Pentecostals’ fatal eschatology of destruction: Implications for a viable eco-theology

Abstract

Since its inception, Pentecostals have expected the imminent return of Christ. They viewed their movement as the restoration and revival of the early church to introduce Christ’s second coming, ensuring their eschatological fervour to hasten Christ’s return by taking the gospel to all people. In accepting classical dispensational eschatology, they became so heavenly-minded and focused on reaching the un-evangelised that they showed little concern for preserving the earth. Several Pentecostal scholars, of whom four are discussed, revisited traditional eschatology and suggested an eco-theology. It is concluded that Pentecostals urgently need to redesign their eschatology with an alternative eschatological future that focuses on transforming the present world because the awaited new world is born from the present world. Christians are called to establish a renewed earth filled with God’s presence because the world’s end is not its termination. A Pentecostal eco-theology is kingdom-oriented, socially minded, pneumatologically consistent, ecologically inclusive, and sustainable.