Jonathan Brentner
Since COVID-19 lock downs began across the United States, I have heard several Bible-based messages intended to comfort the faithful. Many of them, however, failed to offer any real encouragement to me because they ignored or missed the prophetic context of the day in which we live.
I heard one pastor assure his online audience that life would someday return to normal. He later revealed that he did not believe in a literal tribulation or millennium, just a resurrection of believers in the distant future. His attempt at comforting my troubled soul disappeared in an instant. His message did not help at all the next morning when I awoke to more troubling news.
Another pastor sought to encourage his church with a message on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, but he did not mention the rapture. He read verse 17, but immediately contradicted its words by stating that all believers would eventually die. His attempt at encouragement fell flat with me, to say the least.
Besides the normal prophecy speakers that I listen to, I have only heard one pastor exclaim that our hope consisted solely in Jesus’ imminent return for us. I almost began cheering when I heard that.
By failing to mention the rapture and the tribulation that looms in our future, many pastors today repeat the error of the false prophets in Jeremiah’s day, “They have healed the wound of my people lightly, / saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ / when there is no peace” (Jer. 6:14). Because these prophets rejected God’s warning of the threat posed by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians, they offered superficial help and a vain hope of peace.
Today’s popular messages of comfort ignore what the Bible says is coming and thus leave believers uniformed of what’s at stake for them in the days ahead.
Why do many popular encouraging sermons fail to provide lasting hope?
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