50 years ago: Congress on Prophecy emphasizes the Lord's return

If there seems to be confusion or neglect of truth regarding the return of the Lord Jesus Christ in 2013, the same appears to have been the case in 1963:

The Congress on Prophecy held in the Moody Memorial Church from May 12 to 19, 1963, was convened by the American Board of Missions to the Jews to meet the great need of the hour. Because of new theological trends sweeping over our land, the blessed hope, that great bulwark of the believer, is becoming blurred. It is not at all strange that as a corollary of unscriptural teachings that there should also be a rethinking of the place of Israel in God's plan. Once more Satan attacks the earthly channel of God's blessing, the Jew. This was the challenge of the hour: to reaffirm with no uncertain sound the great truths concerning the second coming of our Lord. Emil D. Gruen, Foreword to Focus on Prophecy, Charles L. Feinberg, Editor, 1964, p.7).

Confusion is the hallmark of Christian theology today. This is true, moreover, not only in the realm of liberalism, but in the area of orthodoxy as well. As issues have become more blurred with the passing years, it has been imperative that the old truths of the premillennial eschatology be set forth with clarity and conviction. To this end the American Board of Missions to the Jews convened the Congress on Prophecy at the hostoric Moody Memorial Church in Chicago, Illinois from May 12 to 19, 1963. (Charles L. Feinberg, Preface to Focus on Prophecy, p. 9)

American Board of Missions to the Jews, founded by Rabbi Leopold Cohn in 1894, is now known as Chosen People Ministries.

The speakers at the congress included--among others--Dr. Feinberg, Dr. John Walvoord, and Daniel Fuchs. Topics included--among others--Israel in the Tribulation; The Future of Russia; Habakkuk in the Nuclear Age; The prophetic Foundation of the Church; Is the End of the Age at Hand?; The Relation of the Church to the Great Tribulation; and Prophecy and the Evangelization of the Jews. Representative messages were collected into a book titled Focus on Prophecy, edited by Dr. Feinberg and published by Fleming H. Revell Company in 1964. Although the messages delivered at the Congress on Prophecy are now 50 years old, they remain relevant, and the book was a blessing to this blogger. It's worth hunting for a copy of Focus on Prophecy; I recommend searching Advanced Book Exchange.