How Convenient

I had a conversation over the weekend where I was encouraged to spend time studying the arguments of Bible prophecy scoffers. While I agree that effective apologetics requires that we should know the objections people have to a literal interpretation of God's Word, I consider it a waste of time to really "study" their arguments in detail. Just as it is much more efficient to train bank tellers to recognize the characteristics of legitimate cash rather than all the known indicators of counterfeit money, I'd rather spend my quality time studying what God has said.

I commented that the growth of skeptics about God's Word today is actually a prophetic sign of the age we are living in: "Scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation" (2 Peter 3:3-4, NKJ). The dismissive response I got to this was, "how convenient!"

When Bible prophecy is fulfilled, it is beyond coincidence but God does it in such a way that scoffers have latitude to continue believing that no miracle took place at all. When people do not really believe that God is Almighty and in control of the very molecular forces that make up our universe (Hebrews 1:3), they discount fulfilment of Bible prophecy through natural means. But this is the usual way God works because He is indeed in control of our world despite the appearance that things are out of control.

Even the greatest future supernatural event in the history of the church will have some sort of natural explanation that will allow scoffers to dismiss it. Concerning the reaction of people following the Rapture of the Church 2 Thessalonians 2:11 says, "God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie" (NKJ). Once a person has made up their mind to take their own way instead of the path to God, He honors that decision by giving them plenty of latitude to embrace alternative explanations.

A little skepticism can be healthy if it is accompanied by a genuine desire to know the truth along with due diligence in seeking the truth but it is dangerous to allow oneself to be saturated in the doctrines of those who have hardened their hearts against God. "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful..." (Psalm 1:1, NKJ).