We Can Know...... Can We???

So there is another website out there predicting the end of the world. Well, actually it is more than a website, it is a movement of some sort predicting the rapture of the Christian church will be on May 21, 2011 and the end of the world will be on October 21, 2011. Maybe you have seen the billboards, bumper stickers, T Shirts, license plates, etc, with saying “We Can Know”. And my questions is “can we?”
I was first alerted to this movement a few months ago and being the curious person I am I went to the website right away, www.wecanknow.com, and checked it out. I just skimmed it at first, brushing it off as some crazy people trying to scare the world into getting saved. But then last week when I saw a huge billboard near my house I thought to myself, “oh these people are serious”. So I went back to the website and took a second look, a little deeper this time. I wanted to see why they feel that “we can know” and also how do they come up with these dates (May and October 21, 2011).
They are basically saying two things:
1.There is a biblical timeline that leads up to these dates as being the end of times.
2.The reason they’re able to know this information is because God is pouring our His spirit in these last days in such a way that Bible scholars are able to understand the Bible in a new way. They reference the fact that Noah knew that the flood was coming and that God is doing that same thing today.
The first thing that might be hard to swallow for many believers, other than their statement that they know the date of the rapture and the end, but the closeness of these two dates. If they are right and the rapture is a little over a month away, the end is only 5 months after that. Many believe that there will be a 7 year tribulation period that will take place after the rapture and before the end. But even that is debatable.
However, my purpose or point is not to discredit this site or these people or say that they are lunatics. I know, for a fact, that the Bible can speak to various people in various ways. I even know that I personally might read a scripture at one time then come back later and receive something completely different from the same exact scripture. But some scriptures have never changed for me are…
Matthew 24
36 “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
Mark 13
32 “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard! Be alert ! You do not know when that time will come.
Acts 1
6. So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.
As many times as I have read over these scriptures, before I received the holy spirit and now currently with the holy spirit, they still say the same thing to me. We will not know when He is coming, we just need to be ready at all times. There are also many parables that tell us to be ready, but parables can be confusing to some. So I’m just using these scriptures, to me they cannot be any plainer. YOU WILL NOT KNOW. Not “one day” God will change what He has previously said and will reveal that the end will come in 2011 to only some.
In my opinion, if people are spending time searching the scriptures, studying and only focusing on figuring out the time when Jesus will return, they are neglecting the time they need to spend doing what Jesus commanded us to do. Mark 16:15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation”. Also let’s allow for a quick and I mean quick second that Jesus will rapture the church next month. Not everyone will make it to then because people are dying every day. Jesus may call them home April 30, 2011 and if they are listening to these people who are telling them they have until May 21, they may not be ready for their time.
So this is my point, we do not need to know when Jesus will return, we just need to be ready at ALL times. And while we are waiting we need to get as many people on board as possible, not by scaring them into submission, but showing them how to walk in faith and love.
And on May 22, 2011, when the rapture is still yet to come, are people still going to be living “saved”? Or are they going to revert back to their sinful ways?