As a neophyte Bible reader back in the eighties, I devoured Scripture with every bit of new, childlike faith.
Frequently though, I felt some prophecies were incongruent with the world situation of that time.
For one thing, I couldn’t imagine the nations of the earth arrayed against Israel like they are portrayed in Zechariah 14 and in Revelation chapters 16 and 19. How could this ever happen? I understood hostile tensions in that region, but nothing indicating the scale of conflict described in those prophecies, with the nations assailing a splinter of land in the Middle East.
How could the global village so quickly forget the lessons of World War Two, and fall into a worse form of antisemitism? Could it be possible that the perverse propaganda of Joseph Goebbels would find extended life, except camouflaged with humanitarian sentiments, false moral equivocations, and lying euphemisms? I couldn’t imagine a world gone mad all over again, marshaled against, not an empire, nor a global threat, but one small people.
I was willing to take it all on faith, because the Bible said so. But it didn’t seem likely.
Furthermore, a 200 million man army is mentioned in the book of Revelation (9:16), possibly coming from China, and heading to Armageddon (In Israel). From my early eighties vantage point, there would need to be some serious political gymnastics and economic contortions for that to occur. Call me naive back in those days, but China seem to have its eye more on Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The last thing on its agenda was a military adventure to the Holy Land.
Again, none of it sounded likely.
I also read prophecies foretelling a whole stew of dark ingredients bubbling in the cultural pot—untruth and sexual vice, and blasphemy that was off the charts. Yes, I knew that “the whole world lies in the evil one,” but this was heady stuff even for the lost. I wasn’t really seeing it. I spent a lot of time in the eighties, preaching on college campuses, where it was dark and sinful. The students weren’t nuts, though. At that time, folks who didn’t follow Christ still respected logic, and in moments of honesty, feared something above and beyond them. Christ was not their Lord, yet the ghost of Jesus friendly western culture still was.
Was it likely this bunch was going to discard Judeo-Christian culture for that of barbaric, pagan Rome? Not really.
My Bible reading also said some incredible things about alleged Christians. Verses warned of an epic falling away of people from the New Testament faith as they wandered into bizarre and pathetically wrong teachings. But as I looked around the eighties church landscape, I saw lots of slacks, loafers, Bibles, memory verses, and efforts to be Christ-like. Granted, hypocrisy has always been a temptation to the saints, no matter the time. During those years, though, false prophets were mostly not in pulpits, encouraging members to deconstruct their faith and leave it lying in a pile.
I couldn’t see the church crowd swapping Jesus for anemic replacements.
Forty years ago it all seemed so…unlikely.
Since those days of Hal Lindsey back in the ’70’s when I was wonderfully saved, Bible prophecy has not occupied my daily Bible study. “Fifty years ago it all seemed so…unlikely,” as John reasoned. That all changed for me during the Covid lockdowns. Today so many churches are relying on false promises of grand Revivals and pre-trib Raptures for all, but Apostle Paul warned us that “The Apostasy” in the church and the “Revelation of the Antichrist” (2 Th 2.3) must come first. The church needs a healthy dose of “smelling salts” to wake us from our slumber.
And I wish it were only that bad. Lately, we’ve also seen believers “making peace” with sinful things the church at large has long resisted. It didn’t take much, either.
Thanks for sharing this John. A good wake up call and reminder to take an inventory and ask ourselves what are we truly living for. It’s good we can remember back 40 to 50 yrs and see the incredible progression to this antichrist, self-loving and self-seeking world. My grandchildren don’t have this luxury. So they need me to live out my faith and the church to keep the light of the gospel shining brightly.
Thanks for the comment, bro. My thoughts, exactly. There’s a definite plus to getting older, and I think that’s it.