Chuck Norris on the American Family Association’s Web site summarizes what many evangelical commentators think about the president’s recent foray into all that is Park51. “Obama is not just rebooting America’s image in the Muslim world. He’s deepening and expanding Islamic belief, practice, culture around the world, like a Muslim missionary.”



I think not… but if true… it might be exactly what the Creator ordered (cf. The Late, Great Planet Earth; Left Behind).



(Memo to Rev. Lindsey: Being one of the millions of teenagers who came of age in the glory years of The Late, Great Planet Earth, assigning numerical values to letters in the last names of various world leaders certain that a summed value of 666 would reveal the identity of the Antichrist; read your own book! [Kissinger was the lead candidate in 1974, the year I graduated from high school].)



Irony: that many of those most convinced Obama is not a Christian (and/or an Islamic seed ready to sprout) are pinning their hopes and pledging allegiance to a Mormon. If one questions the president’s religious identity (as unclear, a ruse or “You Lie!”) how much more must that be so for (the soon to be ordained?) Mr. Beck?



More irony: that those most convinced socialism is imminent are the ones pleading for government intervention. Ponder the demands that local, state and federal officials and agencies step in and ban the burqa in lower Manhattan. Turns out the libertarians are Obama, Bloomberg, and the evening commentators on MSNBC and the socialists are Palin, Giuliani, and the evening crew at FOX News. The hypocritical have become the hypocrites.



There’s a remarkable scene in The Return of the King, the third movie (and book) in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. The Christ figure, Aragorn, offers the King of the Dead and the Dead themselves an opportunity to restore their honor (lost for having worshipped Sauron, the Satan figure) by joining Him to fight Sauron.



“Fight for us and regain your honor. What say you?”



Is pledging allegiance to (showing up, funding, supporting, following) a Mormon who promises the Restoration of Honor at the base of the Lincoln Memorial not only a false hope but an act of spiritual treason (Matthew 7:15)?



Substituting the sacramental wine (or grape juice) with tea does not a literal or symbolic transubstantiated elixir make.



So evangelical and/or fundamentalist pundits opposed to Park51: What say you?







*The list of notable commentators and/or organizations espousing similar points of view include Hal Lindsey, Tim Pawlenty, Pat Robertson, Franklin Graham, Bill Keller, Richard Land (Southern Baptist Convention), Cal Thomas, Ken Blackwell (Family Research Council), and Bryan Fischer (American Family Association). Some mainline Protestants and Catholics commentators espouse similar points of view.



**All citations are from the NIV