Prophecy and End-Times Are Not Dirty Words by Jake McCandless

I’m sane.

I don’t even have a tin-foil hat.

I rarely can even find foil when I need it in the kitchen.

But I did leave the realm of a normal pastorate to write and speak full-time on end-time prophecy, and I find people don’t want to hear what I have to say. Many pastors and church leaders don’t want it shared in their church. I even have friends whispering—Jake’s gone crazy.

I get it. I have been there. As a pastor, I, too, worried about ruffling unnecessary feathers. And prophecy and end-time stuff can seem unnecessary especially when two-thousand years ago Jesus said He would come back soon. Obviously, God’s timing is much slower than ours. But still what the Bible does say has to go down sometime, our people need to know.

I also get that there are so many more immediate needs within our churches and culture, but still prophecy and the end-times are not dirty words. Especially when a quarter to even a third of the Bible includes it.

I also get that there has been some true tin-foil hat-wearers that have abused and are currently abusing the truth of prophecy and the end-times. How many times have we heard the rapture is going to happen on this day? Or so and so must be the Antichrist? But we have all been warned with the cliché, “Don’t let one or a thousand bad apples ruin the whole batch!”

Disaster Nebula Apocalypse Bumm End Time

I also get that there is a lack of consensus (to put it mildly) on the interpretation of Bible prophecy, but that surely doesn’t mean we throw the prophecy out with the bath water. On the contrary, we should be working harder to figure this stuff out.

And one more way that I get it. I get the question, “How do we know this Jake guy is right?” Well, we don’t. I don’t even know. I just know I am going to work just as hard as I do in exegesis of the text like I do in all texts, being careful to follow conservative, trusted methods interpretation.

(Photo credit to: MaxPixel.freegreatpicture.com-Disaster-Nebula-Apocalypse-Bumm-End-Time-22730 69)

The end-times and prophecy are not dirty words, nor are they a subject to avoid. Let me give you three reasons why.

1. End-time Prophecy Tells Us the Future, and Therefore Our Trajectory Now.

Think how awesome it is that we have an itinerary of the future in our hands. Christians, we are blessed—we can know how this maze of life shakes out. This should cause us to seek to know about the end-times. And regardless of where we are in the prophetic timeline, prophecy reveals the trajectory that we are on. The subject is relevant at any-time.

2. End-Time Prophecy is How God Proves Himself.

So much Bible prophecy has been fulfilled, and its fulfillment is remarkable. Somehow in God’s infinite wisdom He saw fit to prove Himself by foretelling what would happen, and then fulfilling it precisely. Listen to this passage in Isaiah:

 “Present your case,” says the Lord. “Set forth your arguments,” says Jacob’s King. “Bring in your idols to tell us what is going to happen. Tell us what the former things were, so that we may consider them and know their final outcome. Or declare to us the things to come, tell us what the future holds, so we may know that you are gods. Do something, whether good or bad, so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear. But you are less than nothing and your works are utterly worthless; he who chooses you is detestable. – Isaiah 41:21–24

3. End-time Prophecy Shows that We Don’t Fare to Well in the End-Times.

As confusing as it this sounds, this is the reason I am doing what I do. Bible prophecy does not just tell about political, military, or environmental events at the end, but also tells how we will be in terms of our faith and morality. Two warnings motivate me. The first is from Matthew 24:10, where it says many will turn away. This is talking to us. We need to prepare to hold-on. Secondly, I am motivated from a warning in 2 Thessalonians, where we read that there will be a great deception. We have to know the truth about the end-times so we won’t be deceived.

So, what does this have to do with writers because this is a site for writers?  Well, honestly, I was looking for a place to vent and give a shameless plug, but we can always find a moral to a story, so, how about—writers don’t be afraid of the haters keep on doing what God has called you to do. Man, that is good.

And for you who would like to brave and invite this non tin-foil wearing prophecy guy to your church check out my website www.prophecysimplified.com and contact my booking agent Cherrilynn Bisbano at Cherrilynn@seriouswriter.com. And I’d love to come to your church.

And writers, I really do have a point for you. We need to be rightly dividing the Bible even end-time prophecy and including it in our work.

Jake McCandless is the Executive Director and lead speaker for Prophecy Simplified. Jake is an award-winning author and writes for several publications. He has as Bachelor of Arts in Bible from Central Baptist College and a Master of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Previously, he spent twelve years at Mount Vernon (AR) Baptist Church as a lead pastor and directed a seminary extension center. Before that, Jake served as a student pastor and youth evangelist. Jake is married to Amanda. She’s an elementary school teacher. They have two daughters, Andrea and Addison. Jake enjoys time with family, ministry, hunting, bass fishing, coffee, and college football.