Yisrayl ‘Buffalo Bill’ Hawkins And The End Of The World

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I saw the story on GMA this morning about this self proclaimed prophet and his latest declaration that the end of the world will occur on or before Thursday, June 12, 2008 in the form of nuclear war. He and his followers have made extensive preparations for this end and are apparently unshakable in their belief that this is going to happen.

This whole “end of the world” thing pops up every once in a while when somebody predicts that the “end of the world” will occur on this or that date. A lot of people have been talked out of their life savings based on such teachings and more than a few have died as a result of them.

The fact is there’s a serious misconception about the whole “end of the world” thing.

Matthew 24, verse 3 is the beginning of a passage of scripture where Jesus teaches His disciples about things to come.

“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?”

The first thing to note is that the word translated “world” in this verse is the Greek aion {pronunced ahee-ohn’} [Strongs number 165] means an unbroken age, perpetuity of time, eternity, period of time, age.

With that in mind, the phrase “end of the world” is much better translated “end of the age”. It’s not referring to the literal physical destruction of the world. It’s talking about the end of a particular age in history. Specifically, it’s referring to the end of the part of history that extends until the return of Jesus. His return marks the end of the current age and the beginning of the millennium during which He will rule the Earth from His throne in Jerusalem.

Jesus also warned about false prophets and false Christ’s, people that would either come in His name or claim to BE Him. He told them not to believe those claims.

Matthew 24:23, “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.”

He made it clear that His return would be sudden and without warning:

Matthew 24:27, “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.”

He also said that nobody would know ahead of time when this would occur:

Matthew 24:36, “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”

So anytime somebody starts making predictions about when the “end of the world” will happen or when Jesus will return, you know that they’re not telling the truth because nobody’s going to know. The very best anyone can do is to read the Bible, pay attention to what’s going on in the world and know the season that we’re living in. Matthew 24 is loaded with such “signs of the times”, things that when you see them happening you know that it’s close.

We cannot however, know exactly when He’s coming back. I believe that the best way to proceed is to live as if He were returning any minute and be about His business so that when He does return, He’ll find you doing what He wants you doing.

Here’s some related reading: World Ending? Who Said? and Jesus and the end of the world.

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