Weren't you worried? Just a little bit...

In the wake of the end of the world being predicted and shown for the nonsense it was, I’ve had several people at work and even church on Sunday; ask me “Weren’t you worried, just a little bit”?   And my answer, “Not at all”.



I can answer that question with absolute confidence for three reasons

1.      I am supremely confident in my eternal destination.

2.      I know for certain that no man will know the time or place that Christ will reappear.

3.      I understand how to identify false teachers.

And after I make these statements I get the same question, every time…  “How can you be so sure”?  And people usually think I’ve lost my mind when I answer, “Because God told me”.

I can be sure of my eternal destination because the Bible says:

…because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Romans 10:9

ü  Done that!

I can be sure that anyone who tries to predict when the world when end or when Christ will return is wrong because the Bible says:

But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.

Matthew 24:36

ü  I don’t give anyone that claims differently the time of day.

And I can recognize false teacher because they teach theory and ideas that contradict the word of God:

Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.

2 John 9

ü  Harold Camping’s suggestions and theory contradict the very words of Christ Himself.

My eternal destination is secure and I make sure that I’m ready for Christ return whenever that may be but I’m certain it will be on His terms and timing, not mans.  And in my opinion Harold Camping is just one of the many false teachers we will see in a long line of them until Christ returns.  And I can say and believe all these things because of one simple thing, FAITH.

Earlier I said that God told me all these things.  I don’t want to lead anyone to believe that God speaks to me in any manner other than that I believe He will speak to anyone else.  When God speaks to me it is through His Word, the Bible.  He speaks to me because I’ve made a commitment in my life to knowing what God’s Word says about the different things and choices I’ll encounter in life. I believe that anyone who wants to hear God need only to open His Word and ask for God to reveal Himself to them.  And God’s Word tells me that I have the Holy Spirit residing in me to remind me of what the Bible says after I’ve committed to making it’s statues a way of life:

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

John 14:26

But why did Harold Camping’s message get so much airtime and notice?  Because everyone seems to love the idea of having a definitive end date so they can have time to get everything in order.   Make sure the porch is swept real good before Jesus gets here.   Wouldn’t it make things nice and tidy to be able to put the rapture on our Outlook calendar!  People are generally looking for the wrong things from religion in my opinion.  People seem to be looking for a feeling or something mystic and I just don’t see Christianity that way.  Two specific scriptures strengthen my personal position in this matter:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

…for we walk by faith, not by sight.

2 Corinthians 5:7

A good friend of mine, Michael Perron, has a great saying, “If I want a peace that surpasses understanding, then I must give up the right to understand everything”.  In other words, we aren’t going to understand the way God works all the time.  Michael follows that statement up with an invitation to embrace mystery.  Not the mystery of the unknown but the mystery of the amazing future God has for us if we let Him unfold it, trusting that His direction is the best one for us.  And God clearly outlines His direction for everyone that chooses to follow it.

As Christians it is absolutely imperative that we learn to discern fact from fiction in reference to God because false teaching is only going to increase as the prophetic clock continues to tick.  Knowing the difference between those who speak truth and those who speak lies is a very fine line sometime.  A false teacher will always distort the truth to his ideology.  Satan speaks many times in the Bible and he always uses a distortion of scripture, a lie shrouded in truth.  As Christians today we need to know how to identify the difference on our own.  We need to open the Bible and study the second coming, the signs of that age and most importantly how to best prepare for it.

But most people think that’s too weird for them, they just want to stick with the easier to grasp parts of scripture.  And if that’s your opinion I have a big surprise for you… The whole Bible is about the second coming of Christ.

Don’t believe me?  Open the Bible and prove me wrong.

Chew on that a while,

Jeff