African Independent Pentecostal Church of Africa and Eschatology

Abstract

Since Jesus ascended to his Father nearly twenty centuries ago, Christians have been waiting For his return. On his return, a^-coroing to Christian belief, the eschatological end, the end of this world, wil! take place. The resurrection of the dead, the transformation of the living and the last judgement will also take place. The faithful peopli will be rewarded with eternal life in heaven and the wicked will face eternal punishment in hell. The Christian message was brought tc Africans by western missionaries. The message landed on people with different woiid views and beliefs. The members of the African Independent Pentecostal Church of Africa (ATPCAJ among the Kikuyu for example, shared the Kikuyu beliefs. The Kikuyu never thought that Bod (Ngai) would ever bring the world to an end. Such Christian ideas as the world coming to an end, last judgement, heaven and hell, have no counterparts m the Kikuyu religious beliefs. Some AIPCA members still maintain the Kikuyu view, that, a person comes to the end of the world at his physical death. At the same time, in line with Christian belief, they look forward to the return of Jesus when the end of the world will take place. The Kikuyu belief, that the spirits of the departed continue to participate in the affairs of their living relatives, has not been abandoned by some AIPCA members. During times or crises such as dea-i sickness or lack of children, ancestral spirits are often looked at as possible causes.

The belief about the coming end of the world is tied up with the notion of the Kingdom of God. In Jesus' teaching the Kingdom is both present and future. Some AIPCA members, by interpreting the Kingdom from a spatial point of view lay emphasis on the futuristic, aspect. Furthermore, they interpret the symbols related to the Kingdom, such as country, new Jerusalem, and paradise, from a materialistic point c*- view. From such an interpretation, the life in the world to come becomes something found only in heaven which will be seen only after the return of Jesus. The present dimension of the Kingdom, whereby Christians have a foretaste of the life in the Kingdom, is thus overlooked . The nearness of the return of Jesus is emphasized by the AIPCA members. In the thirteenth chapter of the Gospel of Mark, Jesus mentioned some of the things that would be seen in the last days. This is taken as the proof text to show that we are living in^Lho last days because some of the signs mentioned there (Mk 13) have already been seen. These include international wars, rise of various Christian sects each claiming to be the true one, and the increase of evil and immorality in society to name just a few, According to the AIPCA members, then, this is the end-time and Jesus is about to return, followed by the end of the world.