Tremors

The sudden surge of interest nowadays in prophecies about the end times will again be stirred and shaken with the apparent rise in earthquakes all over the globe such as the recent killer quake in the Tibetan region of China that as of the latest reportedly killed almost 600 people, wounded more than 10,000 and flattened 85% of the structures there. (Source: Yahoo! News) There are those who would even conjure a “science fiction’s ultimate doomsday scenario: A large earthquake in another part of the world ignites a long seismic fuse that races around the globe” (http://www.mercurynews.com/). But according to the US Geological Survey (USGS), this is just “an average year for earthquakes… The USGS found that since 1900, the annual average for magnitude 7.0 or higher earthquakes is 16, putting 2010 on course for a fairly normal year, with six so far. …A lot of the quakes this year have unfortunately happened in populated areas, and as a result casualties and damage are in the news… The variability year to year is very large, but the rate this year is not higher than normal. …big earthquakes don’t trigger other big earthquakes.” (Ibid)

Keep in mind that our Lord Jesus assured us, “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.” (Matthew 24:6-8, ESV)

Sadly, even believers tend to cause frenzy instead of faith in view of such global events. One recent prophecy conference here featured as its main speaker a best-selling fiction writer. The promotional materials about this writer made much of the fact that what he described in his novels happened. For example, he wrote about a hijacked aircraft that was on a suicide mission in an American city. The promo pointed out that he wrote it nine months before the September 11 attacks. But even Tom Clancy wrote about such kamikaze jet scenarios in his best-selling thrillers, “Debt of Honor” (1994) and “Executive Orders” (1996). So, what’s so prophetic about that? We must be careful not to interpret the Bible using news clippings or current political events. That’s one rule of interpretation, especially when it comes to Bible prophecies.

Brethren, God’s news is the Good News, not the newspapers.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

“Ubus-ubos Biyaya, Bukas Nakatunganga”

Image
That’s what my mother always told us when we were still kids. (Translation: “You spend everything today, you will have nothing tomorrow.” ) Image source: So, What's New ? Dionie did just that. Last April 2008, he won PHP14,125,032 in the Lotto 6/42 draw. Excitedly, he “lived the life of a millionaire, something he had been longing to experience. He lived in a P4-million house in a posh subdivision, drove around in a sports utility vehicle [which he bought the very same day he claimed his prize] , and gave goodwill money, ranging P1,000 to P 850,000, to relatives and friends. He also gambled daily, womanized, and went on regular drinking sprees.” (Source: Manila Bulletin ) He estimated that he squandered a minimum of P100,000 almost every day. He also lent money even to people he did not really know. “I just gave them and told them not to pay me back.” (Ibid) His bank had to issue him a special card so he can withdraw huge amounts of money quickly from the automated teller m
Read more

God Knows Judas Not Pay

In the National Geographic Magazine (May 2006 issue), in its cover story, The Judas Gospel , Professor Eliane Pagels of Princeton University claimed that the so-called gospel of Judas “ changes the history of early Christianity. ” Even UP Professor Randy David took notice of the Judas Gospel: “Strictly from a sociological standpoint, I think the discovery of the Gospel of Judas makes Christianity a far more interesting religion than what centuries of metaphysical theology has made of it.” (A Gospel for the Postmodern, Phil. Daily Inquirer, April 16, 2006) That’s why I spoke in our Young Pro Fellowship a few days ago on God Knows Judas Not Pay (A Biblical Response on the Judas Gospel). I believe opportunities like this hype on the Judas Gospel or the Da Vinci Code opens a door for us to share the true Gospel. For those who did not attend last Thursday, let me share briefly why we reject the Judas gospel. I came up with the acronym J-U-D-A-S. J udas was portrayed as a traitor in the Bibl
Read more

“Don’t drink the Kool-Aid!”

Image
Forty years ago, this expression became known as a description of blind obedience.   Source: Los Angeles Times On November 18, 1978, members of Peoples Temple, a cult group in Guyana, drank Kool-Aid drink laced with cyanide to commit a mass suicide “at the behest of their charismatic but paranoid leader, Jim Jones”. [1] According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica , “The death toll exceeded 900, including some 300 age 17 and under, making the incident one of the largest mass deaths in American history. ”  [2]  What made those people submit to such atrocity? According to Stella Morabito, a senior contributor to The Federalist online magazine, Peoples Temple is “Exhibit A… [of]  the dangers of the cult mindset or how vulnerable all people are to cult tactics.”  [3] She pointed out that, Coercive persuasion has immense power to shape and twist the human mind.  …[Jones’] utopian preaching of a humane world in which all lived happily in harmony resonated with the
Read more