How Ready Are You for the Grand Finale?

The End of the World predictions made another tour on tongues around the globe recently. It seems every so many years, we hear about the most recent reasons why the end is imminent. Despite current events, now isn’t the darkest time in world history. But according to the keepers of the doomsday clock,  we’re only half a tick away.

The newly revealed doomsday clock stood at 7 minutes to midnight in 1947. Just 2 years later, the Soviets tested their first nuclear device. The keepers moved the time to 3 minutes till midnight. In 1953, the Soviets and Americans tested bombs within months of each other. The keepers of the clock moved the time one minute closer. At 2 minutes to midnight, that was the darkest time in our history. Over the years, they added minutes or nudged hands closer to twelve. The keepers decide how close we are to man-made global catastrophe. Currently, it stands at 2.5 minutes till midnight.

When Chicken Little shouted about another sky is falling prediction, reactions were mixed. Many dismissed it out of hand, maybe because the Chicken Littles have been wrong every time. Does the Bible predict the total destruction of earth, or of life as we know it? Encyclopedia Britannica cites 10 failed apocalyptic predictions dating back to Montanism in the 2nd century.

So why should anyone consider global grand finale?

Predictors pointed to heavenly alignments, Revelations 12:5 and Planet X hitting earth. I admit to getting swept away by the number of synchronicities. I came upon this information only days before the most perfect alignment of heavenly bodies. I felt ready to go, but exactly what the trip looked like, I couldn’t be certain. One verse in the Bible talks of getting “caught up in the clouds.” No more bills, or taxes or political rants? If you don’t think that sounds appealing–given all the craziness in the world, especially in the US–I want the address of your cave.

Scoffers can blow off “caught up in the clouds” because we have never seen anything like it. But, is that any less believable than the wave of destructive hurricanes, tsunami’s or fish falling out of the sky in Mexico? Some things must be seen to be believed.

The Bible warns of a devastating global event. Even though I didn’t shut down my cable, close my bank accounts or cancel my phone service I did consider it. Certainly, God is mighty enough to do whatever He likes. He’s not constrained in any way and if he wants people surfing through the sky on cumulus clouds, sign me up. How likely is it? A long shot to be sure.  A one of a kind event.

Why do people keep predicting the end?

This end of the world talk smacks of something else. When we hear something over and over and it doesn’t happen, we get lulled into a false sense of security. We begin believing the event will never happen.

We asked why didn’t more people leave New Orleans while Katrina tracked straight for them? One source said for 40 years, storms had always turned away at the last moment. They expected that trend to continue. People stopped believing the boy calling wolf because twice it turned out to be untrue.

To date, no one lives forever.  Occasionally we need to be reminded that each of us faces an end of one kind or another. Whether it’s global with millions or solitary, leaving loved ones behind.

Are you ready? Do you know where you’re going? Because we know how the stories end. The wolf does show up, and hurricanes make landfall. Sometimes, the worst thing you can believe isn’t that the end is coming. It’s believing you have plenty of time.