Scoffing has hit a whole new level but be of good cheer, it means the hour is very late.

If you have perused headlines recently, or watched a TV news hour, you are stunned at what’s going on. I am every morning as I post headlines here. I let them sink in and I shake my head. When has the world been in this much chaos? When have people been this unhappy, confused, addicted, pagan, angry and tuned out?

So Hollywood is making the apocalypse a joke in two movies:This is the End and Rapture Palooza. The latter features a scene where Jesus is blown out of the sky as He returns in His Second Coming. It doesn’t get any more outrageous. (What if a movie shot Mohammed or Allah out of the sky?!) And one movie critic states, “Satan, God, and Jesus are ultimately killed, leaving non-believers to live in peace.”

Well, not quite because that’s not the way it will happen. And if “the end” plays out sooner rather than later, the producers of such nonsense will not be laughing for long.

Sadly, it’s not just the pagans doing the mocking and scoffing, however. Many Christians, churches, and even entire denominations have similar attitudes. And while they are hardly as offensive, the end result is similar.

When Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life came in years ago, I was turned off by his scoffing at the Lord’s return and the topic of prophecy. On pages 285-286, he suggested that Jesus said His return was none of our business.

Excuse me. It’s almost one-third of the Bible! Warren suggests that considering it might get in the way of our purpose.

Two things define eschatology in the church today: Ignorance or apathy. People will tell you it will all play out as it is predicted but in the meantime, enjoy life. Or church leaders will tell you it is divisive and controversial.  This is just another manner of scoffing. It’s nowhere near as offensive as the above-referenced Hollywood movies, but the result is the same. There is a giant turn-off.

We scoff at eschatology (Bible prophecy) by ignoring the warnings that are a part of it. Haven’t you heard: All of the previous warnings have been false alarms so why should we pay attention to any of them now? Jesus will get here when He gets here. Settle down. What’s there to get so excited about? You end-time people are so negative! The sky is always falling for you people. Come on. Beasts coming out of the sea, plagues, famines, hail and an evil man called the Antichrist.  Can we move on to good news? The stock market is doing super well!  Don’t talk to me about bad times and rough sailing ahead!  My 401K has never done better.

We scoff with our apathy. Our unbelief. Our doubt. Our skepticism. Our boredom of the topic. Our disgust.  Our prophecy fatigue.  We’ve heard this story over and over since Hal Lindsey made the complicated plain over 40 years ago. No, we aren’t radicals like the producers of the sickening films mentioned who literally glorify the Antichrist and assassinate Jesus Christ in their productions.

But we are still scoffers. And we are oh so busy. We are running to and fro and we are trying to keep our ducks in a row and some day when they are all lined up perfectly, we’ll sit down and ponder His return. Maybe happy days will be here again this side of Heaven!

We go to marriage seminars, financial seminars, how to manage kids’ seminars but please spare us from an end-time focus. Boring. Depressing. Scary. We want to go to Heaven some day but maybe not right now!

One reviewer says about the This is The End flick, “When the apocalypse literally sets the world on fire, and the good people ascend to heaven while the not-so-good people are destroyed in gruesome fashion, one young star is stunned to learn there really is an afterlife, and a God, and all that.” The movie actually has an “aha moment.” It resonates with some truth although it was likely unintended.

But that comment says it all. Some day wicked mankind will realize that what the Bible predicted actually will happen and there will be consequences. There is a surprise ending for the unsuspecting.

Life on earth during the very end-of-days won’t be a series of silly escapades as portrayed in the Rapture Palooza andThis is The End movies.

In one of them, the Rapture happened and millions are left to cope with plagues of trash-talking locusts, foul-mouthed crows, rains of blood, and fiery rocks from the sky, all preparations for the return of Jesus. The cast can relish in the fact that the world is a lot less crowded but the fact is, when this day actually transpires, no one left behind will even have a smile on their face.

The Bible contains detailed prophecies about the end times we are living in, and there is just no way to fully understand much of what is happening today apart from those prophecies.  From the meltdown in Egypt to the surveillance of Americans who thought they were safe and secure, only an end-of-days scenario can connect the dots and make things make perfect sense.

We can scoff at the scoffers and hold our heads high as we look up. We have the most marvelous news known to man. The King is coming and no cannon will shoot Him out of the sky!

He’ll be here right on time. It will be in God’s timing and not ours.

Excuse me while I rant. I think Bible prophecy gets a bad rap.  I think that those of us who long for Jesus’ return are marginalized in the church today. I even think there is a war on Bible prophecy starting in our seminaries. The carnage is played out in our churches that across-the-board stay away from the subject. The fact that the King is coming is seen as bad news to many because the event is shrouded in the world’s bad news.

But my perplexity goes beyond this. As a ministry, we have asked ourselves just how we can get the under age 45 crowd out to our events. Todd Strandberg of Rapture Ready writes about this as well. He says, “Every time I go to a prophecy conference, I can’t help but notice the sea of gray hair in the main meeting room. A few years back, at a conference in South Carolina, there wasn’t a single person under age 50 — and we had over 500 people in attendance.”

Strandberg concludes, “I’m very concerned about the state of leadership in the field of prophecy. I’m 47, and I am a spring chicken when compared to the ages of my peers.”

So I threw the dilemma out to my radio listeners this past weekend. I asked that if they were of the “younger generation,” and loved the topic of eschatology (end-times), would you please send me a note? I cannot say that I am inundated! I’ve had less than a dozen replies thus far. Here are a few examples.

Nick is 27 and writes, “I’m very concerned with the young generation. We are moving into the ‘end times’ at such a rapid rate and this young generation is in a coma.” Those are his words, not mine! I am certain that not every young person is in that condition. /span>

Mike is 34 and writes, “You asked on your program today for young people to let you know if end-time prophecy is an issue. End-time prophecy is not AN issue, it is THE issue. You can look at it as I do as the blessed hope or you can look at it as frightening.”

Ashley writes, “I am completely enthralled about learning about end times and how events in our world are carrying us closer to the return of our King. It thrills me!! Most of my (young) friends know nothing about it and have little desire to learn. They say it scares them. Personally though, I am filled with hope that we could be caught up with Jesus and not have to taste death. I can’t wait to meet Jesus face to face!”

Russ, who is 32, writes, “It is surprising to me that there are so many people I have tried to talk to about prophecy who have brushed me off by saying that they consider it ‘doomsday talk.’ It is difficult to get anyone to even talk about it. Even my own family doesn’t want to hear about it and this includes all ages.”

Jenni writes, “I am 37 and want you to know that we ARE out here! I also thought I’d let you know that my 14 year old daughter is also just as interested in both the Rapture and end-time prophecy, and has become quite a missionary for Christ! One of our other favorite sites is Rapture Ready. Thanks for having Terry James on.”

Leah made my day by writing, “I see a real remnant among the church here in our military community who are actively searching Bible prophecy and discussing end-time things. We belong to a Bible study and I have personally had many conversations with some of the 30+ folks that attend, mostly the other young moms, and am surprised at how many of us really are feeling the urgency in the air. Many of us have taken our kids out of public school and are homeschooling in order to get our kids grounded in God’s Word so that they can take a stand in their faith, whatever comes. Your broadcast has helped us to ask important questions about our times and what our stance should be. THANK YOU! Take heart, the next generation does, indeed, have a remnant that is awake, listening and watching for Christ’s return. God Bless!”

These few replies out of a potential audience of millions, tells methere is a problem. I am told that younger people want to “live out their life.” This world is not our home and I thought we didn’t WANT it to be our home. This is the home of the Antichrist and everything evil. If I am off base here, I am hoping folks will tell me so!

Another e-mail emphasizes how terrified young mothers are concerning our times. They simply interpret all current/prophetic events as doom and gloom. Their world and their families must not be touched. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. A sanitized world!

Then there are the mockers. Grant writes to me saying,

“An early 30’s pastor friend of mine I brought to your conference 2 years ago openly scoffed at what was said and argued against a lot of it when I tried to show him the realities of what is happening in this world today. I don’t have a lot of people to discuss these topics with.”

Eschatology spells out the devil’s demise and thus he is putting up a war against it. So the world asks — and scoffs, “Where is the promise of His coming?” just as the Bible predicted in II Peter 3:4. Don’t bother me with this info. Don’t depress me with it. Don’t enlighten me with it. Don’t bore me with it!

God has asked us to be His ambassadors in this depraved world. He asks us to stand for truth; to be light in the dark; to be salt in a world that is decaying. He asks us to distribute hope.

When you review all the road signs of the Olivet Discourse, Jesus was giving us some warnings, not to scare us, but to prepare us. A loving God keeps us informed on the days prior to the era of Antichrist. The warning is not to give in or to give up, but to endure.

Whether anybody gets excited about it or not, Jesus is coming again and soon. Whether those who are excited about that are young, middle age, or old, is irrelevant. His coming will be right on time. Then the final days will play out exactly as the Bible outlines. It’s a sure thing that those days will be frightful.

Let’s prepare ourselves for perilous times. We’re in them. The signs of the times are screaming at us! As a headline reads that I posted to our Web site headlines early today, “The Rapidity With Which the World Is Descending Into Chaos Is Amazing.”

That is why God’s end-time promises are so important and why it is tragic that they are now marginalized.