I couldn’t resist doing some research after hearing on the
news that the Mayan calendar says the end of the world is coming on December 21st
this year. I found out that’s not exactly the case. Actually, the Mayan
calendar only goes to December 21, 2012, so I guess people think that means the
end of the world.
I remember a few years ago when thirty-five cult members in
Russia went to live in a cave, because they believed the world was coming to an
end. They went underground with their charismatic leader who called himself
“Father Pyotr,” a self-declared prophet. (He left his family and established
his own “church.”) After several months, his followers crawled out into the
snow in a still-existing world.
Family Radio host Harold Camping set the end of the world
date for May 21, 2011, which, also, came and went. Many people took him
seriously.
Perhaps the most prolific date setters for the end of the
world are the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Their committee has set dates fourteen times:
1897, 1899, 1916, 1918, 1922, 1923, 1925 (twice), 1926, 1931, 1941, 1968
(twice), and 1975. And, we’re still here.
Dates come, and dates go.
Some tremble . . . and some laugh.
Some are probably hoarding provisions now. (Why, if the
world is no longer going to be here . . .?)
I am so thankful we have the Bible!
Deuteronomy 18:21-22, And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word
which the LORD hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the
LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the
LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt
not be afraid of him.
That's simple enough! If it happens, the prophet is a true
prophet. If not, then not. (This was written before the completion of the
Bible.) We can be thankful that all of God's prophecies have been fulfilled exactly as He said they would be, so we know we can trust Him when He tells us about things still to come.
There’s more. Jesus said, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not
pass away. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of
heaven, but my Father only (Matthew
24:35-36).
If only God knows when the end of
the world will be, what day and hour that will be, does anyone need to be setting dates?
If anyone sets a date, isn’t it
folly?
Sadly, even Christians might be
deceived by men who make predictions. The Bible says, talking about the end
times, For there shall arise false
Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch
that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect (Matthew
24:24).
The Bible has practical advice for us. We’re to be ready
when Jesus comes! We don’t know when it will be, but we need to be prepared in
our hearts.
Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think
not the Son of man cometh. . . . Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he
cometh shall find so doing (Matthew 24:44, 46).
Let’s be ready!
Dec. 21 is our anniversary. I guess it's good to be celebrating the last day. :-)
ReplyDeleteSeriously, though, I always figure when someone sets a date for "the end," it is going to be wrong, because Jesus said no man knows the day or the hour when He will return. I do wonder if this repeated setting of dates is going to cause some to scoff all the more.
But it is good that we can be prepared right now for the end whenever it comes by trusting Jesus as Savior.
Happy Anniversary! I would imagine you will still be able to celebrate it--if the Lord doesn't come before then.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that it probably will not happen when someone has set the date. We can't know of course, so it's the top secret of the ages.