Devoted to the Propagation and Defense of New Testament Christianity
VOLUME 1
December 1, 1949
NUMBER 30, PAGE 5

Red Soda Pop, Real Estate Agents, And Premillenniamism

Cecil B. Douthitt, Brownwood, Texas

It was not in the jungles of a far away heathen land, but right here in the middle of great big old beautiful Texas, over radio station KBWD., on the morning of October 26, 1949, that a local Millenarian preacher taught that the large quantity of available red soda pop and ever increasing number of real estate agents are signs of the imminence of the coming of Christ.

He read from Matthew, "For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and they knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall be the coming of the Son of man. Then shall two men be in the field; one is taken and one is left; two women shall be grinding at the mill; one is taken, and one is left." (Matt. 24:38-41.) Then the preacher began to comment. He said people are eating and drinking now as never before; that when he was a boy, it was difficult for him to get a bottle of red soda pop a week, but now he can get a bottle every day. He thinks that is what Jesus meant in the terms "eating and drinking" in the passage quoted.

Of course the passage teaches that all the world will continue socially, religiously, and commercially without any noticeable change in conduct of the people till Christ comes, just as were the days before the flood. Jesus says the people will be doing, before his coming and the destruction of the world, just as they were doing before the deluge: eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage; no change noticeable at all. He did not say the people were drinking red soda pop before the flood and therefore will be drinking it again, and lots of it, before his second coming. In some parts of the world red soda pop is scarce; therefore, if an abundance of red soda pop in America should be taken as a sign that Jesus is about ready to come again, then the scarcity of it in Siberia would prove to the people there that his coming is not imminent.

Real Estate Agents

The premillennial preacher thinks there are more real estate agents now than ever before, and to him this, too, is a sign of the imminence of the coming of Christ. He thinks that the passage in Matthew 24 has reference to real estate agents and their land deals. How he knows there are more now than in the days of Noah, he did not say. Nor did he tell how he got his statistics on real estate agents in the days of Noah.

We have the promise of our Lord's coming and that is all we have. That is enough for all who believe the word. The ten virgins had the promise that the bridegroom would come. Nobody dangled red soda pop and real estate agents before them as a sign of the bridegroom's coming. They had no "sign" until it was too late to get ready for his coming. If these premillennial preachers would preach the promise of the Lord's coming and observe the Lord's Supper on the first day of the week "till he come" (I Cor. 11:26), and quit rehashing the old Millennial Dawn theories of Pastor Charlie Russell, which have been refuted over and over again, they would do the people more good and would not be dragging the glorious promise of our Savior's coming down to the level of a bottle of red soda pop.

How the man ever saw red soda pop and real estate agents in Matthew 24 may be a mystery to some. But let me remind you that it is no more difficult to see red soda pop in Matthew 24 than it is to see a Premillennialist Baptist Church, or any kind of Baptist Church, or premillennialism in the Bible. Of course this preacher thought he saw all of them in the New Testament.

For a long time Baptist preachers have been acting like they see red, when they look at Mark 16:16 and Acts 2:38, but this is the first time I have ever heard one of them admit that he sees red soda pop when he looks at Matthew 24.