Ecumenists Warn of “Dangerous” Pre-Tribulationists

“Anti-Christian sentiment is growing toward those who believe in a biblical last days/Book of Revelation scenario prior to Christ’s return. In a 2005 article, Bishop Mark Hanson of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ‘called for Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican and Lutheran churches to come together to combat a fundamentalist-millenialist-apocalypticist reading of Scripture’ [‘Lutheran leader calls for an ecumenical council to address growing biblical fundamentalism,’ Religious News Service, Aug. 11, 2005]. Hanson believes that a global ecumenical group made up of Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Anglicans, and Lutherans is the answer to the crisis he sees [‘The Church: Called to a Ministry of Reconciliation,’ Lutheran World, Sept. 2005]. Hanson says that those who believe in a biblical end times and a literal Bible interpretation are holding back the cause of Christ, which he suggests is to unite all of creation and produce a planetary utopia. Munib Younan, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jerusalem, believes that those who adhere to an apocalyptic end-time scenario (with a focus on Israel) are spreading ‘heresy.’ He has requested that Lutherans ‘alert all Christians everywhere to its dangers and false teachings’ [‘Christian Zionism Is Heresy,’ The Lutheran, March 2003]. … Tony Campolo says Christians that focus on end-time scenarios have been the cause of ‘extremely detrimental’ consequences. Brian McLaren writes, ‘An eschatology of abandonment, which is how I would characterize certain streams of the left-behind approach, has disastrous social consequences. Any project geared toward improving the world long term is seen as unfaithful, since we’re supposed to assume that the world is getting worse and worse’ [Interview by Planet Preterist with Brian McLaren, Jan. 30, 2006]. In essence, McLaren is saying if you believe the Book of Revelation and Matthew 24 are yet to take place, you are a dangerous psychological misfit and are assumed to have no compassion for the suffering, no concern for the environment or the world in which we live.”

“Evangelicals and Catholics Together and the Rejection of End-Time Christians” by Roger Oakland, Light House Trails, Dec. 7, 2009