As war continues between Israel and Hamas and Ukraine and Russia continue to fight one another, more religious leaders are encouraging Christians to be alert for the end times. Speaking to Fox News, Father John Burns pointed to the parable of the Ten Bridesmaids, also known as the Parable of the Ten Virgins, as a warning. The parable, found in Matthew 25:1-13, describes 10 bridesmaids who are preparing for the arrival of the groomsman. On heading out to meet the groomsman, five of the bridesmaids take their oil for their lamps while another five do not. When the groomsman is delayed, the five without oil realize their lamps will not last for the groomsman’s arrival and ask for oil from the five who brought theirs. When they don’t receive any, they are forced to go and buy more. While they are gone, the groomsman arrives, and the bridal party goes to the marriage ceremony, locking the five other bridesmaids out. When they try to get in, the groomsman responds, “Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch, therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.”

Fr. Burns, a priest at the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, told Fox News that the passage is connected to the book of Revelation. “The Book of Revelation tells us that everything, the entire story of creation, ends in a wedding feast. And we, the Church, are the bride,” he said. Noting how, in aviation, a pilot must keep his eyes on his destination or risk flying off course, he said the spiritual life is the same. He said the Bible is the guide that Christians should follow. “When we recall the promises of the Old Testament, they can feel so reassuring: rest, security, prosperity,” he said. He also asserted that we are already “in the middle of a final phase as creation groans toward its ultimate destiny.” Burns warned that if Christians stop looking at their ultimate destiny, “we stop preparing and start to fidget and fight.” He added, “We reduce the Church to an organization inscribed within this world. We start to treat the Church like a struggling institution that just needs new programs, better organizational habits and more effective fundraising.” He also asserted that eschatology, the study of end times, “must inform ecclesiology because ecclesiology informs evangelization.” “The wedding isn’t here yet, but it’s nearing. And we are drowsily unprepared,” he concluded. 

Even before events unfolded between Hamas and Israel, polls showed that Americans believe we are living in the end times. According to a Pew Research Center study in 2022, 47% of Christians stated they believe we are living in the last days. When that was broadened out to all US adults, 39% stated they believed so as well. 92% of evangelical Protestants believe there will be a second coming of Christ, with about 10% of those respondents stating they believed Jesus would return in their lifetime, while another 27% were unsure.