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:
THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:
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.
Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more from the online archives
22.6—July/August 2009
on a Noble Defense Doomed by Darwinian Materialism by John G. West
24.1—January/February 2011
Marriage Thrives in Reality, Not in Our Dreams by Nathan Schlueter
31.4—July/August 2018
Labels & the Ecumenism of Discipleship by James M. Kushiner
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
