Mockers beware

I am among those who understand that Harold Camping is most definitely a false teacher/prophet.  However, the mockery against God and His people that I have been reading this past few days stemming from this false prophecy has caused me to tremble for those who will not believe and mock those who do.  As many are having a heyday over the repeated false prophecy, they have lumped God and His people in with Camping and other such clearly false prophets and are leaving themselves wide open to what they will suffer along with Camping and his followers.  It was with much grief that I read of the despair of many of his followers.  They chose to follow a man and clearly have not read the Scriptures for themselves.  For if they had, they would have read Matthew 24:35-37, which in the KJV reads,

"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.  But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but My Father only.  But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be."

The sin of mankind is so great a burden that all are weary of life.  We are encouraged throughout the Scriptures to keep faith and wait on the Lord.  Sadly, many continue to seek false teachers, false prophets, and false gods in an attempt to satisfy that longing...anything and anyone but the One True God.

Although individuals who claim to know things that simply are not Scriptural invite mockery upon themselves, some mockers take such invitations as an opportunity to wallow in very dangerous mockery of what the Scriptures actually do say.  As stated above, reading their cocky, foolish, mocking remarks causes me to tremble for what they will indeed face one day if they continue in such rejection of the Lord.

I am reminded of an incident that took place when I was about fourteen years old.  I was on a school bus with my classmates.  We were passing an elderly man walking on the sidewalk and several of the children rolled down their windows and started shouting insults and mockery at him.  "Hey, old man, there's a hole in your pants!" they yelled.  I rolled down my window and stuck my head out with the intention of joining in the jeering, but before I could open my mouth, the man turned and our eyes met.  In that moment I was consumed with grief and repentance that such behavior against another even crossed my mind.  I turned from the window, told the others to shut up and leave him alone, and sat down and cried.  The mocking and jeering was now aimed at me, but I didn't care, as my thoughts were only of the elderly man and the unjustified attack on him.

Looking back on that scene, I am reminded of what foolishness mockery is.  Mockers against the Lord sit in the same camp as those who follow and worship false gods, false prophets, and false teachers.  Although I, too, laughed a bit over the whole end-of-the-world false prophecy, I do know that such a time will indeed come.  It will come in the midst of our going to and fro and all of the activities therein.  Those who scoff at this truth will be among the most surprised and devastated.