"Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back--whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping.” Mark 13:35,36
All life will end on earth one day. Many religions, and even some scientists, affirm this. But while astrophysicists, climatologists and other scientists declare that ending will occur many millennia from now, several Christian groups and – some say-- even the Mayan Calendar have assigned a specific date for the earth’s demise. (Although the Mayan
The date is either May 21, 2011 according to Christian groups such as the one led by Harold Camping (who has failed several times before in similar prophesies) or December 21, 2012, according to those who interpret the Mayan Calendar end-date as a sign of the end.
Most Christians who believe their Bible, however do not believe the earth will end on May 21, 2011. In fact, they are already preparing to comfort those who are convinced the end is coming. Throughout history, Christian and other religions have assigned certain “signs of the times “ to look for as foreboding signals of the end, signs such as the return of the white buffalo (some Native American prophecies), the indiscriminate murder of children and abortions, and the creatures of the earth rebelling against humankind.
Some Christians do not believe the earth will end at all. When it comes to Christian eschatology (the study of the end), theology is summed up into those who believe the prophecies about the end of days are either symbolic of the past or are prophetic. The preterists are those who believe that those who talk about the end of the world are really confusing past occurrences with the future. Preterists also generally believe the world is getting better and better and is slowly being transformed by Christian love.
Among those who believe in end-time prophecies, are those who believe that the world is getting both better and worse. They believe Godly people will get better, while evil people will become worse. Many of them believe that there will be a rapture of good Christian people. The question now becomes: When does this rapture come?
There are so many theological terms used when theologians discuss eschatology: Words such as Pre-tribulation, Post-tribulation, Mid-tribulation, Pre-Wrath, Pre-millenialism, Post-millenialism, A-millenialism. A good way to understand this is to use the metaphor Christ Jesus used to warn of the events. He said, "Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back--whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping.” Mark 13:35,36
Those who try to know when “the owner of the house” will come back, are roughly divided into these categories: Those who believe Christ will return at midnight (After seven years of great trouble has come upon all the humans of the earth.) Those who take this position generally believe that all humans will suffer this time, regardless of religion although some groups believe God will protect good Christians in a special way.
Then there are those who believe the Lord will come back in the evening. These believe that Christians will be on earth for the first three years of suffering but will be removed from the earth miraculously before the tribulation of the earth gets bad. These are called mid-tribulation believers.
Those who believe the Lord will come back when the rooster crows are called pre-tribulationists and believe that Jesus will save them from all persecution. They believe in the theological idea of "imminence" which means that Jesus could come anytime and no prophecies need to be filled. But many Christians believe that certain prophecies -- such as the return of the Jews to their homeland-- has to happen. Many of those who believe the world will end on May 21st are either pre-tribulationists who believe that the world is somehow in the great tribulation, or they are post-tribulationists who believe that will be the day of Judgment because the world has already gone through its great tribulation. They use various signs, political events, geographical upheavals, and numerical calculations to prove their point.
Those who believe that the owner of the house will return at dawn are the Pre-Wrath believers. They believe that Christians might be on earth to see persecution by an evil False Prophet and a One-World Leader, but that they will not see the wrath of God that God will bring upon the earth. Pre-Wrath believers believe in imminence as a kind of "expectancy" while being in the Great Tribulation persecution, thus waiting for God to arrive before God's wrath is poured out on the evil. In this view, the Church suffers under the wrath of the antichrist but the persecution of the church is cut short by God's rapturing his people. So Christians will not go through the wrath of God.
But Jesus repeatedly states that his followers will only know the signs of the times. They will not know the day or the hour. The only thing they must be aware of is that “If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping.”
There are many signs and clues to certain prophesied events, but because the Bible is in English translation and because of denominational assumptions, inaccurate translations, church leaders who are ignorant of Hebrew, Greek, and even the Elizabethan English they claim to understand, it is very difficult to know when the world will end. Jesus Christ knew this. Therefore he made it clear that Christians should simply trust in His spirit to lead them because there will be such confusion mixed in with true spiritual knowledge.
For many, the great earthquakes in divers places, the rise of diseases and epidemic such as AIDS, the abundance of war and propaganda, the famine in many parts of the world, the natural disasters, and the death of animals… are a sign that It is possible these are the end of days.
What the Lord Jesus would say to Christians now, is what He said then: Watch, do not be caught like a disobedient servant, asleep in sin.
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