1. All those Doomsday predictions – 9th March 2017
“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappearwitha roar; the elements
will be destroyed by fire, andthe earth and everythingdone in it will be laidbare.” (2 Peter 3:10).
In the 1950s the worldfeareditwason the edge of a nuclearapocalypse.Nearthe turnof the century,
there wasworldwide speculationaboutY2Kand the possible endof the civilizedworldasaresult.More
recently,apopculture stirarose overthe end of the Mayan calendarin2012. Lately,there isdiscussion
inChristiancirclesoverthe appearance of bloodmoons,supposedlyalsoasignof catastrophicevents.
How,then,shoulda Christianrespondto suchdoomsdaypredictionsandrelated articlesand
presentationsfoundinthe Internetthatkeepproppinguseachyear?
From a Christianperspective,ourfirstreactionshouldbe totake a deepbreathandrelax. Butas
Christianswe needtoknowthatat some pointintime, whichisabsolutelyunknowntous, thisworldis
goingto end as statedin 2 Peter 3:10, “But the day of the Lord will come likea thief. The heavens will
disappearwitha roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, andthe earth and everythingdone in it
will be laidbare.” But we are toldthat Christwill return aswe can learn fromRevelation 19:11–13, “ I
saw heaven standingopenandthere before me was a white horse, whose rider is calledFaithful and
True. Withjusticehe judges andwages war. 12
His eyes are like blazingfire,and on hishead are many
crowns. He has a name written on himthat no one knows buthe himself. 13
He isdressed in a robe
dippedin blood,andhisname is the Word ofGod.”
But we needtoknowthat all these happen atthe time He ispreparedfor as we learnfrom 1
Corinthians15:51–52, “Listen,I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—
52
ina flash,in the twinklingofan eye, at the lasttrumpet. For the trumpet will sound,the dead will be
raised imperishable,andwe will be changed.” Andyet, as Christianswe needtobearinmindthat
everysingle persononearthisa splitsecondawayfroma personal doomsday, asitcan occur in a flash,
inthe twinklingof aneye rightnow!We can alsolearnwhere the Psalmistsays: “Youhavemademy
daysa mere handbreadth;the span ofmy years isas nothingbefore you.Everyone isbut a breath,
even those who seem secure.”(Psalm39:5).
Therefore we mustalsobearinmindthat thingslike heartattacks,war,accidents,andsuch can bringus
face-to-face withourCreatormore readilythanaglobal catastrophe.We cannotpredictanythingas
humans…itisonlyGod whocan do so.We can learnfrom James 4:13–15, “Nowlisten,you whosay,
“Todayor tomorrow we will goto this or that city, spenda year there, carry onbusinessand make
money.” 14
Why,youdo not even know what will happentomorrow. Whatis your life?Youare a mist
that appearsfor a little whileand then vanishes. 15
Instead,youought to say,“If it isthe Lord’swill,we
will live anddo this or that.”
Therefore whetherthe endtimesare rightaround the corneror a longwayoff, as Christianswe should
not allowtoourselvestobe leadtopanic.On the contrary quotingfroma wordin Isaiah49:8, apostle
Paul tellsusthat we should be prepared aswe can learnfrom 2 Corinthians6:2,“ Forhe says, “Inthe
time of my favorI heard you, andin the day of salvationIhelped you.”Itell you,now isthe time of
God’sfavor,now isthe dayof salvation.”Tobe preparedmeansthatwe needtoreceive salvationand
seekJesusChristasonessaviour.
The all these doomsdaypredictionsare pure speculation,myth,oruninformedhysteria. We canlearn
2. whenJesussaidin Matthew 24:36,“But aboutthat day or hour noone knows, not even the angels in
heaven, nor the Son,but only the Father.” NO ONEon earth can predict these possible
occurrences…The Mayansdidn’tthinkof theircalendarcycle aspredictingthe endof the world.
Computerexpertswere notthe onespushingthe Y2Kpanic.And virtuallynoChristiantheologiansthink
that the current bloodmoon andall such phenomenathatpredictthe endof the worldare done by
those whoseek sopersonal gain.None of these are foundinthe bible. All thoseunbiblical ‘predictions’
are simply fadsandcrazes,the predictionsare drivenbypoorreasoningandevenworse facts.
Therefore asChristianswhatwe needtodois tobe preparedforJesus’secondcoming.Have faithin
Him as onessaviour,repentforsinsandseeksalvation.Because asa born-againChristian one canbe
confidentinhissalvationandtrustinGod to handle everythingelse,too…We canlearnfromMatthew
6:25-27, “Therefore I tell you,do not worry aboutyour life,what you will eat or drink;or about your
body,what you will wear. Is not lifemore thanfood,and the body more thanclothes? 26
Lookat the
birdsof the air; they donot sow or reap or store away inbarns,and yet yourheavenly Father feeds
them. Are younot much more valuablethanthey? 27
Canany one of youby worrying adda singlehour
to your life?
We are toldthat it’spossible toreadthe signsof the times asJesusexplainedtowhensome Pharisees
and Sadduceescame toJesusandtestedhimbyaskinghimto show thema signfrom heaven: He
replied,“Whenevening comes,you say,‘It will be fairweather, for the sky isred,’ 3
and in the
morning,‘Todayit will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ Youknow how to interpret the
appearanceof the sky, but you cannotinterpret the signsof the times. 4
A wicked andadulterous
generationlooks fora sign,but none will be given it except the signofJonah.” Jesus then left them
and went away”(Matthew16:2-4). He saidthat predictionsorsignswere not possibleandthus it’s
impossible foranypersontoknowfor sure whenthe endtimeswill reallyoccur aswe learnedabove
fromMatthew 24:36.
Therefore ratherthanfocusingondates,disputes,andrumors, asChristians we oughtto concentrate on
bringingthe gospel toasmany people aspossible. Yeswe know thatthe shipwill godownat some
point…that isentirelyuptoGod. But before we worryabouthow and whenthe endwill come,we need
to getourselvesreadyand getmore people intolifeboatsandlife jackets…because throughthe bible
God has availedusall of thisand more!