"The End Is Near!"...Again

A respected medical journal reported...
A respected scientific publication claimed...
A team of respected psychologists discovered...

There are many claims made by many people with well-deserved credentials. Yet, sometimes their reports, claims, and discoveries contradict.

Some modern-day ‘seers’ claim to know the future, claiming their source to be the dead. (Do the dead really know the future??)

We read about astounding claims, miracle cures, health scares, economic disaster, our nation’s future, cataclysmic world events, and even the end of the world or the universe.

Does anyone know anything for sure!?

Questions about the future have interested mankind for centuries? Old Testament prophets relayed God’s message to man, but there were also posers, those who claimed to be prophets but had received no revelation from God. The false prophets often spoke of peace while the prophets of God warned of His impending judgment due to sin and unfaithfulness. People wondered who was telling the truth.

God gave the Israelites a simple way to determine whether a prophet spoke from God’s or from his own mind: If the prophesy occurred as the prophet predicted, then he could be trusted. If the prophesy failed, the prophet was a false prophet. (Deuteronomy 18:15-22)

Our society has, in general, followed God’s strategy as an intuitive way of dealing with seemingly unbelievable claims. Many doom and gloom prognosticators have been revealed as false prophets by the passage of time. Yet, many in our society still line up neatly and follow any ’pied piper’ who plays the music of scientific research.

Science and research are excellent resources. Yet, not all science/research has revealed truth. One study predicts another economic depression; another predicts a catastrophic earthquake; yet another, a pandemic disease. Time passes and life goes on as it always has. New research sometimes reveals the flaws of earlier predictions.

Although the Bible is not a science book or a guide for economic planning, it often reveals truths that apply to the many claims made in our world. The key is to begin with God and allow him to reveal truths about mankind and his world. (Our human tendency is to begin with man’s thinking and then see if God’s word fits what we think we already know.)

As an example, consider ‘climate change.’ One theory concludes that the earth will become uninhabitable due to excessive heat. Another theory predicts a global freeze brought on by a change in ocean currents due to the melting of polar icecaps. These and other theories fly in the face of God’s promise to Noah:

While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter and day and night, shall not cease. 

—Genesis 8:22

So, it’s great to be responsible by putting out the trash, recycling, conserving energy and even hugging a tree if you wish. But don’t be upset by “the end is near” environmental alarmists.

Not every claim made by people will have a clear and direct answer in Scripture. However the Bible will guide us so that we do not have live in fear of modern-day false prophets...even if research seems to be on their side.

Mark Stinnett

September 1, 2024