It's The End Of The World As We Know It...

(Disclaimer: this post is a whine, please take some cheese with this as you read it...)

"...the storm clouds are gathering..."

"...a countdown to crisis..."

"...nuclear showdown..."

"...armageddon is nearly here..."

"...the last days..."

"...prophecy fulfilled before our eyes..."

These and a few thousand others are some of the phrases that I'm hearing at the moment, from all sorts of Christians, and it's starting to annoy me. We're selling one particular book at the moment, whose author claims to know that we're "nearly there", that we're "near the end".

He comments on "secret dossiérs" that he's conveniently found that reveal the Pentagon's plans for nuclear retalliation, and intelligence information that conveniently points to a world Arab conspiracy against Israel & America, that's apparently in Prophecy. He miraculously reveals that he can interpret passages that reveal that the European Union will be the antiChrist's organisation from which he will rule, and most of Europe will apparently side with him.

Most of the time I just ignore these people, but obviously because of the crisis in the middle east at the moment, his books are selling like hot cakes, and I feel really bad about it. The way he interprets prophecy, everyone except America is in the wrong, or on "the wrong side".

I don't mean to sound racist against the american people as a whole, (after all, thats exactly what he does against the German, Chinese and Russian people!) but, come on, it's a litttle convenient that you can interpret the End, and only America is blessed by God?!

Isn't that just a little bit convenient? It's funny how Developing nations and all those at an economic disadvantage as compared to America are on the losing side!! I don't mean to be nasty, but I really fail to see how Jesus' return is going to be decided by us as human beings, and be decided on an economic basis, when even Jesus himself said he didn't know when it would be!!

As a partial preterist, I believe that alot of the events described in revelation have happenned already in/at A.D. 70, with the Fall of Jerusalem, so to me, the earth could go on for another thousand years if we can get peace. Whether you believe that or not, writing books based on current events claiming you know when the end will be, is just scaremongering for money as far as I am concerned, and is not justified in any Christian sense. Presumably the author feels that even if the world does end in a bloody nuclear massacre, because he's been "faithful" he'll be able to keep all his proceeds from the book to spend on the new heavens and earth!!

I'm just so sick of all the scaremongering and hot air, During the first gulf war, we heard all these staements and arguments, and again in the second one, and now all again during this latest outbreak of violence. I'm fed up of it.

Jesus explicitly said that there would be wars and rumours of wars, but that it didn't neccesarily mean anything.

People who write "prophecy" books...

It's not funny and it's not clever.

Do it at the back.