PHOTO: Oksana, second from left, and Yevhen, right, talk with police officers next to their apartment building damaged by shelling in Irpin, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, April 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
“Jesus is coming back. And soon.” These words have been uttered for centuries by Christians who see certain world events as evidence of the impending rapture – the belief that living and dead believers in Jesus Christ will be taken up to heaven to be united with their Lord and Savior.
There’s even a listing called the “Rapture Ready Index” – which tracks how close the second coming of Christ could be based on a variety of world events.
The index claims to have two functions: to factor together a number of related end-time components into a cohesive indicator, and to standardize those components to eliminate the wide variance that currently exists with prophecy reporting.
A score of 100 and less represents slow prophetic activity, 100 to 130 is moderate prophetic activity, 130 to 160 is heavy prophetic activity and 160 means “fasten your seat belts.”
The all-time high score of 189 was reached on Oct. 10, 2016. The all-time low of 58 was recorded on Dec. 12, 1993.
Updated on April 11, the index now sits at 187 out of a possible 200 score.
The index, however, is careful to note that it is not a tool designed to predict when the rapture will happen, but “to measure the type of activity that could act as a precursor to the rapture.”
Despite the disclaimer, there are many evangelical Christians who use world events as evidence that Jesus is on his way back sooner than many in the world believe.
For Christians in this school of theology, Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the covid-19 pandemic, record inflation, increased food and oil prices and other current events are signs that Jesus’ return is near.
Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 74: Jamarlin Martin
Jamarlin returns for a new season of the GHOGH podcast to discuss Bitcoin, bubbles, and Biden. He talks about the risk factors for Bitcoin as an investment asset including origin risk, speculative market structure, regulatory, and environment. Are broader financial markets in a massive speculative bubble?
“When you have Christians who already think about how we’re living in the last days and they see the continual moral decline of America, they see the church being marginalized, it doesn’t take much to tip the scales,” Christian radio show host Michael Brown told The Washington Post. “Whenever Russia gets involved, it’s like, ‘Ah here it is, it’s the final conflict.’”
Recent statements made by evangelical Christian leaders underscore his point. Popular megachurch Pastor Greg Laurie told his parishioners the war in Ukraine has “prophetic significance.”
Pat Robertson, CEO of Regent University and chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), admonished people to “read your Bibles,” noting that Russian President Valdimir Putin was “being compelled by God” to invade Ukraine, noting his interpretation of prophecies in Ezekiel.
“I think you can say, ‘Well, Putin’s out of his mind.’ Yes, maybe so. But at the same time, he’s being compelled by God,” Robertson said, according to a Rolling Stone report. “God says, ‘I’m going to put hooks in your jaws and I’m going to draw you into this battle, whether you like it or not.’”
They are not alone in their sentiments. According to a 2010 poll by the Pew Research Center, 41 percent of Americans believe Jesus Christ is set to return – 23 percent say it’s definite and 18 percent say it is likely.
Of that number, 46 percent don’t believe He is likely to do so in the next 40 years. The numbers jumped significantly among white evangelical Christians.
“Fully 58% of white evangelical Christians say Christ will return to earth in this period, by far the highest percentage in any religious group,” the Pew poll states.
The Wheaton College Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals estimates that about 30 to 35 percent (90 to 100 million people) of the U.S. population is evangelical.
PHOTO: Oksana, second from left, and Yevhen, right, talk with police officers next to their apartment building damaged by shelling in Irpin, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, April 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
