THE TRUTH ABOUT END TIMES ESCHATOLOGY || RUMORS OF WARS, MARK OF THE BEAST, AND SCORPIONS WITH RICH SCHMIDT

Have you ever been intimidated by the book of Revelation or confused by the contents of what appears to be the foretelling of an ancient horror story? Wars, beasts, and scorpions just to name a few of the dauntingly dramatic scenes. Theologians have argued the meaning behind the book and Believers wrestled with the question, “What are we supposed to do with this?” since the first century. 

One of the most mysterious subjects in the Bible is eschatology - the study of the end times. If you are like me, you grew up in the Jesus Movement where it was taught that you should prepare yourself for the rapture because Jesus was expected to return tomorrow. Like much of the modern Church, rather than standing in joyful expectation and victorious faith, for thousands of years Believers have lived in fear and uncertainty regarding these mystical predictions and theological thoughts, leaving many to simply disregard and ignore any thought regarding the end times. However, I’d propose that what you believe about the end times is more influential to your current day than you might think. Because what you believe about the end will determine how you live in the middle. 

My good friend and Lead Bible instructor at Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry, Rich Schmidt, points out that in many European and Spanish countries, the main center squares feature beautiful cathedrals that took hundreds of years to build. Now you may be wondering how the length of time it took to build a cathedral has anything to do with eschatology. Well, I’d like to suggest that you would not start a project you did not think you’d be around to complete. In the Western Church, we have adopted a mindset that seeps into the seams of our lives and the depths of our decisions - creating a cycle of continued fear around technology, politics, and long-term thinking. 

In this week’s Cultural Catalysts episode, Rich unpacks some key fears and concepts that have crippled the Church for centuries, bringing hope and truth to eschatology.