Pranks continue as world's end looms

Some silliness and some seriousness.

Back in the good ol' days, Jesus used to talk about his coming back and the end of the world, but also how ordinary things would be continuing up until the final hour. People will be "eating and drinking, marrying" and so forth. Perfectly ordinary. With so many ordinary things going on, how can one ever hope to predict when that day will come, despite the best attempts by our modern 'prophecy experts' who claim the world's end is soon?

Jesus' warning about his coming day is for all days: "Be on your guard--see to it that your minds are never clouded by dissipation or drunkenness or the worries of this life, or else that day may catch you like the springing of a trap--for it will come upon every inhabitant of the whole earth. You must be vigilant at all times, praying that you may be strong enough to come safely through all that is going to happen, and stand in the presence of the Son of Man." (Luke 21:34-36, Phillips translation)

Jesus said a few other things about the end, which, unless he was Jesus, might sound a bit nutty or pessimistic, or in the value-hesitant vague-speak of today, a tad "negative":

• "When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, you will know that it's desolation is near." Luke 21
  
• "The love of most will grow cold." Matt 24
  
• "Do not worry beforehand about what you are going to say", that is, when they get you. Mark 13
  
• "False messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive the elect--if that were possible. See, I have told you ahead of time." Matt 24
  
• "On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken." Luke 21
  
• "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." Matt 24

Taking Jesus' good news message as a whole, his emphasis seems to be on things like repentance, holiness, and faith, NOT speculation, obsession, division over the specific details of the prophecy.

Did that firebrand Paul have anything to say about the end? Sure did. He spoke plainly to his converts, "Brothers, do not become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy....saying that the day of the Lord has already come" (2 Thes 2). He called this time, this age, a period of "waiting for his [Jesus'] final appearance." (1 Cor 1)

We'll give Peter the final word: " I have tried to stimulate you, as men with minds uncontaminated by error, by reminding you of what you really know already. This means recalling the words spoken of old by the holy prophets as well as the commands of our Lord and savior given to you through his messengers. First of all you must realize that in the last days cynical mockers will undoubtedly come--men whose only guide in life is what they want for themselves--and they will say, 'Where is his promised coming?'

"...You should never lose sight of the fact, dear friends, that with the Lord a day may be a thousand years, and a thousand years only a day. It is not that he is slow about keeping his own promise as some men seem to think; the fact is that he is very patient with you. He has no wish that any man be destroyed; He wishes that all men should find the way to repentance. Yet the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. In that day the heavens will vanish in a tearing blast, the very elements will disintegrate in heat and the earth and all its works will disappear." (2 Peter 3)