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Religion

2007-10-01 11:09:00

End of the world...how’s it going to happen?

I enjoy reading this column very much. Most of the time you are all pretty much in sync with your answers. Maybe it is coincidental, but it seems as though most of the things I have been taught all my life, about how the world will end, are happening now. In accordance with your interpretation of the Bible, can you state in relatively brief, layman’s terms, how you see the end of the world happening?

Our Lord Jesus Christ said that no one knows the day or the hour of the end of the world, except God His Father. Indeed, Jesus foretold many signs of the coming end of the world. In his gospel, St. Matthew (chapter 24) relates Jesus predicting various signs that will precede the end of the world. Some of these signs have been evident in every century. “Watch out and do not let anyone mislead you. Many will come, claiming to speak for me. They will say: ‘I am the Messiah!’ and they will deceive many people. You are going to hear the noise of wars, and rumors of wars; but do not be troubled. Such things are bound to happen, but they do not mean that the end has come. Nation will rise against nation, kingdoms will attack one another. There will be famines and pestilence and earthquakes in many places... Many will give up their faith at that time; they will betray one another and hate one another. Then many false prophets will appear (verse 11)...They will perform great miracles and wonders in order to deceive even God’s chosen people, if possible (verse 24)... No one knows, however, when that day and hour will come: neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son; the Father alone knows (verse 36). . . . So then you must always be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you are not expecting him (verse 44).” St. Mark states in almost identical words: ‘No one knows, however, when that day or hour will come, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son; only the Father knows’ (13:32). Therefore it is presumptuous, vain, foolish and false, for any human being to pretend to know what is hidden from even the Son of God. As for those religions that attempt to predict the end of the world based on contemporary events, I suggest you ask them the source of their knowledge, pretended knowledge which is directly opposed to the words of Jesus cited above. The leaders of the Witnesses of Jehovah have had to change four or five times their appointed dates for the end of the world. Their founder, Charles Taze Russell predicted the end of the world would take place in 1900, and then changed it to 1914, when he observed the beginning of World War I. His successor, Judge Rutherford appointed the date of October 23, 1944 as the end of the world. On that occasion the Los Angeles Times newspaper announced in a small box on page one: ‘The Witnesses say that the end of the world will occur tonight. If it happens, we’ll put out an extra and tell you all about it. In every age false prophets and hucksters of religion have drawn foolish and ignorant persons to follow them by offering to satisfy their curiosity about contemporary events and the final times. Around the year 600 there were so many wars, earthquakes, floods and famines throughout Europe and the Mediterranean area that Pope St. Gregory I, while preaching, observed:quite possibly the end of the world will happen before I finish this sermon. Those of us, who have had to endure lengthy sermons, can easily share Pope Gregory’s sentiment. Current events in the Middle East are part of God’s plan for the history of this world, rather than signals for the end of time. The signal message that God is sending through them is: Be ready at all times, for you know not the day nor the hour! As far as anyone now living is concerned, the end of the world will occur at the moment of our death. And for that event we had better be prepared! As to how the world will end, St. Peter, in his second epistle (chapter 3), writes: The heavens and the earth that now exist are being preserved by God’s word in order to be destroyed by fire. They are being kept for the day when godless people will be judged and destroyed (verse 7). . . . The day of the Lord will come like a thief, and on that day the heavens will vanish with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and all its deeds will be made manifest (verse 10). What we await are new heavens and a new earth where, according to his promise, the justice of God will reside (verse 13). Since the questioner asks: ‘How do YOU see the end of the world happening?’ I believe all the above. The fire can be caused by lightning or hydrogen bombs or collision of this planet with the sun or whatever. Probably around the year 35,000 A.D. readers and inquiring minds will be asking the same questions, which have been asked by every generation of recorded history. Some folks even think this world will last forever, despite the clear teaching of our Lord Jesus to the contrary. So many foolish people build palaces and store up money and provisions, as if they intend to live forever. Being a priest for 52 years, I have conducted many funerals. In no funeral procession have I seen a Brinks truck carrying all the possessions of the deceased. The tombs of the pharaohs of ancient Egypt show their plans for taking it with them into eternity. Nevertheless what they accumulated serves as loot for grave-robbers and archaeologists and museums. Not even one of their carefully-preserved mummies has been restored to life. But they did take with them into eternity God’s judgment on the good and evil they did on earth.