The End of the World As We Know It

by Molly Baskette | published on Sep 28, 2026

Discussion Questions 

  1. Read Revelation 2:1-7; you can find the passage here. Then read the devotional below, “The End of the World As We Know It.” 
  1. Are you intimidated by the book of Revelation? On what do you base your opinion of it? 
  1. How do you think the world will end?  
  1. How are you contributing to that end—or preventing it? 

Devotional 

These are the words of [the one] who walks among the seven golden lampstands: “I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers; you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them to be false. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.” – Revelation 2:1b-2, 4 (NRSV) 

There’s a school of Christians who believe the end of the world is coming, and it’s their job to hasten it. The means, however harmful and violent, justify the End: union with Jesus in heaven.  

Some of these Christians are in positions of political power. Like Vice President JD Vance, who recently said he is “doing as much of God’s work as possible,” and that he is OK “if that leads to the end-times.” DOGE and the demolition of USAID comes to mind. Greasing the wheels of an AI revolution comes to mind, as does the earth-wrecking love affair with fossil fuels. 

It’s peak hubris to think we will be gifted a new world when we have treated the old one and its inhabitants so shabbily.  

This toxic theology of the end-times comes from a wild misreading of the last book in the Bible, the Revelation to John. But last is not best. John of Patmos may have had the ultimate word in our sacred book, but his Jesus points back to the Jesus of the Gospels, the Jesus of “he who is without sin cast the first stone,” the Jesus of “when you did it for the least of these,” the Jesus of “blessed are the merciful, the peacemakers, the pure in heart.”  

We don’t have to be a high-level policymaker to influence the course of history for good or ill. John’s Jesus reminds us of the way forward, no matter how dire things look. Toil and endurance are not enough. We must go back and find the love we abandoned along the way; the love we had “at first.”  

With that love secured, every world is still possible.  

Prayer
God, I’m afraid of the end of the world. Help me to go back to the beginning, to find that love which is also a kind of courage to endure with joy. Amen.

Molly BasketteAbout the Author
Molly Baskette is a UCC minister, psychedelic facilitator and author of books about church renewal, parenting, post-traumatic joy and more. Learn more at mollybaskette.com.