It's The End of the World as We Know It...

The world as we know it is going to come to an end eventually. Whether it occurs by the hand of the supernatural, by man and his weapons of war, or by the sun, which we are told will evidently burn out of fuel in approximately 5 billion years. Whether we hold to religious beliefs or not, most everyone concedes that humanities time on earth will one day come to an abrupt end.

The vast majority of religious people of varying faiths believe that the end of mankind will occur sooner than later. Well, most people are sensible and levelheaded concerning the end there are many more who lean towards being a bit irrational and obsessive. For example, I recently overheard a break room discussion between two fellow employees about the economic crisis and the constant barrage of disheartening news making headlines. In the midst of their conversation, I was astonished as one of them casually remarked, "I wouldn't be surprised if Barack Obama was the Antichrist".

Growing up within the Christian Church I am all too familiar with such "End-Time" fascination. In fact, if you haven't noticed the topic is big business, driving such books to the top of bestseller lists as well as boosting apocalyptic themed Christian movies to respectable DVD sales. Not to be outdone, even the secular world is looking more diligently into the topics surrounding the possible end. The Discovery Channel has just launched a new series aptly titled "Apocalypse How", which delves into such "end of humanity" hypothesis.

The truth is that every generation, even before the birth of Christ, has believed that they were the ones living out the "last days" on earth. Prophets, pastors, monks, bishops and many other probable "unstable's" have predicted countless dates for the supposed judgment day.

Throughout human history, when there has been an impending astronomical phenomenon like the aligning of the planets, an eclipse or a comet passing through our galaxy, there have also been groups of people preparing to "meet their maker". Calendar dates are also of much significance to End-Time "prophets. As the years 1000 AD, 1033 AD, 1666 AD, 1988 and 2000 approached many "gloom and doom" prophecies were made while good, sincere and trustworthy folks were duped. Outlandish numerology has also lead many people astray so long as the number 666 played a part in the "End-Time" equation.

This fixation with the end is a result of humanities fear of what it cannot control or comprehend. Man's many failed efforts to write the Universes final script is his attempt to possess some kind of stability and understanding, even if it is purely fantasy and illusion. That fear also explains why so many people willingly believe and follow these "prophets" time after unsuccessful time.
The Bible does contain certain clues into the signs that would precede the beginning of the end. Jesus warned that there would be wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes and famine. As a consequence every time there is a natural disaster, war or economic crisis many religious individuals go on high alert looking for additional signs of the impending Armageddon. In my lifetime I have witnesses such fanaticism after the Bay Area earthquake in 89', The Gulf War in 91', Y2K, September 11, 2001 and Hurricane Katrina 05'.

When these heartbreaking and yet, isolated and rare disasters occur within our borders people begin to proclaim "THE END IS NEAR!" How conceded and self-centered we must appear as American Christians to the rest of the world who for generations have suffered harsh devastation by natural disasters, disease, wars, corruption and terrorism? Do we tell Cambodia or Africa "sorry, but it is not a sign of the apocalypse until it happens in America".

An additional sign of the "end" taught by the Christian church is that of a terrible persecution that will befall believers as they are harassed, beaten, imprisoned and murdered for their faith. Yet, believers around the world are currently suffering this type of persecution already in places like China and the Middle East. As we comfortably live out the "American Dream", we completely disrespect the rest of the world by pointing to tragedies within our country as signs of the end and of the utmost significance to God as if He is solely concerned with America's safety, comfort and future.

Most religions teach a theology about life after death that is actually supposed to be a topic of encouragement and hope. In fact, Christians believe that in heaven there will be no more suffering, pain or tears, instead there will be rejoicing and joy. When addressing the events leading up to Christ's return the Apostle Paul told his listeners to "encourage each other with these words".

We aren't supposed to live our lives in fear and uncertainty about the future. What was supposed to bring us hope to hold onto through this life of toil and struggle has become something we regret. The reason there is fear and hesitation about departing this world is because most of us have made ourselves comfortably at "home" here amongst the suffering and pain. We selfishly hold on tight to our current "abusive" surroundings while despising the "place that has been prepared for us".

I concede that by default this generation is closer to witnessing this world's finale than any other in history. But what does that mean? For Christians we believe that some kind of end will eventually take place but there is much speculation, disagreement and uncertainty about how that will look or unfold. Jesus said that He would return like a "thief in the night", implying that no one would ever know or suspect when it takes place.

Be weary of End-Times hype because those so-called experts, teachers and "prophets" regarding the Biblical apocalypse appear frighteningly similar to psychics, mediums or astrologers. I am reminded of Jesus saying, "I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does take place you may believe". He didn't say, "I told you this before it occurs so you could unlock some Biblical puzzle and predict how it is all going to end", but more along the lines of, "WHEN it happens, you will know".

Unfortunately the news is bad and it only continues to get worse. So many people are living their lives in uncertainty and fear, searching for answers and hope wherever it may be found. Unfortunatly, I expect that these concerns are going to spark an increase in "End-Time" hysteria, with many attempting to capitalize on it. However, now is not the time for people of faith to recoil in anxiety and doubt, it is an opportunity to present hope to those around us. We shouldn't be fearful, alarmed or unsettled by the circumstances surrounding us. Regardless of whether the end is near or still many years away, tomorrow is never promised to us anyways, therefore, live everyday to its fullest, taking advantage of every opportunity in life.


"I think all of us humans are a little narcissistic. We think the world revolves around us instead of the sun, so, of course, the (End) has to be in our generation…why would God choose somebody else's"

Paul Meier-Quoted from Pocket Guide to the Apocalypse

*I gathered some great End-Time history and information from Jason Boyett's "Pocket Guide to the Apocalypse" and Richard Abanes' "End-Time Visions". Check them out before it's too late…

God, what are you doing here?

It had been awhile since I had gone to church before inadvertently attending what became quite a memorable service a couple years ago. It was not your typical church or church service, existing without the traditional rows of pews, stained glass windows and organist playing "Amazing Grace". Black lights and neon signs dimly lit the room. A lingering smell of leftover euphoria from the previous night hung about the room and yet, also a hint of loneliness which is a constant here. As I found my seat I observed a few others scattered throughout who were also quietly digesting the atmosphere. There wasn’t a Bible to be found among the "congregation", although many sat intently studying the head of foam in their pint of beer just as religiously.



What I interpret as being powerfully "spiritual” was, in reality an evening in which brave souls tamed their insecurities and fears in order to participate in an "open mic" at a local bar.



The first few performers courageous enough to step onto the lonely stage with nothing more than a microphone for refuge and an acoustic guitar as their sole companion were a few singer songwriters. I recognized a few cover tunes like The Black Crowes “She Talks to Angels” and Pearl Jam’s “Betterman”, in addition to a few originals they had written.



Although the songs were not "traditional" praise and worship songs as one might recognize them, they were songs performed and written from a place of total honesty and a sincere heart. The songs revealed personal hurt, loneliness and brokenness; however, the lyrics still contained a hope that one-day things might be better. Songs hinting towards a certain searching or longing whether that meant a quest for romantic love or for answers to the questions that keep us awake at night. The performers were very vulnerable, seeming as though, in a doubting, defeated, Job or King David sort of way, that they were worshiping God despite the circumstances. In the very least they were gasping a few last ditch, doubt-filled and faithless prayers to a God they didn't know.



The last person to take their place in front of the attentive crowd was a friend of mine named Scott, who brought to the microphone a handful of poems he had written. I admire Scott because he has never been afraid to be honest with me about his life, struggles and faith. He grew up believing in God but like many of us, he is struggling to find peace with Him. Probably most Christians would call Scott a "backslidden sinner", but I think he is just more honest than the rest of us.



His sincerity and blunt delivery pertaining to struggles with faith, relationships and life made it apparent that Scott wasn’t simply reading some poems he had written. The scene was reminiscent of someone making confession of his sins in front of the congregation. He was sharing his agony and disappointment with a God that seems so distant and who speaks only in "whispers", if at all. Although the poems might have sounded doubt-filled, disconcerting and lost, I was moved by the boldness it took to share them with a crowd of strangers in a bar. The crowd appreciated such honesty and I think everyone could relate to the difficult, and at times heart wrenching questions he was wrestling with concerning a relationship with God.



Yes, perhaps Scott didn't preach a typical sermon from the Bible and his intentions were not to "save souls" but I think it was the most relevant preaching the bar and its patrons had ever heard.



As I walked out of the bar gripping my jacket tight against the chilly Flagstaff evening, I was thankful that I had attended, like I said earlier it had been awhile since I'd been to church. I realize that this analogy will make some uncomfortable, but honestly, church isn't a building, a religion, or denomination.



Church is made up of those who believe in God and Church happens wherever people gather. I've been to some of the best church services lately in bars, at concerts, in coffee houses, on camping trips, at poker games and on the phone. God is everywhere…right?



My wife, Sarah and I used to attend what some might call a Bible study, but in all honesty we were just a group of friends hanging out, eating dinner together and discussing life and faith with one another. I still consider it the best "church" I have ever been a part of. We began every evening with each person answering the question "where have you seen God this week?" It was simply a time to reflect on our lives over the last week and find God somewhere in it. It wasn't Christians getting together and saying that they saw God in the rainbows, sunshine and everywhere else in their perfect little world. It was real people being honest about seeing God not only in life’s victories, but in their struggles and pain as well. Sometimes it meant being honest enough to say we weren't sure if we witnessed God at all.



That evening at the open mic would be my answer to the question "where have you seen God this week?" In a dimly lit, sour smelling bar is where I witnessed the evidence of God in my life. We can encounter God in the most unexpected places and He can use the most unforeseen things to speak to us if we are willing. We expect God to be found only in the sacred and holy, but we shouldn’t limit his presents solely to churches, temples and the Bible.



In this world, news quickly turns from bad to worse in a moment. Daily we may awaken in the morning forced to face a failing marriage, another disheartening negative on a pregnancy test, a job we may loath or another prescribed pill to swallow. We desperately need to see God somewhere amongst the adversity, failures and hurt we face in our lives. We need a reminder that we are not alone and that God does indeed hear our prayers, comforting us even if it is simply seeing him in the kindness of a stranger or in the innocent words of a child.

So be aware as you go about your life, perhaps take in an open mic and you might just see God where you least expect!

Karma is killing me!

Karma. I like the idea. The simplest way to explain Karma would be that "you get what you give". It is like a bank account or investment that I continually see grow as I help a little old lady cross the road, let a driver merge in front of me or stay home on a Saturday night and baby-sit my niece and nephew. Sometimes it's a sacrifice and other times its comes naturally, but the more I "do unto others" the more my Karma stock rises. After my good deeds have been accomplished I just sit back and await my returns, after all, good works translates into good Karma.


Karma is usually associated with Hinduism or Buddhism, so why is a Christian like myself interested in Karma? Well, the Bible does say that "we reap what we sow", so on the surface the idea seems to have some similarities to Christian teaching. "Do onto others as you would have them do unto you", seems like a solid philosophy to live life by. We all want to live as comfortably, happy and healthy as possible and this seems to be the formula for a successful and fulfilling life.


However, I have found that there is a bit of a wrinkle in the whole philosophy. Life plays by its own rules and more often than not it is found to be unfair and unjust. The hardworking, dedicated father who loves his family arrives home late to find his wife in the arms of another man. A minister who gives his afternoons every Saturday to visit the sick is diagnosed with cancer. A son deceivingly scams his elderly mother of every penny she has ever earned in her life and penniless she is forced into a home.


After all our hard work, sacrifice and striving sometimes we are forced to watch as laziness is rewarded at work or at school. A red sports car speeds past like a blur and you are the one pulled over minutes later. The good guy doesn't always win and sometimes it seems the bad guy never loses. Life doesn't always reward us accordingly and sometimes it seems Karma is nowhere to be found.


Whether we call it Karma, "good works" or whatever, often times what we are attempting to do by our actions is please God and remain in his good graces. So in looking at the philosophy of Karma deeper it would seem that our motivation and our intentions are selfish. Our good actions are to our own benefit and in a way we are using others for our own selfish gain. We treat God like we are his co-dependent children who must make sure he is always happy, always smiling and we mustn't make him angry. Love should be our motivation, not fear.


Brennen Manning writes in his wonderful book "The Ragamuffin Gospel" that God "is not moody or capricious; He knows no seasons of change. He has a single relentless stance towards us: HE LOVES US. He is the only God that man has heard of that loves sinners". We can play all of the religious games, use all kinds of smoke and mirrors, yet God sees through our fancy production and sees us as we are, cowering in fear behind the curtain. He sees all our weaknesses, faults and sins and yet he loves us anyways. That is grace.


Karma and grace cannot coexist; they are in opposition of each other. Karma teaches that you do good and good things will be your reward, you do bad and you with reap negative things. Grace teaches that good or bad God accepts us in our current state, with our current problems, hang-ups and loose ends. The Apostle Paul wrote "God Said, My grace is enough for you: my power is at its best in your weakness". God prefers that we stop striving in vain to make ourselves presentable to Him and let him accept us as we are. God practices Grace.


Grace is unnatural and difficult for us to comprehend and sometimes it is even impossible for us to accept. It is learned in us from the time we are born the consequences of good and bad behavior. Our parents and society as a whole molds us through punishment and reward and there is little room for grace. As we develop relationships in life often we feel like we must emotionally punish our friends and loved ones when they hurt us. We must not quickly forgive them but must make them suffer so they understand the wrong they have done without offering them any grace. Throughout the world religions teach that humans must please their god, and most if not every god in religion seems to be unpredictable, angry and vengeful. Unfortunately religion rarely teaches grace.


It isn't easy for us to accept grace; we still want to give something in return. But God extended his hand of grace to us before we could even act. He extended the gift of grace before we could choose to do right or wrong, good or bad. God throws Karma out the window. He has no place for it. It is just another religious tool to get in the way of his relationship and his love of his creation. Karma becomes just another philosophy that clouds our minds and causes confusion in our souls.

Grace is a free pass that allows us to sit out the exhausting Karma game. When we live our lives underneath the umbrella of Gods grace there is no longer a reason for us to keep score. Yet, if we continue to practice our good works in attempts to appease God and the laws of Karma than we have no room for grace.


I like the idea of Karma. We should strive to love, serve and treat others honorably and with respect. We should desire to become better people. But I like grace so much more, because although I try to love others and be a good human being often I fail. I cannot live up to the person I think I should be. I need grace.

"It is by grace you have been saved through faith; not by anything of your own, but by a gift from God; not by anything you have done so that nobody can claim the credit."

The Apostle Paul in Ephesians 2:8-9

Why are you wearing that silly human suit?

The reflection in the mirror is not overly attractive nor is it familiar. My usual strategy of retreat has been aborted despite the sirens blaring in my head. On this occasion I can't break eye contact. I have to look. I have to peer into his eyes and deeper still into the windows of his soul. Some twenty years have passed and to my embarrassment I have to admit to myself that I don't know him at all.

I have let so much time pass, yet at last we are getting acquainted. He is a pretty good guy after all, much kinder than I was led to believe. Sure he has his moments. For example, the other day when he lost his patience with everyone at work and just started acting like a jerk…complaining about everything and acting self-righteous. Oh…or how about a few weeks back when he sat around with a buddy saying some pretty cold things about a friend behind their back. Totally uncalled for. But you have to forgive him, he defiantly is far from perfect and but for the most part he is a good person. He loves his family, works hard and is a loyal friend.

I have to say it feels pretty good now that I'm getting to know myself a little better. I really did ignore me for so long. I guess in my experience the act I put on can be traced back to Sunday school. I was taught how a good boy was suppose to be, what I was and wasn't supposed to say and do. I was an astute kid anyways, I didn't really have to be taught it, I just had to watch the actions of all the adults around me, squirming in their pews, putting on fake smiles and trying to hold it all together until they could get to the car and have a cigarette.

I don't blame the church so much anymore. I realize we all try to be something or someone we are not, whether we were raised a Christian, Catholic, a banker's son or a teacher's daughter, middle class, or whatever. Whether we do it to please someone else or ourselves it is too exhausting trying to hold up appearances, to pretend, and to live a lie. What follows are some truths I have come to learn from, hold too and attempt to live by. Hopefully truths that will encourage you to gaze in the mirror and face yourself.

At times I, and maybe you have experienced this too, have struggle with the lie that God is not happy with the person I am. Now don't get the person I am and the life I am living confused. God will always love me the person, but won't always love the life I have chosen to live. Make sense? Sometimes in my self-loathing, pity party of a life I have these glimpses of the truth that God created me to be the person I am and he is happy with that. I think I disrespect Him in a way when I am unhappy about my life, my mistakes and even myself and continually compare myself to everyone else.

Although God loves us as we are that is not a license to be complacent. We should always strive to be better people and improve ourselves. But beware of self-help books! In my quest I have found that I'm not a big fan of books that promise some kind of life change in 7 easy steps. The titles are endless, the promises sound too good to be true and the results are almost guaranteed. Yes, maybe it took only 5 steps for the author to become financially secure or 10 steps for a person to forgive, but just because that approach worked for one person doesn't mean that it will work for anyone else.

Our relationship with God is said to be a personal one and God works in our lives in individual ways. If this is true than I don't want God to deal with me in a cookie cutter way that he used with someone else. I am a different person, with different feelings and needs. Fortunately God already knows this about me. He knows that it may take me 20 steps when it takes others only three. Yet he is patient with me because he knows me. He knows how to get lasting results and what I must go through to achieve them. Of course we might not always like how God chooses to mold our lives, instruct our minds or mature our souls. It can be the most painful time of our lives.

I have always liked the Bible passage that says "God turns all things to good for those who trust in Him". I don't fully understand it but I do believe it because sometimes it is all I have to hold onto. When life turns sour or things go wrong it is something I have to hold tight too and say, "Somehow God is going to use this for good". I admit there have been moments in my life where I have not seen these results as of yet. Although there isn't much sign of any good coming of it, I am still weakly holding on to Gods promise that something good will come from the tragedy or failure.

Dark secrets, shame, regrets and failure are things we all face in life. We either react by bury them or facing them. We can spend our whole lives hung up on a mistake we have made or even spend years in regret. There is nothing that can be done to erase a mistake, forget a failure or hide a sin. There is no way to turn back time and change things. Although there are things that stay with us, taunt us, mock us and maybe even hold us back, we have to take a positive view of it somehow. We learn from our mistakes no matter how painful they are.

Failure has the potential to make us stronger. Failure molds our character. I know there aren't many of us that would choose to go out and make a mess of life so they could learn from it and I'm not suggesting anyone should, that is just foolish. What I am saying is that if you have already made a mistake, or error than let it go. God is so much more merciful and forgiving than we are taught in church. He forgives you but the thing is you have to forgive yourself. God can turn our defeats into something positive. We need hide no longer.

We keep our failures chained and locked in the basement of our souls. Hidden from the world, but slowly it is rotting us away from the inside out. We bury our own dreams to please those around us, living a life that will never bring us happiness. We hold our tongue to keep a peace that we only imagine still exists. In the process we have lost our identity. We become someone we hardly recognize, maybe even someone we hate.

I have tried to please the world around me and I admit sometimes I still do. I was a seeker of a blessing from the church and at times I persist in my longing to be smiled upon. At my worse I have betrayed my very self. I traded the things I believe in to carry their membership card. To make it quite simple I lived a lie and I have to continue to guard myself from living a life that is not my own.

Every part of life can define who we are right now. We cannot erase any moment no matter how painful, hurtful, or damaging it was. We cannot and should not pretend that tragedy never stuck. We can choose however, how we approach those moments. What we take with us from them, what we learned and how we live because of those moments.

It is time to step out of the skin we have been hiding inside. It is time to look in the mirror and face ourselves.

Don't forget you're beautiful
Just the way you are
Change for you and not for me
I like who you are
DUg Pinnick singing "Beautiful"