Editor’s note: This article was first published on Feb. 11, 2025, and is republished here verbatim April 7, 2026. The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It…
Why a theology focused only on the future is bad for the present
One of the key differences I’ve noticed between the United Methodist Church and the religion in which I was raised is the focus on now versus later — “later” being heaven, the afterlife, eternity. The theology of the UMC (or…
End times obsessions: Why John’s Revelation is worth the trouble
Historically, a feature that often shows up for some people during troubled eras is an increasing obsession with predictions regarding the “end times,” or events surrounding the end of the world. In our current difficulties and hard times, this concern…
Linking War on Iran to the End Times, Netanyahu’s ‘Rational Actor’ Mask Has Fallen
Shortly after the first U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran, a report went viral alleging that a commanding officer had told U.S. troops that this was a war “to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon.” Although the report has…
Are US military commanders really talking about Armageddon?
Are U.S. military commanders really telling the soldiers fighting in Iran that President Donald Trump has been “anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth”? In a piece published…
Mike Huckabee Tries to Get this Apocalypse Started
Last week, US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee spoke at a Christian Zionist church in Jerusalem, whose unambiguous purpose is to convert Israeli Jews to belief in Jesus in order to bring about the End Times.
It Makes Sense That People See A.I. as God
Hark! A sign of the End Times. No, not the Four Horsemen, nor a black sun, nor the resurrection of the dead. The omen that the rapture is upon us is none other than artificial intelligence.
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee Spoke at a Conference Designed to Convert Jews and Hasten End Times
Last week, US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee spoke at a Christian Zionist church in Jerusalem, whose unambiguous purpose is to convert Israeli Jews to belief in Jesus in order to bring about the End Times.
Another year, another apocalyptic prediction
Recent days have once again seen a flurry of speculations regarding the return of Christ in what is commonly referred to as the “rapture” or the parousia. A message has been rapidly spreading through social media suggesting the rapture is…
The religious and political legacy of Hal Lindsey: False prophet of the apocalypse
Hal Lindsey moved prophecy belief from the fringe of evangelical Christianity to the center of American culture for almost two decades. The Late Great Planet Earth, a dispensationalist popularization of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, the rapture, the Antichrist…
The sad consequences of the end times theology and entertainment of my youth
When I was growing up in a Baptist church, I was fascinated with end times theology. It was not until later in life that I realized how ahistorical and unscholarly most of that theology was. I read the Left Behind…
Growing Christian movement prioritizes end times focus over U.S. ideals, scholar says
A movement of charismatic Christians that ignores American exceptionalism and embraces “eschatological Israel” is gaining influence in the United States and abroad, observed American religious historian Leah Payne. In a recent address at Baptist Seminary of Kentucky, Payne said this…