IN the apocalyptic literatures the 'end
days' are elucidated. Apocalypse has been understood as meaning, Earth-ending catastrophes; the Day of the Lord; or Armageddon, in various religions and cultures. Hence, somebody must have known of the event to predict it will occur again.
An apocalypse is a literary report that depicts truth in metaphorical form of a fearful, often violent vision about past, present and future times in highly symbolic and poetical terms. Hence, the
stories are not total truth but the underlying messages are.
The poet may represent himself as carried into a heavenly realm, or the vision may be unveiled and even interpreted by an angelic messenger, as in the
Book of
Revelation. Various stories in the Bible tell of the end days. Each storyteller used his own poetic and symbolic style in the narration of the same event – this gave rise to much conflict among scholars about the actual event and still continues.
In lieu of the unknown appeals are made that
fear can be overcome by faith. The faithful are consoled with these words at Psalm 91:7, “A thousand
shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.” This indicates God’s grace toward all the God-chosen.
Biblical stories were told by use of fiction which do not represent facts. Hence, fiction when taken for its literal meaning is comparable to a thorn in the eye. The body and mind will not rest until the foreign object has been removed lest it will continue to irritate.
Today
people tend to perceive much quicker intellectual untruth than in days gone by.Myths in all cultures speak of a final battle between good and evil. Stories about the ‘end days’ in all religions agree what these end days will be like.
In Buddhism the 'ten moral courses of conduct' will disappear, and people will follow ten
amoral concepts instead, i.e. theft, violence, murder, lying, evil speaking, adultery, abusive and idle talk, covetousness and ill will, wonton greed, and perverted lust. Poverty will then skyrocket. The Dharma, or worldly laws, would then disappear. A new Buddha by the name of Maitreya (Messiah?) will arise. This new Buddha will replace the counterfeit Dharma of materialism and selfishness, etc, and give new teachings to solve the social problems of the world.
This agrees with Christian teaching at 2Timothy 3:1-5, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”
In Hindu prophecies the world shall fall into chaos and degradation. There would then be a rapid influx of perversity, greed, conflict etc.: 'When deceit falsehood, lethargy, sleepiness, violence, despondency, grief, delusion, fear, and poverty prevail ... when men, filled with conceit, consider themselves equal with the Brahmins.'
Islamic eschatology is concerned with the Qiyamah, the end days and the final judgement of humanity. Islamic teaching also declares that only Allah knows when the last hour comes. After arrival of the Enlightened One, Imam Madhi (Messiah?), “the ground will cave in, fog or smoke will cover the skies for forty days. A night three nights long will follow the fog. After the night of three nights, THE SUN WILL RISE IN THE WEST.” (The Bible endorses this at Isaiah 45:6, “That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the WESTt, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. And at Isaiah 59:19, “So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the WEST, and his glory from the rising of the sun.”)
The beast of the Earth shall emerge. The beast will talk to peod mark the faces of people. The Koran will be lifted from the hearts of the people.
In Christiin the end days – “iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” (Matthew 24:12) and, “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” (2 Thessalonians 2:10) Christian sins were a prelude and proof that the end was near.
The Book of Revelation is a Christian description of a final battle between good and evil and a prophesied climax of history at the Battle of Armageddon.
At that point God makes himself, his will, and other information known to mankind. Only through logical philosophical inquiry revelation is the discovery of absolute truths about God, man, and man's place in God's universe.
The recent manmade and natural disasters, the genocides and the civil wars around the world I associate with the pre-tribulation period. Apocalypse, in the terminology of early Jewish and Christian literature, is a revelation of hidden things given by God to a chosen prophet – a hint again at foreknowledge, and foreknowledge implies at 'programming' a certain plan.
We need to accept what we cannot change and change what we can.
More in my book “The Cosmic Hierarchy and Its Endless Diversity”, by Melanie Engels, available at Amazon.com.
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