Millions of people astray

I received a mass email from a ministry organization (apparently Christian organizations aren't immune from trying spam email tactics) essentially inviting me (along with countless other people) to come onto a web radio show and talk about the end times, and then listen to the teaching of a pastor who (of course) would set all of us straight on end times theology, as, and this is from the email, we might be leading millions of people astray with our teaching on the end times (they assume it doesn't match theirs).

We get several of these kinds of things each year. An invitation to a conference or seminar on the correct end times theology. A letter written from John from Connecticut (or Vermont, I can't remember) who mails out a letter (seriously, he will actually pay the postage and send these things out to countless churches). A phone call asking what our doctrine is and might we consider if Pastor A could come and hold a meeting or series of meetings on the issues.

The end of time is a fascinating issue, though I must admit that I am not much of a Revelation person. I never have been. At my ordination, I was asked what my view on the end times were, and specifically which position I held to, and in essence I gave a long answer that essentially said “I don’t know”, because honestly I don't. I just finished reading through Revelation this morning and I am still amazed at the book's imagery, its content, and its complexity. I realize there’s a lot of prophecy in Revelation, and that different generations seem to look at certain events or scriptures and then interpret the book out of that lens. I think that’s ok to do- I certainly don’t think it’s wrong to ponder whether or not these are the end times- but I also remind myself that John wrote Revelation over 1900 years ago, to a specific group of people for a specific purpose. I understand that he coded much of his writing so that it could go underground and not be detected by the Roman government (why else would he talk about Babylon, a civilization that at the time the people would have read Revelation, would have been extinct for several hundred years?). I do think that not knowing what the future looks like (other than that Jesus is coming back) is an ok perspective to have. Getting too fixated on reading the tea leaves of the times (does this war mean the end is near? what about this earthquake?) may mean we actually miss out on the grander mission of Jesus, and missing out on Jesus' grander mission could also lead millions of people astray.