End of the world theory

With the vast number of people interested in this potentially volitile little topic, one must always keep things within "proper" biblical context, and not take things too far past what's written within it.  There doesn't seem to be a whole lot along church tradition which covers it, so we are rather limited to scripture, while too many people tend to include outside speculation from others, I choose not to, and will keep this discussion brief.

Personal opinion here may be predominate over this area, but being a conservative Catholic, radical for our Lord, but grounded in my faith and it's tradition, I take subjects like this one with scrutiny, not overstepping my boundries, and taking note of all that's going on around us.

Jesus mentions how there will be warnings, in the sky, on the earth, and under, to allow us to prepare, he does also tell us only the Father knows the exact date, but he does leave clues for us to follow so that in his mercy, the faithful will be prepared.

Matthew 24:7 "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes."

What I see in the earthquake records are alarming, never in the age of recorded history have we had so many earthquakes globally, they increase in frequency as time moves forward,  without going into the numbers here, exactly like how it's pertaining to the following scripture:

Matthew 24:8-9 "But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.  Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on account of my name."

Take note, birth labor takes some women hours, minutes, or days, and how often has there been false birth pangs with so many of them, this is why he tells us several things must come to pass before the times finally draw to a close.  I won't cover all of them here, but will point out one of them that too often get's misquoted as having already came to pass:

Matthew 24:14 "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come."

There still are many natives living in the jungles throughout the world that have never heard the gospel, there are many in developed countries that also have never heard of it, and the more secularized our world becomes, the less it's being spread.  What I see with our technology is setting the foundation for it to be spread to all men, but it's still in the setting the stage process, we still have to advance further within it, to the point no human being can be free of it, and this will likely mean a global government, or at least some universal global force that's in control on some level.  This has not come to pass, and this clearly points out our time is near, but it's doubtful it's going to happen tomorrow.

I have to speculate here myself further, another reason why only the Father knows the exact date, man still has free will to repent, just as he sent out prophets to the Israelites in the days of old, and they repented, so he too is doing this same thing today.  It's a cooperative effort, we will bring upon ourselves destruction or peace, it's still our choice to do so, and those of us with faith, it's urgent to reach out to all that you know, in and out of the faith, to come to repentance.  It's states that the rain and the sun will fall and shine down on the wicked as well as the righteous, so take heed to that advice, we are all on the same ship, and if it sinks, we face the same problems and suffer right along side of our non believing brethren.

I know, many are saying that they don't know how to reach out, or they have in the past and failed, but honestly, have you researched the subject at length, have you taken classes, acquired guidance and instruction from your elders along how to go about it?  I tend not to complicate things too much in my life in regards to spreading the good news, and this is a good rule of thumb for everybody.  Once we take things too far, reveal advanced understandings and teachings to non believers, we always lose their interest in the process, yet at the same time, it's always on a case by case basis.

I'll list a couple of examples  here:

Case one, a fallen away believer, they no longer go to church, they don't study the bible, they do not pray, they have lost their way, and they remain in a miserable state, thinking they are totally cut off and seperated from God.  What goes on in their minds, they think they must some how become perfect, they must have their lives in order, and they have their problems eliminated before coming to God, going back to church, and studying the bible.  This is a lie from the devil himself, and is a classic case of him leading one astray, then telling them they went to far and cannot come back home.  I tell these types, get a bible and open it up, if they can't do that, then simply put their hands together and pray, if they cannot do that, then I pray with them where ever they are at.  All they have to do is achnolege God's presence, and he will take care of the rest, leading the lost lamb back into the flock.  Just ask them how their prayer life is going and nothing more, some people need a little support in this area, they need someone to urge them on, yet once they start a regular prayer life, just sit back, observe and be prepared to be amazed.

Case 2:  The person is adamantly against Christianity and church of any form, they consider those of us that are Christian as being weak, or inferior, they tend to have been told all about love and mercy, perhaps even God's wrath, and want nothing to do with it.  This is where we get to show off just how hard core some of the individuals of the bible are.  You can use names if you want, you don't need to quote everything line for line, but getting the point across to these people, that these guys with the strength given to them of the Lord, did things that make even the most hardened war veteran or mercenary look like a boyscout.  Our faith is not for wimps, and if they think of themselves as being true rebels, true warriors, give them a list of story's to show clearly, they have some tough acts to follow.

There are many more cases I can go into here, but that's side tracking the original context here.  Surely the urgency to spread the gospel is necessary for the end to come, and surely, you don't want to be one of those that sit around and wait for the rapture, but if you are in him, you will see how precious your time on earth is, not for your own sakes, but for others that you can reach out to.  Bringing someone closer to the Lord is storing up treasures in heaven and it doesn't matter how close we are to the end of the world.

The bottom line, surely we have plenty of work that is ahead of us, and surely we are seeing some of the things foretold in the bible coming to pass, but we have not seen it all, not by far, so instead of jumping the gun, waiting for Armageddon, look into who you are, like the end is tomorrow, but be prepared for a long wait. Our times are going to get far worse then any time in recorded history, but know that many of things that are going on now are not at all new, we have the same problems in too many areas as the first churches did, and as the Jewish church did back in their day, so don't be alarmed at that, keep your focus on the physical signs, not the political ones.