‘End-of-the-World’ Baloney

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it’s time to start looking ahead to the next big event on the world’s stage.  No, it’s not Christmas.  For many, once again, it’s the proverbial “end of the world” scheduled for December 21, 2012.

So, is it really going to happen this time?  Have the Mayans got it right? Should we gather with our families and open presents on the 20th, just to play it safe?  Or is all this a bunch of baloney?

The answer is, it’s biblical baloney.  But, sad to say, all that most Christians can offer to refute this perpetual crime against humanity (endsaying – saying “the end is here or near”), is the biblical cop-out, which  claims no one can know.

Cited in support are Jesus’ several statements about how “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Matt. 24:36, 44; 25:13) or “times and dates” (Acts 1:7). Hence, it’s concluded that “I don’t know and no one can know.”  Or, can we?

Approximately thirty-seven years after Jesus said those words, the Apostle John knew the “hour.” Twice, in one verse he exclaimed, “this is the last hour . . . it is the last hour.” How could he say that?  Hadn’t Christ forbidden it?  No, something major had changed.

What had changed was the Holy Spirit had been poured out at Pentecost (Acts 2).  And one of purposes for this was “he will guide you into all truth. . . . he will tell you what is yet to come” (John 16:13). The Holy Spirit did just that. That’s why John by inspiration knew and proclaimed circa A.D. 67 that it is/was “the last hour.” The Holy Spirit also guided Peter at that same time to assert that “the end of all things is at hand. . . . For it is time for judgment to begin at the house of God” (1 Pet. 4: 7, 17).

This historical event was and is the one and only end the Bible consistently proclaims. Thus, today “the end” proclaimed for the world throughout the Bible (and so frequently and falsely prophesied by so many for centuries) is not near and getting nearer; nor is it hanging over our heads like a guillotine blade poised to drop at any moment and chop off our future. Rather, it already came, perfectly and precisely; it’s behind us not ahead of us; past not future. We moderns, consequently and currently, are living on the other side of the end appointed by God for the world—i.e., beyond the end.

What’s more, our physical world and cosmos are without end.  Oh, yes they are.

For more on all this—and no baloney, please see my book The Perfect Ending for the World on this site.