Timely Sermon

Sermon Are These the End Days?

A couple weeks ago during the rash of local fires, I was asked some interesting questions. One person asked if we were in the End Days as John prophesized in Revelations. Someone else asked if the increase of world-wide calamities was God’s warning to us. Another asked why the TV and radio evangelists seemed to avoid the subject of the increase of global natural disasters.

My first reaction was, “Why ask me?” Then after some consideration I decided that my answer would be as good as anyone’s. I remember when I was first appointed as a squadron commander. I didn’t feel prepared to make decisions that impacted careers and lives. But when I thought about it, I decided I would do the best I can, and my best was as good as anyone else’s. So by the same logic, I decided I would attempt to answer these questions today. I feel inadequate, but I will give it my best. Maybe the celebrity evangelists also feel inadequate. Unlike them, I don’t have to pretend that I know it all. Media evangelists don’t get paid unless they draw a crowd. The bigger the crowd the more they get paid. They must not only give their listeners the impression they know it all, but they need to present themselves as closer to God than us mere mortals. I remember my first day teaching. An experienced teacher, I think it was Bob Clements, showed me around. We went by the principal’s office and Bob told me to not get too close because the principal thinks he talks to God. Next was the superintendent’s office, and I was warned that he thinks he sits at the right hand of God. Next was the secretary’s office and Bob introduced me by saying, “in this building, she is God.” But that secretary treated each staff member and student the same. The Bible says that our Heavenly Father also sees all of us the same. God starts in the first chapter of Genesis and repeats this message several times. Mathew says we are all worthy of God’s love. Mark, John, and even Paul teaches the lesson that we are all equal in the eyes of God.

The evangelists must avoid the potential of public ridicule above all else. Consider the comic stereotype of the bearded prophet on the street corner with a sign saying “Repent! The End is Near.” If Billy Grahm had identified with this guy, he would have finished his career as the pastor of some small fanatical church.

All three questions assume we are experiencing more catastrophes than historically normal. We certainly are more aware of events across the globe. Our access to world news is unprecedented. Consider earthquakes. If there is a tremor anywhere, we know about it within minutes. The 1905 earthquake in San Francisco was devastating, but the average citizen in New England didn’t learn of it until the next day. There was no TV coverage, so people had to read about it in the newspaper. However, we have had stronger quakes in the US since then that have virtually gone unnoticed. Who has seen pictures of what the 1964 quake did to Anchorage, Alaska. Anyone? That was actually the strongest, and most devesting quake ever recorded in North America, but for some reason it wasn’t particularly news worthy. On the other hand, we watched rescue efforts from the quake in Turkey on live TV last year. Maybe we are just more tuned in.

Are we having more volcanic eruptions than normal? Mount St Helens is still current events, but it happened 43 years ago. Nine years later Mt Pinatubo in the Philippines killed 847 people, but older eruptions have been much worse. How far do you want to go back? Mt Krakatoa killed 36,000 in 1883. Vesuvius buried the whole city of Pompei in 79 AD. Joya de Ceren, a village in El Salvadore, was buried in 600 BC. Those are the ones we know about, but there were others. What would make us believe the frequency has increased?

Hurricanes have been in the news for thousands of years only because some are legendary. The Devine Wind of a Pacific typhoon that gave us the word Kamikaze saved Japan from invasion of the Mongols in 1281. The remnants of a Hurricane helped the English defeat the Spanish Armada in 1588 allowing Elizabeth to keep her throne for 15 more years. We have always had storms. I tried to take a nap in front of the TV last week and happened across a documentary of the ten most devastating natural disasters on record. Three of them were hurricanes along our east coast.

I won’t speak to global warming. I can testify that mid-west winters are milder than they were 70 years ago, but whether or not that is caused by man or not is still being debated.

Fires. We do seem to be having more than we used to have, but we have always had fire season in the Inland empire. I think we have more primarily because we have more people. The reason Smokey Bear says that only you can prevent forest fires is because most are caused by idiots. The worst case was the Great Fire of 1910. We are flabbergasted by fires that burn 10,000 acres or more. The 1910 fire burned over 6000 square miles. Seventy-eight firefighters were killed trying to contain it. It was cause by sparks from coal burning locomotives. In 1983 we almost lost our home in Airway Heights to a fire that started in a burn barrel for trash.

Do you think God is trying to warn us. Yes, but I think God is always trying to warn us and the vast majority of us don’t pay attention. How many times in the Bible does Jesus or one of his Apostles tell us to be ready because judgement is coming like a thief in the night. When Jesus was preparing to be taken up into Heaven, the disciples asked him, “Lord are you now going to give the kingdom back to Israel?” and He replied, “The Father is the only one with the power to decide dates and times.” We are always being warned. Recall a few weeks ago; I was talking about the parables, and we discussed the one about the rich man and Lazarus. Lazarus was a humble servant who found his way to heaven. The rich man was not so fortunate and observed Lazarus from across the great abyss. The rich man requested that Lazarus be allowed to return to life and warn the rich man’s brothers. God responded that his brothers had already been warned by the prophets, the judges, and scripture. We are continually being warned. There is no reason for God to send disasters to warn us.

Why then do we experience natural disasters. I don’t know. God is God and I am not, blessed be the name of the Lord. The last question posed to me was, “Is the increase in disasters an indication of the End Days?” As I said earlier, I’m not sure that we are experiencing an abnormal number of severe disasters, but even if we are, I’m not sure it is a harbinger of the second coming. I hate to answer a question with a question, but when do the end days begin? Compare the life of humanity with our own lives, the lives of each of us. When does anyone begin to die? Our earthly life is a cycle that begins with conception and ends when we take our last breath. Life is everything in between. We can measure the beginning and end of life, but we cannot measure the beginning of the end. I conducted a funeral yesterday wherein I said that we are all creations of God. As was our first ancestor, we are created from the dust of the ground and eventually return to dust in according to God’s plan. It is a never-ending loop for each and all of us. When do the End Days begin? This is a question that God and only God can answer. Our task is not to question God’s plan but to live according to his commandments. The song I sang at the beginning is from the last few chapters of Job. We are incapable of understanding God. We don’t know, and will never know, how God created the universe. We only know that He did.