End Times Hysteria

Today’s church is consumed by “end times” teaching much of which is speculative. Many churches argue over which speculation is accurate. I propose that we need a dramatic change in our “end times” theology.

What do I mean by that? I am saying that we must shift our focus from what we don’t know to what we do know: Jesus is coming. Think about what His second coming will mean to those in the world.

I want to challenge the popular “end times” theology of the world getting darker and darker. And I want to present a different, more accurate perspective, one which history shows to be true: our world has and is changing significantly.

First, the narrative of the church is the world is getting darker and darker. Although we do have our sin issues, our world is better today than it was in the past. We are and have been living in an era of relative peace (yes, I recognize that there have been terrible wars and our technology for war has gotten worse and worse.) I believe that peace has been brought about by and through the gospel.

Second, the historically accurate perspective of that which is good increasing has been overlooked and ignored by the church. Church leaders and members have often viewed the world through the lens of fear rather than faith. (I could place a picture here of a man or woman holding a sign, “Armageddon! The World is Coming to an End.)

Third, much of our “end times” perspective is based on the book of Revelation. While I value and appreciate what is written in Revelation, many who teach from that book miss the main topic of the book, Jesus Christ. Instead, their teaching focuses on what the Devil is doing.

I have been listening to the books of the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel hundreds of times over the past 3 years. I listened to the Gospels hundreds of times. As a result, my perspective of “end times” theology has changed.

Since 2003, I have been prophesying of the Third Reformation taking place in the Church (You can read what I wrote in The Third Reformation is Coming!). In that book, I share 1) there’s a transformational move of God coming to the church (a reformation), 2) that move of God will follow the historical pattern of the prior reformational moves of God, 3) how we can enter that reformation.

In light of that revelation, and looking through the lens of history, I believe we are on the cusp of one of the most significant changes in our world and yet the church is missing it because we are preoccupied by our speculations about the “end times “. I believe Isaiah prophesied about this coming transformational period, see Isaiah 2, which is mirrored by Micah, see Micah 4.

What Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 2:2,3, NLT,

“In the last days, the mountain of the LORD’s house will be the highest of all— the most important place on earth. It will be raised above the other hills, and people from all over the world will stream there to worship. People from many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of Jacob’s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For the LORD’s teaching will go out from Zion; his word will go out from Jerusalem.

This significant prophecy has not been fulfilled yet. Twice, it is repeated in the Old Testament verbatim by two different prophets who were contemporaries but likely did not know or talk with each other (they were separated by hundreds of miles). That fact should cause us to take notice. When Scripture repeats itself, we should pay attention.

Now, place that twice repeated scripture verse next to popular “end times” theology and it’s easy to see that what is popular is incongruent with scripture. Instead, scripture reveals that a fundamental transformation of the world is coming through the Torah (Hebrew for “teachings” and usually used in reference to the first 5 books of the Bible) and Dabar (Hebrew for word usually used in reference to the prophetic word).

I have my own thoughts about what is coming, which I have called, “The Great Transformation”. Yes, I believe a great transformation is coming to the world. That Satan is being dispossessed of the world. That the Gospel is the means for that dispossession. That as the Gospel is preached and the Third Reformation is manifested in the church, “The Great Transformation” will take place in the world. I believe the Kingdom of Heaven is invading earth.

As such, I believe we must shift from our “end times” hysteria into a different perspective of “end times” theology that views the “end times” through the lens of both scripture and history. Then, we can view our world as God sees it, as something of great value.