Well, the eclipse happened Monday, and the world didn’t end. There was no spaceship hidden by chemtrails dispersed through the sky to create clouds to obscure our vision (yes, this was an actual, nonsensical bit of foolishness that some panicky Christians believed was happening leading up to that celestial event).
We have a natural tendency to grab onto mystical theories and beliefs about “the End Times.” Pastors of mega-churches are making mega-bucks by hawking books professing to have discovered the key to unlocking biblical prophecy.
A few of the recent titles by people who really should know better:
- Charting the End Times: A Visual Guide to Understanding Bible Prophecy (Tim LaHaye)
- The End of the Age: The Countdown Has Begun (John C. Hagee)
- The Great Disappearance: 31 Ways to be Rapture Ready (David Jeremiah)
- The Book of Signs: 31 Undeniable Prophecies of the Apocalypse (David Jeremiah)
I’m not sure why David Jeremiah has adopted a Baskin Robbins frame of reference toward prophecy, but he apparently sees a mystical aspect to the number 31. This notion that people can discover certain special knowledge that other people do not have, and thus have a leg up on their spiritual brethren is the foundation of Gnosticism, one of the early heresies in the Church, addressed by Paul and others in the New Testament letters. Even if the epistle writers had not addressed the issue, we could see what we need to know about special understanding of prophecy from Jesus in the Gospels.
[Jesus said,] “But concerning that day or hour no one knows—not even the angels in heaven nor the Son—except the Father. 33 Watch out! Be alert because you do not know when the time is! — Mark 13:32–34 (LEB)
Of course, people will counter with Jesus’ warnings about recognizing the signs that will indicate the end times. Recognizing signs that are happening is not the same as creating a checklist to mark off individual events in a series that will supposedly lead to Jesus’ return. Scripture doesn’t support this idea without a lot of twisting and contortions that pull the statements out of context.
Jesus mentions wars, insurrections, and rumors of wars (Matt 24:6, Mark 13:7, and Luke 21:9).
After actions like the 100-Years War in Europe, World Wars I and II, The Soviet Revolution, China’s Communist Revolution, even our own Civil War, the idea that the current war in Ukraine is some harbinger of the end times cannot be taken seriously.
Likewise with pandemics. Many Christians thought COVID-19 was ushering in Armageddon. Worldwide deaths for COVID have totaled 7 million people. Seems like a lot until you put that in the context of a 7 billion global population. A .1 percent mortality rate is a statistical zero. One-tenth of one percent of anything is considered a rounding error. Compare this to the bubonic plaque that killed nearly half of Europe’s population in the 14th Century. Even by today’s standards 50 million people dying from a pandemic is more than seven times as severe as what many people here predicted would be the end of the world by COVID.
The warning of earthquakes has resurfaced (no pun intended) as a warning sign of doomsday. Yet Turkey alone has had 90 recorded major earthquakes since the time of Christ, with some of them claiming tens of thousands of victims, with no one declaring those catastrophic occurrences and indicating the end of the world. Last week’s 4.8 tremor in Lebanon, N.J. does not even come close to meeting the Scriptural standard.
Yet Christians persist in trying to figure out when Jesus will return. We like puzzles; after all, some twisted mind developed Rubik’s Cube and Sudoku. Sadly, it seems we are more interested in figuring out when Jesus will return than in preparing for it. We’re like travelers rushing to the airport to catch the flight for our vacation trip without bothering to pack a suitcase. In our passage for this Sunday from John’s letter, we read how we are supposed to be living as we await Christ’s return—avoiding the darkness of sin by living in the light of God’s grace and love:
What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and our hands have touched, concerning the word of life—and the life was revealed, and we have seen and testify and announce to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was revealed to us—what we have seen and heard, we announce to you also, in order that you also may have fellowship with us, and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write, in order that our joy may be complete. And this is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light and there is no darkness in him at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we do not have sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, so that he will forgive us our sins and will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, I am writing these things to you in order that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one, and he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. — 1 John 1:1–2:2
We would be much better off trying to discern the signs of our own obedience to Jesus instead of the signs of his return. Let’s not let our desire to know everything eclipse our faith.
Your Brother in Christ,
Fr. Austin