2012

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I've been a "rapture" geek all of my Christian life. My church background is steeped in Eschatology and last days doctrine. There's a blog on here a couple years ago about it. I've also been blessed at the same time, to have been grounded in the word of God with His wisdom, and in the understanding that there are parameters with which to approach the subject of prophesy an end times issues. So I don't subscribe to the radical-fringe camp of televangelistical(is that a word?) hype by the likes of Lindsey,Hagee,and Van Impe, yet I don't shy away from what the Bible clearly teaches even if the subject has been grossly misunderstood or misused.

Every few years another sensational circumstance comes along that brings the issue of the "end of the world" to the forefront. In my lifetime I've seen the planetary alignment/age of Aquarius thingy, the date 7-7-77, 1984, hale-bop, and the ever popular y2k scare. ( I was really hoping for that one, not because of computer crashing, but because of the Julian calender coming to 2000 and a round 6000 year history figure.) Now we have this "Mayan calender" thing. And this time we have a major motion picture help get us ready for it.

Once again my thoughts turn to "if 2012 should happen to really be it and how will it effect me". This time I'm looking a little deeper at that thought. Taking it a little further and trying to put myself in that place. In other words, at this point it strikes me still as just another hype thing, after all, the more the world gears up for something like that, really the less likely I think it will be the real second coming event, because Jesus said it would happen when they least expect it to. He will return like a thief in the night and catch the world off-guard.
But I find a benefit in allowing the idea of it happening at a time when I know it's coming, to examine my heart and see what I might do and feel in that case. If Jesus appeared to me in person tonight and announced that He actually was returning in exactly 2 years from now(I hope from Christmas actually), what impact would that have on my life?. Christian teachers have probed this question a gazillion times I know, but once again it's fresh for me now because I'm looking at it more closely, taking it farther in my mind.

For instance, I was imagining that with that revelation coming to me, it might cause me to suddenly drop all my inhibitions about showing the world what I believe. (to my shame because yes, I should indeed be able to do it now, but I'll get to that in a minute). That knowledge would drive and inspire me to completely change my way of looking at things. I've had similar feelings to compare it loosely with. Like if I'm away at a camp or retreat, or on vacation, and I'm into the place I'm at doing things , but when the day of my departure draws near, I suddenly take a different view . Like say, if I'm in a cabin with people. the first days or week, we'll be neat and tidy, (ooo the deeper I go into this the more I shoot myself in the foot! lol)...but when you know you're packing up and getting ready to go, your heart isn't in that cabin now, if you leave something out of place, I dono, say when you got there a tv remote was hanging on a holder, but now you don't care if it is left on the bed, you're leaving. Someone would say to me sometimes, "forget about that (whatever the thing is), we're leaving". Because you are leaving the place, you're taking your attachment to it along with you somehow. does that make sense? In a similar way if I REALLY knew I was about to be leaving for my eternal home, suddenly this place would have a different feeling to it. In many respects my heart already has changed and I no longer love many things of this world as I once did, but I'm picturing that feeling "on steroids"(not me on steroids, the feeling!). Going out with reckless abandon preaching the gospel on the street. spending all my time in pursuit of Kingdom preparation, forgetting my old life and desires completely. The ticks of the clock becoming a precious commodity.

There would be an accompanying heavy feeling inside for the world around that doesn't know, doesn't care. As if you knew Vesuvius was about to blow and you want to warn everyone but they wont listen. You know what's coming. the devastation and death. the sheer horror. You'd have a sense of urgency to make use of your remaining time here, and thoughts of your own plans you once had would disappear completely. You'd treat everyone in your life differently. The things you were complacent about formerly, would be serious issues now. Can we really do that well? Can we really put ourselves in a frame of mind today, that we're a person in pearl harbor Dec 7th of '41 that knows the Japanese fleet are approaching and no one else around you does?

The issue isn't what can you possibly do, or imagine how terrible it is knowing you can't make people understand what you know so they'll be saved, but rather it is for me a revelation of how I would be so utterly and drastically changed. I know even now that this world wont go on forever, and Jesus will return soon. I believe it with all my heart. But it's enlightening to me to transport myself to a situation mentally, where I can once and for all let go of things I hold too tightly to here on Earth. I all of a sudden have a power to focus on what's really important that I never had. Many of my Christian beliefs may be dormant and recessed so that if they were one day tested, I'd be surprised to see what I really do believe and do not believe. The human condition is selective about making present things the priority, to the detriment of equally important knowledge and preparation for things to come.

No doubt God prefers that we have a mindset right now, that time is short and We should "redeem our time wisely because the days are evil" (eph 5:16) ) It is indeed a theme all throughout the Bible to hold on loosely to the world and be prepared for the coming changes, whether they come in 2012 or not. It could be today!!


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