Читать книгу Field Guide to the Wild World of Religion: 2011 Edition - Pamela J.D. Dewey - Страница 36

A growing number of ministries, groups, and individual teachers are dedicated to promoting the message that we are living in the last generation before the Return of Christ. They have widely divergent teachings concerning the details of just how current world conditions and events fit into the biblical scenario of “the End Times.” But they all agree that “prophecy is being fulfilled daily,” and that it is extremely important for Christians to be able to understand “the times in which they live.” They believe it is so important that they are convinced that sharing their own version of prophetic speculation ought to be an integral part of the preaching of the Gospel.

Although most denominations, religious groups, and Bible teachers have a specific point of view about some of the debatable issues of Bible prophecy, most give a fairly low priority to coverage of this topic in the bigger scheme of their belief system. Those groups, teachers, and ministries that are a part of the general End Times Prophecy Movement, on the other hand, place issues of Bible prophecy squarely in the middle of the reason for the existence of their group or their ministry. Although they may address other issues of biblical doctrine and Christian living principles, such topics are in the minority in their teaching recordings, magazine articles, television and radio programs, personal appearances at seminars and conventions, and on their websites. It is not usually their teaching of the Bible in general that attracts new prospective supporters, but rather their prophetic speculation schemes. And although their listeners and supporters may adopt their perspective on a variety of other doctrinal matters, it is the prophecy teaching that establishes the credibility of such teachers in the minds of their followers.