As I write this, we are five days into the battle between the combined forces of the United States and Israel against the Republic of Iran. And who knows how much this war might escalate by the time this post is published. But due to the pervasive voices of modern digital technology, our Lord’s warning, from His Olivet Discourse, that we “will hear of wars and rumors of wars”, has never been more true. Few in the world today have not heard, but what does this mean?

It’s significantly disturbing to consider the innumerable answers to this question, again available to anyone around the world googling the pervasive digital voices. Literally thousands of Bible teachers, preachers, theologians, and dare I include politicians, even charlatans, are fitting the present Middle-Eastern war into the apocalyptic puzzle of our Lords words—some out of sincere convictions, but others as an opportunity for profit or self-promotion, and even others as a mandate for political action.

Given my forty-five-plus years of ministry—half as a Protestant, half a Catholic—I’m feeling disturbingly overwhelmed by the myriad of conflicting interpretations I’ve heard of our Lord’s apocalyptic warnings, all based on Scripture, yet all through the lens of some Tradition, though many of these commentators would deny this. For this reason, I can’t believe I’m having the audacity to pen yet one more interpretation of our Lord’s words. But yet, maybe this is the reason I feel I need to.

I’m seventy-four, and though I’ve seen and experienced a lifetime of blessings, certainly more than I deserve, yet, I can’t help but sense that, just in my lifetime, the world has been gradually progressing on a downward trajectory. Christian Triumphalists, as well as the disciples of modern progress, will see this differently, of course, but since the sixteenth century upheaval that divided Western Christendom into literally thousands of independent churches, the world has experienced wars upon wars, one after the other, each seemingly worse than the last, especially exacerbated by the evolution of technology. In the Thirty Year’s War (1618-1648), fought primarily in central Europe, armies of men fought one another face to face in hand to hand combat. Today, four hundred years later, our wars are fought by the impersonal pushing of buttons sending planes, ships, bombs, missiles, and even manless-drones, to kill unknown faces, not just of combatants, but of innocent civilians, many of whom have no clear idea why a war is even being fought.

But before considering our Lord’s apocalyptic words, I think it’s important to consider some instructions He gave to His disciples many months or even years earlier:

Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under foot and turn to attack you. (Mt 7:6)

His point? Animals, like dogs or swine, do not have the mental capacity to understand the value of a gift of pearls or holy things. Instead, they will misunderstand the meaning of these gifts, and mindlessly trample on them and even turn against you. Think about finding yourself face-to-face with a raging lion. Do you think handing him a diamond studded rosary will somehow discourage him from attacking and eating you? The lion will not understand, and neither will people unchanged by grace understand the value of the gift of the gospel, especially its strict and radical moral mandates.

We are presently living in a world enveloped in war, with hotbeds of hatred in nearly every corner, and, except for a small minority, the majority of these combatants seem to have no clear understanding of the gospel. Many have heard of it; many have heard it preached; many have responded, even put their trust and faith in Christ; many hold the Bible up high as a clear justification for whatever actions they take; many even quote the Bible in their speeches; but—and here of course I have no right to judge, but it seems from observation and experience that—very few of these have truly heard and surrendered to the fulness of the gospel. Many of the combatants in today’s wars are justifying their actions in the Name of God, even because they consider their nations uniquely set apart by God—many of them insisting that God is uniquely on their side! But frankly—and I may be wrong—I see few of the leaders of any of these nations doing anything but trample on the gospel of Christ.

I believe our Lord’s words are as fitting as they’ve ever been, but to hear Him, I believe we need to first take a very big step backwards, even to reflect privately away from the pressure of so many voices, like He and His disciples often did, and then listen to Him carefully:

Take heed that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. (Mt 24:4-5)

Many of the leaders of the waring nations of today have claimed themselves as loyal voices of God: how can we be sure we are not being led away? And in saying this I’m not taking political sides: which of any of our leaders today can we trust to be leading us truly in the way of Christ?

And Jesus said:

And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places: all this is but the beginning of the sufferings. (Mt 24:6-7)

All of these things have been happening and are still happening in our day. Why? Because we live in a world always in need of repentance and total conversion, by grace through faith acting in love.

And Jesus warned:

Then they will deliver you up to tribulation, and put you to death; and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away, and betray one another, and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because wickedness is multiplied, most men’s love will grow cold. (Mt 24:9-12)

Again, all that Jesus said has come true, and continues to be true throughout the history of the world. Persecution. Human trafficking. Ignorance. Irreligion. Apostasy. Sexual deviancy. Unconscionable wickedness. Every single night on the News we hear evidence of everything He spoke of still happening in our world.

So what was His advice to His disciples then, and to us today, in the midst of what He foretold? This is very, very important:

But he who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come. (Mt 24:13-14)

There is no one in this world, no matter how holy, who knows the day or the hour when our Lord’s words will be fulfilled. But even given the constant onslaught of negative, demonic voices in the digital blogosphere, it’s significant to affirm that, due to this same digital technology, the “gospel of the kingdom” has indeed been “preached throughout the whole world, as a testimony to all the nations.” There is no dark corner of the world where the gospel has not in some way been preached.

So what are we to do, as we watch nation upon nation rising up against one another? We really have only one primary task: to endure to the end of our lives in faithful, prayerful obedience to Christ, and His Church, for it is only then that we will be saved from the chaos caused by sin. For remember what our Lord promised when He gave us His new law:

Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven … (Mt 5:11-12)

Apart from Christ, there is no hope, and apart from His Church, there is no way of knowing for certain what it means to follow Him faithfully. And apart from both, and you have the world as we now know it. Maranatha. Our Lord come!