When churches cry Wolf! we all suffer

 

Businesses often fail to recognize their marketing mistakes, such as using obnoxious, annoying, and false advertisements -- just because you capture someone’s attention doesn’t ensure that you will generate interest in your product and this absolutely applies to the church.  We deserve the same consequences as the little boy who cried “Wolf!” whenever we magnify any calamity in the Middle East and proudly advertise, “Armageddon!” 

Think about how many churches who have recently forfeited their credibility by amplifying their doomscrolling-menacing-cringeworthy-clickbait-message that Operation Midnight Hammer signaled the imminent return of Christ.  Sounding like a filthy carnival barker they finagled the scriptures, fraudulently claiming, “Putin is the Antichrist and Gog and Magog are coming to fruition now, the Bible is being fulfilled as these amazing events unfold before our very eyes, we are certainly entering the end times, it’s finally Armageddon time!”  

Nonbelievers find our fascination with the showdown between Israel & Tehran coupled with our end-time-hysteria hysterical, and rightly so.  Although another word beginning with the letter “B” comes to mind, “Baloney!” will have to suffice here — if you have read your New Testament for yourself, I am not telling you anything you do not already know.  

John wrote in Rev 1:9 that he was already in the tribulation and the Kingdom.  Also, quit anticipating “The Antichrist” seizing power, not only is there no mention of any Antichrist looming anywhere in the Book of Revelation, John told us elsewhere there were multiple Antichrists already on the scene in his lifetime, “Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.” (1st JN 2:18 ESV).  Furthermore, the antichrist wasn’t a world-ruler threatening the faithful, according to John an antichrist is simply someone who denies the deity of Jesus, don’t take my word for it read 1st JN2:22 and 1st JN 4:3 for yourself.  

As for the Rapture, again this worn out word has been swindled away by grifters too.  Jerome translated the Bible into Latin between 382 and 405 A.D. and the Latin word for “caught up” was rapture.  When the “Rapture commences” in 1st Thess 4, it isn’t the beginning of the tribulation or the kingdom (remember what John wrote in Rev 1:9) instead the day we are caught up to meet Jesus is the end of time not the beginning of the end-times -- read 1st Cor 15:24 and discover that when Jesus returns He turns the kingdom back over to the Father, He doesn’t establish an earthly Kingdom with the capitol in Jerusalem.  Nowhere does the Bible ever record Jesus returning to the earth to establish an earthly kingdom for a thousand years on earth, nowhere, instead Revelation 20:4-6 is describing a spiritual realm, not a physical kingdom on planet earth.   

Beyond all of their embarrassing End-times claims made by disreputable churches, remember Jesus acknowledged, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” (Matthew 24:36 ESV)  Trying to match up our military strike on Iranian soil with His return is a despicable disgraceful dud.  

Apparently good old fashioned submission isn’t spectacular enough, obedience is too ordinary, and being personally responsible for your own spiritual growth is too boring to bother getting on board with.  Shame on christians for sensationalizing contemporary catastrophes in the name of Christ, their obsession with forcing Armageddon into every news-cycle is nothing short of escapism and fearmongering. 

 Originally published in the Timesnew 7/18/25 Click here to see the original column

Treating treasure like trash

It's no great surprise we neglect visiting the pubic library, but we do so to our own detriment.  Our ever decreasing & shrinking attention spans are challenged by the ever increasing choices to distract ourselves -- streaming services, online games, social media doom-scrolling and more all compete for our dopamine starved brain's attention. 

Today Tammy and I took Harper to the library's temporary location in the Fort Henry Mall; the Kingsport public library is undergoing a two year renovation.  We were curious to see how they were set up and there was a book I needed.  I ended up getting several books and utilized the amazing free Interlibrary loan system to get a book they didn't have.  Harper found a few books herself and she played in the children's area for quite some time.

It sounds nerdy to get excited about such an outing, but we were.  It occurred to me while we spent time there how underutilized this free treasure is, besides their endless access to unlimited books the library provides all sorts of activities and resources.  We treat the library like it is optional, mediocre, and boring, it's like Mom's meatloaf that no one misses it until she dies while we treat the internet, Cable TV, and Video games like a 3 Star Micheline restaurant.  If I think about it too long, it makes me sad.

What's wrong with forsaking the library, what's the danger in this self-sabotaging decision?  We risk allowing our brains to atrophy, we forfeit opportunities to expand and enhance our lives, we miss out on the endless supply of books that can improve our lives and instruct us on any topic or subject we are interested in, we shortchange satisfaction, and we take for granted one of the greatest resources available to civilization that's absolutely free to use!

Sure bookstores are amazing portals into the realm of knowledge and I love a good used bookstore as much as the next person, but there is no substitute for the Public library.  Librarians are the greatest unsung hero of the day who experience the deepest lack of appreciation of any servants of the community, but it's not their fault.  Sadly our culture has drifted away from the love of reading, which is a reflection of how little we value our personal growth and development.   

To me, the public library is a mystical temple where learning, growth and development are all connected as our mind experiences an adventure in an intellectual odyssey.  Our imagination is fed along with our intellect as well, and it is our no-cost cultural treasure.  It would be a shame to treat the library as if it were as disposable as trash, do yourself a favor and go more often.