From The Pulpit: What are you going to do about the end of the

I'M not going to clean the house or weed the garden or mend the fence.

I'm not going to shave or have my hair cut. I'm not going to book a holiday or continue a pension plan to pay any bills.

Why should I bother? The end of the world is imminent.

How do I know? Nostradamus predicted it. It was going to be in July but now it's revised to August.

Maybe during the eclipse of the sun the world will darken never to lighten again. Scary or what?

There are two ways to deal with it.

First say: "What the Millennium do I care?" and eat, drink and be merry. Do the things you've always wanted to but never got round to doing. Snowboarding. Blowing all your money. Telling the boss he can stuff his job.

Or, if you are a Christian or a very scared agnostic, pray. Get down on those knees. Wear them out. Night and day. Sob it brother. Weep it sister. Get on the phone to everyone you've ever offended.

Believe me, it's a long list. Come clean. Put things right. Get your backside on a pew. Read that bible like it's a Maeve Binchy novel. Quickly. Time's short.

And there are so many ways we might go. Nuclear nutcase. Meteoric maelstrom. Famine, pestilence, plague. Natural disasters. Alien invasion.

My preference? Traditional hereditary old age. Cause of death? Ulster fry followed by massive coronary. Found slumped over breakfast. Cold bacon. Face covered in congealed fried egg. Potato inbred.

Or I'll just wake up some morning, dead.

Or die of boredom waiting for the end to arrive. Chronic scepticism. Terminal doubting. Acute apocalypticitis.

This would not be the first false sunset. In the first century some Christians gave up living and working because they thought Christ would return any day. There was no point doing anything.

One hundred years later a community went into the remoteness of Arabia to anticipate the end, which never came.

In the year 999 some farmers did not cultivate their fields in the expectation that they would not be around to harvest in 1000.

And there have been others since - 14th century, 16th century, 20th century.

Deadlines have come and gone. But fear and anticipation made good headlines in 60 AD. And they do today.

So what exactly does Nostradamus say? That depends on how you translate this 16th century Christian astrologer from his original Latin.

And on which calendar you think he was working to - there are at least four possibilities. It depends on how you interpret what is translated.

Is a reign of terror by a fearsome warlord being announced? Genghis Khan? A north African terrorist? The third Antichrist? The End?

Or is the interpretation more benign? The person referred to might be a friendly Pope. An age of prolonged peace, not terror.

Who knows? I don't. Nor did the Bible reveal it. Jesus himself spoke about the end of the age and signs of those times.

And every so often people seize upon a world event as a portent of doom. But Jesus said that no-one will know the day or time of the end, nor of his return.

I'm losing no sleep over the end of the world. Life is short. And one way or another it will end.

How or when is not the issue. It is what I do with the life I have that matters.

Loose it or use it. Waste it or face it. Drift or design. Is life just about good fun and a good time? Or is there something within me that wants more?

To be a force for good. To make an impact upon the world. To be part of righting wrongs. But we need to get our own life sorted out first of all.

For at the end of the day we are responsible for how we live life.

So God, for however many years are left, what's your advice about this life of mine?

Copyright 1999 MGN LTD
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