Thank you so much for opening Bible prophecy to those who earnestly seek understanding. Why do so many Christians avoid the Bible’s end time prophecies? From reading the Olivet Discourse, I understand that the Lord WANTS us to know the signs of the times…to be watchful. Is it fear? Or don’t they want it to come true? I get excited when I see prophecy coming true! We who study prophecy realize our redemption draweth nigh. Your thoughts?
In my opinion, organized religion is largely responsible for this. Their goals are centered around membership growth and financial success so they want their members focused on the here and now, not on the future. They’re afraid that too much understanding of end times prophecy would dampen people’s enthusiasm for remodeling projects and building fund drives and the like.
The experience of groups like the Calvary Chapels demonstrates that when prophecy is taught clearly and in the context of the Bible as a whole, it has a positive impact on growth. Even so, prophecy is rarely taught at the seminary level and as a result almost never taught in churches. Ignorance produces fear and you see the result of that.
But when people do develop an interest in prophecy, it seems like they finally light up spiritually and see the entire Bible in a whole new way. This can be threatening to the status quo. I can’t tell you how many letters I’ve gotten from people who said that after they began studying prophecy they had to leave their local congregation and find a new place to worship.