The other day, I read a Fox News story about a “Christian numerologist”[1. For the record, there’s no such thing.] who claims to have figured out when the world will end, with Luke 21:25-26 as the basis for his doomsday prophesying:
Then there will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars; and there will be anguish on the earth among nations bewildered by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and expectation of the things that are coming on the world, because the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
So what’s the day this time? September 23, 2017. Next Saturday.
These doomsday false prophets always remind me of those John warned of in his first epistle, who he called antichrists:
“They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. However, they went out so that it might be made clear that none of them belongs to us” (1 John 2:19).
They come in the name of Christ. They claim secret knowledge (secret codes), and attempt to sway people from the truth (distracting them with fear over the end of the world instead of hope in the return of Christ). But don’t believe it, not even for a second. What they all say is nonsense. The only thing they get right is reminding us that we are, indeed, in the last days, and the last hour, as John wrote.
The world’s probably not going end next Saturday. It probably won’t end the next time the end of the world is predicted either.[2. If it the next one says September 22 or 29, you owe me a Coke.] Jesus will come back when he comes back. In the meantime, let’s keep living like he’s coming back when we least expect it, and focus on the mission he’s given us.