Sunday Church Sermon : The Time Draws Near - Daniel 12 : 1-3

Today's sermon by Pastor Soh Guan Kheng was about how we as Christians have to keep unswervingly to our faith amidst the hardships that would follow in the end-times.

I have heard a lot of talks about end times in my church and in the varsity christian fellowship in my school, and how we are living in it. In popular culture, there are the likes of movies such as the Left Behind series which features a premillennialist interpretation account of biblical eschatology. But according to a talk I heard in a VCF faculty gathering event by Rev Paul Woods, Premillenialism is deviant biblical doctrine. The theme for the Varsity Christian Fellowship, 'Becoming Kingdom People', serves to emphasize the Amillennialist viewpoint that the kingdom of God is already here, amongst the people, and not an awaited occurence in the future.

Eschatology is certainly a prominent topic of the Christian faith. One of my church friend, a pastor's son, believes that the end time would be fulfilled within his generation and we would get to live to see it. His keenness is somewhat disturbing. If I am not wrong, the end-times is one of heavy persecution of Christians,  "a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then" (Daniel 12:1). If that movie that went by the eponymous title got it correct, the end of the world should be anytime soon this year. I have a Christian friend who posted on facebook a few days ago, "If the world is ending in 2012, why is Singapore still building so many skyscrapers for?" He was answered most wittily by another of his friend that the first word in his question aptly answers his question. Well, for those who take it with any modicum of credibility, as the date winds down to 31st December, we wait with bated breath, and with the premonition that we will all appear at once like fools when new years day hit the next morning. But the whole 2012 thing is Mayan mythology and what of it that we Christians should accord it with any regard? And Christian eschatology does not feature such an apocalyptic doomsday scenario of an end of the world scenario. It is instead a long-drawn out period of persecution and suffering, and then the second-coming of the Messiah. I once listened to a talk at a church retreat by a parish worker from my church that 2012 is by all accounts too early. There isn't enough fulfillment of prophesied events from the bible to indicate the second-coming of Jesus. As how one would say it by putting a twist to that amusing ACS motto, "the end is yet to be."

So what are the signs that the end times are near? According to  Ezekiel 37:10-14, one of them is the establishment of Israel as a nation state, and that is already so since 1948. The ever erudite Professor Thio Li Ann, a Christian constitutional law Professor at the faculty of law of the National University of Singapore, speaks with great conviction that the establishment of Israel as a nation state is the sign that the end times are near. She seems to be a great defender of the establishment of the state of Israel. In my opinion, there is something self-fulfilling about the prophecy of the establishment of Israel and the Christian western powers that supported and affirmed its establishment after World War 2. Professor Thio also speaks with great passion about the great evil of an ideology known as humanism that is insidiously taking over our world in the current times. She belabors the increasing permissiveness towards homosexuality in this contemporary age as the sign of the end times. On her part, she has had quite an eventful time during her prominent stint as a nominated member of parliament, championing the Christian cause by opposing the abolition of 377A of the Penal Code which criminalizes homosexual activities.  

I have been to quite a few of Professor Thio's talks, way back before I was even a law student at NUS. A church friend of mine, who is also a law school senior to me, is quite a fan boy of Professor Thio Li Ann, and he would frequently invite me to one of her talks. I had much free time during my days serving National Service as an admin because I was exempted from combat due to my having Asperger's Syndrome, and I relished going for these talks by Professor Thio Li Ann on one of the weekends. Professor Thio is a rather powerful speaker who speaks with knowledge and wisdom. She wows her Christian law students with the level of insight she has to biblical eschatology. She proffers some of the most original and interesting theories regarding the fulfillment of end-time eschatology and certainly sounds very convincing. One can't help but concur with her that there is indeed an over-looming diabolical evil from this secular ideology called humanism that is being wrecked upon the face of humanity by its adherents. I have posted about some of her other lessons which I have attended featuring biblical eschatology from the book of Daniel which you can view here and here.

It certainly feels very real when you are put in a Christian social environment where everyone around you is affirming this picture of the world. That there is a great conspiracy of evil that is descending upon the times. That there is a looming evil lurking across the horizon. And we Christians would have to prepare ourselves for it. Like Queen Boudica rallying the tribe with a battle cry for a bloodbath against the Imperial Roman Legion. Like Gandalf leading the Alliance for the final showdown with the evil horde. Sound the clarion call! Beat the battle gongs! Christians, Brace yourself for the onslaught!

But I think there needs to be some perspective here. Who are these 'evil' people? And what exactly are their world views? I remember watching this video of a talk by a man named Sean Faircloth, a director of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science. What Sean Faircloth talks about gives a paralleled version from an atheistic viewpoint of a nefarious looming global conspiracy that is taking over the world, except this time, the global conspiracy is Christianity and the Religious Rights of America. He makes fun of the Religious Rights of America by alluding to the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. In his version of the Trinity, the Religious Rights that are taking play in power politics are composed of the iron trinity of right-wing mormonism, right-wing fundamentalism, and the right-wing catholicism. And together, these forces go about in power politics impinging upon the first amendment to the United States Constitution prohibiting the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion. It certainly seems like people on 'the other side' are afraid of us, inasmuch as we are afraid of them.

But the more important part of the message of today's sermon is about remaining faithful in our faith amidst persecution in the end times. Now that is the real challenge. It seems like Pastor Soh did not get a response when he asked the congregation whether any Christians amongst us experience persecution. Now, it should actually be worrying that we Christians in Singapore are not facing any persecution. I find it troublesome on how to square this observation of the lack of persecution with the statement made by Jesus in John 15:18-20-  If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.  If they persecuted me, they will persecute you.” Certain propositions naturally extend from this statement. That is, by logic, if you are not persecuted, then you belong to the world. I once asked my discipleship group mentor whether one can still deem himself a Christian if he leads a relatively uneventful life without any persecution. He enunciated in a matter-of-fact manner that we, as Christians, would certainly undergo persecution; There is no two ways about it. And I debated him about this necessity of having to undergo persecution in order to be proven a Christian. At the end of the debate, he told me, "Samuel, it seems like you are asking to be persecuted or something."

Well, I think it is hard enough for one to keep the faith even without persecution. For me, it's doing badly for exams, experiencing social difficulties in life due to Asperger's Syndrome, sustaining tinnitus and impairment to my hearing, suffering a chronic tension headache that doesn't go away despite the medicines I have been taking. Do forgive me, reader, for my penchant to grumble here on my blog. I just need to find some catharsis for my pent-up frustrations.