A letter from Doug Orbaker in Nicaragua
January 2011
The Final Judgment
Dear Friends,
In the area where I grew up there was a short rural dirt road called “Christians Holler Road.” But in upstate New York people don't normally use the words “hollow” or “holler” for a narrow valley. The origin of the name came from an event in the 1850s. There was a church on that road and the pastor of that church studied the scriptures and determined the date of the end of the world. The entire congregation decided to spend the night in hymn-singing and prayer as they awaited the dawn and the coming of the Lord.
Some of the local young men who were not part of the congregation gathered outside the church that night to pass around the bottle and make fun of the believers. Dawn came, but the end of the world didn't. The people outside began taunting those inside who were already upset with their pastor. Later, one of the outside observers was quoted in the local paper, “You should have heard them Christians holler.” The name stuck.
May 21, 2011, the Day of Final Judgment.
I remembered “Christians Holler Road” when I returned to Managua and saw the new billboards proclaiming, “21 de Mayo, 2011, El Dia Del Juicio Final” or “May 21, 2011, The Day of Final Judgment.” The Nicaraguan daily newspapers printed photos of the billboards and interviewed Christian leaders, both Roman Catholic and Protestant. All of them agreed that there is no basis for a claim like this and that it is hurtful to Christianity to make such unfounded predictions. But the billboards are still here, and I would imagine that the website shown on the billboards is getting a lot of hits and raising a lot of donations.
It is easy to dismiss the groups that make predictions like this. They raise fears for many people and often make a lot of money because of it. For all the years that I have been in ministry (more than 40), I have heard predictions that the Second Coming is happening soon and the end of the world is upon us. Fear is a powerful motivator, especially in a place that is as poor, unstable and poorly educated as Nicaragua. There is plenty to be afraid of here: governmental corruption, extreme poverty and a growing crime problem are only starters.
But there is plenty of reason for hope here as well. Even after seven years in Nicaragua I continue to meet new groups of people who have organized themselves to try to change some part of their community or nation. I hear the phrase over and over, “Seguimos adelante” or “We continue moving forward.” The steps are small, but the people are taking these steps. As a result children are being educated, hungry people are being fed, sick people are receiving medicines and (as Jesus said) the poor are hearing a little bit of good news.
“21 de Mayo, El Dia Del Juicio Final” stands against that good news. It is a fear-builder not a faith-builder. As Christians we live in a theology of love, with the assurance that “perfect love casts out fear.” That is what the Council of Evangelical Churches of Nicaragua (CEPAD) is trying to do — to light small candles of love in all the confusion and poverty of life in Nicaragua. Of course, there are all kinds of bad things predicted as precedents to Christ’s coming, and all of those things exist now. But all of those things have always existed. I see no more reason to expect Christ’s coming on May 21, 2011, than there was in the 1850s or 50 years after Christ’s death.
But the worst thing I see in such predictions is that they take time and energy away from the real work of Christians: feeding the hungry, healing the sick and making peace. I remember one particular meeting of the ministerial association in the small town where I was a pastor. We talked about a food pantry, an emergency fund, the new Habitat for Humanity and a lot of other social projects. Then one of the ministers objected, “We spend so much time talking about all these social projects! We have to be getting these people saved! Jesus is coming soon!”
This was so far from my theology that I had absolutely no way to respond, but another member of the group, a Free Methodist pastor, responded. “You know, I believe that Jesus is coming soon, and when he comes I don't want him to find hungry people that we could have fed.”
I have no idea when, or if, or in what way the end of the world may (or may not) come, but instead of wasting time in fruitless speculation I would rather concentrate on food for the hungry, medicines for the sick, clothing for the naked, friendship for the friendless and a little good news now and then. Most Nicaraguan Christians are working on these things, and in community after community I find groups of Christians struggling to improve their own lives and the lives of those around them. Strengthening and supporting these people is the work of CEPAD and I continue to feel happy to be a part of it.
I don’t know what may happen on May 21, 2011, but I expect that we will all get up and go to church on the morning of May 22. In the meantime, let us work on behalf of those who have less, building hope instead of fear. Perfect love casts our fear.
In Christ,
Doug Orbaker
The 2011 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 289
