The Final Events (of bible prophecy)

Though I've spoken out many times before against religious fear mongering and the bigotry it can inspire, it should be stated that I hold quite a lot of respect for a great deal of religious individuals. So I try to keep my criticism leveled firmly at actions that most people would consider wrong and deserving of it. If a guy blows himself up in Israel in order to kill civilians believing, through religion, that it is God's will and he'll be rewarded for it, it clearly deserves derision. When a preacher tells poor people in America that God thinks they must give their hard earned money to him so he can buy a Gulfstream II it clearly deserves derision. And, albeit a far more minor offense, when adherents of a religion consistently try to scare the shit out of you so you'll convert, I believe, it also deserves derision. So it was with annoyance that I opened my letter box today to find yet another attempt at scaring me shitless.

A while back I received the DVD: THE FINAL EVENTS on my doorstep and I thought, bugger it I'll have a look. It was predictable rubbish, the end is nigh, the signs are here, it is written, if you don't convert etc...... What shocked me the most was that by the end God had committed worldwide genocide not once, but twice! I was being asked to convert to this religion, believe these events were coming and to actually love the God who would carry out the killing. It was a tall order, too tall in fact so I threw the DVD onto the step where I'd found it.

Jump ahead 1 year (to today) and there's a FINAL EVENTS pamphlet in my letterbox telling me that someone's preaching this drivel locally and that I should come along. It's an exciting program:

Night One: See how Bible prophecy is encoded in symbolic imagery and how the Bible has predicted all the major world empires of history down to our day

So in short, some genius has "decoded" the Bible's "symbolic imagery" to predict world empires. Not off to a good start.

Night Two: What are world events telling us? Why is there an increase in natural, social and political disasters? Are these signs of a greater event?

I wasn't aware there was an increase! History's positively chock full of natural, social and political disasters.

Night Three: What did Jesus mean when He said He would return to the earth? How and when will He come? What is the Rapture? How will this affect the world?

Clearly you've just gotta believe to attend night three.

Night Four: How did this world become so sinful? Who started the rebellion against God? What is it all over? Where will it end?

Did it become more sinful? What do they mean by sinful? Of course having watched the DVD I already know what they mean, "moral decline". This is code for: there are too many gays and too many people fail to realise that they're an abomination. Nice.

Night Five: The Antichrist 1

Scary!!!

Night Six: The Antichrist 2

The Antichrist gets two nights in a row in case the first doesn't sufficiently frighten the hell out of you (literally).

Of course I'll probably go if I've got nothing better to do.