Saturday, November 29, 2014

Are we in the End Times?

Are we in the End Times? I dunno'. Sooner or later this world is coming to an end. It might be in the next five minutes or in the next five million years. For each of us the world comes to an end in about 80 years or so. It is then that we get to play the game that the girl wanted her brother to play in that "Addams Family" movie: Is there a God? Since it is a game that sooner or later we all get to play, whether we want to play it or not, it might be a good idea to figure out how to play it ahead of time, just in case there is a God. 
Meanwhile, some things have happened in the not-too-distant-past that make some people think that the End Times might be closer to five minutes, instead of five million years. First, after nearly two thousand years, the State of Israel was reborn in 1948. Second, in a period of six days Israel re-captured Jerusalem in 1967. Both of those events are discussed and prophesied in the Bible. 
What I didn't find out until last summer is that closely connected to both of those events were what is called a tetrad of full lunar eclipses, which happened to fall on the first day of Passover and the first day of Sukkot.  And we are in the middle of another tetrad of lunar eclipses that begin on the first day of Passover and the first day of Sukkot.  When there is a full lunar eclipse, the moon will often appear a dark red. There is a prophecy in the prophet Joel about the moon turning to blood in the last days. This prophecy is then repeated a couple of times in the New Testament. Jesus also says that there will be signs in the heavens, whatever that means. So for some of us who think there was some Biblical significance to the 1948 and 1967 events, finding out that there were tetrads of lunar eclipses either during or just after those events looks like maybe, who knows, perhaps, there might be a connection - a way for God to say, "Hey! Notice those lunar eclipses? The next time you see that, pay attention."  
Or maybe they mean nothing at all. I dunno'. But I'm paying attention, just in case.
Meanwhile, Jesus told us that nobody knows when he is returning, except God. And then he gave us a whole bunch of teachings on how to prepare for the End Times. And they had nothing to do with trying to figure out when he was returning. Instead, they were really about how to play that "Is There a God?" game. Maybe I'll discuss that next time.

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