I love movies! It is a past-time of my family that I have come to fully enjoy. I really don't watch a lot of TV, but movies...o that is my weakness. You see, TV shows don't seem to cut it as much for me as movies do. I like deep plots, dynamic characters, and watching a story develop completely, and TV shows just don't seem to have enough time or material to satisfy. Don't get me wrong, there are times when I just want to veg. in front of the TV after a long day, but I am never as content as watching a full movie.
It is also fun to sit back and see the trends of movies. I think it would make an interesting study to look at the movie trends and compare them to the societal situations of the time. A while back, we had superheroes, next are vampires and werewolves (monsters), and now there seem to be a lot of apocalyptic/god movies coming out. Recently, we have seen The Day the Earth Stood Still, Terminator: Salvation, 2012, Zombieland, The Book of Eli, Legion, Clash of the Titans, Percy Jackson, Knowing...and I am sure I am missing some. Movie after movie is resonating with an end of times (or humanity) theme.
How is our movie playing out? Are we sensing an end? We have had a catastrophic amount of natural disasters, the tension of international and local political clashing is all around us, the economy is giving us troubles...we are basically going through some really really tough and scary times. On the Discovery and History channels, there are more and more shows about surviving end-of-the-world disasters, what the earth will be like after humans, studies on Revelations, and a search for the Antichrist. People seem to be focusing more and more on the end times...and this bothers me.
I keep hearing about people trying to predict the end. I have a quote for that: " 36No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,f]">[f] but only the Father...If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him." (Jesus, Matthew 24:36-44). If Jesus doesn't even know when the end is, how in the world do we?! I personally like the idea that 2012 is the biggest prank pulled on the world, or the poor Mayan who was calculating all of that got tired.
And the search for the Antichrist, what will you do once he/she is found? If you believe that the Antichrist is coming, then you've got to believe in everything else in Revelation, which means that there is nothing you can do.
The biggest thing that is troubling me is the reason behind our calculating and searching of the end (and I understand that I am being very brutal here): we don't want to follow God until we have to.
Why else would we want to know when He is coming? I think people are consumed by the end of times notion because they want to do their own thing until it is time to get saved and get it right. This idea breaks my heart! The best way to not worry about the end times is to live like they are here right now, to realize that it isn't like jumping on a train last minute as it is leaving the station. Following Jesus is a life change, not the type of decision where you are deciding to have Devil's Food Cake or Ange'sl Food Cake. Jesus even told us to live a Christian life NOW, "45Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns." (Matthew 24:45-46) We don't know and will never know the exact time that the world will end.
Look at Revelation and the description of the end times as a test. If you believe that it will happen, that the world will end at some point, then I urge you to not leave the King in the shadows because the shadows and He will catch up with you. The predictions are warnings, and you should heed them now instead of waiting for them to happen. I know, I struggle with the curiosity as well, but I really think that we need to leave this end of the world business with God and God alone. We have no power to change what has been set down by the Creator, all we can do is just follow Him. And I know that if we follow the script, our movie will have the happiest of endings!
