Imbroglio

Trying to play at being an end-times prophecy expert, especially when people are on edge and ready to jump out of their skin at the mere rustling of a bush, is about as smart as playing chicken with a lit dynamite stick.

Granted, there are some less than reputable hucksters out there trying to exploit men’s fears. Some are going so far as selling bottled bathwater as a cure-all for what is likely an astronomical profit margin, but for the most part, everyone feels like they have to say something, chime in, and give their two cents, even if no one asked for it.

I have no problem with people voicing an opinion. That’s the beauty of a free country, and it’s your job as an individual to weed out the nonsensical, improbable, impossible, and deceptive from the truth. What I do have a problem with is people playing an end times version of Jenga. Removing one phrase from here, another from there, Old Testament, New Testament, end times prophecy, prophecy explicitly for Israel, and stacking them upon each other trying to build their own miniature version of a prophetic tower of Babel.

What they end up with is something rickety, confusing, and given enough time, demonstrably false. The fact that at some later time we can look back and prove that their assertions were wrong is cold comfort in the present. Presently, some people are fearful, on the precipice of panic, because they are being bombarded nonstop by individuals who have suddenly developed prophetic gifting, insisting that this is it! The pale horse is here, neighing, and braying, and there’s nothing you can do but curl up in a ball in the corner and wait for the end.

Never mind the fact that the sequence in which the seals are broken is of great import, never mind the fact that war and scarcity must come before death does, never mind the fact that a fourth of the world killed by Death and Hades would be with sword, hunger, and by the beasts of the field and not a virus. Never mind all that! This is it, it doesn’t get any paler than this, lights out, the end!

We are tinkering with the revelation of Jesus Christ here kids. We are slicing and dicing and putting back together prophetic utterance given to Christ by God to show His servants things which must shortly take place. This is not something you have the liberty to put your own spin on! This is not something you have the liberty to masticate and regurgitate, having added your personal flavor profile to the mix because you’ve still got a thousand buckets of potatoes au gratin sitting in storage waiting to be snatched up.

As far as scaring people into the arms of Jesus goes, as soon as this passes, they’ll just wiggle back out because they were never interested in a relationship with Him to begin with. Then, when the pale horse really does come riding, no matter how persistent, they’ll just brush you off because you’ve been saying the same thing for twenty years. You cannot force, coerce, or trick someone into salvation, even if your intentions are noble and admirable.

There are a lot of self-titled end-times prophets, seers, visionaries, and such that will have egg on their faces when this passes, we’ll still be here, and not yet living through a post-apocalyptic hellscape, challenging people to duels for a roll of toilet tissue.  

Whether they did it for a quick buck, their five minutes, or because they genuinely believed what they were saying is contextually irrelevant. They still used the Word of God, and the Revelation of Jesus Christ to give weight and validation to their proclamation, and that’s wrong no matter how you cut it. 

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea Jr.