“The End Is Near” Belief Is Disloyalty to Christ

by Stuart DiNenno

When I see someone saying “I see all the signs that the end is near and that Christ will return very soon,” I don’t assume it is simply a case of an honest man being in error because of a misunderstanding and misapplication of certain biblical teachings.

I believe that in most cases men latch on to the belief that we are near the end because they are pessimistic and faithless, and have given up hope that the wicked can be overcome, and so they convince themselves that we must be near the end and there is nothing left to do, and they begin to imagine that they are seeing “signs of the end” in all the degeneracy and evil around them.

The “end is near” belief is a self-deception that men use to justify throwing up their hands and surrendering to despair and defeat. They convince themselves that there is only a short time before the consummation of the age, and thus no time for Christians to make any real difference, and this becomes an excuse to forsake the unpleasant and costly work of standing against the wicked who are currently destroying our nations and from taking on the difficult and life-long labor of building a better world for future generations, and instead justifies, in their own minds, a slothful inaction and a cowardly retreat from the world.

They want to be saved by the bell, so to speak. That is, they don’t have any heart to fight and have convinced themselves that resistance is futile, so they long for the end to come that they might be spared from the persecution and suffering they believe will come upon Christians if the world continues on its present course.

If they truly feared God and believed their own message, then they diligently would be working overtime to get the gospel out to every person possible before the end comes. But I see the same people carrying on with their vacations, entertainment, and life of leisure as much as any non-Christian, and so it is obvious to me that they do not really believe their own view enough to make any sacrifices for it.

I see this is as the equivalent of the behavior of the fearful and unfaithful servant who hid his talent in the ground rather than putting it to use (Matthew 25:25), and I believe it is going to bring the same condemnation upon them.

We need to call it what it is: disloyalty to the cause of Christ.