Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself.
Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.
—Proverbs 26:4-5—
To answer the fool or to answer not? That is the question…
Fools come in many shapes and sizes, but almost universally have one common characteristic: they think they’re smarter than God. Some are fools because reject the Lord. Others, because they presume to speak for him. A fool may be very intelligent on the surface, but make no mistake—they are arrogantly stupid.
Through a combination of speculation and sketchy biblical interpretation, one such individual has declared that today—October 7th, 2015—is the day Jesus will return. That Jesus stopped saving people back in 2011, and that man does indeed know the day and hour.
Arrogance, meet stupidity.
At this point, I’ve more or less said my piece on this kind of goofiness: those who profess to know the day of the Lord’s return are blasphemers and false teachers, and God will deal with them harshly. No one knows the day or the hour, and for one to say otherwise is to say Jesus was wrong. But Jesus said it would be better for such people—heretics and false teachers—to tie a millstone around their necks and jump into the sea rather than to lead believers astray.
If Jesus says death is preferable to what’s waiting for such a person, you can imagine it’s a big deal.
And really, there’s not much more to be said.
The Bible encourages us to warn once, then twice and have nothing more to do with such people (Titus 3:10). God’s going to deal with them in his time, and it’s not going to go well. So, Christian, if someone tells you they know, they don’t. Have nothing to do with such arrogant stupidity, for no good can come from it.
Instead, focus on what the Lord has commanded us to do: to love one another, to go forth and make disciples of all nations. To bear witness in season and out of season. And to keep doing it until the day we die or until the day he truly does come. For until that day comes, it is still true that “the harvest is plentiful” (Matthew 9:37). May but the laborers not be few.
