What in the World Is God Doing?
Some Practical Suggestions for Pastors

“In the days ahead we must not consider it unpatriotic to raise certain basic questions about our national character. We must begin to ask, ‘Why are there forty million poor people in a nation overflowing with such unbelievable affluence? Why has our nation placed itself in the position of being God’s military agent on earth...? Why have we substituted the arrogant undertaking of policing the whole world for the high task of putting our own house in order?’”
—Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Where Do We Go from Here? p. 151

“In every Christian tradition and in every continent we are still in the midst of a movement to reformulate a theology of mission in the light of an authentic eschatology.”
—David J. Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1991), p. 508

Whatever you do ... : "I was hungry – and your sanctions kept food from my table; I was thirsty – and your depleted uranium poisoned my water system; I was ill – and you gave just one bag of serum for three of us. Amen. I say to you – whatever you do for the people of Iraq – you do it for me." [Adapted from Matt. 25:31-46; posted at http://www.domlife.org/nowariraqconf.html]

by Loren L. Johns, Academic Dean
Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary

The Problem

The world seems headed for war in a way unprecedented since World War 2. Some Christians welcome these developments, since they seem to fit several popular visions of the end times. If war is the inevitable means of passage through the acts of God in the end times, should not Christians welcome and even encourage this development? This would seem to be the message of the Left Behind Series, the most widely read Christian fiction series of all time. But how should the faithful church today respond to the challenges of terrorism and war today? Is war part of the missio Dei? For pastors caught between a president seemingly bent on war and parishioners who thank God for these developments, I would like to suggest some alternative theological and scriptural resources.

The three sections below are entitled, Terrorism and War, Eschatology, and the Book of Revelation. What, you may ask, do these topics have in common? For some the answer is obvious: The terrorism and war we are experiencing are inevitable as God works his purposes out at the end of history. In fact, to resist war in Iraq is to resist the plan of God, since it is part of the eschatology laid out in the Book of Revelation that terrorism and war would accompany the acts of God at the end of time. For some Christians, however, this connection is anything but self-evident and they see the likes of Mark Hitchcock, Jerry Jenkins, Tim LaHaye, and Hal Lindsay as kooks, rather than people to take seriously.

Terrorism and War

Eschatology

Eschatology in the narrow sense has to do with the events of the end times. However, it is often used to speak more widely of God's activity in this world, including how the vision of the end can already affect the present. Some suggested resources:

Book of Revelation

"The Book of Revelation is the Jurassic Park of biblical interpretation. Two thousand years after it was written it can still startle the living daylights out of a casual reader—or even a lifelong student of the book."

Page created by Dr. Loren L. Johns, Dean, Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary. Documents posted to the AMBS World Wide Web site by individual employees of the seminary reflect their own thoughts, interests and  activities. This information does not necessarily represent official positions and policies of Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary. Creators of individual pages assume responsibility for the content of their documents.

Copyright © 2003 by Loren L. Johns. Page last updated 7 March 2003. Send email to: LJOHNS@AMBS.EDU

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