April 23rd, 2018

Well, I hope that all of you have your affairs in order.  Especially your “spiritual affairs.”  In case you haven’t heard, the end of time will occur a week from tomorrow - April 23rd, 2018.  Perhaps you haven’t heard the news yet so I’ll use our lesson space here to inform you that we’ve got a new date set for the end of the world.

Yep, it’s a new date, however it’s the same prognosticator that has been wrong on two other predictive occasions.  You might recall last year when he (David Meade) first said that the world would end on September 23rd, 2017 and then - oops - it’ll really happen on October 15th.  Guess what?  Didn’t happen.

And now, since he’s had 6 months or so, he’s had time to re-figure and now says that on April 23rd, 2018 it will occur.  I’ve read the report of his calculations and I’ll attempt to give you what he says his prediction is based upon and what he claims will be the sequence of events. 

He says that at the predicted time, the Sun, the Moon and the planet Jupiter will “align in the constellation Virgo” which will “spark the start of ‘The Rapture.”  There’s more to come in his heavenly events and we’ll mention that later.  And, in case you’ve forgotten, The Rapture is a term coined by premillenialists that’s really just another way of saying end of time.  Of course, there are other events attached to it, but basically it’s talking about the end of our world.

The scriptural tie-in to his celestial line-up he takes from Revelation 12:1-2 and I’ll cite it to you here (and if you can figure out how this fits with his calculations you’re a far better “figurer” than I am.) “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the Sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: and she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.”

Ok, let’s return to the “heavenly events.”  Our doomsday prophet says that when the aforementioned alignment occurs, the planet Nibiru (also known as Planet X) will appear in the sky and its appearance will set off three other events.  They are, in this order, World War 3, the rise of the “anti-Christ” and then the seven years of tribulation.  (Also part of the premillenialist’s theory).

Before I get into rebutting this latest dooms-day forecast, let me just provide you with a little more scientific information.  First, the “Nibiru” theory has been around for quite a while and NASA has refuted it’s existence ever since.  According to its believers, it was supposed to have collided with the earth in 2003 and when it didn’t, revised to collide in 2012, which again, didn’t.  And also, the Sun, Moon and Jupiter alignment isn’t something new.  It happens every ten years anyway.

Now, let me just make a few remarks debunking this latest prediction about April 23rd.  My first thought is the line of an old folk song entitled “Where Have All The Flowers Gone.”  It’s the line that repeatedly asks the question “When will they ever learn?  When will they ever learn?”  I ask the same question.

There have been many of these end-of-time charlatans in history.  I use the term “charlatan” because its definition fits these people perfectly.  It means: someone pretending to have a special knowledge or skill; or an imposter.  When you think about it, there are a lot of these “teachers” around and, whether their promotions are laughable or not, they are dangerous to the welfare of the souls of others.

We don’t have enough time or space to list them all, but a few of the more notorious ones are guys like William Miller in 1843 who had thousands following him and his prediction of the end coming back then.  Sadly, by believing his forecast, they lost their material possessions and, if they continued in following his false doctrine, I’m afraid they also lost their souls.

Or, the “Heaven’s Gate” people who had their “church” down near San Diego.  Remember them?  In 1997, following their leader, a guy name Marshall Applewhite,  they took their lives in order to join up with the Hale-Bopp Comet and go to the heavens. 

I’ll mention one other dooms-day predictor and he’s a guy named Hon-Ming Chen who founded the God’s Salvation Church, a conglomeration of Buddhism, Christianity and science fiction.  This is the guy who predicted the world would end and when asked when it would happen, he said, “when God appears on earth.”  Asked how would we know it was God, he replied, “He looks just like me, so if you see me, it’s God.”  Also, that “flying saucers” would come to save them.  And people believed him?

Well, I’ll just close with some words of truth from “The Truth.”  When Christ said that there would be “many false prophets” in the world and that they would “deceive many” (Matt. 24:11) He certainly said a mouthful, didn’t He?   And, as for those deceivers predicting His return, they’ve pretty much been doing that ever since He left.

We just need to remember a couple things and they’re not complicated.  There isn’t much calculation to be figured.  Here is all that we need to know about the end of time, the return of Jesus and the condition of our souls.  (1) Only God knows the day that Christ will return (Matt. 34:36).  (2) To have our soul ready at all times because we don’t know the time of that occasion. (Luke 12:40).

And, whether still alive or already passed on, when that day arrives we’ll know the answer to one of the great questions of the Bible.  When the “great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”  (Rev. 6:17)  Answer:  souls that are “ready.”

Respectfully submitted,

Ron Covey