What are We To Think?
A sermon yesterday was started with talk of a current event(s) that was a possible link to Bible End Time Prophecy. The church we attend subscribes to a pre-trib mindset. To better explain this, here are the three positions that are popular among different Christian sects.
Premillenialism: The doctrine that the prophesied millennium of blessedness will begin with the imminent Second Coming of Christ.
Post-Millennialism: The belief that the Millennium occurs before Jesus’ Second Coming rather than after. Since Scripture speaks of the Millennium as a time of great prosperity for the kingdom of God, post-mills are inherently optimistic.
Amillennialism: Etymologically, this means ‘no Millennium’. So what about Revelation 20:1-7? Well, it would be unfair to say that a-mills do not believe in a Millennium; they simply believe that it is a symbolic, heavenly reality and not an earthly one.
Then there is the ever popular "pan-millennium" that some have said jokingly. Which means everything will pan out in the end. I am not here to promote one stance over the other and I would not let an opposing view become a divisions between a brother or sister in Christ. Though the reason I am writing this is to point out a few things.
In our time, we see morality declining, wars and rumors or wars, up is down, left is right, and it can be confusing and sometimes scary. However, lets not forget one thing pertaining to all the bad in the world.
"Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction," -2 Thessalonians 2:3.
This is in relation to when we see these bad things, they are not end times events, but rather precursors in my opinion. In another verse it says "but the end is yet to come". Think about this, certain events could have also been considered pre-cursors. 9/11, school shootings, the gender fluid movement, etc... So whenever I see/hear someone say "this is a sign of the soon return of the Lord", I think that is interesting. In other words I take it as an interesting and match it up against scripture.
I am not that well versed (if any) in Bible prophecy, nor do I pretend to be. I know that there is a lot of division over it and can sometimes (here in the west at least) be centralized or made American specific. Fact is, the Bible uses both literal and figurative language which make it all the more difficult to claim that a certain event is an end times sign (unless where specifically explicit). Though what are we to become focused on?
It is easy to be consumed by the ever changing news headlines and which stance is right for end times theology. However, we are not meant to quarrel over these differences. We are commanded to take the word and make disciples. Even now, there are many unreached who have never heard the gospel. In these times, I encourage you to mediate on this verse.
Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have declared so well before many witnesses.
-2 Timothy 6:12