Is This the End of the World?

Editor’s Note: Some of you have pointed out the mess in some of the paragraphs. My apologies. I used a transcription service on a monologue and was in a rush last night and forgot to go back and read through everything. Below is a transcript, but there are some errors from the typist mishearing me.

---

I keep mentioning this, and I don't want you to think I'm a broken record on this, so let me explain to you what's going on. The show is now we're continuing to expand. We started as a show just in Atlanta. Then when we were nine to noon doing our syndicated show, it was just Georgia, about 19 stations in Georgia. We're now closing out on 40 stations. We get new stations about every week now. We're growing. And I keep getting some of the same questions from new listeners. We got listeners now from California to Connecticut, from Oregon down to Miami. And I want to say something again because I keep getting this question. I mean, I have gotten this question more in the last week than I've ever gotten before and I'm still getting it. And I think if I'm still getting it from that many people, that it's worth me reiterating it.

The question is the one you may be guessing, are these the end times? Is this the end? There is fear and trepidation of the people who call this program and ask. You could hear it in their voice. They are deeply disturbed. There are concerns with the people who email and ask it. They're really concerned. Sean Hannity might say, let not your heart be troubled.

I get hate mail sometimes from people. It aggravates my wife sometimes that I don't get exercised about particular issues. People want me to be mad at something. They want me to be worked up. They want me to be angry, to respond in certain ways out of anger. It has taken me a long time to get to this point. But here is my philosophy and it really comes from Calvin Coolidge.

So Calvin Coolidge, this is my management style with work and dealing with people as well, when you see 10 problems bounding down the road, if you just stand still, nine of the 10 will bound off the road before they get to you. But there's also something else. Is there anything I can do to change the situation? If not, don't worry about it. There's no reason to be angry about it. You may not like it, but there's no reason to be angry about it. Can you put the genie in the bottle in Israel? Can you stop Hamas? Can you get the hostages back? If not, stop worrying about it. It's out of your control. God's will be done. God's got this, not you.

We in this country, and it is particularly something about people in the United States more than any other nation on the planet, it's part of who we are as a people, we think we can fix something. We think that we see some problem somewhere in the world and we can fix it. Whether we can write a check or we can send missionaries, we can send the government, we can send the military, we can do something, we can fix it and sometimes you can't.

Are these the end times? Technically, the moment Christ walked out of the tomb, the in times began. Is this like the final 100 years? Probably so. If you're a dispensationalist, at least you look at the 2000 years from Noah to Abraham, 2000 years from Abraham to Jesus. So it works in 2000 increments. So here we are, we're somewhere around the 2000th year post-resurrection. He's got to be coming back any day. This could be it. Is it tomorrow? I can confidently tell you, Jesus Christ is not coming back tomorrow. I can confidently tell you that. Why? Because there are still unfulfilled prophecies from the New Testament, including putting scripture in every language of the world. If you go to the museum of the Bible, you'll see how many languages still need the Bible translated in them. And we're not there yet. So he can't come back tomorrow. What about 50 years from now? It's possible, but who knows? So why be bothered by it?

I know that you look at the world stage, you see Joe Biden asleep at the switch. You have children who are draft age or maybe in the military. My sister's son is now in the International Guard. And you fret a little bit. Now, I know this is my worldview and I know it's preachy for some of you, but I am a firm believer in the phrase, God's got this. There is nothing I can do, nothing at all. To the extent there's something I can do, I can be engaged in the political process and I can vote for who I think is best and maybe my guy wins or not. At the end of the day, God's got this, not you. You can't change the dynamic between China and the United States. You can't change Hamas' mind. You can't persuade Joe Biden to do something he doesn't want to do, and you can't persuade him to not do something he does want to do.

So calm down. And it's easier said than done, but I practice that which I preach. You have to realize there are some things in this world that are bigger than you that you can't affect, and the only thing you can do is pray about it. And you can pray without ceasing, but God's got this. You don't. So there's no reason to worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will take care of itself. And you shouldn't worry about today. The Bible says, "Worry is a sin."

Now, my life motto is why pray when I can worry. I get it. I understand the desire to worry. That's what I do for a living. I am a professional worrier, but I also have learned enough to know the things I cannot change, the things that I cannot impact, the things that I cannot control. And of those things, I can look on them, I can remark on them, I can study them, I can learn from them. I can suggest courses of action for those in charge who might listen to me, but I myself, I play no role in changing those things and neither do any of you. So why worry about them?

There are plenty of things in your immediate backyard you can worry about. There are plenty of things you can do. You can make sure your family knows you love them. You can make sure your family is safe. You can make sure your family's in a good financial position. You can work on getting yourselves out of debts so your family can live a little more comfortably and enjoy this world as best they can. You can be generous to your church, to your local nonprofits, to your family. You can make sure other people are living more comfortably. You cannot fix the Hamas Israel situation, but you might be able to fix the problem of a homeless person in your community. So fix that instead.

There are only so many hours in the day for us to be worked up over this stuff. Is it concerning? Yes. Is it alarming? Yes. Does it make it all the less comfortable knowing we got a dementia patient as president while China, Russia and Iran are conspiring, and those around our dementia patient conspiring are probably conspiring with the bad guys? Yeah, that's real concerning. Bothers me too. Bothers me greatly, but there's nothing I can do about it. So what can I do? I can take care of my family. I can take care of my friends. I can take care of problems in my local community. I can feel like I'm accomplishing something here locally when I know there's nothing I can accomplish nationally or internationally. There are things I can do to help others. I can write checks. I can volunteer. There are things I can do, but I have to be able to discern. Can I help here or can I help there? Where can I help? Where can you help? What can you do while knowing God's got this?

So don't let heart be troubled. There's no reason to worry about these things. Worrying will not change them. Worrying will do nothing. If you're a prayer warrior, pray. If you're an activist, well, activate. Go write a check. Go volunteer somewhere locally. Improve your local community. Improve the lives of those around you. I suspect hard times are coming. The American military appears to be gearing up for war. They're stockpiling blood and ammunition. Multiple ammo dealers over the weekend sent notices to people that they were no longer fulfilling civilian orders for ammunition. That should be a big warning sign. Something might be coming. They might be prepared. They might be short of supplies. I don't know how to read it, but what I do know is I can't affect it. I can't change it, and neither can you. So you get nowhere by worrying about it.

We do not know when the actual end is. We have no idea. So why worry about it? It's a lot easier said than done. I know. Again, I'm a professional worrier. I know. It's easier to worry than it is to not, but there's nothing you can do and there's nothing I can do. So the hallmark of a spiritual maturity is to focus on the things that you can impact and stop worrying about the things you can't. It's not easy. It's not easy, but I know it's the right thing to do for your own peace of mind. If nothing else, it's a distraction from the worries of the international stage and all the stories around us. There's someone somewhere in your local community who needs your help, maybe your friends or family.

I pray often these days. I pray that God's generous with me and my job and my career so that I can be generous with others. Your generosity means a lot to other people. And if you're worried about the world going to hell in a hand basket, you can meaningfully prevent the hand basket from sliding through your neighborhood with your generosity, through your sweat equity, from your ability to write checks to fund things. You can do those things. You can control the world where you can control the world. And the hallmark of someone who's going to find peace of mind is knowing to be able to control the things they can and let go of the things they can't control. And if you do that, you might sleep better at night instead of worrying about the end of the world tomorrow because the end of the world is not tomorrow. I don't know when it's going to be, but I do know that I can't stop it from happening and neither can you. So just focus on the things that you can improve and focus on stopping the things you can stop and focus on starting the things you can start and you'll be better off.