The last days? Local clergy doubt recent drought, fires signify apocalypse

Are Utah's current five-year-plus drought and Southern California's recent wildfires "signs of the times" — the end of the world and the nearing of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ?

No, according to most local churches.

"The fact that you have to ask that question tells you that we're not there yet," said the Rev. Neal Humphrey of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Fruit Heights.

"Other generations have had it tougher," he said. In Europe during the 1300s, for example, the black plague killed one-third of the population.

The Rev. Humphrey believes the current drought and the wildfires last month are part of fairly routine cycles. He also doesn't believe there will be any mistaking the calamitous events before the Second Coming that are mentioned in the Book of Revelation.

Some religious leaders say people also have a role in the workings of the world. "I don't think that we should seek apocalyptic explanations for what has to do with greenhouse gases," said Bishop George Niederauer of the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake. "God created us and the world for a purpose, but we need to be responsible stewards."

Pastor Steve Goodier of Christ United Methodist Church of Salt Lake also said these events are more stewardship issues and the key is how we use what God has given us wisely.

"We're not an apocalyptic type of religion," he added.

Pastor Steve Klemz of Zion Lutheran Church said the events are a sign that we live in a broken world that came into being after the fall.

"They do remind us that we are creatures that depend on God's grace," he said.

The Rev. Tom Goldsmith of the First Unitarian Church of Salt Lake said there is no sense these natural events are prophetic of anything to come.

"We believe men and women have control over their own fate and destiny," he said.

Jehovah's Witnesses are more focused on the Second Coming. Witnesses believe this is an age of upheaval and unrest. However, their faith doesn't blame God for such natural disasters but believes humans have made the environment more prone to them. For example, man's greed and mismanagement have amplified some of the effects of droughts today.

A Jehovah's Witness Watchtower magazine article on "Natural Disasters — A Sign of the Times?" stated, "Natural forces may have provided the triggers, but it is human activity — social, economic, political — that must bear the responsibility for the large difference in the loss and life and destruction of property that resulted."

Jehovah's Witnesses believe famine, great earthquakes, wars and lawlessness are all signs of the end of the world and that they are now occurring.