I guess this is the bottom-line appeal of apocalyptic insanity. How could the consummation of all history happen at any time other than when someone as important as me is walking around on the ground?
How sad, not to have any reason to pursue excellence in the arts or sciences, since those projects take too long, and we obviously don't have the time. We'll let the ungodly dominate every field of endeavor outside of soul craft, right?
I think, most of all, I grieve for the children of the apocalyptics. How sad, not to have any hope to offer them, that they might grow up to enjoy children of their own. How sad, to crush their aspirations, their God-implanted callings, for anything more demanding than dead-end menial jobs.
I do find hope in the fact that so many large, Calvinist, home-schooling families are also post-millennial. When people are committed to the failure of the gospel, sometimes you just have to outlive them and outbreed them.
Twelve spies went into Canaan. Caleb and Joshua saw rich opportunities for a faithful God to show more faithfulness. Ten spies saw only the certainty of disaster. The faithless spies undermined the morale of Israel -- and a whole generation died off in the wilderness, pointlessly wandering around for 40 years. It's hard to soar with the eagles when you live with the turkeys -- but 40 years later, at age 85, Caleb claimed to be as strong as ever, and said "give me that mountain!" I think the apocalyptic hysteria of so many otherwise faithful Christians retards the whole body of Christ. But for those of faith, the hope of outliving the doomsayers and fortune tellers keeps us cheerful. At least, we know, our children will outperform theirs. The future belongs to those who trust God for it, and work in terms of that trust. Not to those who write off the future, and their children.
I know this because God told us all about it in His love letter to us: the Holy Bible.
I know it's futile and foolish to long for this fallen world, and this fallen world system, a world system that God will soon destroy. I know it is a waste of a person's short time on this earth to try to cling onto this world that will be done away with, to love this world so much that one will go so far as to deny the very Book that God gave us that tells us that this world will pass away. I know that it is a waste of the little bit of time we have here to make plans that will never come to fruition instead of spending our time telling those who don't know what is going to happen how they can know Christ as Savior and not only have the joy and peace that comes with salvation in Christ, but escape the judgments that God tells us will come on this earth.
I guess this is just a schism that cannot be crossed.
We will soon know for sure whether we were correct and obedient in believing what God said, or whether those who took it upon themselves to discard a good portion of the Scriptures were correct.