WILL HE

RETURN?

Ken and Lora Uptegrove of Springdale, Ark., live in a bustling suburb of about 65,000 in the state’s northwest corner. They’re like many of the God-fearing folk in these parts, with one notable exception: "They are actively preparing for the end of the world."

We are doing no such thing!  We said no such thing. We told David Patten numerous times in the two hours of conversation with him that we believe very hard times are coming, and we want to prepare for them physically, mentally, and spiritually "for when the hammer falls". 

They may not actually leave their irenic neighborhood until “the day the hammer falls,” as Ken, a 72-year-old retired government computer programmer, puts it. But when the end times foretold in the Bible finally come, the Uptegroves intend to be ready.

Ken and Lora plan to build a self-sufficient Christian community on about 150 acres in a remote area of northwest Arkansas. An extreme reaction to the nation’s economic woes?

We told David Patten about the plans of Christians nearby who found our articles on this website about preparing a self sufficient Christian community.  We have met with them, and have given serious consideration to joining them, but it is their land and their plans, not ours.  They get any due recognition, not us.

We do not consider our "vision" to be either "extreme" or a "reaction", and thousands are in agreement with us.  Some of the most prominent voices in Christendom have been in full agreement with us for years. The most popular page on our website quotes from books by David Wilkerson and Larry Burkett (written in 1998 & 99) that say an economic depression is coming.  In 1974 I believe the Lord told me that a depression was coming and how to prepare for it.  This is long term planning and preparation, not jerk-knee reactionary fear mongering.

To us, living in the country, living a quiet, self sufficient life style is pleasant and natural ... in any era.  And having like-minded Christian neighbors as "intentional neighbors" just makes the experience all the better for all of us.  The Amish and Mennonites have demonstrated that for several hundred years.  We do not hold to their doctrines but their lifestyle works well for them, and demonstrates it can work for us also.  To us this is a desirable life-style to live in any era, and in particular ... the troubled times we now live in.

Actually, they say they are more motivated by what they read in the Good Book than by what they see in the headlines.

They point to the biblical promise that Jesus Christ will return to earth one day. Before his return, the Bible predicts, will come wars, natural disasters, and famine. Christians call that troubled era the Tribulation. Matthew 24:21 describes it in harrowing terms: “For then shall be great Tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”

Bible scholars say these events will serve as signposts along history’s highway, signaling that the end times are just around the corner.

Ken and Lora say they’re just obeying Christ’s admonition to be ready. They plan to join other Christians in creating an economically self-sufficient farm from which they can minister to others. “We can’t save everyone,” Ken says. “But we can save the ones God sends us.”

“It might come to a point, in a depression, where we live on a barter system,” says Lora, 57. “My parents went through the Depression, and we never lacked for anything because they lived on a farm.” Self-sufficient communities seem less far-fetched following the September collapse in the international credit markets, the Lehman Bros. bankrupt-cy, the loss of more than 4 million U.S. jobs, and news that 2 million mortgages could be headed down the tubes.

Experts of various stripes tell Newsmax that public buzz about the biblical last days is at its highest level since 9/11. Although the Second Coming may appear purely theological to some, end-times beliefs can profoundly influence where people worship, where they donate their money, which politicians they vote for, and how they spend their time and energy.

If the Uptegroves, for example, believed that they would be whisked away to heaven before the Tribulation — the pre-Tribulation rapture concept that dominates today’s evangelical Christian right — they wouldn’t bother laying the foundation for a self-sufficient Christian community. After all, they would not be around to use it.

Since it is not clear to us what Patten meant to say in this paragraph, we wish to point out what we say in all our literature concerning the Tribulation, a depression, and Christian community.

We (and David Wilkerson and Larry Burkett and others) have believed for years that a depression, and other calamities, can come BEFORE the seven year tribulation starts.  The U.S.A. has had a depression and wars on our continent in the past, which sets the precedent and possibility of that happening again ... BEFORE the great tribulation starts.

Our extensive studies of the history of eschatology (the study of end-time events) show us that it is not wise to put all of our eggs in the pre-trib-basket.  We think it is much wiser to plan for the contingency of a mid-trib or pre-wrath rapture ... all the while hoping the pre-trib-rap proves to be the right one (we doubt but do not rule out a post-trib-rap).  That is not wishy-washy pan-trib (hoping that it will all pan out...) thinking; that is hoping for the best and preparing for the worst, physically, mentally, and spiritually. As a computer programmer I learned to have a program for every possible contingency.

 American Realities

Surveys consistently indicate that about 80 percent of Americans identify themselves as Christian. Of those, an overwhelming 79 percent believe in the Second Coming, according to the Pew Research Center. That means Americans overwhelmingly reject the secular-progressive view that the Second Coming is essentially a cleverly constructed fairy tale.

Indeed, Americans’ faith in Christ’s return is much stronger than generally recognized. A widely publicized Ipsos poll in 2007 reported that 25 percent of Americans expected to witness the Second Coming of Christ — in that very year!

Pew’s findings are more conservative, but they still indicate that a large number of Christians — about 1 in 5 — believe that Christ will return in their current generation.

Overall, Americans are pretty sure that reality’s clock is winding down rapidly. A 1994 U.S. News & World Report poll showed that 6 in 10 Americans — people of all faith backgrounds — believe the world will come to an end eventually. And about 20 percent say the global life expectancy is just a couple of decades. So the idea that creation’s clock could strike midnight at any time turns out to be as American as apple pie, pink slips, and debt collectors. If you mix the morning headlines into the average American’s eschatology, you stir up a powerful, angst-inducing brew.

 Even though Patten was not quoting us directly, he gets off the subject (which is the rapture) and seems to not know that the Bible clearly says many times throughout the Old and New Testament that the world will in fact come to an end and will be replaced with a NEW Heaven and Earth.

  To read the whole article on the NewsMax article on their website go to:      http://w3.newsmax.com/a/apr09/jesus

Photo Credit: crucifix/super stock / clocks/istockphoto / uptegroves courtesy ken and lora uptegrove

As originally published in Newsmax magazine.