“The Antichrist will be Muslim.”
“No, Jews would never accept him. He’ll be a Jew.”
“Barack Obama is the Antichrist! Why can’t anybody see that?”
Of course, President Obama is not the Antichrist. But I’ve actually heard this conversation Who hasn’t?). The truth is, we don’t know who the Antichrist will be, and there are as many opinions about his nationality as there are brands of pickles. I have an opinion—but so does my preacher cousin, and his differs from mine. Frankly, there’s a lot about Bible prophecy that we just can’t know.
So do we preach about it?
A pastor once smugly told me, “Oh, I never preach on prophecy. It really has no value.” When I looked at him weird, he shrugged and said, “It’s in the future. Nobody knows who’s right or wrong.”
It really has no value . . . Hmm.
“Favored is the one who reads the words of this prophecy out loud,” says Revelation 1:3 (ceb), and favored are those who listen to it being read, and keep what is written in it.” I like the way the Wycliffe Bible renders it: “Blessed is he that readeth, and he that heareth the words of this prophecy . . .” Revelation is the only book in the Bible that offers this promise! “Favored”? “Blessed”? I’ll take it!
Many Christians, sadly, don’t read the Bible regularly, so how can they “keep what is written” in the Revelation if they don’t hear it from the pulpit? Or, to quote the apostle Paul, “how can they hear without a preacher?” (Rom. 10:14).
Paul wrote that in the last days “perilous times shall approach” (2 Tim. 3:1 wyc). They’re here! Recently I read that there may be an estimated 1.5 million supporters of the Islamic State (ISIS) in the UK,” an estimated minimum of 8.5 million across the Middle East.”[1] The same day, another report read, “Israel and its military leaders are taking no chances against a declared enemy. . . . ISIS and its affiliates, while currently preoccupied with snatching up territory from countries neighboring Israel, make no secret of their intention, confirmed by military intelligence, to reach Israel’s northern, eastern and southern borders before long.”[2]
Friends, all these things are fulfillments of prophecy. Jesus said, “[In the last days] you will hear the noise of wars nearby and the news of wars far off. . . . Peoples will fight each other, nations will fight each other” (Matt. 24:6–7 cjb). Some Bible prophecy students see ISIS as fulfilling parts of Revelation. Why on earth wouldn’t we preach on it?
Jesus is coming, and God’s ministers must do all in their power to keep a sense of urgency alive in this carnal age. How better than to show how current events irrefutably align with what Jesus and the prophets foretold millennia ago?
If Bible prophecy is not your strong suit, preach what you know. Then study the rest. Your prophetic views may not match those of the preacher down the street, but there are certain things that can’t be denied by any of us. Jesus’ coming is nearer than ever before “Lo! I come soon,” Jesus said . . . in Revelation (22:12 wyc).
Preach the full gospel. And preach prophecy—including John’s final book: Revelation. Because “blessed is . . . he that heareth.”
[1] The Clarion Project, “UK Poll Shows up to 1.5 Million ISIS Supporters in Britain,” Prophecy News Watch, July 10, 2015, http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2015/July10/102.html#zEHeS7BFpmveT67X.99.
[2] Bill Gertz, Israel Merges IDF Elite Units to Prepare tor Fight with ISIS,” Prophecy News Watch, July 10, 2015, http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2015/July10/104.html.
Article by editor and writer Renee Chavez.