11172021 – Mark 13. 1-8
My purpose is not to “alarm” anyone.
My purpose is just “to share” some research. Research of a mixed type.
Nancy Gibbs authored an article entitled: “Apocalypse Now.”
“What do you WATCH FOR…when you are watching the NIGHTLY NEWS?
For many years the Church and Biblical scholars have used the word “Apocalypse” and SOME have even said that WE LIVE in just such AN AGE…
Recent polls suggest that 35% of Americans say they are now paying CLOSER ATTENTION to the news events and “HOW THEY RELATE” ever since the terrorist attacks some 20 years ago.
No surprise there…we should have been paying attention, all along.
We should know WHAT IS HAPPENING in the world around us!
Even our confirmands are checking out the world AROUND THEM…7th, 8th, and 9th graders…
17% of Americans believe the end of the world WILL HAPPEN in their lifetime.
A relatively small number.
I AM NOT AMONG THEM…but YOU, may be…
Then, there are those individuals…people like Father Divine, David Koresh, Marshall Applewhite, Jim Jones, Rev. Sun Myung Moon of the Unification Church – ALL OF WHOM actually claimed to be Jesus Christ…or God incarnate…in the flesh.
One Christian leader claimed that since the year 1900, over 1,100 people have claimed to be Jesus Christ or God. I wonder how many have claimed that since his death, resurrection and ascension?
Historians ALL AGREE that the 20th century was “UNPARALLELED” in the scale of its HUMAN MISERY “created by other humans.”
Mans INHUMANITY to man…and it continues NOW into the 21st Century.
No period has witnessed THE ESCALATION OF WARS as has the 20th Century.
The Red Cross has estimated that over 100 million people have been killed.
The World Almanac tells us that there were only 21 earthquakes of MAJOR STRENGTH between the years 1000 and 1800.
But between 1800 and 1900 there were 18 MAJOR earthquakes. People do take notice!
In the next 50 years, between 1900 and 1950, there were 33 major quakes, and between 1950 and 1991 there were 93 major earthquakes. Again, there are those of us, who are constantly watching the stats.
ALL OF WHICH, makes people start talking about and thinking about “THE SIGNS…”
Global warming…
The EXTINCTION of various species…
People on the religious RIGHT, like to talk about “LAST DAY- events” – they would have everyone believe WE are living in the LAST or FINAL DAYS…
Again, people on the RELIGIOUS RIGHT will point out that since the death of Jesus 2000 years ago, 43 million Christians have become martyrs, OVER 50% of these were in the last century alone…ACCORDING TO “THEIR STATISTICS.”
The BBC News Network says, everyday somewhere in the WORLD 13 Christians are killed as MARTYRS…and 7,000 to 8,000 each year are martyred.
The debate goes on…
The numbers do change…
Be careful WHO you read.
But the question is ARE WE LIVING IN THE END OF TIMES?
Some will tell you, it is the wrong question to ask.
According to Jesus, all these things MUST TAKE PLACE, but the end is yet to come.
Things WILL GET worse.
Things will get MUCH WORSE.
“You aint seen nothing yet!” Wasn’t just a song by Bachman-Turner Overdrive…
What Jesus is saying in Mark’s Gospel is forget about the signs.
The signs are always with us.
Stop all the speculation.
Stop all the questioning.
Just be found faithful. Do what YOU are supposed to be doing.
Are you loving enough? Caring enough? Giving enough? Supportive enough? Kind enough?
This is all about GOD’s TIMING, not OUR TIMING. God’s Kingdom, not OUR Kingdom. The signs I tell you are everywhere. They always have been.
If you are looking for signs you will find them. If you want to “MAKE UP signs” you can do that, as well. If you want to assign blame to others, point fingers, call other people out, you can do, too!
But trust me when I say, it is NOT ABOUT YOU, it is about OUR GOD.
ONLY GOD KNOWS about the timing, as for the rest of us, it’s above our paygrade. Amen…