Making Up Signs

There’s a lunar eclipse coming up in a couple of days, and I’m sitting here wondering how my neighbors would react if I paraded around outside banging on some cymbals. You know, to chase away the evil spirit that’s trying to eat the moon. And while I’m obviously joking, what I don’t find funny at all is the fact that so many people — including many who share my faith — read in such events eschatological portents to suit their own inner narratives or, even worse, to advance their own crass personal agendas.

Thus, we are confronted by such blithering idiocy as the Blood Moon Prophecy, advanced by the likes of highly misguided, albeit highly influential, figures such as John Hagee. (And, it should be noted that, if Hagee and company are not misguided, they must be shamelessly and shamefully cynical, deliberate hypocrites whose primary goal is the lining of their own pockets.) This sort of “prophetic” interpretation of natural phenomena is only slightly less delusional — and dangerous — than, e.g., the Heaven’s Gate cult which fomented a mass suicide in the late 90s.

The fact is that many Christians have become obsessed with the eschatology of the Bible, and it is not hard to understand why. We are, indeed, living in an age of decay. We see it all around us. Not just moral decay, but the decay of the planetary ecosystem which all living things rely on. Whether in the form of an overt fascination with our demise, as evinced by the “Left Behind” series, or a blind, desperate denial which keeps us glued to celebrity gossip, cute kitten videos, and manufactured crises, we surely sense that something is coming. It is hard not to read a certain tacit fatalism in our steadfast refusal to face the issues which seem to be leading, inexorably, to our own extinction, if not to that of all life on our planet. If, after all, you were to tell someone that they had cancer, ebola, AIDS, hepatitis, cirrhosis, emphysema, kidney failure, and heart disease all at the same time, that person might start to welcome death, or at least resign themself to it as an inevitability. Such is our case as a planet. And yet…

And yet this does not give any of us license to pronounce the hour of our demise, for it is only God who has that capacity. I would urge those who share my faith to keep in mind the words of Matthew 24:24, “For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.” There are *many* similar warnings strewn throughout the Bible. But somehow this fact is conveniently ignored by many Christians who would be led astray by those hypocritical leaders who willingly blaspheme, not by degrading the name of God, but by usurping the authority of God.

There is enormous pressure within the Christian community to maintain a continual attitude of joyfulness. And while we may rejoice in our faith that this world is not the end of all things, yet, by the same token, this is the world we must live in at the moment. And it is a dismal and depressing world with a poor prognosis. Some would call me a pessimist, but the irony, to my mind, is that things have grown so dire that a realist is perceived as a pessimist. But if I am to be brutally honest, candidly frank, I must admit: I believe that by the time my nieces are my age, the way of life we now enjoy will be a distant memory, embittered by the harshness of having to survive in a dying world. But that’s not a prophetic statement. That’s a statement of common sense based on what we can all observe if we chose to look the facts square in the eye.

Yes, it is possible that our lifestyle might be sustained through the next generation, or the next two or three. Perhaps even through another four or five. But it is exceedingly difficult to imagine, by extrapolating the current trends and the state of affairs which prevail at this time, any future stretching much beyond that. So, yes, in a sense, we have entered into the “end times.” But in a more significant sense, it’s not for us to place bets on how and when the final collapse will take place.

This much I can say for certain: I know we haven’t reached the end yet, because at least we haven’t started eating each other. I don’t doubt for a minute that that day is coming, though.