Addressing The Current Crisis
Nothing more needs to be said about the current crisis (or crises) the world is in. Climate change and nuclear war both threaten humanity with extinction. Meanwhile, the same threats that have always been there (earthquakes, hurricanes, massive meteorites, the sudden explosion of the Sun or one of the planets, the eruption of a super-volcano, plagues…) remain. Additionally, mismanagement on a global scale threatens the world with death by selfishness and stupidity. Staying on course is not a viable option. What can be done?
One option is to hope and pray for divine intervention. The old stories tell of Jesus coming in glory to raise the dead and rule in peace, but what if those stories are just stories? Or what if this time is more like the days before Noah's flood, or the destruction of Nineveh, or Sodom and Gomorrah—a time when it is up to us to do something (repent, build an ark, bargain with God) instead of passively waiting? Noah built an ark while others scoffed. The people of Nineveh all changed their ways. These proved to be winning strategies. The folks in Sodom and Gomorrah, on the other hand, persisted in their ways and met their doom. Doing nothing, or waiting on Jesus seem to be strategies with a high probability for failure. Since 'failure', in this case, seems to entail the extinction of the entire human race, we had better do our best to avoid it—there will be no second chance for getting it right—and so let's look for options with significantly higher chances for success.
A New Plan
When, in the course of human events, it becomes convincingly apparent that passively awaiting for the coming of the Lord is not a winning strategy, what can one do but relocate one's hope, and take to heart the view that the Lord helps those that help themselves?
This is not, of course, a new or novel idea, many have already undertaken efforts to further the Lord's work by attempting to bring about the period of trial and tribulation spoken about, for example, in the Gospel of Matthew (24:3-31 This and other Bible passages taken from the King James Version.):
And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
Behold, I have told you before.
Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Thus it is that many have endeavored to spread the gospel, and have looked for signs, and have even submitted to persecution. Others, however, have tried to force the Lord's hand by fostering wars, famines, false Christs, and all manner of tribulations. This is a dangerous course of action, for, "Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!" (Matthew 18:7), and, "the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night." (2 Peter 3:10), and, again (Matthew 7:21-23):
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
If this has been your chosen path, now is the time to abandon it, before it is too late, for it is written (Deuteronomy 4:30-31):
When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice; he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.
Thus, we find that doing the Lord's work means, for some, keeping his commandments, which are summed up as (Matthew 22:37-40):
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
For others, however, doing the Lord's work has come to mean hastening the Lord's arrival, even if that means doing the Devil's work (which, as we've just said, is not a safe plan of action). We, in contrast, are understanding doing the Lord's work not as endeavoring to do what the Lord has enjoined (or, rather, not merely doing that), nor as endeavoring to get the Lord to do what He has promised to do, but as endeavoring to do what we think He ought to be doing, that is, what He promised to do.
Doing Our Part
Now, of course, we cannot fulfill the prophecies of Matthew 24:29-31:
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
unless we understand the sun darkening as a total solar eclipse, the moon not giving its light as a lunar eclipse, and the stars falling as a meteor shower (see This video of 2024 astronomical events). As for the sign of the Son of man, there are lots of (doctored) videos on youtube that claim to show this. Here's one that's not a hoax, but it is artificial. As for Jesus and the angels, well that's out of our control, but the Kingdom of God is not really about darkening the Sun or casting the stars from heaven, but about peace on Earth, a good life for those who bear goodwill to their fellow man, and about giving thanks, praise, and honor to God. Thus, for us, doing the Lord's work means bringing about a state of world peace for those who deserve it, and rendering ineffective all those who prefer to cause trouble (and, preferably, doing this in a way which reforms them, so that they can, sooner or later, live in harmony with those for whom things like empathy, cooperation, and generosity come more naturally).
This sounds like a doable task, but how can it be done?
