Articles
Prophecies About the End of Time
Prophecies About the End of Time
By Paul R. Blake
Years ago, I received a lesson request to answer the Zeitgeist (zartgarst - “spirit of the times”) Movement’s conspiratorial approach to rejecting Jesus as a fraud and a copycat of pagan religions, and their somewhat paranoid predictions of the end of the world in December 2012. In the process of researching this matter, as well as in response to other questions asked at that time about end time predictors, I learned that there is very little written by faithful brethren answering contemporary end time prophecies. I suspect that part of the reason is that there are so many speculative variations on end time matters, produced by a large number of sectarian preachers and writers that addressing each one would be pointless and endless. In truth, every generation of man since the Lord ascended to heaven has generated new crops of errorists who think they know how to apply the end time prophecies of the Bible. And, their speculations are like snowflakes; no two interpretations are alike, and are so fragile that they fall apart upon examination. It is impossible to address every single one of them, and so most brethren simply answer the matter with a general address to Christians to accept only what the Bible says about end times and avoid being caught up in listening to these sel-appointed predictors.
In reality, many of the people who buy into the mongering of contemporary pseudo prophets are people see an insecure, unstable, and often unjust world around them. They want Marvel superheroes’ vengeance wreaked on the world with brilliantly visual special effects. They are hungry for secrets and special knowledge, especially in a world where everything seems to be studied and quantified until all the mystery is gone. So, they turn to the Hal Lindsays and the Jack van Impes of this world. I often poke light hearted fun at conspiracy theorists, and perhaps I shouldn't, because affinity for conspiracy theory is believed to be related to one of the obsessional disorders, and it is unkind and inappropriate to joke about such illnesses. At the same time, I have good reason to believe that the proponents of these outlandish end time doctrines are the religious equivalent of government conspiracy theory hacks. They grossly mangle the scriptures, twist history, adjust contemporary news and conditions, and ignore or contravene science, practicing confirmation bias to an extreme, all in an attempt to support a view of end times probably put in their heads by temptation from the Adversary.
I guess the bottom line is this: very few people are willing to be convinced of the truth; instead, they want to hold onto the dark, mysterious, convoluted ideas of modern false prophets. They don't like the world the way it is and have a hard time reconciling what they want to believe about God with what they see in the world around them, and so they embrace the idea that this messed up world must surely come to an end soon. There have been false teachers out there taking advantage of this for two thousand years, telling people that the world will end in the near future. And that creates a niche for flagrant opportunists like the Zeitgeisters and the Jack van Impes to take advantage of vulnerable, misguided souls.
Yes, the world will end one day, when God decides it to be. But the best answer to people who claim special knowledge of the signs of when it will end is to ask them to consider the words of Jesus Christ: Matt. 24:36 - "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only." Or in Acts 1:7 - “And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.” Or the apostle Paul: 1Thes 5:2 - “For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.” Or the apostle Peter: 2Peter 3:10 - “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night…”
It is unlikely that modern pseudo prophets will stop promoting their religious error. The best solution to their blather is not to give them a listening ear. There are millions of things to do that are more spiritually profitable than to waste time giving attention to them. There are millions of thoughts to be considered without wasting a moment worrying about when the world will end. Live daily as a faithful child of God, and it will not matter whether the world ends in ten minutes or ten thousand years. The outcome will be the same.
Once Upon a Time in the Government
By Paul R. Blake
“Once upon a time, the government had a large military scrap yard in the middle of a desert. Congress said it is possible that someone would steal from it at night, so they created a night watchman position and hired a person for the job.
Then Congress said, "How can the watchman do his job without instruction?" So they created a planning position and hired two people: one person to write the instructions and another person to do time studies.
Then Congress said, "How will we know the night watchman is doing the task correctly?" So they created a Quality Control position and hired two people, one to observe the watchman and another to write the reports.
Then Congress said, "How are these people going to get paid?" So they created more positions -- a time keeper and a payroll officer -- and hired two more people.
Then Congress said, "Who will be responsible for all of these people?" So they created an administrative position and hired three people: an Administration Officer, an Assistant Administration Officer and a Legal Secretary.
Then Congress said, "We have had this command in operation for one year and we are $40,000 over budget so we must cut back our costs." So they laid off the night watchman.”
We laugh at politicians for doing such things, but religious organizations do the same things. They hire people to do the personal work, to teach and entertain the young people; they institutionalize every aspect of the work of the church until they just maintain the institution and forget about the work it is supposed to do.
Here in sound churches of Christ, we scoff at the institutional Christians for doing such things, but perhaps we would do well to take a look at ourselves to see if we are guilty of doing the same thing spiritually.
At the very core of our Christianity is our service to God and man. We want to improve that relationship, and so we look around for things that will help. We attend Bible classes, Gospel meetings, and lectureships. We know the answers to all of the issues, both doctrinal and conscience based. We get excited about reading the latest article on some aspect of sound faith Vs. doctrinal error. We listen to CDs and read books. And if we're not careful, our Christianity can become entirely focused on those things. Ironically, the things that get neglected in the process will be the souls of our children, the souls of our neighbors, yes even our own souls. Those efforts serve a wonderful purpose. But we need to be careful not to forget why we started doing those things in the first place. (Matt. 23:23-24; Phil. 3:8-9)
Upcoming Sermons
1/19/25 AM - “Just Don’t Tell the Preacher”; PM - Discerning the Will of God
1/26/25 AM - Unbelievers and Judgment Day; PM - Bridging the Generation Gap in churches of Christ
2/2/25 AM - Guest Speaker: David Dann; PM - Themed Singing Service: The Suffering Servant of God
2/9/25 AM - 2024 Report on the Work at Trilacoochee; PM - Psalms for the 21st Century Christian
2/16/25 AM - “And the Rains Descended”; PM - “Set a Guard Over My Mouth”
2/23/25 AM - Why are Some Afraid of the Gospel?; PM - Growing Up with Tares
