DISMANTLING COUNTER ARGUMENTS AGAINST END TIMES TEACHINGS
The world is slowly moving towards a shape designed to usher its end and the Antichrist.
Through my recent teachings, I have discovered that when it comes to the end times, there are two types of Christians:
'Those who are alert while keeping tabs on their purpose on Earth'
'Those who have their heads buried in the sand (and I say it without apology)'
The second category of Christians is so absent from the realities that are unfolding in front of us. Even when the prophetic Scriptures are clearly coming to pass, those Christians keep their heads buried in the sand and they even discourage other fellow Christians from studying the end times.
The Christians who are refusing to be alert have many excuses when confronted with end times teachings. They justify their lack of interests towards end times teachings with the following excuses:
- 'It does not concern me'
- Jesus said :'do not be worried about tomorrow'
- I am only focused on Christ, why bother about the Antichrist?
- Not my cup of tea! Don't scare me
The above mentioned excuses form a group of excuses or counter arguments that many Christians (not the unbelievers) mention when reading some of my teachings on the end times. If they have not expressed it exactly as mentioned above, they would have certainly mentioned an excuse closely similar to the ones I have listed.
Believe it or not, there are even some churches where ‘end times teachings’ cannot be taught for fear that members would leave and that offering baskets would get lighter.
Today, I will analyze those excuses and explain why we, as Christians, should not use them to avoid discussing end times teachings.
'It does not concern me'
The above excuse is probably one of the most selfish excuses ever heard to avoid any teachings on the end times. Let us all remember that we have the Bible because the book was transmitted to us by previous generations. When those generations heard about the end times, they did not bury their heads in the sand. Though they were not going to experience the end times as we are now, they kept teaching on the end times, they kept the book of Revelation in the Bible and they transmitted the records to the following generations.
They could have also said: 'it does not concern us.'
On the contrary, they took upon themselves to study the end times, they wrote about it and they transmitted their knowledge to the next generations.
The Apostle Paul taught some of the key teachings on the end times in some of his letters. He is not here with us and he won't see what we are seeing now. But can you imagine, if he had said: "the end times teachings do not concern me."
What if the Apostle Paul had adopted such a stance? Would he bother to teach about the end times as well? Likely not.
When a Christian states that the 'end times teachings are not a concern', that Christian is less likely going to be a conduit through which those teachings will be shared to others.
Regardless of what we believe, during the very final hours, when the Antichrist would rise in full power, there will be people (human beings on Earth), and those people will need knowledge on the end times to better navigate those times.
It would be selfish for any Christian to disregard end times teachings on the belief of not being concerned.
Jesus said: 'do not be worried about tomorrow'
This is one of the laziest excuses I heard when holding a counter argument against end times teachings.
First of all, the above mentioned excuse is inspired from Matthew 6:25-34.
When Jesus commanded us not to worry about tomorrow, it was in the context of material provision. He was not talking about ignoring end times Scriptures.
Being a Christian does not give us the license to misquote certain Bible passages in order to do or to avoid something. It is a dangerous habit to misuse a Scripture in order to justify an action. Many people have misused the Scriptures to commit sexual abuse or financial abuse. Today, some Christians misuse and misquote Matthew 6:31 to justify their avoidance of end times teachings.
Misusing the passage of Matthew 6:25-34 to justify the avoidance of end times equates to saying that 'Jesus does not recommend us to study scriptures on the end times'. Such an assumption is purely demonic.
Satan would rather enjoy seeing people remain ignorant of the end times teachings. One of the reasons why many people will take the mark of the Beast, will be rooted in their ignorance of the Scriptures related to the end times.
If Jesus never wanted us to study End times Scriptures , then he would not have spoken about the end times in Matthew 24 and he would not have bothered to introduce the book of Revelation(ref. Revelation 1:9-20)
I am focused only on Christ, why bother about the Antichrist?
The above-mentioned excuse is one of the 'cheesiest' ones I have heard. It's an excuse lacking any substance. It's an excuse utilized to make people feel bad about teaching and studying the End times Scriptures.
One day, I was posting an article on Facebook which spoke about the Antichrist and I read a comment (it was one of the cheesiest comments I have read on my posts). The comment read as follow: "You seem to be seeking the Antichrist instead of seeking Christ"
Why would I seek Christ when I am already in Christ and when He has found me? I already have a relationship with Christ. It is important to warn people about the Antichrist because he will act as a counterfeit of Christ and many people will follow him while wrongly assuming that they are following Christ.
Furthermore, speaking about the Antichrist in the lights of the Scripture is not a sin. Jesus spoke about him in Matthew 24:15.
Jesus spoke about many things. He spoke about the will of God, the love for people, the honor to our parents, his mission statement,faith , the end times and many other things and He spoke about the Antichrist.
If we claim to be focused on Jesus, we will also speak about all the things that Jesus spoke about including the end times.
Not my cup of tea!
That excuse is often used to express either disgust or fear towards end times teachings.
God allowed for the ‘end times Scriptures’ to be included in the Bible as a warning to humanity. It is like the traffic warnings we see on the road when driving. Those warnings are not designed to irritate, scare or to make us vomit. On the contrary, those warnings are designed for our safety.
End times Scriptures are designed as a testimony FOR the church ( Ref: Revelation 22:16). End times Scriptures are not designed to be against the Church and therefore we should not be in fear when listening or reading an End times teaching.
Furthermore, when people state that End times teachings are not 'their cup of tea', they also apply selectiveness on what they want to hear from the Scriptures.
‘Teaching-selectiveness’ is an epidemic in this current body of Christ.
Some people want to hear about receiving but they don't want to hear about giving.
Some people want to hear about riches but they don't want to hear about working with their hands.
Some people want to hear about the gift of joy but they don't want to hear anything about sacrifice.
Some people want to hear about the rapture but they don't want to hear anything about the end times events that will precede the rapture.
Based on my personal experience, I can boldly say this: "It is very difficult to build a strong Christian life if you have a selective mindset when interacting with the Scriptures."
When a person acts in a very selective way towards End times Scriptures, it is also very likely that he/she acts in a selective manner on other Biblical subjects.
We have to embrace the whole Scripture.
The end times Scriptures can come across as scary especially when mentioning things such as the persecution, and so many other bad events. However, we should remember that as Christians, we have Hope and faith. The faith that states that: 'no matter what happens, God will be with us till eternity.