Thursday, May 19

The end of the world as we know it.....

“In the future, there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me, but to all those who have loved His appearing.”
[2Timothy 4:8 HCSB]

Reverend Harold Camping, founder of Family Radio Worldwide, is saying that the world is coming to an end on a calculated date of May 21st, 2011 which is coming this Saturday. On Syracuse.com (as well as other sites) Reverend Camping is quoted as saying….” "Beyond the shadow of a doubt, May 21 will be the date of the Rapture and the day of judgment."

This is a familiar ‘rant’ from Camping who miss-predicted the end back in 1994. This time, Fiji and New Zealand will get hit with earthquakes at 6pm and Christ will gallop across the sky to reclaim His followers right after.

The end of the world process will be complete five months later on October 21, 2011.

This has spawned so-called ‘rapture parties’ and ‘looting gangs’ on the social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

And many Christians are joining in the ‘fun.’

Ysolt Usigan posted an article on CBS.com “End of the world, May 21, 2011? Whatever, it’s funny” and remarked “Well naturally we though[t] that was kind of funny,” (apparently grammar wasn’t important to Usigan) in reference to Reverend Camping’s second prediction, “But we weren't the only ones.”

Usigan finishes the brief article with a link to ‘favorite rapture tweets.”

WendySparrow claimed the top one of the 20 with the remark, “I really don’t have time for the world to end this weekend. Plus, the weather is supposed to be crappy.”

GottaloveCYD says, “The only way I would believe in Judgment day is if Morgan Freeman came up to me and told me I was god.”

Nzcspaul quips, “So the end of the world coming on Sunday while I’m out of the country? Better pack my electric thumb and towel.”

Whether these samplings are from those who express a claim to be Christians or just atheists and agnostics who want to have some fun with such familiar doomsday preachers, Usigan is unclear and doesn’t specify.

A certain amount of ridicule from the non-Christian believers is to be expected and obviously will be used by the mainstream media to heap doubt and intolerance upon the end-time doctrine of the universal church.

It is common in this world, even as those very people question the validity of it and in backrooms often try to ‘buy some insurance just in case.’

We cannot predict the day or even the hour of Christ’s return…..we are instructed to live as if He’s coming tomorrow and keep watch to the skies for His eminent return. Reverend Camping’s prediction is presumptuous as it is ‘mockable.’ Of course, it won’t be portrayed that way, as another failed human attempt to define and predict God’s ways and timing, in the media…..it’ll be just one of those ‘fanatical Christian sects’ who were ‘wrong again.’

There are several sites debunking Camping’s prediction from the math he used to other data anomalies that skew his dating. Others are pointing to the fact we’ll not be able to watch the end of “Dancing with the Stars” or other ‘important’ events that ‘sweeten’ our lives.

What bothers me is the amount of “Christian” people who are jumping on ‘looting’ bandwagons and ‘before-rapture’ parties saying that they’re going to have a ball either as the 21st draws to a close and the world begins to end or jumping on the looting for that big screen TV after everyone has disappeared.

And then just answering posts against such comments as “lighten up, we’re just joking.”

The most important event in Christianity since the Resurrection is a joke?
Whether you believe in pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trib for the reclaimation of Christ’s followers from this world before He returns the whole of creation to its intended and original state, Christ warns us about ‘mocking’ God.

Proverbs 9:12, Isaiah 28:22, Obadiah 1:22 to name a few.

The biblical text is replete with what happens to those who do. But honestly, what does the mockery we are making of ‘end-of-times’ predictions say about our biblical beliefs about this event?

“About the times and the seasons: brothers, you do not need anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know very well that the Day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. When they say, "Peace and security," then sudden destruction comes on them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brothers, are not in the dark, so that this day would overtake you like a thief. For you are all sons of light and sons of the day. We're not of the night or of darkness. So then, we must not sleep, like the rest, but we must stay awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But since we are of the day, we must be sober and put the armor of faith and love on our chests, and put on a helmet of the hope of salvation. “ [1Thessalonians 5:1-8 HCSB]

How do you live your life?

If you have to live by the ‘predicated’ end-of-time hoopla that comes and goes with the marching of this world towards its true end, it would be nothing but a mockery on the public square as you silently (in the darkness of your own home) ‘make an insurance bet’ on such utterances.

If you don’t believe in the gospel, well you’re going to establish such enterprises as “Pet care after rapture” and “Estate planning for the raptured.” You are going to live your life the way you want, assured of the day coming after that will allow you to get ‘caught up’ on those things that you didn’t do today or you make jokes about finally getting that big-screen TV that was abandoned by the raptured folk or looting the grocery stores.

You participate in the world’s madness or the world’s mockery of this ‘beginning of the Kingdom come.”

If you live with your eyes towards the sky, sobered by the fact that we cannot know the day or the hour of His return, only that we can remain ‘awake’ assured of its guaranteed happening, then such predictions are a method of answering the brokenness and sinfulness of the world desperate for God’s salvation.

You stand upon the biblical truths of this event and you use the mockery of the world to speak truth……”We know not the day or hour, but we do eagerly look to the sky for His coming.”

We live with the realization that tomorrow might not come and therefore the importance of what we do becomes relevant to what we believe. We hear the din of the battle waging and we grow not weary in our fight for the souls of the lost and the redemption of the worldly.

We no longer ‘panic’ when such predictions are uttered because we know regardless of truth or falseness, we are destined for home…..in God’s time. But we ‘panic’ about the abundance and overwhelming amount of ‘work’ left to be done under a timeframe we are not privy to.

There is no doubt that the end of the world as we know it is coming the 21st of May, 2011…this Saturday……..because we will know either the folly or the accuracy of Reverend Camping’s prediction.

Christianity will be proven right in the finality of the world or mocked again because of the misguided theology and predictions of one who claims to know God’s timing. Either way, the world changes. It will become more worldly or have judgment passed.

Either way, how are you living?

As I posted on the page on Facebook promoting a ‘looting party’ after the rapture day,

“I won’t be looting but preaching the Gospel to those of you who are.”

As I will do today……

And tomorrow……………

And the next day……………..

Until I see my Savior galloping on a white horse across the sky.