As Christians ponder whether America is experiencing revival, apologist Frank Turek is digging a bit deeper, noting it’s essential people don’t just get “spiritual renewal but [that] they become disciples.”
He also addressed some of the confusion and date-setting that sometimes arises in theological discussions about the end times.
“How do you make disciples? How do you make people that actually follow Jesus — not just people that say, ‘I got fire insurance, I’m going to heaven?’” he said. “Jesus didn’t say, ‘Come make believers.’ He said, ‘Come make disciples.’ And that means carrying your cross, and doing things that you might not normally want to do. It means denying yourself and following Him, and that’s hard.”
With so much spiritual activity underway, Turek was asked whether it’s possible for both chaos and renewal to occur in America at the same time. This conversation gets especially interesting when it comes to speculation about the end times.
“I would venture to say that no one knows when Jesus is coming back, and my source on that is Jesus,” he said. “When people keep saying, ‘Oh, yeah, I know He’s coming back. Oh, things are getting worse. It’s going to happen’ … I say, ‘Hold, hold, hold on. Jesus said no one knows the day, the hour, the times, nor the season. I’m coming like a thief in the night.’”
Turek’s point is that no one knows when Jesus will return, and he believes that end-times specifics are “veiled for a reason.”
Just like Jesus’ first coming, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2 that if these things were known, that the forces of this world never would have crucified the Lord of glory,” he said. “When you look back on Old Testament prophecy in the light of the New Testament, you go, ‘Oh, now I see how all these passages fit together. But looking forward, if you’re in the Old Testament, you don’t really know this is going to happen.”
He continued, “And if Satan knew that murdering Jesus was actually Satan’s defeat, he never would have instigated it. And so the Lord kept that message coming veiled for a reason.”
Turek said not knowing the day and hour also prevents people from assuming they have time, living however they choose, and then simply planning to “repent at the last minute.”
The apologist encouraged people to spend more time ensuring others learn about Jesus. While it’s unclear when Christ will return, it’s a guarantee that most people alive today will die within the next 100 years.
“You know your life’s going to end here on earth,” Turek said. “You better deal with that … instead of worrying about when He’s going to come to end the whole show.”
He also spoke about the importance of not just telling people to believe but showing them why Christianity is true.
“I mean, why should you be a Christian and not an atheist, or a Muslim, or Hindu, or a Buddhist, or make up your own world religion or your own personal religion like so many people do today?” Turek said. “The reason you ought to be a Christian is because it’s true, because there’s evidence that God exists, that Jesus rose from the dead, that the Bible is telling the truth, that you’re a fallen human being.”
