Ready for the Apocalypse
I blush to say that I was one of the people who thought Y2K might mean a world’s end—some kind of ending anyway. Not to the extent of a friend who talked about converting all her assets to gold coins and digging a well in her suburban yard. But at that time, I was one of those who thought Y2K might have significant impact and who took the time to think through and picture what it would look like if everything went kerflooey.
Now all that looks like a dress rehearsal. Likewise for the days after 9/11, when we all thought a second blow was imminent. Now things are bubbling again, not just politically but perhaps also spiritually, and some suspect the end is at hand. Of course, there is no lack of signs for those who have eyes to see, but maybe there always has been. I don’t know that there are more signs now than on any day in the last 2,000 years. But it’s going to be the Last Day someday, that’s for sure, and it’s closer now than ever.
How should we then live? It seems to me that there are three possibilities:
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Frederica Mathewes-Green is a columnist for Beliefnet.com and a contributor to the Christian Millennial History Project multi-volume series. Her books include At the Corner of East and Now (Putnam), The Illumined Heart (Paraclete Press), and The Open Door: Entering the Sanctuary of Icons and Prayer (Paraclete Press). She lives in Linthicum, Maryland, with her husband Fr. Gregory, pastor of Holy Cross Orthodox Church. They have three children and three grandchildren.
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