One of the weekly features that I like best in Sports Illustrated is a small vignette called “Sign of the Apocalypse.” These are brief looks at things that are so weird, off the wall, just plain nuts, and a sure sign that things just can’t go on if this kind of craziness keeps up for much longer….
I got to thinking, we could turn some these crazy things around to point at signs of the Second Coming of Christ. By that I mean, can these crazy things spark in us instances in the Bible and our faith lives that point directly to the coming of Jesus that will take us all home to the completed Kingdom of God?
Some of these reflections may border on the profound (who knows), others on the silly, and still others on the ridiculous. Please take them simply at face value. I am not trying to make any great – everlasting statement about the End Times or anything. I am simply taking strange, maddening, crazy and sometimes funny situations and putting them in the context of my faith life.
So, I will give it a shot using 14 different examples from Sports Illustrated to point to the Heavenly Reign of God in Heaven! Some will take some explaining, and others will just have the Scripture, and let you make the connections.
Grace and Peace, Pastor Steve Nofel
1. February 1, 2010 – An Atlanta promoter has announced the formation of a whites only basketball league that will focus on “fundamental basketball” rather than “street ball.”
Galatians 3:26-28 – You are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
When we finally get over all the racial prejudice, bigotry, and hate just because someone is “different” from us, we will truly cloth ourselves and our world in Christ – for we will finally KNOW we are all one in Jesus Christ.
2. December 28, 2009 (Golfer) Tiger Woods was mentioned on the cover of the New York Post for 20 consecutive days, surpassing the 9/11 attacks (19 days) for the longest streak in the paper’s history.
I don’t think I know anyone who has not gotten caught up at least a little bit in the whole Tiger Woods soap opera. It is forever in the headlines and on the news. It is like watching train wreck about to happen. I don’t want to see it, but I don’t want to look away either. Yet, the Apostle Paul tells us, we can and should focus on a more excellent way:
1 Corinthians 12:31-13:8 – But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
3. Nov 30, 2009 – Iraqi detainees at a prison camp in Baghdad have been taunting U.S. soldiers from Wisconsin about Brett Favre’s signing with the Vikings.
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.” The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” – Luke 23:34-37
Even at His most desperate – painful time, when He was abandoned and being put to death by those He loved, Jesus reached out in forgiveness to those who taunted Him, and, loved them still
4. Oct 19, 2009 – (Seattle) Seahawks fullback Owen Schmitt needed medical attention after splitting open his forehead by slamming himself with his helmet to fire up the crowd during pregame introductions on Sunday.
1 Corinthians 6: 19-20 – Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
5. Oct 12, 2009 – Citing the dangers of global warming, a member of Tokyo’s 2016 Olympic bid committee said, “It could be that the 2016 Games are the last Olympics in the history of mankind.”
(Signs of the End of the Age)
Matthew 24:30-36 “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
6. Sept 21, 2009 – An animal-rescue group will donate five bags of dog food to a Washington, D.C., shelter for every time Michael Vick is tackled when the Redskins play the Eagles next month.
Psalm 106:6 (The Message) – We’ve sinned a lot, both we and our parents; We’ve fallen short, hurt a lot of people. After our parents left Egypt, they took your wonders for granted, forgot your great and wonderful love. They were barely beyond the Red Sea when they defied the High God —the very place he saved them! —the place he revealed his amazing power! He rebuked the Red Sea so that it dried up on the spot —he paraded them right through! —no one so much as got wet feet! He saved them from a life of oppression, pried them loose from the grip of the enemy…Then they believed his words were true and broke out in songs of praise.
You may remember quarterback Michael Vick was convicted of animal cruelty, trafficking dogs illegally and promoting and holding dog fights to the death on his home property. He actually did time in prison for his sin. He seems to have turned his life around, I really hope so. At the same time, while I may never root for him again, I must realize we have all sinned a lot, and all can be forgiven by our all-powerful God. I pray for myself to repent of my offenses, and for Michael Vick, and everyone (all of us) who have fallen short.
7. July 27, 2009 – In an ad on the Lions’ website for streaming video of old games, fans of the team, which went 0–16 last year, were exhorted to RELIVE THE 2008 SEASON.
Isaiah 6:10 – Close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes.
Sorry about the bad pun. I am still sore that the Lions beat my Cleveland Browns in 2009 (I am a native Clevelander and a Browns fan for more than 40 years).
Here is a saying I found about closed eyes from the Book of Proverbs when I was looking for the Isaiah passage that got me wondering: He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses. (Proverbs 28:27).
A very serious question: What do you believe this Proverb means?
8. June 22, 2009 – An Arlington, Wash., Little League coach is accused of using some of his players to help him break into and rob an abandoned tool shop.
Matthew 18:5-6 – “And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”
9. June 8, 2009 – A bodybuilding competition in the Netherlands was canceled after all of the competitors fled when drug testers arrived.
1 Thessalonians 5:4-6 – But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled.
10. June 1, 2009 During a Mets game a plumber had to be called to Citi Field to free a woman whose arm got stuck in a toilet when she tried to retrieve a lost gold tooth.
Matthew 6:19-21 – “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
11. March 30, 2009 Police in Indiana drove a high school basketball coach 45 miles to his team’s playoff game after he posted bond on a DWI charge.
1 Thes. 3:68 – In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you.
In the First Letter to the Thessalonians, Paul urges them to follow his and his companions’ example of good Christian hard work and ethic. He could make this request, because even though he was an imperfect man, he tried his best to follow his savior. And when Paul did fall short, his letters show he picked himself up, repented, and tried again. I only hope that after showing his high school team a terrible example that coach repented and got his act together.
12. Feb 9, 2009 – Former Steelers running back Franco Harris is selling a line of furniture called the Immaculate Collection.
This one will take a little explaining. December 23, 1972, Franco Harris plucked a tipped pass out of the air and ran for a touchdown with no time left on the clock to beat the Oakland Raiders in a playoff game. The wags have forever dubbed that catch “The Immaculate Reception.” There is even a statue in the Pittsburgh International Airport of Harris making the grab at his shoe tops. So it is actually funny that Harris now has a line of furniture called “Immaculate Collection.”
Now what many don’t realize that the Immaculate Conception is NOT the conception of Jesus in Mary by the Holy Spirit. The Immaculate Conception refers to the conception of the Virgin Mary in her mother (traditionally named Anna) in her mother. This is held by the Roman Church thinking that only a perfect, sinless vessel could have held our Savior for nine months. Yet, God came to a sinful world, and saved us. I got no trouble with Mary being a regular sinner like the rest of us. In fact, I take comfort in the fact that God uses sinful humans to witness to salvation and to do the work of witness and ministry. “…born of the Virgin Mary, He became man…”
13. Jan 19, 2009 Cricket fans in the hometown of India’s national team captain are building a temple where he will be worshiped as a god.
Exodus 20:2-4 -“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.”
14. October 13, 2008 – An Elgin, Ill., high school student was forced to remove a Cubs jersey she wore to school because a staffer thought fukudome was a curse word.
1 John 4: 4-6 – You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.
Sometimes we not only see things from the world’s point of view, we actually assume the world’s point of view. We thing we know what someone means before they actually say it. We often assume they mean ill, because we just think they do. But as Children of God we are to look with Christ’s eyes. Look on others with love then go about strengthening them with hugs, or rebukes or any other helps.
By the way “fukudome” is the name of the Chicago Cub’s Japanese born right fielder, Kosuke Fukudome.
