We focus on Bible prophecy each week for about five-minutes, calling it a “Prophecy Update.”
We are considered futurists. We interpret the unfulfilled prophetic portions of the Book of the Revelation and the Book of Daniel, and all other unfulfilled prophecies, as yet future events in a literal, physical, apocalyptic, and global context.
There are many reasons for being futurists, but I like to point out the most important one: Jesus was a futurist. When He gave His great discourse on prophecy in Matthew 24 & 25, He quoted from Daniel as if the events prophesied were yet future and literal.
In fact, whenever someone in the Bible read unfulfilled prophecies, they understood them to be future and literal.
One of the things we can expect in the last days is a falling away from the faith. The apostle Paul told Timothy,
2Tim 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;
2Tim 4:4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
He also said, “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first…” (Second Thessalonians 2:3).
Lately two notable people who professed faith in Jesus have announced their falling way from Jesus. Relevant Magazine published a story titled, Hillsong Songwriter Marty Sampson Says He’s Losing His Christian Faith.
Excerpts:
Marty Sampson is a prolific worship music writer, writing and cowriting songs for Hillsong Worship, Hillsong United, Delirious and Young & Free.
Sampson took to Instagram to inform his followers [saying] “Time for some real talk. I’m genuinely losing my faith, and it doesn’t bother me. Like, what bothers me now is nothing. I am so happy now, so at peace with the world. It’s crazy… Christians can be the most judgmental people on the planet – they can also be some of the most beautiful and loving people. But it’s not for me.”
https://relevantmagazine.com/culture/hillsong-songwriter-marty-sampson-says-hes-losing-his-christian-faith/
A bigger shock was the announcement by Joshua Harris that he no longer considers himself a Christian.
Quoting the article: Harris shot to fame in the early 2000s with his controversial book I Kissed Dating Goodbye and its follow-up Boy Meets Girl: Say Hello to Courtship. He’s also written about topics like theology and the church. In recent years he has distanced himself from I Kissed Dating Goodbye and announced that he had asked his publisher to discontinue it.
He and his wife are divorcing. On Instagram, Harris said, “By all the measurements I have for defining a Christian, I am not a Christian.”
He went on to state, “To the LGBTQ+ community, I want to say that I am sorry for the views that I taught in my books and as a pastor regarding sexuality. I regret standing against marriage equality, for not affirming you and your place in the church, and for any ways that my writing and speaking contributed to a culture of exclusion and bigotry. I hope you can forgive me.”
https://relevantmagazine.com/god/i-kissed-dating-goodbye-author-josh-harris-i-am-not-a-christian/
It is (sadly) to be expected from a literal, futurist reading of the Bible.
Jesus promised He’d return to rapture His church – which entails the resurrection of the dead in Christ of the Church Age, then the translation from earth to Heaven of all living believers.
It is presented in the Bible as an imminent (any-moment) event.
Are you ready for the rapture? If not, get ready, stay ready, and keep looking up. Ready or not, Jesus is coming!