It's the End of the World As We Know It ...

"And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth [...]" - Revelation 6:12-13

Scary, isn't it? Sure it is! And that's one of the milder parts of the Book of Revelation! There are many more graphic and disturbing passages that make the one quoted above seem like the warning label on a pack of cigarettes (cf. Rev. 8-9, if you don't believe me).

And the recent developments (or should I say regressions) in the Middle East are also scary, and their terror is increased exponentially by the rhetoric and journalistic methods used by the modern media to "report" them. A CNN poll in July of this year indicated that 61% of Americans were afraid that the violence in the Middle East would expand into WWIII, and it's no wonder! Thanks to that windbag punk Gingrich, half of the news media is peppering their broadcasts with headlines like "On the Verge of World War III?" and "War on Terror Actually a World War." There are scads of websites that claim to have all of the details about the 3rd World War, right down to the key military leaders' names and the proposed outcome of the conflict. You can even read what everyone's favorite 16th-century conman, Nostradamus, has to say about it in a new book available online!


So in the midst of an age of more histrionics than history, how is one to know if the end truly is upon us? I mean, with all the eschatological propaganda being flung at us from both the religious extremists on the far right and the liberal anti-Bushnicks on the far left, to whom are we to turn for answers?

"And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only."

- Matthew 24: 3-6, 35-36

Selah, Jesus, selah and Amen.