Another month, another conspiracy theorist claiming the end of the world is coming.
You may be rolling your eyes right now, but the reality is that scads of unsuspecting people are buying into this bombastic banter. We need to pray for more discernment in the body of Christ. When the world witnesses this goofy manifestation of the “prophetic,” it makes genuine prophets seem illegitimate.
Let’s debunk these false prophetic utterances before we pray:
Signs of the End Times, a website run by Christian fundamentalists, claims it has “evidence from the Bible” that 2017 will bring the end of the world. They point to signs of the times like earthquakes, the dwindling number of bats, fish, honeybees and more.
“Never has there been a time before when all these events were evident in so many diverse places and with such frequency and intensity,” the site reads. “Our generation is the first generation to fulfill all the biblical signs. Without doubt we are living in the final year.”
Signs of the End Times then points to Earthquake Track, which tracks earthquakes, to back up its assertions. Earthquake Track has chronicled 4,000 earthquakes since the start of 2017, which the conspiracy theorists claim is God “giving us plenty of warning.”
Sure, there are earthquakes, and there are indeed issues with dying birds and fish, but these things alone do not suggest the world will end this year, and to claim such is disingenuous at best and harmful at worst. This kind of rhetoric doesn’t get anyone saved.
“We will be without excuse if that day of Christ’s return comes upon us like a thief in the night and catches us unaware,” they say. “We need to heed the signs and get ready.
And there’s one contradiction. Paul did indeed warn: “For you know perfectly that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this Day should overtake you as a thief” (1 Thess. 5:2-4).
But Jesus Himself said plainly, “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Matt. 24:36, NIV). How much clearer can He get? If the angels don’t know and the Son doesn’t know, who are these false prophets to work up formulas and fiction to drive traffic to their website so they can collect advertising dollars?
Carl Olson, editor of Catholic World Report, perhaps said it best:
“Date-setting is not an option. It could be many more centuries or millennia before Christ comes again—or it could be very soon. Anticipation and readiness need not turn into despair, fear or the error of date-setting. It means nothing in the end.”
Don’t let the false prophets scare you—or steal your money. These end-times “prophets” may be obvious to you, but you could be sowing into the ministry of a false prophet promising profitability for your purse through money miracles that never manifest. If you’re one of those false prophets, repent now, because there’s an exposure coming. The Lord is going to expose the false. {eoa}
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