Thoughts driven by fictional end times

I've been reading some books by Joel Rosenberg (The Last Jihad, The Last Days, The Ezekiel Option, and The Copper Scroll) I'm on The Ezekiel Option. These books are about the end times with a setting of an international thriller: espionage and heroics, not your typical Christian fiction. I have to admit I was slow to warm up to the characters, but after 2 books they began to feel like old friends. I grieved when they were injured or betrayed, and celebrated their successes. That's what good writing is all about right?

At the start of the third book I almost stopped reading. One of my favorite characters went missing and I honestly thought, "I'm just not going to read this if McCoy is gone...I just can't take another one getting killed". This about a fictional character! (and yes I can still distinguish between real and imaginary). But it got me thinking ... about real friends, and real end times. I'm not ashamed to admit that the end times scare the bejeebers out of me. I don't want to be around for it. I don't want my family to be around for it. But I do want us all to be on God's side. Because while I won't claim prophet status, I can tell the future .... God wins.

And therein lies the hope. Regardless of what happens here, God wins. God will create a new heaven and a new earth. We will worship Him forever. The thought of that is enough to calm the fears. The light of that Biblical truth chases away the darkness that plague my thoughts. Because it really will be all right in the end, the very end that is. The beginning of the end and the middle of the end will stink more than we can even imagine, but the very end of the end ... I imagine it will be so much better than the best we can ever describe.

So when things seem bad here - whether its the current economic crisis, or wars and rumors of wars, I take hope in the promise of heaven.

Because after all, God wins!

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