When I was a youth in the Church, I had a great deal of fascination with the end times. My parents had a copy of Mormon Doctrine on our bookshelves and I read the “Millennium” section many, many times. When I went to the local EFY, I made sure to attend the talks about the Last Days. I was a teen in the late 90s and early 2000s, so the idea that the Second Coming was coming any day was always percolating in the back of my mind.
I remember sitting in Sunday School wondering to myself, “Will the Second Coming happen today?” and then realized that simply thinking that meant that it wouldn’t come that day. If I thought the Second Coming was happening that moment, it violated Matthew 24:36’s stipulation of “of that day and hour knoweth no (wo)man.”
I played a little game with myself: I would guess the time of the Second Coming, “Ok… now. Now…. and now,” believing that I was keeping the Second Coming from happening. I felt bad about it because I was possibly thwarting God’s plan, but it was also something like a superpower.
It was also in the early 2000s that the Game was on. You know, The Game. I just lost the Game and you probably did too; I am so sorry. For those of you who do not know The Game: the only way to win The Game is to never thinking about The Game. Good luck.
The Second Coming is the Game. As people have been getting anxious about the End Times again with the current COVID-19 concerns, there’s a little part of me that still thinks, “You all are pushing back the Second Coming by anticipating its arrival! Do you want it to happen or not? And if you do, you need to stop thinking about it.”
The Second Coming only happens when you aren’t expecting it to. You only win the Game by not thinking about it.
I LOVE signs of the Second Coming too! Been studying and watching for decades. But I think that is what Jesus would love to see happen! He told us to be watchful, and gave signs so that we would understand the times and be ready! We don’t know the exact day but we can know the signs of the times! A plague, an economic near meltdown, and earthquakes all in one week seem like a pretty good indication to me that times are changing, peace is leaving, and that we will see much more of like occurences between now and the time He comes. In fact, I have wondered recently if these relatively small occurences – sicknesses, earthquakes, and economic problems – are to prepare us for the bigger ones soon to come. Maybe God in His mercy is giving us a taste so we know how to prepare….like sending David a lion and a bear before sending him into the ring with Goliath!