When I was young, long before I became a Catholic, or even before I considered becoming a Catholic a possibility, I read Hal Lindsey’s The Late, Great Planet Earth, and was fascinated with the idea that we were living at the end times. Like many others, I was thrilled to hear that Jesus was going to come again during my lifetime. Not only was it a very exciting thing to hear, it made me feel special without actually having to do anything to be special. The appeal is obvious. People are meant to think that the whole of human history culminates with my lifetime, and all I have to do to confirm this is look around me and watch the news, as prophecy continues to be fulfilled all around me. Yes, the world would not survive, its doom was inevitable, but what did I care, because Jesus is coming soon?
I found myself reading books and watching television programs by those who held a position similar to Hal Lindsey. I think I caught Jack Van Impe late at night a few times, but I didn’t gravitate to his style of reporting, as I felt there was something off in the way he presented the news with this wife. Over time, I found the people I listened to change their statements; the same prophecies they claimed were fulfilled one way were later said being fulfilled a different way. The more I noticed this, and the more I studied Scripture (and theology), the more I realized the fault with their methodology. They were trying to read the news into Scripture, and force a conclusion. It was all confirmation bias. They were acting like fortune tellers, but they could only give one fortune. This is why they could not get the date of Jesus’ return correct (the 1980s really was not the Countdown to Armageddon), and so they changed the date when they needed to do so. Not only did I come to see how ridiculous the enterprise was, but I was able to see how it existed, and confused, Christians throughout history, as many from each generation felt into its trap. Who the prophets of doom were, and the dates they gave, changed, but what they did, and how they did it, remained the same. It became quite easy to see through the gimmick.
Since I have become Catholic, I have seen new people take up the mantle of Hal Lindsey, each leading people astray, giving dates for the end of the world (or “the rapture”) which have come and gone. New prophets of doom keep emerging as the old ones either die out or people lose interest in them because they have been wrong so many times in their predictions, no one can take them seriously. The reason why this continues to happen is that many people want to believe that they are special, and these prophets of doom give them a reason to do so. They want to believe, and so will listen to anyone who can give them a reason to do so, no matter how poor a reason it is. It’s a sad way to live, because it is based upon a willingness to be deceived.
What surprises me is the way so many who want to follow such prophets of doom, those who want to believe we must be coming to the end of human history in our lifetime, will accept the most obscure Scriptural references, interpreted in the most convoluted ways, to prove they are correct, but they will be quite dismissive of science and to actual threats to humanity which science has discovered. Often, they are dismissive because they do not care, or worse, they are happy to hear about the dangers, as they think such dangers prove that they are right in believing they are special and that they are among the last humans in history. And that is why their mindset threatens the future of humanity. It makes many of them want to see everything burn down to the ground. They are even willing to do what they can to help speed up the process. They want to create the conditions for the end of the world; they want to force Jesus to come back soon. They don’t only want to listen to prophets of doom, they find the meaning of their lives lies in making such doom happen. This is why they can seem to be excited every time there is the threat of “World War III” in the horizon – it is because they have been hoping for it. While they might talk about human life and its value, especially when engaging the politics of abortion, their actions show otherwise – they are willing to let people die, when they do not need to die, if by doing so, they have hasten the end of time (which is why, I feel, many cared less about how many people were dying during the worst of the COVID pandemic, because they just saw it as another glorious sign that their wish for the end of the world was going to be fulfilled). Human life means nothing to them, as they see no future for humanity. Why should they be concerned with the environment and with it, the potential doom connected with climate change, when they believe the end is at hand? If anything, they welcome climate change as another sign of the end of the world. The sad but terrifying fact we have to deal with is that there is a great number of these people who love doom that have wealth and influence, and they are using what they have to influence American politics, as can be seen in the indifference they have brought to the various threats which humanity currently faces (pandemics, climate change, the potential problems associated with over-population, wars, et. al.).
I can understand the those who like to listen to and believe the prophets of doom think. I understand how their mentality not only shapes the way they think, but how they live. This is because I was, for a time, influenced by it, albeit for a short time when I was not yet an adult with responsibilities of my own. I have, since then, studied various times and places where this line of thinking held sway (such as at the dawn of the first millennium) and have seen the dreadful consequences they have had for those who held them. I have seen what happens when people come to believe in specific dates for the end of the world, and the loss of faith (and hope) which followed when those dates proved false (such as with the 19th century Millerite movement). I have seen many dates come and go in my lifetime, some with more popularity (1994) than others. I have seen some who do not get discouraged and just go from date to date to date because they want to believe. I have seen it all. I have seen, moreover, scientists warning us of potential futures, with climate change being one of the things which can lead to our doom; the difference is that the science is not based upon subjective understanding of Scripture, trying to tie what is happening in the present age to some sort of prophecy, but rather, science is about taking data and showing what will happen if we do not change our ways. This is science, and the warnings which scientists give, must not be seen to be the same with what is being given by religious prophets of doom (even if some try to equate the two), as the scientists are only giving us a warning, telling us what can happen if things do not change. In this way, we are given a chance to change things, to make things better, and are encouraged to do so. Religious prophets of doom, on the other hand, want us to think there is nothing we can do to change our fate. Scientists give us reasons to hope for improvements, and encourage us to do what we can to make sure there is a future, while prophets of doom do the reverse, trying to make us not care, and if anything, do what we can to hasten our doom. If we care about life, if we care about the future of humanity, we need to get away from the influence of such prophets of doom, while we need to listen to and pay attention to the warnings scientists are giving us, for, in many ways, unlike what the prophets of doom say, the future is in our hands.
*Personal Reflections And Speculations
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