[Darris McNeely] There's a new pope - Pope Francis I. He was just announced on the balcony above Saint Peter's in Vatican City. A Cardinal from Argentina, Jorge Mario Bergoglio will now become the next pope and the leader of 1.2 billion Catholics in the world. It's a fascinating scene to watch this. This is the second time now in 8 years that we have seen the election of a new pope. And what is set there in Vatican City in Saint Peter's square just fascinates people who are not even Catholics, and who are not even religious in the world as they watch this unfold. A lot of questions as to what type of a pope he will be, what he will have to deal with. There are a number of issues that have already been talked about in the press that are affecting the Catholic Church. He's going to have a full plate.

What I find more interesting however for us to discuss in this daily is how people are coming onto our Beyond Today media site, ucg.org, to access information that we have on this subject of religion in regards to the papacy, Catholicism. How people are coming in and the search terms they're using have been instructive here the last few minutes.

People are looking in a search term for the end of the world, the last pope's name. They're typing into their search engines, "Will this pope be the last before Christ returns?" I find that fascinating because you know something? Not even Jesus Christ knows if this will be the last Pope before He returns. And why should we then fascinate ourselves and worry about that and all of these other obscure prophecies? We've written about this on our blogs and on other dailies when the Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation.

That's not the focus. That's not what we should worry about. Quite frankly, as we study prophecy the focus that we strive to put before you, our audience, on Beyond Today, BT Dailies, is to not get caught up with all the speculation and all of these false ideas that sometimes come up regarding prophecies out of the book of Revelation or the book of Daniel, but to focus on yourself. 2 Peter 3:11 says, "Therefore since all these things will be dissolved what manner of person ought you to be in holy deed and conduct and godliness?" That's what Peter tells us to watch for, what type of person should we be.

We should be godly people. We should be striving for righteousness. And if we are found to have righteous garments on as Christ said in Revelation chapter 16 all the rest of this will take care of itself. Yes, understand world religion. Yes, understand Bible prophecy, but don't get caught up in all of the foolish fascinations, speculation that takes place to the neglect of our own spiritual well-being before God and our fellow man. That's what's most important. Do that and all the rest will take care of itself, and you won't have to worry about it. It's going to be an interesting ride for this new pope. It's going to be fascinating to watch how he develops within the Catholic Church and its role historically and prophetically in the world.

That's BT Daily. Join us next time.