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I consider myself a reasonably faithful Christian — raised Roman Catholic, now confessional Lutheran.

But eschatology loses me. Completely and utterly.

That’s probably because I’m a student of history. Bad as things are today, it’s not like there haven’t been wars, riots, crime, epidemics, natural disasters, and political corruption in the past.

One reason I find Lutheran theology so attractive is that it’s not only true to scripture but also pretty consistent and rational — the Augsburg Confession being a prime example.

Ultimately, I believe I requires a massive leap of faith to conclude that any set of contemporary troubles portend the Lord’s Second Coming.

History is nothing but the “register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind,” as Gibbon wrote. Probably not the best author to quote, being that Gibbon was a religious skeptic, at best.

But I guarantee that you can look at almost any era in history and find horrors far worse than what we’re experiencing today.

Used to think like you a few decades back.
Israel being a nation again (Ezekiel 37) started the time clock countdown for the end of this age.

Then there’s the Abomination of Desolation which a lot of naysayers like to attribute to Antiochus Epiphanes IV in 167 BC. But Jesus refers to it as a future event in future tense.

Matthew 24:15 (He’s literally address modern-day Jews)
Daniel 9:27
Revelation 13:14 (Forced Worship of a man)

We can talk about wars, riots, crime, pandemics, and everything else all day long. But the kicker that will literally wake folks up is a New Temple in Israel being built. It’s been talked about for years and the Levites are prepped and ready to go, just a matter of political will for the Orthodox Community.

I read a lot of history also, but the magnitude of evil today is way worse than anything the Romans, Barbarians, or Muslim Saracens could throw at the world. Just the abortion body count alone would pulverize any series of wars or massacres that have taken place in the past.

Life is precious to God and the more people there are on Earth, the more evil it becomes - exponentially.
We are more barbaric today than at any other time in over 2,000 years - my opinion.

Correct.

Besides....trouble ahead...a lady in RED...take my advise you’d be better off dead...

Anti communist?

You betcha.

“But I guarantee that you can look at almost any era in history and find horrors far worse than what we’re experiencing today.”

I tend to agree with you. People have been saying it will happen for 2,000 years so it seems like the odds are against it occurring in my lifetime. However, when you look at the 20th century, there were several countries that murdered its subjects on an unprecedented scale in an attempt to achieve their version of utopia. In the 21st century we am moving toward one world wide government. How many people will have to die in their attempt to achieve utopia?