The Apocalypse - Will it Come Soon?

A lot of Christians are talking in apocalyptic terms these days. This is not that unusual at the turn of a century or after a major catastrophe like 911. But the Mayan calendar is behind us and yet the number of Christians thinking apocalyptically has been only increasing. Why?

There are ‘prophets’ in the church, some of whom are predicting events on a biblical scale happening soon. Now, prophecy is a gift of the Holy Spirit and I have no doubt that they exist in today’s church. But just as in biblical times there are an abundance of false prophets these days. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard prophecies of world-wide revival starting in the little church in which I was standing. So far, they haven’t happened yet. So I’m reluctant to believe most prophecies that I hear or come across on the internet.

The situation with Iran and Israel as documented in “2013 The Scariest Year Yet” lends some considerable weight to the fear of ‘The Great Tribulation’ beginning sooner rather than later. The Great Tribulation (see my post be the same name) is described in the Bible as 7 years of hell on earth as the Antichrist rules much of the earth and many, if not most Christians have their faith tried and tested and will probably be martyred. Sound like fun so far?

Many Christians believe that God will ‘beam them up’ like Scotty before things get rough. It is called ‘The Rapture’ and it is based on rather flimsy evidence from the Bible. If it occurs, I believe, it will be very limited, including only those whose faith need not be tested. Most of us Christians will enter the Great Tribulation but will not survive it.

Most recently, two things have occurred to spark interest in the Apocalypse. One – Pope Benedict resigned. The Catholic Church has prophecies by an Irish Archbishop – St Malachy, who lived in the northern part of Ireland in the 12^th century. He wrote prophecies describing every Pope that would ever reign over the church beginning with Celestine II. What is scary is that the last Pope prophesied would become the False Prophet of Revelation, and would pave the way for the Antichrist.

What’s scarier is that the next Pope, the one they will be selecting in the next few weeks, is almost certainly, that last Pope. St Malachy called him Peter Romanus. Some believe that he will assume the name Pius XIII. There are also prophecies coming from other religions that coincide somewhat with St Malachy’s.

The second recent event is the spectacular crashing of a meteorite in Russia followed hours later by an asteroid sliding past the earth 1/10 the distance between here and the moon, and inside the orbit of several of our satellites. Large meteorites are predicted to strike the earth during the Great Tribulation causing great damage to a third of the earth. A scientist on the news just today called these events ‘warnings’ of possible future calamities. That was a scientist, not a theologian.

In Acts 2, the Apostle Peter quotes the Prophet Joel from the Old Testament saying, “I will pour my Spirit out in those days; and they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath; blood and fire and vapor of smoke.”

And it gets worse before it gets better, “The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”