I'm a believer in the second coming, and so is the belief system I'm a part of. However, in 'getting ready for it,' I'm also aware of the parable of the talents. Remember that one?
Where the master gave his servants money; to one he gave one, to another more, and to another still more, with the instructions to 'grow' them? When he came back, the one he had given the most had invested it well and had a lot to show; the one he had given less had also invested it, and had a great deal to show. The one he had only given one 'talent' to had buried it in the garden, claiming that he had done so to keep it safe and await the coming of the master. He had nothing to show, except the unused talent.
The master praised the first two, and rewarded them. The third one he took back even the one talent he had given the guy in the first place. Now this parable can be used for a lot of things, because it teaches some really good lessons, but in regard to the Second Coming, it teaches this:
In preparing for it, those who figure that they don't have to worry about the state of the planet they have been given because Jesus will 'fix all' when He gets here...they are like the servant who had been given one talent. They are ignoring the instructions, and wasting what they have been given. They will lose even that which they had been given. It is those of us who acknowledge that we have been given dominion over the world (and we have that, whether you think God gave it to us or not. We have it simply because we can exercise it), understand that if we HAVE the power to improve things, then we'd better improve things. Or at least, not destroy them.
The whole idea behind the Second Coming, for us, is to have the best possible world, and the best possible US, to present to Him when He shows up again. We can't wait for Him to fix things. They had already better be on the way to being fixed when He gets here.
And to us, that means improving ourselves (education, and character, and families) and our surroundings (where we live, the environment, the health of others).
it does NOT mean standing on a hill somewhere waiting for Him to come down on a shaft of light. It means that when He shows up, He had better 'surprise' us in the act of doing something positive; being good, being righteous, helping others, whatever.
We ARE an 'apocalyptic cult' in a way, in that we believe in the apocalypse and the SEcond coming. We absolutely do. We also figure that the "Apocolypse" and the 'Last Days" will be pretty nasty, and we'd better be able to help those who are going to be slammed by that., whatever their beliefs and opinions happen to be. We do NOT think that all of us are going to be 'twinkled,' or 'taken up.' Most of us will still be here, and still be needed. We'd better be prepared to make the last days live through able for everybody who has to deal with them. And we absolutely have no clue when that will be. It could be in the morning. It could be a thousand years from now...or longer.
That's MY opinion, anyway.
