KFLCC Kingdom Economics

The Code of the Last Days of Noah and Lot

with positive signs and prosperity. One of the best examples in my lifetime of how quickly people shifted from expecting the imminent return of Christ to delaying the event was the arrival of the year 2000, which you might recall was referred to as Y2K. The theory was that the internal clocks in computers and appliances would turn to 000, which could not be read by computers, and thus anything dependent on computers would fail. The world would be brought to its knees at midnight on the year 2000. The Scriptures that jumped out in this situation were found in Matthew 25 —the parable of the ten virgins. "At midnight, the cry was made, Behold the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him” (Matt. 25:6). Many around the world anticipated a major collapse of modern civilization or the return of Christ at midnight, so to some this seemed to be a cryptic reference to the Y2K crisis. The week before the alleged event, churches were packed with concerned believers and sinners alike, wondering if Christ would return at midnight for His chosen ones. When the panic ceased about one minute past midnight, the sinners were back to sinning and the believers were back to their normal lives, relieved that their car, microwave and electrical appliances still worked. The same was true on September 11, 2001 as fear of what else could happen following the attack seized the hearts of many Americans. After the September attack, church attendance was up thirty percent; but within three months, people were back to their normal routines. Any major event tends to swing the pendulum between the extremes of “this is it” to “back to normal.” If Christ were to return when the world is in utter and complete chaos, with collapsing governments, massive global death and persecution, then anyone familiar with the Bible would not only be looking for Christ to return but would be praying that He would hasten His arrival. But when all is well and things return to normal, concern for His return wanes and becomes a secondary thought. This observation helped me understand the following passage: Knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. 2 P ETER 3:3-4 (NKJV) The scoffing is directed toward those who teach in the promise of Christ s return (John 14:1-3), while the reason for the mocking is that globally and locally, things appear to remain the same. As we would say, life goes on.

31