The Christ in Prophecy Journal

Tonight Matters: Bible Prophecy’s Surprisingly New Audience

MP3 PDF

Which group today seems to be the most receptive to the message of Bible prophecy?

On Wednesday, January 25th I was interviewed by hosts Matt Buff and Jim Fletcher of the Rapture Ready Radio show, broadcast over BlogTalkRadio. During the second hour of their two hour live show we talked about the growing interest in Bible prophecy, the importance of teaching the Creation, Lamb & Lion Ministries’ new ministry initiatives in reaching people for Christ, the top five questions every Christian should know, the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, and how Christians should respond to non-Christian candidates when it comes time to vote. Matt Buff also simultaneously chatted online with people listening to the show, taking questions from the audience.

Rapture Ready Radio

Surprise Response to Bible Prophecy

Jim Fletcher: Picking up on this theme of tying everything together based on Scripture, I’m actually reading a book by Oswald Allis called The Unity of Isaiah. Allis was a scholar at Princeton and Westminster many years ago. I know he would have had issues with Dispensationalism and wouldn’t have believed exactly as we do, but he affirmed the validity of predicted prophecy in the Bible.

Allis made a statement that I want to read about the apostasy and heresy that had already crept into the church in his time. He was talking specifically about the denial of prophecy first in seminaries and then in the pulpits around the country. He said, “Is it any wonder that they are tempted to leave Isaiah and many of the parts of the Bible severely alone? Is it any wonder that Bible study is not on the increase, but decidedly on the decrease in many circles in the Christian Church.” He wrote that 60 years ago!

I’m just amazed over the growing liberal influence in the Church. What do you find as you are dialoguing with people in speaking in times like this that are so uncertain and so scary for so many people, what kind of feedback are you getting about the Bible prophecy message? Are people enthusiastic? Are they not?

Nathan Jones: As the Church kind of snoozes about Bible prophecy and gets more and more scared to teach it, inversely we are seeing the secular world becoming more and more interested in it. Just look at all the movies like 2012 about the end of the world. Thank goodness the Left Behind series really brought Bible prophecy to a lot of secular readers who had never considered it before. So, there is I believe more than ever an interest in Bible prophecy, though maybe not from the Church itself, but certainly from unbelievers.

We are finding that prophecy being a gift for believers is attracting unbelievers to the Bible. Now, of course, we have to establish the Bible as God’s Word to them first, but people are really starting to take notice.

You guys at Rapture Ready Radio can probably concur with us that the more natural disasters happen the more people notice and exclaim, “Hey, wait, something’s going on!” They are taking notice of world events and then checking out our ministry’s teaching on Bible prophecy. It’s a rather strange kind of occurrence, for while a lot of ministries are hurting in this current economic environment, Bible prophecy ministries like ours are getting more and more interest in our message because people are starting to take notice of the craziness going on in the world around them. The end times signs are starting to make sense to them and they are getting scared, especially with the economy and the wars and rumors of wars that Jesus said in Matthew 24 would be coming the closer to His return. So, I would conclude that the interest in Bible prophecy, especially among unbelievers, is increasing exponentially.

Matt Buff: It really is. Bible prophecy has become a big interest. Sadly, we had a big fall-out from the Harold Camping ordeal and people were asking us questions about him, and then we have 2012 and FX is playing that horrible movie every single night. I wonder if they are going to play it every night? It is kind of like A Christmas Story, it’s always on FX, but with John Cusack.

Nathan Jones: I love what Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 3:11 where he talks about how God has set eternity in the human heart. So, no matter if you are the most dogmatic believer or the staunchest Atheist, there’s something inside of you that draws you to the eternal. People look to the future, whether they deny it like an Atheist or they embrace it but they’ve been given the wrong information like from Hinduism and Buddhism. Since God put eternity in our hearts, people are starting to respond to that tugging.

Unfortunately, some supposed Bible prophecy teachers are really messing it up, like Harold Camping for instance. There are a lot of nuts like him causing a lot of confusion, but that to me just reveals that Satan knows his time is short and he’s trying as hard as he can to scramble the airways of the Gospel message to confuse as many people as he can. That’s a sign of the end times.

In the next part of this Rapture Ready Radio interview, I will discuss some of Lamb & Lion’s latest initiatives in reaching people for Christ.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

RELATED ARTICLES

ABOUT AUTHOR View all posts Author Website

Dr. Nathan E. Jones

As the Internet Evangelist at Lamb & Lion Ministries, Nathan reaches out to the over 4.5 billion people accessible over the Internet with the Good News of Jesus Christ. He also co-hosts the ministry's television program Christ in Prophecy and podcast The Truth Will Set You Free.

18 CommentsLeave a Comment

  • I personally have not seen a rise in interest in Bible Prophecy, though book sales regarding prophetic subjects have risen right along with their secular counterpart, this at least does indicate people are searching for answers. As we know, we are currently living in a time of apostacy, a time when fables are more appealing to the masses rather than the truth!

    Whenever the Middle East begins to seethe, interest in Bible Prophecy peaks, yet as the rhetoric and chatter subside, so too the interest! There are more abundant sales among Nostradamus and Mayan prophecies (fables) then books on Biblical prophetic insights! Many Churches will ride the wave for a short time similar to the time in which the popular Left Behind series hit the box office, unfortunately if quickly fades as evidenced by the lack of any more prophetic productions produced by Cloud Ten!

    The scriptures also indicate that prophecy specifically related to the coming of the Lord will become a source of mocking, this is further indication that any perceived upswing in interest will unfortunately not last. It is similar to the common misconception held today that many believe in a coming revival for the Last Days, yet as already provided this is not scriptural, the truth reveals increased apostacy and wickedness!

    For those of you that want more proof, visit your local Christian Book Store and you will witness what high regard they have for Bible Prophecy in comparison to all the self help books or self adulation books such as "Your Best Life Now"! Somewhere in the back corner of the store you will find a small section dedicated to Bible Prophecy, this is also a very real observation of the current condition of the Church!

  • I am aware that RaptureReady.com boasts of being the most visited Bible Prophecy portal on the web and they would surely be correct in that boast, however not all these visits are for real interest, some visit as a source of mocking and derision!

    With a domain title that they possess it is not hard to see the numbers they are reaching, it would be interesting though if a poll was conducted! Perhaps Todd and Terry could put a poll on their site once their page is accessed requesting whether or not the visit was for mutual interest in Bible Prophecy or to have a good laugh! That would of course identify at least with a fair numbers evaluation!

  • I am so confident in the facts of Bible Prophecy I can boldly say that Iran and Syria will remain intact until the time of the Gog/Magog invasion as the Lord God is presently gathering many nations to Israel's northern border. At this time however, it is special operation forces being put in place prior to a full mobilization in measure according to the perceived movements of Western powers and their Sunni allies. I firmly believe that this invasion will take place in later March or early April of this year!

    The scriptures indicate that the Lord God gathers these forces against the borders of Israel, there is no indication at the time of their gathering that Iran is weakened or responding to a Western or Israeli attack. It would also appear that they are being gathered primarily along the northern borders of Israel yet strategic alliances, will also bring the North African and Western Sunni forces to the remaining borders of Israel. Once gathered in place in defense or opposition against Syria these forces will then turn their attention to a perceived common enemy (Israel).

    The truth will soon be revealed of that we can be sure!

  • @Rodney, my father is the sales rep between a publisher and the Christian book stores and he reports that these stores are buying Bible prophecy books like hotcakes.

    Todd and I compared statistics recently and L&L has 2/3's their traffic. Not so bad considering they had a website before most people knew what a website was.

  • Well it could be most individuals seeking to have their title published are also required by several publishers to purchase at least a thousand of their own books at a minimum, maybe that why there appears to be an uptick in numbers. There are several books hitting the market covering the same subject with only title variances. If each author had to purchase a thousand of their own books, it would falsely appear that interest has peaked!

  • Rodney said “…The scriptures also indicate that prophecy specifically related to the coming of the Lord will become a source of mocking…”

    Yes indeed, but from my personal experience, all the ‘mocking’ comes from the ‘church’; from those who think Jesus is now ruling the Kingdom from David’s throne in heaven. For them, who are supposedly ‘building the kingdom’ for Jesus right now, prophecy about the future coming kingdom, and all associated with it seems ridiculous, hence the mockery.

    Yet with the world, the mere mention of ‘prophecy’ peaks their interest immediately. Without them speaking a word it shows in their eyes. Recently, while waiting for the completion of my husbands operation in hospital, I had a long witness with a couple of the same age (old)

    They know only too well that things are dicey both here and abroad, they even mentioned Nostradamus, but quickly agreed it was far fetched nonsense. Yet God’s own prophecies written thousands of years ago did catch their interest. The only thing they did laugh at was my mention of the resurrection – until I replied with a smile ‘Then you have a very big surprise awaiting you’. They asked me to repeat myself, and the looks on their faces was evidence enough that they were definitely made to think.

    It is my expectation that one day, given the right circumstances, that couple will recall the prophecies and make an all important decision for Jesus. They aren’t the only ones by a long chalk.

    Little snippets of Biblical prophecy often occur within the secular media, half joking, half serious, peeps are thinking.

  • In the only bookstore that I occassionally visit (Barnes & Noble) you will find maybe 1, 2 if your lucky, books by Hal Lindsey. None by Dr. Reagan. A few by Tim LaHaye.

    Most are of the "lost" gospels or gnostic gospels or gospels according to The Simpsons or the used car salesman types like Joel Osteen, etc. There are a lot of new age books, too.

    I gotta say at least from a secular book store perspective, I'd say Rodney is right. The interest is not in serious, Biblically sound end times prophecy material.

  • Billy6 is just plain old Billy.

    Sometimes I type too fast for my own good.

    I noticed in the L&L letter I just got, there was bragging about "the eagle-eyed proof readers".

    Isn't proofreaders one word?

  • Billy6 is just plain Billy.

    Sometimes I type too fast for my own good.

    I just got a letter from L&L bragging about their "eagle-eyed proof readers".

    Isn't proofreaders one word?

    🙂 I actually sometimes take pleasure in mistakes (mine and others)…it reminds us no one in the world is perfect.

  • "Proofreader" can be spelled "Proof Reader" according to Dictionary.com.

    Authors are only required to buy their own books when one self publishes because they're also distributing themselves. Dr. Reagan self publishes all but two of his books, and that's why we don't usually see them in the Christian bookstores. We're working on getting them all on Amazon as e-books, though.

  • It was at dictionary.com that I found proofreader to be 1 word.

    Oh well, in any case, still, no one is perfect and our mistakes (even spelling errors) help to remind us of taht 🙂

  • @Billy, look it up both ways on Dictionary.com. I checked with our proofreader and she said the same thing. It would be ironic if we mispelled that word of all words, though. LOL!

  • @Nathan (there…an "@")

    I know both ways are correct now. I looked it up just one way. I've never caught any mistakes in L&L "stuff" to this point (since your correction of me) so your proofreaders/proof readers are purdy darn good!!!

    Wish I could say the same for me.

  • Billy,
    Don't succumb to the Dark Side of the Farce!! I know you can resist the "@" symbol and it will flee from you!

    "At you" has NEVER, EVER been a way of addressing our Brothers & Sisters in Christ on this forum before.

    Nathan, for some ungodly reason, would like us to "step down" [entropy-in-action, AKA degenerate] into this less-than genteel, "Hip-hop" manner of addressing one another!

    I think Susie said "…Nathan just thinks he's all cool now…… us ol folk just cant keep up! O …."

    Even Billy said I will never use the @ symbol!!! […before he backslid a little bit…]
    ;-D

    —-

    Please Nathan, by all means, keep it on those other venues, if that's their flavor, but since **YOU** are really the only one here who keeps posting the @kk! @kk! @kk! – "Mars Attacks" speak at us, apparently trying out yer New Years resolution on us, maybe it's just me, but I don't think the rest of us abide it either.

    It just does NOT seem to fit in with the continuing, friendly demeanor that this forum has always had before, **and** you simply don't a real, justifiable, "Christian" reason for foisting that on us!

    …And then again, just maybe some of the young'uns will see and pick up on a little bit of "polite conversation" instead…
    😉

    BTW, in "Mars Attacks" -what was the old Country & Western yodeling song that makes Martian heads explode?

  • DrNoFog

    Love your comment as I love Mars Attacks!

    No more @ for me!

    Unfortunately, every time I see "@" from now on "@kk! @akk!" is going to reverbiate through my mind.

    And if, indeed, the "@" is a hip hop thing then I truly like it even less now!

    (btw…is anyone else having a hard time reading the new word verification codes?)

LEAVE A REPLY

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *