Are you experiencing prophecy burn-out?
I expect many of us usually can’t get enough of prophecy updates and daily Middle East news. Many also thrive on the latest potential prophetic theory of Christ’s return to rapture us out of here, based on some new Blood Moon or other discovery.
I’ve watched my share of prophecy updates and regularly pass the links around to like-minded folk. Likewise I keep a close look at what’s happening in the Middle East because Israel is God’s timepiece for the Second-Advent. Yet to be honest, I find myself suffering the occasional burn-out trying to keep track of things.
Jan Markell posted an interesting article called End-Time Weariness: Haven’t We Waited Long Enough? She was largely focusing on scoffers when she wrote:
The malady goes by many names: End-time weariness; Rapture fatigue; Israel burn-out. The results are the same: The scoffers and skeptics are gaining too much territory and too many followers…The fact that the King is coming is boring and just old news.
There was the almost inevitable response from a non-pretrib blogger. He identified end-time weariness as a result of looking at the wrong signs, and false prognostications. According to him, the biblically right sign to watch for is the Abomination of Desolation. He added: ‘Interestingly, Jesus also didn’t mention a Mid-East Peace Covenant. This is also a “not sign.”’
Apparently it’s mainly the pretribber’s fault that there are so many skeptics and mockers. In fact non-premillennial skeptics will scoff regardless of your rapture position. John Calvin and Luther vehemently opposed premillennialism, all for the wrong reasons.
This fiction [premillennialism] is too puerile to need or to deserve refutation. Nor do they receive any countenance from the Apocalypse, from which it is known that they extracted a gloss for their error, (Rev 20:4) since the thousand years there mentioned refer not to the eternal blessedness of the Church, but only to the various troubles which await the Church militant in this world. ~ John Calvin
This was well before Hal Lindsey. So don’t go blaming the faithful Old Warhorse. I wouldn’t be surprised if many of his detractors end up calling him “Sir” in the Kingdom. You know – the same people who’ve suggested he should be stoned for being a “false pretrib prophet.”
It’s quite common for non-pretribulationalists to downplay the beginning of “the covenant” which the Antichrist eventually breaks. This dismissal likely relates to assumptions non-pretribbers bring regarding when the Man of Lawlessness is revealed. That’s another story.
Ironically, prophecy-loving non-pretribbers also look to the same pre Abomination-of-Desolation signs for Christ’s return. The only difference is that they believe Antichrist’s Great Tribulation precedes the rapture.
Over a decade ago a popular prewrath Prophecy Watcher campaigned on the basis that he discovered who the future Antichrist was; and when the 70th week was supposed to be inaugurated. He even asked Jack Kinsella and Hal Lindsey to put their names on the book he’d written. Burn-out was the eventual aftermath of that prognostic failure.
One thing’s sure, pretrib detractors never seem to suffer prophecy burn-out. Attacking pretribulationism appears to be the stimulant keeping them firing on all cylinders. They say they’re saving you from deception. I think they’re virtue-signaling.
But enough of tangential ax grinding. I’ve been thinking for a long time that sometimes we become so absorbed in End Times Watching that we allow it to throw us out of balance in our spiritual lives. We (me!) can suffer burn-out from compulsively spending time watching and speculating on breaking news.
Pastor Alistair Begg once observed that we should spend far more time reading God’s Word and praying than we do following news on Social Media. I don’t do that – do you? Does tracking events possibly related to prophecy dominate our lives?
Earlier on I mentioned passing prophecy links along to interested people. One of these is J. D. Farag’s weekly updates. In his August 5-2018 video-update Farag began by stating that: “the purpose of Bible Prophecy is to point us to the person of Jesus Christ.”
He went on to say that it was too easy to get so caught up with what’s happening around the world that we can lose sight of the Lord. In my opinion, it was one of his best presentations.
Paul’s tumultuous life gave him every reason for burn-out. Here’s what strengthened him:
I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Phil 4:12-13
As a premillennialist, I believe most of the Puritans had their eschatology wrong. The Reformation didn’t fix the error regarding the Church-Israel relationship, or the rejection of premillennialism.
However, they got a lot of other things right. Because of their strong focus on Christ’s gospel and heaven, they were able to endure the kinds of hardships most of us in the West aren’t currently experiencing. We need to be more like them.
Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. Col 3:1-2
Yes, we ought to be watching for the Lord’s coming as we see certain events surrounding Israel appear to line up. But it’s all a matter of finding the right focus and balance.
Maranatha!
Further reading:
Eight Reasons We Need the Puritans
How can I stay focused on Christ?
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