Eschatological Musings

I have never been one for speculating about the end times. They will come when they come, and I wasn't particularly expecting to see them in my lifetime. However, I have to admit that when I read about the arrogant horn in the Book of Daniel many years ago, I immediately thought of our current president but then dismissed the idea, since he was not a political leader. Now, decades later, he is the leader, and I am curious to see if he really is the arrogant horn. If so, he will somehow be deposed by July, because he only rules for forty months. (This is also mentioned in Revelations, but they could have just been copying Daniel.)

I don't think the pandemic signals the end of the world. They happen with some regularity; in fact, some people say about once a century, so we were due for one since the last bad one was the flu pandemic in 1918-19. However, something coming out of the pandemic has caught my attention, because they say at the end times the thoughts of all hearts will be laid bare, and this situation has certainly laid bare for everyone to see how much greed those in control suffer from! While the virus does not discriminate, opportunity does, and even in hospitals those with more power and money (the doctors) get more protective equipment than the equally likely to be exposed workers like the janitors, who are poor, much more likely to be people of color, and who are dying of the virus at alarming rates. I feel a bit guilty to be in my current position, able to work from home and pray a lot but in a relaxed, meditative way, when I think of people who are probably praying frantically not to catch the virus every time they go to work. I am only having my pay cut a little, but some people have no livelihoods at all right now. And yet, some of the richest people in this country are getting richer because of the pandemic. If this isn't the end times of the world, it may well be the end times of the republic, as the states who have always paid into the federal system are resentful that senators from states that have always gotten money from the federal system suddenly won't help them in their hour of need. I can imagine people rising up in anger against the wealthy who are locked down themselves but say the rest of us need to get back to work. I don't know how this ends, but there are a lot of people right now who look very bad to me, and I can only imagine what Jesus would say to them if He did suddenly return to earth.

Famous Hat