Last weekend we ran an email ad for Francis Gumerlock’s wonderful book on the history of failed end-times predictions, The Day and The Hour. What occurred afterward provides lessons in both marketing and the poor level of Christian thinking out there.
The subject line (poorly constructed in my opinion—*tsk*, *tsk*, marketing dept!) read: “When will Christ return? Get ‘Day and Hour’ for only $1.” A buck for this fabulous book is a steal by any standard, but the subject line mislead many people to think we were actually giving a day and hour for Christ’s return rather than sell a book about failed predictions throughout history. This is the lesson in marketing: have a second set of eyes proofread your ads!
Then follows the lesson in Christian, what?, humility, patience, critical thinking, suspension of judgment? In a rash of being swift to speak and slow to hear, here are some of the angry emails we received:
“No one knows the day nor hour of the Lord’s return except God Almighty, My Heavenly Father. That is the only thing that He did tell His Only Begotten Son.”
“AN OBVIOUS SCAM SINCE ONLY GOD KNOWS!!!!”
“Save your money, The Bible says no man knows the time or day of his return.”
“SCAM!!! The scriptures say no one but the father knows the day and hour, so what maks you so special? I’ll tell you, NOTHING”
“i love the site and actually bought quite a few books from you but i dont think it is in Conservative values to promote a book that hypothesizes about when the last day will be. That would be what i call blaspheme since Jesus said no one not even him knows when the last day would be.”
“If he is predicting a definite date and time he is blaspheming. It is hogwash…………only God knows when that will be not the son, not the Holy Spirit not this nut. Matthew makes it plain that only God knows. Quit fleecing the people.”
“Wrong!”
All of this nonsense, despite the fact that the headline within the body of the email reads in bold red letters: “Francis Gumerlock exposes erroneous predictions and sets the record straight…”
Then the body reads:
“By exposing these erroneous predictions made century after century, The Day and The Hour encourages an approach of “cautious ignorance” concerning the date of the final coming of Christ and related events, and magnifies the truth of Christ’s words that the day and the hour is indeed unknown.”
So why did we get so many angry emails? Answer: these overzealous Christians reacted to the subject line in knee-jerk fashion, and never actually read the email!!! And with their minds firmly convinced, they ignorantly ran full-steam-ahead into iconic battle for the Lord.
Come on guys. The ad could have been better-written, but Christians need to stop and think before they rush into judgment. Do you really think American Vision, of all organizations out there—the only preterist, postmillennial, theonomic worldview ministry out there—would actually claim to know the “day and hour” of Christ’s return? The one organization who prides itself on refuting the Lindsays and LaHayes of this world would never think of it. Not in a thousand years.
Joel McDurmon, M.Div., Reformed Episcopal Theological Seminary, is the Director of Research for American Vision. He has authored four books and also serves as a lecturer and regular contributor to the American Vision website. He joined American Vision's staff in the June of 2008. Joel and his wife and four sons live in Dallas, Georgia.
