Rapture Fever

86 RAPTURE FEVER
forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who bath ears
to hear, let him hear (Matt. 13:3643; emphasis added).
Dispensationalists refuse to hear.
This book presents a message of moral responsibility. Every
message of true hope inevitably is also a message of moral
responsibility In God’s world, there is no hope without moral
responsibility no offer of victory without the threat of persecution,
no offer of heaven without the threat of hell. Deny this,
and you deny the gospel. He who has ears to hear, let him
hear.
A Question of Time
Why would a Christian economics institute publish a book
on the Beast of Revelation and another on the dating of the
Book of Revelation? Because a crucial aspect of all economics,
all economic growth, is time perspective. Those individuals and
societies that are future-oriented save more money enjoy lower
interest rates, and benefit from more rapid economic growth. A
short-run view of the future is the mark of the gambler, the
person in poverty, and the underdeveloped society. Those who
think in terms of generations and plan for the future see their
heirs prosper; those who think in terms of the needs and desires
in the present cannot successfully compete over the long
haul with those who are willing to forego present consumption
for the sake of future growth.
Furthermore, dispensationalists insist, the Beast is coming,
and so is the Antichrist. That horror is just around the corner
The Great Tribulation is imminent. Nothing can stop it. Nothing
will resist its onslaught. Nothing we leave behind as Christians
will be able to change things for the next generation. It is
all hopeless. All we can legitimately hope for, we are told, is our
escape into the heavens at the Rapture.
It is no wonder that American Christians have been shortrun
thinkers in this century. They see failure and defeat in the