Answer: Dear Edward,

We are happy to hear that you appreciate our emphasis and insistence on Jesus Christ as the absolute core of our faith.

You note, however, that we do not appear to be "watching." We believe that we are watching, in the strictest sense of what Jesus said, in the context in which he said it. If, however, you are concerned that we are not reading the Bible in one hand, with the newspaper in another – you are correct.

We have learned from the school of hard knocks that every generation attempts to literally interpret many of the "end-time" prophecies into their day and age, into the names of their political leaders. And we have learned that such a focus takes our attention off the gospel, and into a self-centered preoccupation with identifying nations, political leaders, and ultimately on to saving one’s own neck.

We firmly believe that date-setting is injurious to Christians, that many believers lose faith and drop out of the community of believers when date-setting and speculation does not occur. The hard facts and documented evidence of history supports that. We fear that manipulation and promotion becomes a part of the gospel, and that this emphasis is far from the great commission given to believers.

For example, we reflect with sadness, on the Antichrists (also named the Beast of Revelation) that some well-intentioned preachers/Christian authors and commentators have identified in this generation alone – Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, a Common Market computer, Anwar Sadat, Kurt Waldheim, Franz Joseph Strauss, Henry Kissinger, Sun Myung Moon and Sadam Hussein. These predictions have all proven to be wrong! Is this the kind of "watching" that Jesus wants us to do? This list is just our generation, to say nothing of those who have gone before us. We do not believe making spurious and false predictions, and then not being accountable for those predictions, and the destruction of faith that results, is part of what Jesus intends in telling us to "watch."

We do not believe that there is necessarily anything wrong with "watching world events" – but we believe that watching entails many more important areas – watching Him, the focus and core of our worship – watching our own personal walk with the Lord – watching others, our neighbors, whom we love, and tending to their needs, just as the Lord did. These are the kinds of "watching" we focus on.

In Christ,

Greg Albrecht