Luke 21:25-28, 34-36
Jesus said to his disciples:
“There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars,
and on earth nations will be in dismay,
perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves.
People will die of fright
in anticipation of what is coming upon the world,
for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
And then they will see the Son of Man
coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
But when these signs begin to happen,
stand erect and raise your heads
because your redemption is at hand.
“Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy
from carousing and drunkenness
and the anxieties of daily life,
and that day catch you by surprise like a trap.
For that day will assault everyone
who lives on the face of the earth.
Be vigilant at all times
and pray that you have the strength
to escape the tribulations that are imminent
and to stand before the Son of Man.”
1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2
Brothers and sisters:
May the Lord make you increase and abound in love
for one another and for all,
just as we have for you,
so as to strengthen your hearts,
to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father
at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones. Amen.
Finally, brothers and sisters,
we earnestly ask and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that,
as you received from us
how you should conduct yourselves to please God
and as you are conducting yourselves
you do so even more.
For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
As American culture and society darken by the day, voices claiming we are in the end days increasingly are strident. Those cries came to a crescendo last September, when doomsday profiteers under the guise of televangelists, like Rick Joyner and the disgraced TV fraudster Jim Bakker, hustled gold and “survival food” to the gullible who are unclear on the concept of “doomsday,” as if either gold or food could ensure a person surviving the end of the world. See our Trail Dust’s series of posts on the doomsday hucksters:
- Prepping Today
- Noah vs The Jim Bakker Show
- Happy October First!!!
- Hey fear mongers!
September and its super and blood moons came and went, and the world did not end.
So much for the end days hucksters who are so arrogant as to claim to know what Jesus Christ our Lord did not claim to know:
“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” -Matthew 24:36
The way to prepare ourselves for the end days is not by building bomb shelters, stockpiling gold, silver and survival food. The way to prepare ourselves for the end days and for our own separate deaths at the end of our mortal life on earth is to heed the counsel of Christ and that of St. Paul.
Be good. Strive to be holy, so that we’ll be blameless when we, one day, stand before God and must account for how we have lived the precious life He gave us.
The Greatest Commandment of all is to love God with our whole heart, our whole soul, our whole mind, and with all our strength.
May the joy and peace and love of our most beloved Jesus Christ the Lord be with you!
~Eowyn