End of Days by Sylvia Browne

Posted by admin_akashic on Aug 9th, 2022 in Stories

So there are almost as many interpretations of the apocalyptic passages in the Bible as there are scholars who’ve studied them.

For one of a hundred examples, it’s very common these days to read and hear “experts” warning that, because of the current wars, the frequency of natural disasters, and the general (perceived) decline of morality and religion, the end of days is obviously right around the corner. What else could all these “unmistakable signs” possibly mean?

Saint Cyprian of Carthage felt exactly the same way, and wrote about it, in approximately AD 250. Before him, in the first century AD, Christians were sure the end of the world would occur during their lifetime because the world had become so self-destructive. It’s probably safe to say that at least a few “experts” in every generation since before Christ have managed to find and interpret enough unmistakable signs of the impending end of days to attract an audience.

I should mention, I guess, that I’ve not just read, I’ve studied all twenty-six versions of the Bible. Based on those studies, I’ve put together a very simplistic list of what I’ll call the “highlights” (for lack of a better term) of the biblical end-of-days prophecies:

All good Christians who’ve devoted their lives to the Lord will be risen from the earth to be embraced in the sky and saved for eternity by Jesus. This joyful reunion with Christ among the clouds is called the Rapture.
A powerful Antichrist will sign a seven-year covenant of peace with Israel. This covenant launches God’s punishment for all the evil on Earth, and the world is afflicted with wars, plagues, natural disasters, and other forms of great suffering. This period of terrible chaos is called the Tribulation.
The Antichrist, in total disregard of his own peace treaty, gathers his militia and attacks Israel. He has an image of himself sculpted in the temple and demands that it be worshipped in his honnor.

The seven-year Tribulation ends with an attack on Jerusalem by the Antichrist and his armies. In what the Bible refers to as the battle of Armageddon, Jesus now returns and destroys the Antichrist along with all his soldiers and all his followers.
Ultimately, the Antichrist is defeated forever, and Christ makes way for the New Jerusalem and a world where there is no more evil, no more suffering, and no more death.

One of countless debates about that sequence of events, by the way, is whether the Rapture takes place before, during, or after the Tribulation. Please don’t interpret my list of highlights as an effort to weigh in on that debate. In fact, in my opinion, I think the biblical references to the Rapture were meant to be taken symbolically, not literally. For example:

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)

Again, beautiful imagery, but as long as the outcome is the same—that “we shall always be with the Lord”—I don’t know that any of us will be disappointed if our trip Home doesn’t actually involve being caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

The biblical book of Revelation is most often associated with the prophesied end of days. It’s filled with similar imagery, much of which has become legendary but not clearly understood, and none of which, I’m convinced, is meant to be taken literally. A perfect example is the mythical Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.