Since the start of the most recent war in Israel, it seems as if one question is on the minds of many people. I have been asked over and over: “Do you think this is the ‘End?’” I have read the Bible, books by modern day prophets, and of course, posts by social media prophets all proclaiming for different reasons that we are either at the precipice of the “Tribulation,” somewhere in the middle of the Tribulation, or nearing the end of the Tribulation. Each one has provided their detailed interpretation of biblical text to validate their belief that we are about to or have entered a period of time in which really bad things are going to happen to people, persecution will increase, the mark of the beast will be distributed, and the anti-messiah will be revealed.
Between the traditional news media, the politicians, and social media showing wars, natural disasters, famine, and financial ruin, we see that people around the world are being overcome with fear and anxiety. However, it isn’t just those in the secular world that are stoking the fires of fear. There have been plenty of those within the Body of believers who have spent the past few weeks preaching that old fashioned message of death, destruction, and demise, doing their best to scare people to their knees in hopes they will be scared into heaven.
When people ask me the question “Is this the end of the world,” my answer is “Maybe, but, if it is, what difference does it make?” After all, someday someone is going to be right, just as a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while, and a broken clock is right twice a day. But, even if they are right, and even if we only have years, months, days, weeks, or hours left before this planet we call home explodes into a fiery ball of gas, what difference does that, or should that, make for us as believers in Messiah?
The truth is that if we are living our lives as we should, then word of the Tribulation or Wrath of G-D should not cause us to act or react differently. Either we believe what we believe and live as followers of Yeshua (Jesus), or we don’t. As believers, we should pray as hard, study as deeply, pray as earnestly, and fast as consistently, regardless of the circumstances surrounding us. Our faith walk should never be driven by fear of calamity; it should only be driven by our love for G-D and our neighbor.
We need to realize that more than 2,000 years ago the disciples of Yeshua believed the end of the world was imminent, but instead of preaching fear, they preached faith; instead of hoping that the increased evil perpetrated by the Romans would drive people into the arms of G-D, they shared hope, joy, peace, and love.
Yes, they shared the truth about G-D’s judgment, wrath, and of the evil things that men would do to each other. But, they didn’t share those things to frighten people into faith in Yeshua; they taught about future events to establish prophetic markers that would encourage their faith in Yeshua.
I am sure that true believers during the Spanish Inquisition, The Crusades, The Russian Pogroms, The Holocaust, all looked at these events and thought “this must be the end of the world, this must be the Tribulation.” I am equally sure that the “prophets of doom” during each of those times preached the same fear-inspiring messages that we are hearing, reading, and seeing today. But, I am equally sure that each of those “prophets” were wrong as they proclaimed, “This is the end of the world.”
So, if you are keeping up with the news and listening to preachers who seem to be stirring up fear instead of faith, please remember our great commission is not to preach the bad news to every creature; we were commanded by Yeshua to preach the good news.
When we preach the good news, then, as believers, it doesn’t matter if this is the end of the world, or if it is just the end of the world again.