TV Preachers on the Go

If our society gets worse and worse, as many of my Christian friends are expecting it to--mostly because of a negative view of history than anything else--then I shall be glad. With the exception of increased violence, I welcome an increasingly anti-christian move in our society. You ask, how could I be in support of marriages that are absent from the traditions and norms of which Christians desire and expect? And how in the world could I welcome liberal judges who sanction murder of unborn children? Hold on to your oreos. Just listen for a moment and do something we're lousy at: listening to people before making categorical judgments and screams.

I recently received one of those emails in petition form. This one concerned the awful tragedy that Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, and other televangelists are under federal scrutiny and will soon be withheld from the airwaves. Oh no! Persecution! Persecution? I say that's a blessing from the Almighty. What do Osteen, Meyer (and others) preach on the flash-flash screen day after day? When was the last time you heard an idiot box preacher say, "Ok. Open your Bible to Romans chapter 1"?

Shut us down. Limit our freedom. Make us go to church to hear the word of God. Put us in jail for hate speech. Put me in jail. Come on, Chris! Anyone but you, you say. Not in my backyard, you say. Yes, I say. If it means getting back to the Scriptures and reading them and getting arrested for it, then great. Purge the church.

Purge the church of its Me-centered theology (an oxymoron). Wring the mop of its dirt and grime. Make us meet in houses. Make us sing acappella. But, that probably will not happen. Maybe the antichrist isn't coming. Maybe he already came (1 John 2:18). Maybe a lot of the stuff in "Revelations" happened in AD 70 when Titus sacked Jerusalem. Maybe Jesus really really was talking about his generation when he predicted destruction in Jerusalem. Maybe John wrote his Apocalypse prior to AD 70, and spoke mostly about the coming destruction from Rome against the Jews in Judea. Maybe "the end" did come--that is, for Jerusalem (see the context of Matthew 23-25). Maybe the gospel was preached to the whole world (24:14, cf. Col. 1:23).

So, maybe...we Christians have not to look forward to ever-increasing destruction, but gospel victory on the earth (Psalm 2; Psalm 110 Matthew 6:10; 13:24-52). And in the meantime, we will suffer persecution, peril and evil at the hand of Christ's enemies. But, if removing tv preachers from tv is what they want, then I think that is a good thing.