When there is a disaster, some people start speculating about God's judgments and the end of the world. I grew up in a church culture with some speculation. Everyone did not do it, but a few people did. As a young adult, I began to question the speculation that was being presented as if it were biblical prophecy. I remember being at a Christian concert during the first Gulf War when the singer stopped and announced that Iraq had fired Scud missiles toward Israel. This was presented as if it were all plainly presented in Revelation. Somewhere around 1995, I remember a well-meaning good ol' boy preacher who explained how hurricanes Erin and Opal were God's judgment on a particular "gay" beach outside of Pensacola. Some people are quick to label a particular disaster as God's judgment, often while ignoring plenty of facts along the way.
Throughout time people have speculated, and that speculation has just faded away as the course of history has moved forward. I remember the 88 reasons that Jesus was coming back in 1988. The same guys published another book in 1989, but it did not get as much attention. The Y2K disaster was not a disaster after all. The prognostications about the first Gulf War were not fulfilled. Through the years, "the antichrist" has been identified as Hitler, Stalin, Mikhail Gorbachev (remember the birthmark?), Ronald Wilson Reagan (6 letters in each name), some supercomputer in Switzerland, Barak Obama, and Barney the Purple Dinosaur. Barney was a joke, proving that almost anything can be identified by "666" if you play with the numbers enough. History is littered with other examples. Each of these has faded away, destined to be replaced by new speculation in the future.
Presenting speculation about the Bible as if it were responsible interpretation confuses people. We live in a society in which many people have great difficulty with concepts like meaning, application, and truth. Most people just do not distinguish between what a text means and how it should be applied. Many people have fuzzy ideas about the nature of truth. Some people have problems in distinguishing between fact and opinion. At one time or another, many of us have been fooled by something we have read on the Internet. The bottom line is that we must be careful with how we interpret the Bible and how we communicate it. In our current situation with COVID - 19, fast and loose connections between something in the newspaper and something in the Bible are not helpful, and they may be harmful.
May we all be careful with how we interpret the Bible, and with how we communicate it. COVID - 19 has people's attention. Let's respond with responsible communication of biblical truth, and forget about the speculation.
