Christian Scoffers

We shouldn’t be surprised when we encounter Christians who don’t give any thought to the idea that Jesus could rapture us out of this world at any moment. Certainly most of Christendom is in this category. But since I continue to be surprised by such encounters, this topic merits further consideration…

I guess what surprises me the most is how professing Christians view God’s Word. Please note that I’m not making a judgment about a person’s relationship with God when I use the term “professing Christian.” But we can judge the actions and statements people make as to whether they reveal attitudes about how they regard God and His Word. We should expect garden variety pagans to ignore the idea that Jesus will soon return but professing Christians should be challenged when they express these same sentiments.

If God is Almighty as the Bible claims that He is, then He is powerful enough to accurately communicate the truth to us even using His flawed subjects as scribes. Now some will say that it is a circular argument to use the Bible to prove it’s veracity but these are the same who also dismiss all the extra biblical evidence supporting the truth of the Bible. Archeology consistently proves the historical accuracy of the Bible. And fulfilled prophecy proves that the Bible has to be from God. Those who don’t trouble themselves to check this out don’t really want to believe God’s Word.

Likewise professing Christians reveal that they really don’t believe God’s Word if they are not looking forward to “the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13, NKJ). False doctrine that considers the Rapture to be during or after the Tribulation does not help people look forward to Jesus returning. The Church is the Bride of Christ; what kind of bride does not look forward to her wedding day?

Christians are not immune to worldly materialistic perspectives. But the Apostle Paul called this a carnal mind that could only digest superficial spiritual milk and not the solid food of the deeper truths about God (1 Corinthians 3:1-2). Professing Christians who are not growing in their understanding of God need to question their relationship with Him; “because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be” (Romans 8:7).

Another reason we should not be surprised when we encounter Christians who ignore the fact that the Rapture could happen at any moment is that this itself is a sign of the times… “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). The very next verse explains that scoffing about the return of Jesus is ultimately a willful forgetting of the truths in God’s Word. This applies to both garden variety pagans and professing Christians.

It is a shame that Christians allow themselves to be satisfied with milk from God’s Word when they could be feasting on steak.