Letters
posted 12/06/1999 12:00AM
Revelation Revealed
Thank you for J. Nelson Kraybill's articled entitled "Apocalypse Now" [Oct. 25]. It is refreshing to read an article that injects a bit of sanity into the current madness that seems to swirl around the issue of the "last days." I share Kraybill's view that blends preterist, idealist, historicist, and futurist perspectives. It seems many evangelicals are unaware of any other than a futurist and woodenly literalist perspective on Revelation. Articles such as this counterbalance the confusion that has currently engulfed us.
David J. Fidati
Orrstown, Pa.
Kraybill's "Apocalypse Now" is presented beautifully. Too bad the only illustrations you could find were from the more hysterical approach, but then careful thinking has never made very good pictures or sold many books.
Lynn Miller
Bluffton, Ohio
Kraybill's "Apocalypse Now" is the best article on Revelation available. It is sound biblically, full of helpful insights, and practical. In a day when some writers are reaping large rewards from playing games with the apocalypse, it is refreshing to read an article that provides a good antidote.
Brian Nelson
West Lafayette, Ind.
I found Kraybill's essay condescending and arrogant. He implies that modern dispensationalists had never considered his enlightened view before leaping to their sensationalistic literalist hermeneutic. There is a lot of phony scare-mongering spread by wacko date-setters, and I agree that we must be cautious. But we must never become scoffers who make fun of biblical prophetic truth.
Signs of Christ's return are increasing in frequency and intensity. World economies are merging through global networking in cyberspace. World militaries are uniting under the United Nations. World religions are growing tolerant of the concept that there is no absolute truth. All of the these signs indicate that the sand in earth's hourglass will soon run out and that a literal fulfillment of God's final prophetic book, the Revelation of Jesus Christ, is shortly at hand.
It will be thrilling to see the surprised look on the faces of my misguided preterist brothers when they discover that Revelation's prophecies were never intended to be allegorized as "political cartoons."
Dale Johnson
Yakima, Wash.
The updated seven letters ["You've Got Mail"] were brilliant. Each one spoke to me as pastor of a mainline, evangelical, suburban congregation with rural roots, charismatic touches, urban concerns, and a desire to reach seekers. I do note, however, that only one of the seven authors was introduced with a word about her spouse. I hope that telling us that Susan Wise Bauer's husband is a pastor wasn't a way of making her letter more acceptable. Her letter was outstanding.
Harry J. Heintz
Troy, N.Y.
Ronald Reagan, Antichrist?
It saddens me that Christianity Today showed approval of listing Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II as "Antichrists We Have Known" (photos in print copy) by allowing this picture to be published.
Penny Rhoney
Beaumont, Tex.
There must be some explanation for the display of such a bizarre mix of unrelated individuals under such a sweeping title. I am appalled that your magazine would include an item like that, out of context and with no disclaimer or comment. I suspect you have upset at least the British, the French, the Russians, the Catholics, and the Republicans all in one go.
Anne Hamlin
Cambridge, Mass.
Several readers wrote to register outrage at our picturing Ronald Reagan among several world leaders, past and present, as "Antichrists We Have Known." Our intent was to highlight those who have been targeted for this ignominious moniker. We did not mean to suggest that the esteemed former U.S. president or the pope deserved that title or the association with some of the others pictured. We apologize for the confusion. --Eds.
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