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The American Prophecies

I came across the most atrocious book while browsing in the Religion section of Barnes and Noble yesterday afternoon—"The American Prophecies," by Michael D. Evans. I must first admit I have not read this book, nor do I plan on wasting my time doing so. I'm only basing my comments on excerpts. Here's the excerpt that appears on the back cover:

Our position in the last days will be determined by our choice of allegiance: Will the growing liberal tendencies of our nation pull us to join the E.U., U.N., and Russia in a globalization move that will, in the end, force a false peace on Israel and begin the Tribulation? Or will we with our moral clarity, large Jewish populace, and Christian consciousness align ourselves so closely with Israel in the final conflict that we are literally indistinguishable from her in the final chapter of Bible prophecy?

Where to begin? I always thought our position in whatever we might call the "last days" would have something to do with our relationship to Jesus Christ first and our neighbors second. Israel is certainly one of our neighbors. But oh, I almost forgot...the nation of Palestine is most certainly not our neighbor (don't miss the sarcastic tone).

I have to admit that I am not a current events guy. I couldn't tell you much about the history of the U.N. or the E.U. I can tell you that this quote makes it sound like our neighbors are now our enemies. Anyone who joins or is associated with one of these groups is anathema.

I certainly don't want to have a false peace with Israel. Guess I better read this guy's book. If peace does come, I'll be sure to check that chapter out to make sure it's not a false peace. A false peace, after all, would start the Tribulation. That would be really bad because it would signal the return of Christ. (I don't hold to a dispensational view, I'm just trying to figure out how Evans' logic works from within that system.)

The last sentence of this excerpt is a particularly scary one. It appears that Evans is equating alignment with the modern nation of Israel with aligning oneself with God. So no matter what the Israelis do we should just go along with it...is that the plan?

I am reminded of the day a Palestinian Christian came to talk to our class when I attended Nyack College. It was a real eye opener. She urged the class to think about the flip-side of the Zionist coin. Again, I'm not an expert on these matters. I won't even try to make any extensive comments. For some odd reason I just think God loves the Palestinians, too. Call me crazy.

One last quote:

America is cursing what God has blessed (Israel) and blessing what God has cursed (rebuilding Babylon [Iraq]). Does the Bible reveal what will happen to a nation that does this? A thousand percent yes!

This really burns me up! I'm not trying to get in on a discussion of the war. I just want to say that I believe God wants us to build others up. He wants us to love our neighbors. I believe Jewish people are my neighbors. I believe Palestinians are my neighbors. I believe Iraqis are my neighbors. I guess that's those liberal tendencies of mine talking again.

Apparently, Michael Evans once said to a future American president: "If you abandon Israel, God will never forgive you." Well, Mr. Evans, I think you have a slight problem when you start telling people whom God will or will not forgive. It scares me that people might actually read your book. I'm not among the ranks of those who summarily dismiss premillenialism, just sort of off-handedly saying it's stupid. But when people come to the kinds of conclusions that are found in this book I have to heartily disagree.

McDonaldization

I had the opportunity to visit Fuller Theological Seminary this past week and attend a lecture featuring George Ritzer and John Drane. George Ritzer is a professor at the University of Maryland. He is the author of "The McDonaldization of Society" and, more recently, "The Globalization of Nothing." John Drane is a professor of practical theology at the University of Aberdeen. He has written a book called "The McDonaldization of the Church," which is partially based on Ritzer's sociological thesis.

Ritzer defines McDonaldization as "the process by which the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world." (The McDonaldization of Society by George Ritzer, p.1) In "The McDonaldization of the Church," John Drane lays out the four principles of the McDonaldization process: efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control. Drane then talks about how these principles have guided the church.

In George Ritzer's portion of the lecture I attended, he talked about the difference between nothing and something. According to his use of the word, nothing is a "social form that is generally centrally conceived/controlled and comparatively devoid of distinctive substantive content." McDonald's is the classic purveyor of nothing. There are McDonald's restaurants in over 100 countries in the world, all of which are pretty much identical. This is because they are all conceived and controlled by a centralized company. There is no allowance for distinctiveness, beyond a few minor menu alterations.

Ritzer pointed out the problems involved with this worldwide production of "non-things." The products of the McDonaldization process are generic, they have a lack of local ties in space or in time, they are dehumanized and they are disenchanted. Ritzer was careful to point out that nothing is not always bad. There are positive things that have come out of this process. He is troubled, however, by the tension between McDonaldization and the seemingly more beneficial process that has been named glocalization.

Glocalization describes the process by which the local and the global interact to produce something unique. Although globalization is an unavoidable product of advances in technology, this does not mean that all of the positive values of local culture will inevitably be wiped out. In fact, Ritzer has invented his own term, grobalization, to describe the growing influence of centralized organizations that inevitably overwhelm local influences.

As a self-proclaimed citizen of the world, I welcome the process of glocalization. I think it can be a welcome part of the partnership between humankind and God. As we continue our role as co-creators, our integrity, compassion, and artfulness will be magnified by the interplay of various cultures. At the same time, I have been awakened to the negative effect McDonaldization might continue to have on our society and on our churches.

Yesterday, I began reading John Drane's book. I have appreciated what I've read so far, and hope to comment more specifically on the dangers of the McDonaldization process in future posts.

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Note: The picture is of a McDonald's poster I saw in Bulgaria.

Columbus

I recently finished reading "Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus" by Orson Scott Card. It depicts a group of time travelers on a quest to change history by interfering with that historic trip Columbus made to the Americas.

There were a few interesting themes in the book, but one in particular was the subject of slavery. How could it be that Columbus sought to evangelize the New World, but saw no conflict with aiding slave trade?

Late in the book, one of the characters from the future says to Columbus, "There are millions of souls who would accept Christianity if only you offer it to them peacefully, lovingly."

"How else would I offer it?" was his reply.

The woman from the future understands all too well the ways Christianity has been "offered" to people all throughout history. She says to him, "You are not yet fit to teach these people Christianity, Christoforo, because you are not yet a Christian."

Wow! Card really had my attention at this point. And the great thing about this book is it really does depict a Columbus who is redeemed. With just a little shove in a positive direction, Columbus gradually begins to see that these "savages" really are people. This, along with some of the other changes the time-travellers make creates a completely different future for the earth.

The book does a good job of showing ethnocentric and nationalistic people can be. Even Columbus suffers under the prejudice of his mostly Spanish sailors. I have to admit that there was not enough action in it till the last third of the book, but nonetheless, I recommend it.