Church Hosts Talks on Biblical Prophecy

The pastor of a 10,000-member church in Diamond Bar hosted talks this week on “what the Bible says about the end times,” responding in part to what he said is a rising public curiosity about apocalyptic ideas or predictions of divine intervention.

The Rev. Raul Ries, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Golden Springs, said that more than 3,300 people filled his church’s sanctuary and fellowship hall on Monday and Wednesday nights to hear talks on biblical prophecy by the Revs. Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa and Greg Laurie of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside.

Unfortunately, Ries said, the widespread interest in the subject has led to “an increasing amount of misinformation, hysteria and outrageous claims.”

“People are being sucked into perverse doctrine by cult leaders who claim to know when God will return,” he said.

The minister cited as an example news stories about a Garland, Texas, group called the True Way Church. Members have told reporters that God will inhabit the body of its leader, Hong-Ming Chen, on March 31. Last month, 21 church members in a San Dimas branch left for the suburban Dallas church. Members have said Christ’s return and cataclysmic events will occur in 1999.

“The Bible states that no one knows the day or the hour that Christ will return to the earth,” Ries said. He acknowledged, however, an ongoing tension in evangelical-charismatic circles over whether current political, economic and spiritual events are fulfilling predictions in biblical passages--thus giving rise to hopes of a Second Coming within decades.

Groups of Christians since the 1st Century have anticipated the imminent return of Jesus, Ries noted. Yet, the pastor said, he believes that “Christ could come back in this generation, which biblically could mean within 50 years.”

Living with such beliefs and expectations is beneficial, Ries said. “If you live with that kind of attitude, you will have good morals and a compassion for others,” he said.

RITES

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Youths from a Greek Orthodox church in Long Beach will dive into offshore waters Sunday to retrieve a holy cross tossed into the sea by a clergyman during the parish’s 47th annual “blessing of the waters” ceremony.

The chilly ritual recalling Jesus’ baptism is part of Epiphany rites (delayed until the weekend for convenience of parishioners and invited bishops) led by the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church, 5761 E. Colorado St., Long Beach. Greek Orthodox Bishop Anthony of San Francisco and Bishop Jovan of the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of the West will preside at the 10 a.m. divine liturgy in the church. Parishioners will take charter buses to Mothers Beach in Long Beach for the 1 p.m. ritual. (562) 494-8929.

LECTURES

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The annual Claremont Lectures, focusing next week on images of Christ, will feature Jon D. Levenson of Harvard Divinity School and Delores S. Williams of New York City’s Union Theological Seminary. They will speak in Claremont Graduate University’s Albrecht Auditorium.

Levenson will talk about child sacrifice in biblical tradition at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday and on “Isaac, Jesus and the Lamb” at 10:30 a.m. Thursday. Williams will speak about redemption at 3 p.m. Wednesday and “Knowing Jesus the Lamb: Meeting Jesus the Heretic” at 2 p.m. Thursday. (909) 626-3521, Ext. 1-262.

* Novelist and historian Chaim Potok on Monday night will launch a four-week sequence of lectures at the University of Judaism by participating scholars in a nondenominational “Torah Commentary” of the Jewish Publication Society. Potok, author of “The Chosen,” was literary editor of the commentary combining traditional views on the ancient texts as well as later historical-critical interpretations. Nahum Sarana, Baruch Levine and Jeffrey Tigay will lecture in subsequent talks at the campus in Sepulveda Pass. $55. (310) 476-9777, Ext. 24.

DATES

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Paul Kurtz, publisher of Skeptical Inquirer magazine, will critique offbeat religious movements and paranormal beliefs in public lectures at 7 p.m. today in San Diego’s Regency Plaza Hotel and at 6 p.m. Sunday in Los Angeles at the Olympic Collection Conference Center, 11301 Olympic Blvd. (310) 575-4585. An emeritus philosophy professor at State University of New York in Buffalo, Kurtz is chairman of the national Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal.

* Bishop Norman F. McFarland of the Catholic diocese of Orange will celebrate a multiethnic Mass at 2 p.m. Sunday at Holy Family Cathedral, 566 S. Glassell St., Orange, to mark National Migration Week. Ethnic Catholic communities in Orange County include Latino, Italian, Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Vietnamese, Samoan, Tongan and Czech.

* A panel discussing Jewish perspectives on homosexuality and bisexuality will be held Sunday at 7:30 p.m. at University Synagogue, 11960 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles. Panelists will include Reform Rabbi Allen I. Freehling of the host temple, Conservative Rabbi Elliot N. Dorff of the University of Judaism and Reconstructionist Rabbi Leila Gal Berner of a gay-oriented synagogue in Atlanta. The event is sponsored by Beth Chayim Chadashim Synagogue in Los Angeles. (213) 931-7023.

FINALLY

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“Voices From the Holy Land . . . and Not So Holy Land,” a nine-character show about Israel written and acted by Steve Greenstein, will be performed at the Los Angeles Central Library’s Mark Taper Auditorium on Sunday and on Jan. 25.

The “voices” include humor and poignancy expressed by nine characters--from “a car salesman in the San Fernando Valley to a young Arab woman disguised as a Jew in Jerusalem,” a spokesman said. The Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles is co-sponsoring the performances.

Written in 1996, the play had its first reading at the San Diego Repertory Theatre as part of the Jewish Arts Festival.

Discussion after the one-man play, being given at 2 p.m. both days, will be led on Sunday by Rabbi Robert Elias of Knesset Israel of Hollywood and on Jan. 25 by Screen Actors Guild President Ed Asner. Admission is free to the play and discussion. (213) 228-7331.

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HOLIDAY

Observances linked to the birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. will start in the Los Angeles area next week, well before the official Jan. 19 holiday. They include:

* Democratic Reps. Maxine Waters and Juanita Millender-McDonald, along with 14 other elected officials, business leaders and media figures, will receive awards Sunday during the annual King celebration by Christian Methodist Episcopal churches. CME Bishop Othal H. Lakey of Atlanta will be the guest speaker at the 4 p.m. service at Lewis Metropolitan CME Church, 4900 S. Western Ave., Los Angeles. (213) 292-0179.

* The Rev. John Tunstall, pastor of the host Abundant Life Christian Church, 3500 Normandie Ave., Los Angeles, will preach at 4 p.m. Sunday in a joint observance of King’s birthday. The service was organized by the regional offices of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ. (213) 733-8082.

* An interfaith breakfast Wednesday will feature the Rev. Windle Tucker, pastor of Los Angeles First African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, which was damaged by a fire of suspicious origins in July, and Salam Al-Marayati, director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Los Angeles. Both will talk about how their religious communities respond to hate crimes. The prayer breakfast at Holman United Methodist Church, 3320 W. Adams Blvd., will be at the church pastored by the Rev. James Lawson, a colleague of King’s during the 1960s civil rights struggles. The sponsors are the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the National Conference of Christians and Jews. $15. Advance registration. (213) 250-8787.

* The Rev. Preston N. Williams of Harvard Divinity School will speak about King’s legacy at 4 p.m. Thursday in Kresge Chapel at Claremont School of Theology, 1325 N. College Ave.