​51. Wars and Rumors of Wars

If you’ve been anywhere near the internet, apparently this planet is going to explode any moment now.

There are so many Christian “prophets” on YouTube, clanging their invisible cymbals and wailing how the end is coming.

Well, of course it is. The end started the moment Christ returned to the heavens.

But I get it. There’s this great need to sensationalize everything that’s going on in the world because it is a big deal. There’s death, disease, and cancel culture (which I could argue is perhaps our deadliest weapon at the moment) and violence in the streets.

Violence in our hearts.

But friends, we’ve just gotten started.

In Matthew 24:6-13, Jesus talks about how there will be wars and rumors of wars. That such things will happen but the end is still to come. Famines, earthquakes?

These are only the beginning of the birth pains.

A friend sent me a YouTube video of a preacher “prophesying” that the Chinese and Russian governments were going to storm the streets and take over our government.

That was due to happen in December of last year. Insert eye roll emoji here.

Look, the reason this kind of behavior royally irks me is two-fold:

1. Nobody seems to know what Biblical prophecy actually is anymore.

2. It’s a distraction that breeds fear and deters us from spreading the Gospel, which is our only REAL job.

Prophecy isn’t future predictions. Prophecy is discerning communication with the Father that (hopefully) brings heart change in the PRESENT.

The now is where our hearts reside. The now is where we can find change.

But we have to look beyond the wars and rumors of wars and turn our eyes to the God of the universe, the cosmos. He is far greater than watered-down predictions and fear-mongering behavior.

He is the steady path beneath timid feet. So let’s let go of false prophecy and find the truth of this life in Scripture instead.