Gloom and Doom or Our Blessed Hope?<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
By Jan Markell
www.olivetreeviews.org
 
 
I played a clip on my radio show last weekend (March 8,) which you can hear early in hour 2 at "Radio Archives."
 
In part the young woman states:
 
The end-times are here, the end-times are here. Gloom and doom, doom and gloom!  You hear about it all the time (yes, because we're in them).  I am so sick about hearing about the end-times when we have a job to do. I talked to a friend and she said the Bible said certain things were going to happen.  I couldn't believe it.  So we are just to sit back and drop the ball and don't do anything? 
 
We have radio and TV shows just talking abut the end-times.  People actually make a living out of this. Instead of having a meeting as to how the end-times are upon us, shouldn't we be redeeming the time for the days are evil?  We have a whole generation of forgotten kids-forgotten by the church so they can have their meetings on the end-times.
 
I wish we DID have a whole lot of churches having meetings on Bible prophecy rather than tossing it out of the church 20 years ago!  She couldn't be more wrong.
 
She continues:
If we truly believe these are the end-times, shouldn't we be saving souls?  Your gloom and doom meetings are depressing and there is no life in them.  I might as well just go kill myself because there is no hope. It's just gloom and doom from you people.
 
This young woman's statements came from a radio program, so it is hard to say how many people heard them.  She virtually plastered everyone in two generations above her as having a morbid pre-occupation with the glorious news that the King is coming!  I couldn't make it through a lot of days without knowing that. It's the most positive, uplifting message out there. 
 
Yet, this is how many in the younger generation (thankfully not all) consider eschatology that is the theme of one-third of the Bible! There is a special crown for those who long for His appearing (II Tim. 4:8).  Jesus chastised the religious rulers of His day for knowing the signs of the weather but not the signs of the times (His first coming.) 
 
This gal went on to say all we need is to focus on winning the lost. I have to ask, What better tool is there for that than eschatology which reminds us that the hour is late? 
 
Yes, Peter said there would be such scoffers in the last days but in spite of her claim to really know the Bible, she doesn't know that she is partially fulfilling it.
 
Studying prophecy is a faith-builder. We see how Jesus fulfilled all His first coming verses and believe there is no reason why He would not fulfill the verses for His return.  Eschatology reminds us that God has a glorious future for us! He is our "blessed hope" (Titus 2:13).  His return is hardly gloom and doom.
 
Of concern is if the Lord should tarry, in another 20 years Bible prophecy will be an ancient relic set on the shelf by most everyone as even today the lovers of it are primarily over age 50. 
 
But nothing energizes me more than the simple phrase, "The King is coming!"  And thankfully, I talk to a lot of people who feel the same! This is all that offers us hope in perilous times.
 
To learn more, visit the category of "Prophecy Watch" at my Web site.