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At a minimum, I thought you might want to be aware of the recent CNN and Jon Stewart segments which feature some preachers speculating about the end of the world.  I hope you will read below why I think Stewart responded like he did and how we as pastors might respond.   

You may have to click twice on the You Tube links below for them to play.  They are both 5 minutes long. 

In light of the war between Israel and Hezbollah in the Middle East (See CNN’s timeline here of the conflict), there has been some news coverage of Christians who are predicting the end of the world.  See the example from CNN here or above.

But not all evangelical Christians believe as these fiery preachers do.  The people featured believe in premillenialism (See the Wikipedia article).  There is a decent article at the BBC website Millennialism, Premillenialism, Dispensationalism which outlines a few of the main Christian perspectives.  The very reputable National Association of Evangelicals has a very simple line about what evangelicals agree upon about the end of the world in their statement of faith:  “We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . and in His personal return in power and glory” (italics mine). 

Comedy Central comedian Jon Stewart has a segment (that you can watch here) in which he makes fun of the news coverage.  Some of it is downright hilarious. 

But towards the end of the segment Stewart mocks a line by Tim LaHaye, author of the Left Behind series, who is shown in a Good Morning America interview.  Lahaye says, “There is no alternative.  You either accept Jesus or you will go through terrible times.”  Stewart is incredulous and makes fun of the idea as ridiculous.  It is disconcerting to see Stewart make fun of perhaps the central tenet of Christianity – “accepting Jesus.”

But before we are too hard on Stewart, we need to ask ourselves why Stewart sees plenty of reason to ridicule the whole "accept Jesus" shebang. 

Because of all these reasons, we should not be surprised when Stewart and others say things about Christianity that trouble us.  Though they may bear ultimate responsibility for their own views, we as Christians are not giving them much help. 

Here is how we might help Jon Stewart and our congregations have a better understanding of the current Middle East crisis and its implications for “the end of the world.”

1.        Rather than mental ascent, might we instead emphasize that following Jesus is a courageous adventure which brings good and God’s light into all the world? 

2.        Rather than firing up the ignorant, might we instead thoughtfully, responsibly and passionately teach people how to read the Scriptures?

3.        Rather than demonizing the media, might we instead continue to invest in the Taylor University new media program, Act One, Los Angeles Film Studies Center and other Christian Hollywood organizations who are developing competent Christian media professionals?   

4.        Rather than continuing to buy the Left Behind books, might we instead promote solid books on the book of Revelation from scholars at some of our best evangelical schools? 

a.      The NIV Application Commentary: Revelation by Craig S. Keener (Hardcover – Jan 1, 2000). Palmer Theological Seminary. 

b.      Revelation (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament) by Grant R. Osborne (Hardcover – Nov 1, 2002).  Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

c.      The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text (New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Mich.).) by G. K. Beale (Hardcover – Oct 1998).  Wheaton College.

d.      Revelation (New Cambridge Bible Commentary) by III, Ben Witherington, Ben Witherington III, Bill T. Arnold, and James D. G. Dunn (Paperback – Sep 15, 2003).  Asbury Theological Seminary.

5.        Rather than trying to interpret the book of Revelation using Fox News, might we instead remind people that Jesus said no one would know the day (Matthew 24:36)? 

6.        Rather than thoughtlessly cheering on Israel, might we instead echo the letter sent by 40 evangelical leaders in 2002 who urge the President to “employ an even-handed” policy toward Israel and its neighbors?

If we do these things, Jon Stewart may still ridicule Christianity, but I bet we won’t be as easy a target. 

1.        Might it be that “accepting Jesus” sounds like simple mental ascent that seems to Stewart quite trivial? 

2.        Might it be that Stewart associates Jesus with the preachers who he showed on television who yell in their preaching and seem to be attempting to persuade the uneducated through fear? 

3.        Might it be that there are not enough outstanding media people in Hollywood who are thoughtful Christians for him to rub shoulders with? 

4.        Might it be that there are not enough vocal thoughtful Christians who ask how the book of Revelation was originally intended to be read?

5.        Might it be that many of the doomsday prophets of the past have been wrong when they have predicted a certain day, month or year?   

6.        Might it be that evangelical Christians are famous for supporting Israel for religious reasons and have thus seemed to overlook the suffering of people who are perceived as Israel’s enemies?

As many of you have no doubt heard, there has been a misidentification in the accident that occurred on April 26th. Laura VanRyn’s family had been at the bedside of a woman they believed to be Laura since the accident. On May 31st, they announced that the woman was Whitney Cerak.

Of course, I am not a journalist but I just thought I would try to distill the story for my friends.

After I wrote my summary below, I found a more detailed summary on the Detroit Free Press website in the article Crash chaos led to tragic ID mistake. It is excellent.

From what I understand from the newspapers, this is what happened.

A semi-truck crossed over the large grassy median on interstate 69 about 10 miles from the Taylor campus at about 8 pm on April 26. The semi hit a Taylor van carrying four Taylor employees and five students. It is believed that the driver had fallen asleep because there was no evidence of braking according to the police report. Also another truck driver reported that he had seen the semi-truck drifting earlier and he had tried to alert the driver on the CB.

At the scene, five people were killed. Whitney Cerak was in critical condition. She and one of the other employees were taken in a helicopter to Fort Wayne’s hospital. Unfortunately, one of the earliest arriving rescue workers mistakenly pinned the ID cards of Laura VanRyn to Whitney’s chest. From this point forward, Whitney was thought to be Laura.

After arriving there, Laura’s parents have stayed by the side of Whitney for five weeks. They have blogged daily about her progress at a blog here. (Update June 13: the VanRyn family has removed the lauravanryn@blogspot.com blog). They did not recognize that this was not their daughter. She had a neck brace and a lot of bruising initially. Laura’s boyfriend and other friends also visited Whitney who they thought to be Laura.

Meanwhile, the five deceased victims were taken to Marion Hospital. Three Taylor administrators went there to attend to the many concerned Taylor students who had gathered there. While they were there they were asked to identify the victims. They were given the names of Brad Larson, Monica Felver, Betsy Smith, Laurel Erb, and Whitney Cerak. They matched the victims to these people. They were not given the name Laura VanRyn. Since then, there have been memorial services for those five people including Whitney. Whitney’s family decided not to view the body – choosing instead to remember Whitney "the way they remembered her." It is hard to say if they would have realized in looking at the body that it was not Whitney but rather Laura. The funeral service for Whitney had a closed casket.

On May 18, one of Laura’s roommates who had been visiting the woman thought to be Laura in the hospital expressed her concern to Taylor officials that there may have been a misidentification. Taylor University then began a quiet investigation to solicit reports on how the identification of the victims had taken place. Taylor reports that the roommate’s parents have expressed their satisfaction that their daughter’s concerns were taken seriously by Taylor officials. They had not made further progress in the investigation when the misidentification was publicly announced by the coroner on May 31st.

On the days leading up to May 31st, Whitney began to become more alert. When she was addressed as "Laura" by Laura’s family, she would respond "No, Whitney." When she was asked to write her name, she wrote "Whitney Cerak." At that point, the family compared Whitney’s teeth with Laura’s past dental records. It became clear that this woman they had cared for was not their daughter. At that point, the Cerak’s were contacted and were reunited with their daughter.

Since then, Whitney has been meeting with friends and family. We are hopeful that she will make a complete recovery. Today was Laura’s memorial service.

This has made the news all over the world. I am in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and it has been in all the newspapers here.

All of my information has been gleaned from reports in the Marion Chronicle and the Indy Star online. You can search for Cerak or VanRyn there. Also, Taylor University’s website has a lot of information.

I posted about the original accident earlier in the month here.

Here are some places for photos:
– Photo of Laura VanRyn and Whitney Cerak side by side at Taylor website.
– Chronicle Tribune Photos of the accident site.

Thank you for your prayers for the VanRyn family and everyone else involved.

Additional note: You can find updates on Whitney Cerak at the Cerak Family Blog. You can also access the Cerak blog from the Taylor In Memory Page.

As you likely have already heard, last night four students and one faculty member from Taylor University were killed in a tragic semi-truck and van accident.

My wife and I are faculty members at Taylor. We had connections to two of the students who were killed. Thank you for your prayers for the whole Taylor community. We are deeply saddened by the loss.

At the moment, I am in Fairview, Pennsylvania because my mother-in-law, Nancy Steinfield, passed away suddenly and her funeral was yesterday. Her obituary is here. So we are grieving because of that and also grieving in absentia for the Taylor tragedy. Amy and I will return to Taylor on Saturday or Sunday.

There are a number of links below to find out more about the tragedy from Taylor’s website and local news media.

Taylor University Official Updates

Chronicle-Tribune.com – local paper with regular updates and photos

WISH-TV – stories and video

WTHR.com – stories and video

TheIndyChannel.com – stories and video

IndyStar.com – Indianapolis Star newspaper

See also the comments by Blue Like Jazz author Donald Miller here.