Newspaper exegesis
Have you ever heard the term?
No doubt, newspaper you know
And exegesis you can learn.
Exegete is to interpret the word
But within its own context,
However, some use the daily news
To make meaning of biblical
text.
Commentators affix Bible prophecy
To current world events
To show newspaper exegesis
Is often their intent.
Of course, this is eisegesis
Which is like having an agenda,
Their interpretation of Bible prophecy
Must fit their
eschatological propaganda.
By now you should be able to see
This is a reverse of the process,
It is the cart before the horse
Which always creates a mess.
It’s like having a focus on Israel
And world events concerning them
And predicting as a result,
We must be nearing the end.
The rapture should have happened
Prior to the year 1988
Because Israel regain its nationhood
In the year 1948.
Based on the words “this generation”
Found in Matthew chapter 24,
The author of a million-dollar best seller
Had stated the rapture would occur.
His mathematics was simple enough
Given his idea of a generation,
Hence, his speculation of forty years
Led to his resulting problem.
Some tweaking had to be done;
The rapture didn’t occur on time,
Or, if indeed it happened,
Even he was left behind.
The forty years was stretched to sixty
And even more than this,
And how ever they speculate
They still continue to miss.
Even in this time of COVID-19
The speculations are rife again
And the imminent return of Jesus Christ
Is back up in the frame.
This is newspaper exegesis
Where the tabloids interpret the Word,
Using current events to interpret prophecy
To me smacks of the absurd.
And we are certainly not learning
Having been wrong so many times,
If we were fined every time we erred,
There would be a lot of fines.
No man knows the hour or day
These are the words of Jesus Christ,
Let the Bible exegete the Word
And this would more than suffice.
Stewart Russell © June 2020
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