“Just Be Ready” – For What?

Some people say “There’s no reason to study all of this end-times stuff. As long as you’re ready you will be fine.” That sounds wise, but it is actually a very foolish thing to say. After all, what are you getting ready for? According to Preterism, Jesus came back thousands of years ago. According to Post-Tribulationalism, the Church is going to have to endure seven years of Hell-on-Earth. According to Dominionism, the Church is going to conquer the world with the gospel and usher in an age of peace. According to Pre-Tribulationalism, Jesus could return at any moment and remove the Church from the world. There is no such thing as “being ready” in a generic sense. Is Jesus going to come back soon, or is He going to come back in the distant future, or has Jesus already come back, or is He never going to come back at all? Is the Church going to conquer the world, or is the Church going to be removed from the world, or is the Church going to go through the worst period that the world has ever seen? If you don’t understand end-times prophecy and have no idea what is true and what is a lie then how could you possibly “be ready”?

Jesus said to be wary because many false Christs would come in His name. If you don’t know the truth then how can you tell a genuine Second Coming from a fake one? Do you know enough about the return of Christ to tell the genuine article apart from a fraud? If your knowledge of end-times prophecy is “I’m sure it will all pan out in the end”, then the answer to that question is no. People like Harold Camping have destroyed the lives of many people with false end-times prophecies precisely because those people did not understand what the Bible teaches. Other people have actually murdered their own children because they thought the Tribulation was starting and they wanted to save them. People’s lives have been utterly destroyed because they did not understand this subject and were led astray by false teachers. If you do not know the truth then you are open to being deceived by the next charlatan who comes along – and don’t think that it can’t happen to you. Just because you didn’t believe one lie doesn’t mean you won’t find the next one convincing.