In her final sermon to the La Sierra University Church, senior pastor Chris Oberg had a message to the church: “A low-grade apocalyptic fever is good for no one.”
“To shake people up, to stir up frenzy, even abuse, over the second coming, friends, Adventist Christianity we have our own history with this, when you have been 167 [177] years in the second coming waiting room—not all denominations, but that’s our story, since 1844 we’ve been in the second coming waiting room, so we have some experience and we have some trauma on this topic. Being in the second coming waiting room certainly has shaped us, and some of us developed an emotional sequencing, and a theological sequencing that’s harmful and wrong.
“So that when we don’t feel good about ourselves, maybe there is shame or guilt, and, we’ve said so many times shame doesn’t belong in our story, and guilt can be our teacher. But when we don’t feel right before God, we tell ourselves to repent, and ask for forgiven, and try harder, and work it out with God, and we do this salvation dance as if we fall in and out of salvation regularly. We’ve taught ourselves this signalling.
“And please hear me today: a low grade apocalyptic fever is good for no one, especially if that’s how we interpret the apocalypse. It doesn’t bring out the best in any of us; I consider it spiritual extortion.”
Oberg makes it sound as though the second coming of Christ is a cultic preoccupation of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. But in fact the Adventist Church historically has emphasized the second Advent because it was an important part of Christ’s teaching. Christ spoke often about His second coming:
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” John 14:1-3.
“But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” Luke 21:34-36.
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Matthew 24:29-31.
“Jesus said to him, ‘You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.’” Matthew 26:64.
And it is not just that Jesus spoke frequently about His second Advent to the earth, he taught watchfulness specifically:
“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. . . . But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 24:36-51.
“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” Matthew 25:1-13
So the attitude of watching carefully for the second Advent—which Oberg dismisses as “a low grade apocalyptic fever”—is exactly what Christ repeatedly enjoined us to embrace. Often He warned us to be watchful and to not become entangled with the cares of this world, which can cause us to take our focus off the second coming.
“Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” Matthew 25:13
“You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” Luke 12:40.
And of course it wasn’t just Christ who emphasized watchfulness, but the apostles and other Bible-writers:
“For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.” 1. Thess. 5:2-6.
Inspired writers were shown that it would be longer than we thought—177 years in the second coming waiting room!—and yet that does not excuse a lack of watchfulness on our part:
“But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” 2 Peter 3:8-13.
Pastors of the Chris Oberg stripe are not going to preach the second Advent, even though it is biblical and, indeed, prominent in Scripture, and, along with the Sabbath, is the signature belief after which we named our church. Liberal social club pastors not only don’t preach doctrine, they condemn those who do.
It isn’t just that Chris Oberg dismisses sound Bible doctrine as “low grade apocalyptic fever,” she’s teaching and mentoring her pastoral staff to do the same. This is what female ordination and female spiritual headship inevitably leads to: a liberal church, a social club church that has no use for doctrine.
We have warned over and over and over that a female pastorate is a liberal pastorate, and a liberal pastorate eventually leads to a liberal church that is apocalytically irrelevant and will play no further role in salvation history.