Perspective

We hear a lot of talk about how the end of the world must be near because of how bad things are in the world, specifically in the United States. But is the temperature of the United States evidence of the end times, and is evil in fact getting worse than it has ever been?

I will start by saying that I don't know if evil is getting worse or not. I do not know world history well enough to say one way or another.

From my perspective as an American living in the 21st century, they seem to be, but it's hard to say because I have only been alive for the past fifty years. Within that time, things seem to have gotten worse, but we have also had the invent of cable news and the internet within that time period.

Prior to the 1980's probably (?), we did not have the continuous stream of cable news that we have now, and we did not have the internet until the late 1990's, where we now have world news at our fingertips.

Prior to then, we had to rely on what the 6:00 news and weekly newspapers reported for information about what was going on in our nation and the world.

What I do know is that watching and reading the news so frequently may give the illusion that things are worse than they've ever been, especially when the only things reported are negative and politically charged.

Continuously watching and listening to news will focus our attention on those issues, causing us to think that things may be worse than what they actually are.

News reports of government officials wanting to legislate laws regarding changes to the definition of marriage, abortion, gay rights, loss of freedoms, and corrupt politicians doing the work of a corrupt government provide evidence for many Christians that a powerful political leader is going to rise who will deceive the nations and which will give way to a time period of great tribulation.

If we continuously watch and listen to the news reports about these "bad" things going on in our nation, we could say that they are a sign of the end times based on what we have been taught in American Christianity.

From our perspective, things may look bleak and we might believe that it has never been this bad before.  But in general, people are typically really only concerned about things that personally affect them.

Therefore, things that happened before our lifetimes or before we had continuous news feeds, were not a concern to us either because we were not alive or because we did not have the knowledge. Imagine how limited our knowledge was in regards to politics and the things going on in the world when we only had the 6:00 news and the weekly newspaper to inform us.

We Americans also tend to view things from an American perspective and our primary focus is on the events that are taking place in America.

Meeting with a couple of Christian brothers in a Bible study one time, one of them commented on how bad things are getting in the America, and therefore he believes that the end times are near. The other one's wise response was that things may appear to be getting worse from our perspective as American Christians, but globally things have always been bad.

He's right. We Americans have had it easy. We live in the most privileged nation in the world. We don't have to worry about being persecuted for our faith, where our next meal is going to come from, dying of thirst, or being gunned down during worship. So when things begin to get worse than what we're used to, we tend to think that the world is going to hell in a hand basket.

However, everything that I listed above are things that many members of the global church outside of America have been afflicted with for decades or maybe even centuries.

The American news does not typically report on things like persecution, starvation, human trafficking, or human rights violations taking place in other countries, so for us it's out of sight, out of mind.

The American church is not concerned about it because it doesn't have knowledge of it and because it doesn't affect them personally. However, when their freedoms are personally threatened and persecution becomes more of a reality to them, it does personally affect them, and therefore their concern increases. I have studied Christian persecution since I've been a Christian, and this has been my continuous observation.

But it is all a matter of perspective.

From what I understand, historically, every generation of the church has thought that they were living in the end times based on the temperature of the culture. The things going on in their world during their life times were bad and appeared to them to be the signs of the end.

The periods of the World Wars must have seemed to many to be the end times. Hitler and Nazi Germany and the heinous atrocities which they committed against the Jews were pure evil. I cannot think of a time in history that is more evil than that.

In 1994, in an attempt to distinguish the Tutsi tribe from the face of the earth, the Hutu tribe in Rwanda, Africa killed somewhere between 500,000 and 662,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu and Twa peoples, committing mass genocide against them. I don't know if Christians viewed this as being a sign of the end times or not.

At the time, many American Christians believed that Mikhail Gorbachev, the leader of Communist Russia in the mid 1980's to early 1990's, was the antichrist, and therefore believed that the end times was upon them.

Every four years, throughout the history of American presidents, Christians have believed that at least one of the presidential candidates was the antichrist, again believing that the end was near.

I assume that Christians during the Civil War, Vietnam, and other wars thought they were living in the end times.

Notice that many of these examples involve America in one way or another. From the American perspective, it is believed that the end is going to come when America is affected and things in America go south. The reason is that American Christians are typically focused on things going on in America.

Do Christians in countries where there has never been freedom or human rights such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and China believe that evil is increasing in the world, therefore the end is near?

What about in Palestine, where Christians are persecuted by Jews and Muslims, by having their land stolen from them, by not having freedom to go where they want to go, and by being killed - do they believe the end is near?

Those are good question that I don't know the answer to.

Another reason why American Christians believe that the end is near, is that the doctrine of the antichrist and the Great Tribulation are the primary eschatological belief of the American church.

Therefore most American Christians believe that when things get bad in the world (which is limited to America from their perspective), the antichrist is going to rise to power and the Great Tribulation is going to take place.

Maybe they will, I don't know. We have to determine from Scripture what God says about the end times and not from national or world events that appear bad from our perspective.

Looking first at some historical accounts recorded in the Bible, we can see that things in the world have always been bad since man gave into the devil's temptation in the garden.

God destroyed man because of their wickedness in the days of Noah, at which time evil filled the entire earth:

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth - Genesis 6:5‭, ‬11‭-‬12

Evil was so prevalent across the earth at that time that God judged the earth and decided to destroy everything He made, except for a few people whom He found faithful and the animals.

Later God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah also because of their wickedness. Their sin was very grave and there were at least not even ten righteous people within Sodom or possibly within both Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:16-19:29).

The Bible includes many accounts of nations that were conquered and have fallen because God's judgement came upon them for their idolatry and /or rejection of Him, or because of their abuse of His people - Egypt (at least a couple times), Canaan, Assyria, Babylon, Israel, Judah, Jerusalem, Ephraim, and probably more.

God pronounced judgment upon the pagan nation of Nineveh for their sins, but they turned to God when God sent His prophet Jonah to them.

Many of God's prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Elijah, and Elisha were persecuted and killed for being the messengers of God.

David was hunted by King Saul, who wanted to kill him for being a man of God and for being successful in everything that he did.

During His time on earth, Jesus proclaimed judgment upon the Jewish cities of Capernaum, Bethsaida, and Chorazin because they rejected Him by not repenting and believing that He was the Christ and the Son of God. He said that their judgment was going to be worse than that of the Gentile cities of Tyre and Sidon (Matthew 11:20-24)

Jesus also proclaimed judgment upon the Jewish scribes, Pharisees, and lawyers of His time for their hypocrisy, lack of love & justice, and persecution & murder of God's prophets. He held them personally responsible for the blood of all the prophets from the foundation of the world (Luke 11:37-52; Matthew 23:1-36).

Jesus proclaimed judgment on the churches of Ephesus, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, and Laodicea, unless they repent and turn back to Him (Revelation 2:1-3:22). They must not have repented because they no longer exist today.

Jesus was persecuted and killed by the people He came to save. He said that those who serve Him will also be persecuted and killed.

Jesus's apostles were all persecuted and most of them were killed for simply sharing the good news of Jesus. They were crucified, crucified upside down, skinned alive, drug through the streets, stoned, and beheaded.

John the Baptist was killed for speaking out against King Herod's adultery with his brother's wife. The woman Herod was having the affair with was the one who wanted John the Baptist killed. When her daughter found favor with King Herod, he offered to give her anything she wanted. She went to her mother to ask her what she should ask for, and she responded by saying, "Give me John the Baptist's head here on a platter".

King Herod did not want to kill him, but went ahead and did so because it pleased the people who were there with them (Matthew 14:8-11), indicating that evil was prevalent within the culture.

Throughout the history of the church, there have been numerous Christians who have been persecuted and killed for either simply being a Christian, or for sharing the message of Christ. Many have been brutally tortured such as being skinned alive, forced by gunpoint to stand on a frozen lake naked, and sawed in half.

These are only "bad" things from the Bible and from the Christian perspective. There has no doubt been things that have happened to peoples of other groups around the world throughout history that were just as bad and horrific.

So, are the times we are living in now, really worse than they have ever been? I really don't know the answer to that question. If we measure "bad" by losing privileges, luxuries, our rights, and an increasing number of non Christian people living lifestyles contrary to how God says they should live, then maybe so. But if we measure it by the evil that is taking place in the world, then I don't know because some pretty evil and bad things have taken place all throughout history.

Now we'll look at what I believe the Bible says about the other question: Is the temperature of the United States and world events an indication that the end is near - that the world is going to end?

We'll look at what Jesus said in Matthew 24 about the end times. Most modern Christians apply verses 4-46 to the end times, but I think that Matthew 24:4-34 contains the answer to their question in regards to the destruction of the temple which was His coming  judgement of the Jews, and that in Matthew 24:35-25:46, Jesus takes liberty to describe His second coming, which will be His coming judgement of the "Greek" and the earth - "judgement to the Jew first, and also to the Greek" (Romans 2:5-10).

After Jesus prophesied about the temple being destroyed in AD 70, His disciples asked Him two questions: 1) when will that take place?, and 2) what will be the sign of His coming and the end of the age? (Matthew 24:1-3).

First, it is important to understand that Jesus's disciples were not aware that Jesus was going to return sometime in the future. They did not understand that He was going to die, be resurrected, or go to heaven, let alone return to the earth as King. They did not know that He was going away, so why would they ask when He was going to return? Therefore the question they ask about His coming was very likely not about when He was going to return in the future, or as we call it, His second coming.

Based on the parallel passages in Mark and Luke, and on what other passages mean by "His coming", and "coming on the clouds", I think the disciples are asking Him when His judgement will be  - His judgement that will bring the destruction that He was describing just prior to them asking the question.

The historical events that took place during the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome in AD 70 was devastating for the Jews. The temple and much of the city was destroyed. It was called the Great Jewish Revolt, and the events were recorded by the Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, and can be read in his book, The Jewish War. Many of the things that Jesus said would happen in His description of the destruction of the temple are described by Josephus to have happened during the Jewish War.

After giving the disciples many examples of things that will happen prior to and during God's judgment of the Jews, Jesus concluded by saying,

Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place - Matthew 24:34.

And He was right. The things He described did take place during that generation in AD 70.

Jesus then took the liberty to share with the disciples what would happen prior to His return, even though they would not have understood that His second coming is what He was talking about.

He transitioned from what the signs of His coming judgment of the Jews would look like, to what will happen when He returns to judge the "Greek" and the world (Matthew 24:35-25:46).

He transitioned by saying,

Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away - Matthew 24:35

Then He said that He does not know when the end will come, but only God knows when that will be. He said that it would be an ordinary day when people were doing ordinary things such as eating,  drinking, and getting married, like the days of Noah were prior to the flood (Matthew 24:36-38).

Other than those who may have saw Noah building the ark and the animals coming to it, God gave the other men of the earth no signs or warning of His coming judgment. They were eating and drinking and marrying - just living their lives as usual  - with no knowledge that God was planning to come to destroy them.

He went on to tell His disciples to be watchful and ready at all times, because they would not know when to expect His coming (Matthew 24:42-44).

He continued with a parable about a servant who fell away and began to do evil things while waiting for His return. When He returned, the wicked servant was "cut in two" and assigned his place with the hypocrites. (Matthew 24:45-51).

This was obviously a warning to His disciples and to us today, what the consequences will be if we grow tired of waiting for His return and fall away.

Then He told them another parable about what will happen to those who are both faithful and unfaithful with what He has given them while they wait for His return.

He said that a person who uses what God has given them for His kingdom while they wait for the Lord to return will be called His good and faithful servant, will be made ruler over many, and will enter into the joy of the Lord.

[Note: Enter into the joy of the Lord - Jesus said that he who endures to the end will be saved (Matthew 10:10, 24:13) and Paul said that if we endure, we will also reign with Him (2 Timothy 2:12)].

Jesus continued the parable by saying that whoever buries what God has given them while they wait for His return, will lose what they have been given and will be cast into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 25:14-30).

Jesus concluded His commentary on His return by describing what the judgment of man will look like at His return.  Included in His summary, He said that those who call Him, "Lord", but are not faithful to Him, will be cast into the lake of fire (Matthew 25:31-46).

So based on what Jesus said in the Bible, do the events that are taking place in the world, specifically the United States, point to the end times and His return?

I don't think it does. He said that there won't be any signs or indications of His return.

I take that back, He said that "this gospel of the kingdom will be preached as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come" (Matthew 24:14). That is the only sign He gives of the end coming.

Jesus gives His disciples much more information on how to live while they wait for His return, than He gives about when His return will be. How to live for Him as we wait is obviously more important to God than the time of Jesus's return.

Perhaps the seeming increase of evil and wickedness in the United States is not the end of the world at all, but the end of the nation. Maybe what we are witnessing is the fall of the United States. Many American Christians who equate the United States of America with God's kingdom would find this challenging to believe, but they are wrong to think that these kingdoms are the same thing.

We know by history that kingdoms and nations of the world do not last forever. The United States is imploding because of division and civil war is at hand. This does not necessarily indicate that the end of the world is at coming, but it could possibly indicate that the end of nation is.

It is a matter of perspective. Remember, turmoil, oppression and evil have resided in other nations for centuries. Just because Americans are beginning to experience these same things does not mean that the world is ending.

We should determine that by what Jesus said about it in the Bible, which isn't much,  and may be even less than what many think.

But what He did say is that we won't know when it will be because it will be like any other day. His emphasis was on remaining faithful to God while we wait for His return. So our focus should not be on when the end is coming, but on remaining faithful to God as we wait for the end to come.