OPINION (PNW) – According to Lifeway Research, many pastors are apparently having an “aha” moment due to the tide of our times. It’s about time. I am now hope-filled. They are seeing current events today as things the Bible forecast for the end-of-days. But I maintain their pulpits could still be silent.

Let’s be optimistic. When real church resumes, the pulpits will boldly announce that we are in the last days and Jesus is coming soon. Get your houses in order! Darrell Bock, New Testament professor at Dallas Seminary, noted that the Bible has several lists of potential signs of Jesus’ return, such as the Olivet Discourse passages, and some include concepts of global sickness. These are Tribulation references.

“Numerous biblical texts speak of disturbances in the creation that disorient and trouble people,” said Bock. “These disturbances have quite a range with earthquakes and wars being the most common. Jesus mentions plagues or pestilence explicitly in Luke 21.”


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Three out of four pastors in the survey have noted that world and church events have meaning today. They include the rise in apostasy, the love of believers growing cold, the decline in traditional morals, national conflicts, natural disasters, famines, and even the rise in anti-Semitism. Even if they are Tribulation events, they are casting a shadow on the Church Age.

So is a new day in the church approaching thanks to some kind of a wake-up call? Almost 25 years ago, the church-growth movement said teaching any kind of eschatology would not grow the church.

Pastors were encouraged to keep quiet about the soon return of the Lord. Pastor Rick Warren even said in his Purpose Driven Life book that teaching Bible prophecy would distract you from your purpose and make you unfit for the Kingdom of God. Pastors listened to him! READ MORE