By T.C. Lo (盧天賜)
近年來世局風雲變幻，前途莫測，再加上疫情沒完沒了，導致人心徬徨。基督徒常以時事評論, 來預測世界末日, 旨在廣傳福音給未信主的朋友。這種搶救靈魂的態度, 實在可嘉。但我們必須特別小心。茲舉一例：
在歐盟成員國 (EU membership) 數量不足十個的時候 (1973 年由六升至九)，許多世界末日 “先知” 作出預言, 説, 當達到十個成員國的那一天就是世界末日了，因為他們把十個國家比作尼布甲尼撒王夢中巨像的腳趾; 但事情並沒有發生。 從此, 就沒有人再用歐盟國的數目作為世界末日的指標了。
目前歐盟有廿七 (as of 2021) 個國家，現今有人把英國脫歐 (Brexit; 2020 一月卅日) 作為減少成員国的程序的開始，預測當數目下降到十時，將是耶穌第二次降臨的時候。此想法忽视「前車之鑑」的歷史教訓。這是一個非常危險的預測，冒著被指為「假先知」的大風險。
藉著這一類的預測，一些基督徒 (特別在查經班中) 以為可以用個人對時事的獨特觀察去鞏固聖經的可靠性，結果適得其反, 對傳福音有損無益。基督徒對世局應該静觀其變，以禱告方式等候，對將來的事，謹慎發表自己的見解, 絕忌斷言。
Don’t be a self-proclaimed prophet
In recent years, the situation of the world has changed, the future is unpredictable, and the epidemic seems endless, causing people to feel consternated. Some Christians often use news commentaries to predict the end of the world with the intention to spread the gospel to unbelievers. Their eagerness for saving souls is commendable. But we have to be especially careful about predicting future. Here is one example I head recently.
Back in the seventies, when the number of EU membership was less than ten (from six to nine in 1973), many apocalyptic “prophets” made predictions that the world would come to an end when the membership states reached ten because they compared the ten nations to the ten toes of the colossus in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream; but we all know it didn’t happen. Since then, no one has used the number of EU nations as an indicator of the end-time arrival.
There are currently (as of 2021) twenty-seven countries in the EU, and some people take Brexit (30 January 2020) as the beginning of the process of membership reduction, predicting that when the number drops to 10, it will be Jesus Christ’s second coming.
This kind of prediction ignores the lesson of “learning from history” which is a very dangerous prediction that running a big risk of being identified as a “false prophet”. With this type of prediction, some Christians (especially those in Bible study classes) think that they can employ their unique current -events insights to underpin the reliability of the Bible, it turns out in the end to be counterproductive and detrimental to evangelism. Christians should patiently wait and watch the world situation in prayer, express their opinions carefully and never make assertions about the future. The Bible clearly teaches that no one would know when will Jesus come again.
