We are seeing, at least in the United States, an increase in the fervor of “end times” preaching. A large and increasing number of otherwise sane citizens accept as an objective fact that the world will end in their lifetimes. Popular novels about “The Rapture” sell millions of copies. And the segments of our population who believe these things are not always confined to institutions. They roam freely among us. We allow them to own guns, drive cars, have children, and teach at our universities. And the increase in the intensity of belief and practice of extremist, “end times” religion is not confined to Christianity—it is occurring in all of the world’s major religions. But I do not find that surprising. Rather, I am surprised that we are not also seeing the rise of a host of entirely new prophets within these established religions. With world conditions as they are today, we should have apocalyptic prophets and self proclaimed messiahs stacked up like cordwood.
Apocalyptic philosophy is nothing new, and certainly not new within Christianity. Jesus of Nazareth himself was an “end times,” preacher, as was John the Baptist. Jesus continually spoke of the “coming of the kingdom of God,” and his followers expected it to occur in their lifetimes. These disciples lived out their lives waiting for the “second coming,” and Evangelical Christians are still waiting for it today. Every few years, some evangelical preacher proclaims that he has calculated the precise moment of doomsday, and gathers his followers on some mountaintop to await their transportation into paradise. The appointed hour passes without any noticeable event, and I would imagine that they all feel a bit chagrined the next day. Yet in Palestine alone, in Jesus’ generation, there were dozens of apocalyptic preachers, because it was the right time and place for “end times” stories to find a receptive audience.
Throughout all history, people everywhere have been aware of some kind of ongoing struggle between good and evil. You don’t have to be a Manichean to accept this. Evil and evildoers are a persistent reality. But there is at least one time in every generation when evil seems to rear its ugly head more prominently than usual-- when the promoters of various evil agendas admit to those agendas openly—even proudly. Yet as the agents of evil begin to shove their heels into the face of humanity, well intentioned people always respond to these assaults---they are willing to stand up and be counted. For instance, in our own time, we have just seen our Supreme Court, in the Citizens United case, rule that corporations are people, and as such have an unlimited constitutional right to spend corporate funds to buy elections, and to do so anonymously. One can scarcely conceive of a more corrupt or more corrupting act of a government against its people. Yet people are fighting back. We will probably see a constitutional amendment fight on this issue, and it will probably win. We have seen the billionaires, through their puppet regime under Scott Walker, wage war in Wisconsin against public employees and workers in general. But this too was met with spirited resistance, and may have been the beginning of the Occupy movement. And this resistance to being enslaved by elite plutocrats is worldwide. We’ve seen the Arab Spring, the Pro-Democracy protesters in Russia, and uncounted others.
The point is this: When the struggle reaches a fevered pitch and appears to be headed to some final climax, people who believe in a God tend to assume that God is somehow involved in their struggle, and will take a prominent role in that climax. They assume that if there is a God, and if He is good, then He could not be neutral in any moral struggle. And since they are on the side of good, they are on the side of God. (Of course, no matter where you are in the struggle between good and evil, you probably assume that you are on the side of good—and God is on your side. No evil doer, no matter how inhuman or depraved, ever failed to believe that he was acting for the greater good, nor that God was on his side. Even Hitler believed this.) But if God is on our side, and if God is infinitely powerful, then why does He not just swoop down with a host of angels and smash our enemies? Why does He allow us to suffer indignities at the hands of our enemies, especially when these enemies are also God’s enemies? This is a rational question. In fact, it’s a very, very rational question. And that explains why believers in “end times” religion are not necessarily irrational.
Sooner or later, some “end times” prophet walks onto the stage. He says, essentially, “Yes, God is aware of your struggle—it is all part of His grand plan. And He will indeed intervene with all His divine might to resolve this and all other earthly struggles.” And those who hear this message ask, “But when will He do this? We have been waiting so long.” The prophet answers: “Soon; very, very soon.”
For those who are weary and discouraged, this is a message of hope, and it can be extremely seductive. And it is not all that irrational. If you really believe in a God that cares about you and about people like you, then why would He not intervene directly on your behalf? While such “end times” beliefs may seem strange, for many believers it may be the simplest way to reconcile the existence of evil in the world with belief in an all-good and all-powerful god. So with the fertile soil we now have for such beliefs, why aren’t we seeing hundreds of new prophets?
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