Understanding Our Times: Israel, War, and Prophesied Signs & Warnings

Host: Hon. Sam Rohrer

Guest: Dr. Carl Broggi

Note: This transcript is taken from a Stand in the Gap Today program aired on 4/1/26. To listen to the podcast, click HERE.

Disclaimer: While reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate transcription, the following is a representation of a mechanical transcription and as such, may not be a word for word transcript. Please listen to the audio version for any questions concerning the following dialogue.

Sam Rohrer:

Hello and welcome to this Wednesday edition of Stand in the Gap today. And it’s also our bimonthly emphasis on Israel, the Middle East and biblical prophecy. And in light of the expanding war in the Middle East and death and destruction, that always happens, it’s a given. So is the evident strategic and unstoppable collapse that I am seeing. I’ve done programs on this on the current financial and political economic order. A lot of things happening these days. The consequences of the war on the Middle East and the flow of energy by itself has already assured a change and an increase in US and global inflation, food shortages, its talk of the day, its coming, supply chain breakages, and a quickly approaching reset to digital currency worldwide as the days of the US dollar are being so greatly challenged and the nations of the world are working hard to jettison a separation between what they are doing and their view of the world and the way that it has been.

Biblically prophesied alliances of nations are crystallizing before our eyes. Jerusalem is becoming a burdensome stone for all nations and like it or not, all eyes are on the Middle East with Israel and the Jewish people becoming more and more despised. But for those of us who know biblical prophecy and we fear God and know God’s word, what is confusing and out of focus to the world is not so disturbing, but actually confirming and coming into focus more every day. Today I’m glad to have back with me returning guest Dr. Carl Broggi, Pastor Carl Broggi, senior pastor of Community Bible Church in Beaufort, South Carolina. He also hosts his own radio program entitled Search The Scriptures and they have a website at searchthescriptures.org. And I know many of you have visited that already and I’ll give that again during the program. The title I’ve chosen to frame our focus and conversation today is this, Understanding Our Times: Israel, War, and Prophesied Signs and Warnings.

And that’s the particular focus of it today. But Carl, welcome back to the program. Always thrilled to have you back here.

Carl Broggi:

Sam, thank you so much for having me. While these are such critical days that we’re living in, I don’t believe in newspaper exit Jesus, but you can hardly watch the news and not be aware of what’s happening.

Sam Rohrer:

And Carl, but that’s a choice and that’s what we’re going to talk about today because a lot of folks either can’t do that, don’t do that, don’t know how to do that. And we’re not getting any hope by the world’s system to do that, that’s for sure. So let me get into this as we set up today’s program, because we are in days of deception. We know that we’ve talked about it, the media, politics, global events, often and so much of it is pure theater. The goal of the world and the world system we know is not to drive people to look to God and to Jesus Christ, but to deceive people into a way of thinking that will actually prepare them to embrace the false gods of government and technology and pursue the gods of greed and corruption and all of that. And ultimately to be ready to receive the antichrist, the counterfeit Christ himself when he arises.

But we as believers, remnant believers, Carl, I know, and we’ll talk about it here, we’re not to be among that number. We’re to be clear-minded, living holy, lamps trimmed, filled with the Holy Spirit. And so today I want us to look at what we know from scripture that tells us about signs of our times, the warnings about our times and the attitudes and the actions we should be exhibiting. So let me get right into this with this first question. While we’ve done it before on this program and you do it routinely with your church family, I think it’s important for us all to be reminded of it again. And that is this. What is the purpose for biblical prophecy, the purpose for prophesied signs and warnings that we’re going to build out today that we find in scripture and why Jesus wants us as remnant believers to filter all that we see around us in light of what he has told us.

Carl Broggi:

Well, Sam, among other things, I think God just wants us to know that he’s in charge. We’re living in perilous times that the scripture predicted would come upon the end of the age. And when we study prophecy, it reminds us that God is in control of history. And I’d love to quote Isaiah 46 where the Lord says, “I am God. There’s no one else like me. I declare the end from the beginning.” And he’ll go on to say that he’ll accomplish his good pleasure. In other words, when we know, when we’re biblically informed that the events that we’re seeing in our world are not random, God is sovereign. He’s on his throne. He’s not ringing his hands in heaven. We can rest in a sovereign God. And prophecies, we often define it on this program as history written before it happens. And so on the one hand, we know the Bible is true and that it’s alive, it’s sharper than a two-edged sword.

And so people who have never even studied prophecy innately know the reliability of scripture. But when you see prophecy, it lends us to a firmer belief that God is in charge. I remember in this passion week that we’re in, in John 13 when Jesus spoke of Judas’s betrayal, he foretold it, he quoted it. And then he said to his men, “When it happens, you may believe that I am he. ” In other words, I’ve told you in advance. And so prophecy gives us a sense of assurance that God is in charge. It warns us of coming judgment. When Noah built an arc for over a hundred years, he was a preacher of righteousness. The New Testament teaches. God was sending a warning and God is sending warnings in our day. And so Jesus said that when we study prophecy, it teaches us to be on the alert, we’re to be watching, we’re to be waiting, we’re not to be asleep, we’re to be awake, we’re not to be naive, we’re to be discerning.

And it helps us to really filter the things that we’re seeing in this world. We can interpret the events of the world without becoming upset, but without prophecy, it feels like these are chaotic times. It feels like everything’s out of control. And without prophecy, fear can begin to dominate even a believer’s heart. Deception can overtake us. False hope where we put our faith in man, the government, our president, our military, to fix the world problem. And I’m not saying we should sit on our hands and do nothing, but our hope needs to be in the Lord. And when we study prophecy, it changes our life. It causes us to focus not just on the here and now, but that our citizenship is in heaven. And while we’re here on earth, we’re to purify ourselves as he’s pure.

Sam Rohrer:

All right. Excuse me. And with that, Carl, that is great. That sets us up. And as you’ve said, and we say before, a lot of prophecy, it’s not given to, as you say so often, scare us, but to prepare us. As you say, you’ll be able to filter that which we see around us so that it does not make us fearful, but it actually should make us ladies and gentlemen more faithful. So all of that being the case, that’s the beginning of the program today, but the hope is to take what scripture tells us. And we’ll get into this matter of signs, signs and warnings. Disciples wanted to know signs. Pharisees wanted to know signs. They had different reasons for wanting to know them. Jesus responded to them all. So we’re going to talk about that in the next segment and which ones I’m going to ask Dr. Carl Broggi to identify the ones that would be perhaps most applicable, most pertinent, most relevant for our very day.

Well, if you’re just joining us today, this is our bimonthly emphasis on Israel, the Middle East and biblical prophecy. And of course, there’s so much happening in the Middle East, as we all know, and it can be approached from just a number of directions, from political analysis to economic analysis, to geopolitical, to international, anywhere you want to look at it because what is taking place there in the Middle East is impacting the entire globe and there is no better place to go, which is where we’re going today than to look at what’s happening from the standpoint of what the scriptures say. My special guest, Dr. Carl Broggi, is with me generally once a month on this program. And I know many, many of you have expressed your appreciation for him and for the programs that we do together. And he has a website at searchthscriptures.org.

Searchthescriptures.org. There’s a lot of information there that you can pick up. I’ll give that again. Our theme is this, understanding our times, Israel, war and prophesied signs and warning. Now, throughout scripture, I mentioned earlier, there are many references to signs. In some cases, when Jesus’ disciples ask him to tell them, “What is the sign of thy coming?” Referring to a second coming. He answered them such as recorded in Matthew chapter 24 and Luke 21, but there are other things related to what will come about. The entire book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, the Book of Revelation is about that. And there are passages in the Old Testament and Daniel and other places, many places, yet Jesus and he responded to them and he responded to those requests. But there were times that Jesus condemned others like the Pharisees and other rebellious people for always demanding a sign.

Why? Well, because these folks really weren’t serious about the truth since Jesus Christ, the very son of God was standing right in front of them and they wouldn’t believe it. And so in some respects, signs have their purpose. They really do have their purpose and they mean something, but only when our eyes are open and our heart is right before God. So Carl, let’s get right into this because I’d like to have a delineation. What does scripture indicate sign wise that would be reflective and applicable to the days in which we live about which we should be aware and look for and through which then we can filter what we see around us? Can you just go down through and list as many of the ones you think are the most pertinent?

Carl Broggi:

Yeah. I think what we’re seeing today, Sam, is what I’d call a convergence of signs. In other words, a number of categories of prophetic nature that are coming together. When we speak of the rapture, of course, there are no signs. He could come before this broadcast is over. But the second advent when Jesus comes not in the air, but to the earth, there’s all kinds of prophecy that has to be fulfilled. But when we see God setting the stage for the second coming, we know that the rapture has to be that much closer. And when we look at a convergence, no one can say, “Well, this proves we’re at the end in the sense that no one knows the day or the hour, but we can definitely say that we’re nearing the end of the age.” I think the most profound sign, of course, is the regathering of Israel.

And God said ever before they walked into the land in Deuteronomy 29 and 30, that they would be scattered because of disobedience to the four corners of the world. But then God said at the end of time, he would bring them back. And so in 1948, of course, Israel became a nation. That wasn’t accidental. That was providential because so many of the prophecies for the second coming have to take place in the land of Israel, like say the abomination of desolation, when the antichrist will defile a rebuilt temple. And so God has brought the Jews just two days ago and the Wall Street Journal, there was a major article entitled, Jews begin to wonder, is there any place safe on earth? That’s what they feel like. And even the government two days ago said, “Come back. We’re ready for you. Come back to Israel.” And so there’s this pull.

And so when you think about the Jews regathering the land, it happens in two ways. Ezekiel 36 describes them coming back in unbelief. God says, “I just opened my Bible to 36:24. I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land.” I used to always say there’s a hundred nations of Jews. I was corrected last week. There’s now 121 nations from across the planet. So on the one hand, he brings them back in unbelief. And Jesus assumes that in Matthew 24, because there’s an assumption they have to be back in the land, save for the abomination of desolation to take place when the antichrist makes himself out to be God. And so he gathers them physically, but then he rejuvenates them spiritually. And so in the same chapter, two verses later, “I will give you a new heart, put a new spirit within you.

I’ll remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” And Jesus assumes this in Matthew 24, that they’ll be regenerated so much so that when you see this event take place, flee into the wilderness. That’s a confession of faith, that they’re believing Jesus, that by this time, many, many of them are converted. Yet on the other hand, the Bible speaks of another gathering that happens at the second coming. And so in Deuteronomy 30, God says, when you’re in some foreign land and in your heart, you say, “Lord, I want you. ” Then God says, in Deuteronomy 30: three, “I will restore you from captivity.” And Jesus quotes this at the end of the all of it discourse in Matthew 24, that he’ll send out his angels and gather them from the four corners of the world. So it’s not by accident.

And so A, number one, most important is the regathering of Israel. Two, I would say this move towards globalism. Our president just announced last month, Imic, which as many listeners know, it’s a proposed trade corridor that includes India, the Middle East, Gulf nations like Saudi Arabia and so forth in Europe. And so it’s this economic corridor pulling nations together. Just yesterday, the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth brought up with fresh enthusiasm, our North American alliance that includes North America, South America, the Caribbean, where they will cooperate together both militarily and economically. This is what has to be in place for Revelation 13 to unfold, this coming global system under the antichrist. There’s going to be a one world government where no one will be able to buy or sell Revelation 13, unless they take the mark of the beast. In addition, I’d say there’s habitual, moral and spiritual decline.

Jesus likened his second coming to the days of Noah and the days of law. Noah’s days were days of moral impropriety and lots days of spiritual perversion. Just yesterday, the Chicago Bulls dismissed the shooting guard, Jaden Ivy from the team because he posted messages on his Instagram account affirming his faith in Jesus and his personal opposition to a mandatory gay pride celebration with the NBA. And so they put him off to the side. This is the kind of turmoil that we’re living in. In addition, the Bible warns us that there’ll be a rise of deception in false teaching where people will hold to a form of godliness, though they’ve denied the power of the second birth and we’re warned to avoid people like this. So there’s this coming apostasy. There’s always been apostasy, but God warns us at the end of time, men will turn away from the faith.

And it’s articulate there, meaning the body of truth we call the Bible. And that’s what we’re seeing increasingly happen. I would say this worldwide focus on Jerusalem. Look what this war has brought up. It’s shown right now that the only one who’s willingly able to stand with Israel for the most part is America. All of our NATO allies, our president asks, “Hey, listen, you can come have some secondary role. We need your help, et cetera, et cetera.” They haven’t responded. That’s sad, but that’s prophetic because God tells us that all the nations of the world will turn against Jerusalem. Zechariah 12: three, Zechariah 14: one through three. Jerusalem will become like a heavy stone, like a heavy burden. And so on top of that, there’s this renewed interest in the rebuilding of the third temple. Again, this is important because there have been a number of temples.

Well, there’s the tabernacle, which was kind of a tent-like structure. Then Solomon built the first temple that was destroyed in 586 BC. And then the second temple, that Zerubbabel built that stood for 586 years until 70 AD was destroyed by the Romans. And then there’s this third temple that is going to be built. All the preparations are made. All the furniture has been reproduced with the exception of the Ark of the Covenant, because the Temple Institute and other Messianic groups say they know precisely where it is. They don’t need to reproduce it. Animal sacrifices are being practiced. They’re ready. They’re loaded for bear. It’s going to be happening and it will be functioning by the middle of the tribulation period such that the antichrist can defile it. So when we see all these events happening at once, this convergence of signs, believers should be paying close attention because it’s not accidental.

God is sending a message to the world and especially to his people to be ready.

Sam Rohrer:

Carl, you didn’t mention all of them, increase in wars and tension and pestilences and famines and earthquakes and the earth moving and groaning under the weight of the curse of sin. Those things are also mentioned in listings and they happen to also be increasing. So to me, when I look at that, it’s what you said first. It’s a converging of the preponderance of these signs in a time when Israel has been called back into the land and that does not fit any other time in history, ladies and gentlemen, where you have those convergence of signs and where they seem to be increasing in speed and intentionally like you’re approaching a birth, these are things that, well, we can see, we can certainly sense, but are part of what Jesus says to be aware of. When we come back, we’re going to continue. Regardless of where the Lord gives us specific signs that will alert the person who has eyes to see and ears to hear, particularly in regard to the latter years of the end of times, the days in which we now live, most all, if not all of the signs point to a maturing, I’m going to say of the original curse of sin, that God levied himself that happened as a result of when sin entered the world all the way back in the garden of Garden of Eden.

And it’s that curse that the human civilization has lived under that necessitated, well, what is the focus of this week? The Christ first coming and his death and burial and resurrection, that promise that he gave all the way back in, again, a prophecy back in Genesis 3:15, the promise that there would be a redeemer and then all the Old Testament is all about the preparation and the coming forth of that plan of redemption. But as we approach the end of this world, the world, the very earth itself, the Bible tells us groans under the weight of sin. And so when we feel the earthquaking and the volcanic action and all of those things, it’s part of this curse of sin. And all these things that the Bible talks about, and some of that, Carl, you just mentioned in the last segment, they all point to the continued downward spiral of human civilization.

Why is that? Because sin ends in death and collapse and with that then is unbridled evil, uncontrolled passion, rebellion, pride, utter lawlessness, all of which the scripture talks about and you reference some of those. But it’s this bad news, I think, of sin, ladies and gentlemen, and the effects of sin that I think encourage many people, including too many pastors, to skip over. And not to mention these signs because they just are so negative. They are hard to preach. They’re hard to consider and in favor of something else which sounds good like the prosperity gospel. As an example, we’ve talked about that as well. Yet Jesus in the midst of these listings of signs that he gives and elsewhere through scripture specifies certain warnings that we should heed, attitudes that we should embrace and actions that we should take when we understand what is there and is coming and we understand who Jesus Christ is through faith in him.

Now, Carl, expand here. Would you identify now what I would say some of the key warnings that Jesus gives? Attitudes, for instance, that we as remnant believers should embrace. And then actions, because if we believe something, then we’ll act upon it, but actions that we should take when we witness the various identified signs of which you gave a lot there in that last segment.

Carl Broggi:

That’s a fantastic question. Sam, if you remember, Jesus wept over Jerusalem this week as he gave a message on Tuesday on the Mount of Olives. And he warned the people that they would not see him again and he’s speaking to the Jewish people, until the Jewish people say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, that great Messianic Psalm.” And so they leave the temple area, the disciples point out the beauty of the temple, which they had seen hundreds of times. And Jesus says, “Hey, listen, I just said your house is going to be left desolate. Let me further expand. Not one stone will stand upon another.” And they want to know when that is going to happen. And Luke largely answers in great detail at 78 how that will unfold. And their second question, what will be the sign of your coming?

And right out of the shoot, Jesus starts see to it that no one misleads you. That’s the first thing. Why? Because there’s going to be all kinds of false theology. We’re seeing it in our day. We have people who predict end times events incorrectly. And what does that lead most people to do? Oh, it’s all nonsense. Nobody knows or these Christians are wacko. We’ve got groups like Beth L that snuggle up to Hillsong and churches across America use their music and it’s like a cocaine and that they worship their feelings rather than worshiping in spirit and in truth. They’re not really worshiping God, they’re worshiping a feeling they get. And yet you have these people who claim to be apostles. Paula White, who’s over the faith movement in the White House, she says she’s an apostle. She’s part of the new Apostolic Reformation Movement. We’ve got all these preachers who are twisting scripture for gain.

Folks who have … I have a vision and now the internet, it’s like it’s everywhere. Some ladies said, “God gave me a vision about this and I need to tell you. ” And they go beyond scripture. So one, we’re to be alert, not to be misled. Two, Jesus says in Matthew 24: six, a few verses later, see to it that you’re not frightened. So fear is not our response to what is happening in these escalating events of the day. We’re to lift up our heads. The world may be in panic, but we’re to have hope. In addition, I don’t think we should be alarmed by the growing apostasy that we see unfolding because as I just referenced earlier in the last segment, the spirit explicitly says that in latter times, which is a reference to the last of the last days, some will fall away from the faith, the Bible, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.

And we’ve got it everywhere. I mean, that children, that a boy can become a girl, that a girl can become a boy, that you don’t know what gender you are, that there’s like 83 genders now. I mean, this is like demonic activity. In addition, we’re warned that we shouldn’t be spiritually dull. And so Jesus in Luke’s account says, “Be on your guard so that your hearts will not be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life that the day will suddenly come upon you like a trap.” And so he wants us to be on the alert, praying at all times because worldliness is going to grow in deepen. Then I would say, and I think this is really important, that we’re not to neglect our gathering together. Listen to the writer of the Hebrews. He says, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope, hope here being something that’s guaranteed without wavering, for he who promises faithful and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not for us taking our own assembly together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another.” And then he adds in all the more as you see the day drawing near.

What day? The day of Christ’s return, the second coming. No signs for the rapture, but when you see God unfolding his schedule for the second coming, all the more we need to be together. Why? Because worldliness and sin is going to grow. And so look, I love the internet. Last Sunday, we broadcasted the 33 states, I think six foreign countries. And I’m grateful for people in other time zones who can use it, but it is no substitute for God’s people gathering together. And so the writer says, encourage one another day after day, Hebrews 3:13, “As long as it’s called today, why?” So that none of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. There’s an assumption that we’re meeting with the people of God on a consistent basis because we desperately need each other. And then I would say that to be equipped for these last days, we need to obey what God shows us because only then can we grow.

The writer of the Hebrews in Hebrews five says, “Hey, by this time you, ” meaning you as a congregation, you plural, ought to be teachers. He’s not talking about the gift of teaching or the office of teaching, but the responsibility to communicate basic truth, but you have need again of someone to teach you the ABCs. Then he says, “Everyone who protects only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness. He’s an infant, but solid food is for the mature.” Here it is, who because of practice have their senses to discern good and evil. So when you obey what you know, you grow and what happens, you become discerning. You’re not easily swayed. And so obedience to truth that is being taught is the antidote to deception. In addition, when we think about Christ’s return, it should motivate us to live holy. Peter, when he just talks about the end of the age, he said, “Listen, if God’s going to deal with the earth in this matter, two Peter 3:11, what kind of people ought you to be?

” John will say, “Hey, listen, what a great love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called children of God. We’re children. We don’t know as yet all that’s going to happen, but we know that when he appears, we’ll be like him because we’ll see him just like he is talking about Jesus and everyone who has this hope fixed on him purifies himself as he’s pure.” There’s an assumption that we are looking forward to the return of our Lord. Why? Because we love him. And then I would say we are to be prayerful during these days. Jesus and Luke 18 tells that great parable. He was telling them a parable to show that at all times men ought to pray and not to lose heart. And he talks about this judge and this widow and so forth. And then he concludes the parable and he says, “However, when the son of man comes, will he find faith on the earth?

Will he find a prayerful people? ” Because that’s an expression of obedience and certainly this is the time to proclaim the gospel. When we see the signs unfolding that Jesus tells us, we need to be alert, we need to be holy, we need to be faithful, but we certainly need to be preaching the gospel because there’s coming a time when we won’t be able to do that any further and people will be left behind for the worst time in all of human history.

Sam Rohrer:

Carl, that is excellent. And as the parable of the virgins, where some are prepared, some are ready, some are waiting for the bridegroom to come because there There’s a wedding coming and then others were not quite prepared and they say, “Hey, give us some of what you have. ” And I said, “No, no, no, no. There will be those who do profess to be Christians, but some are ready and some are not, right?”

Carl Broggi:

That’s right. We need to be ready and there’s no reason we can’t be ready because God gives us this instruction manual so we can be ready.

Sam Rohrer:

All right. So ladies and gentlemen, again, why in these days as we look at what’s happening in the Middle East and we see the world’s attention being drawn and the global order being redrawn and all of these things that are happening, if we’re not going and saying, “Boy, isn’t this something that Christ told us about in the Bible?” And then say, “Oh wow, this is a special time in which we live.” If we’re not thinking that, our eyes are not hoping. That’s our reason for looking at this focus today. We are back. All right, as we enter the final segment, I just want to give to you again the website for Dr. Carl Broggi. Searchthescriptures.org, searchthcriptures.org. You can find a lot of information there on that program. He does a lot of Q&A among other things, but you’ll find a host of information there. And I know many of you have gone there and so I encourage you it’s good information.

And then this program itself, when you go to the website, stay ongapradio.com or you pick up our Stand in the Gap app, in either location, you’ll have an option to open up a transcript of it. And that’s available and it’s helpful to actually read down through because many things just as in the program today, there were many things that have been shared that I know it’s impossible. I mean, no doubt most of you are smarter than I am, but I couldn’t remember all of those, but you can go back and you can read it in the transcript and get it. So just mention that to you as a way of taking information as it’s given on this program and extending it beyond the moment. So Carl, many times we’ll take programs like this and say, “All right, now that all this has been done, now all this information’s been covered, we’ve identified God’s word, the authority of God’s word, the fact that it is filled full of prophetic things.

You’ve talked about why prophecy is given, why it’s all there. We’ve talked about specific signs of these days in which we live, the latter years, of the end time. The end times being from the time Christ ascended to the time he comes again. And we’re in the latter years, the latter part of it. You’ve talked about the converging of events, the signs that Jesus gives us from wars, rumors of wars, to a host of other things, lawlessness, times of Noah, times of lot, all of those things, a departure of people from the truth, all of these things, a convergence is the word you’ve used. We’ve laid those things on the table and the fact that we’ve talked about before, God has given us in his word everything we need to know. There are some things we do not know, but whatever we don’t know or can’t know, we don’t need to know.

But God has given us in his word all we need to know about how to see what is taking place and to live holy in an evil world, all of those things. So I asked a question, I say, what difference does it all make? So let me just walk down through this briefly and then I’m going to ask you that question. Because throughout the program, we’ve talked about these signs. We’ve talked about the importance of living holy in evil times. We’ve talked about the fact that God’s given us this stuff to us that we’re not turned into fearful, paralyzed individuals, but we’re actually bold, anticipatory, joyful people in the midst of that. Yet I find it somewhat extraordinary, Carl, in that there’s a lot of resistance. I find by even many who profess to be Christians, to really, I would say, embrace these things that we’re talking about because it seems almost like their hand is a hold of something here on this earth that they don’t want to give up on.

And so it’s almost like they don’t want to talk too much about the return of Christ and rapture and the kinds of things we’re talking about today. And I don’t know whether it’s because they don’t want to be disappointed because others in the past have made claims and they were wrong, but they did wrong by doing so. But why is that? Why would someone at this point seeing all these things overlapping not be driven to a passionate, holy living and an excitement? I mean, I’m more excited every day when I get up, Carl, but I see all these things and I’m saying, wow, we’re living in special days.

Carl Broggi:

We are. Well, Sam, I think sometimes it’s because people are undertaught. A third of the scripture is prophetic in nature. A lot of pastors, they don’t want to be viewed as kooks or one thing or another, and they don’t teach them prophecy. Some are uninformed. They need to do their homework, they need to study. But I think today, more often than not, there are so many worldly Christians who just kind of … I’m not really interested. Well, they should be. And since we’re broadcasting over hundreds of stations across America, and even to foreign countries, there’s certainly some people like that listening today. And I would bring them to two Timothy four, the end of Paul’s life, his last will and testament. I fought the good fight. I finished the course. I’ve kept the faith. In the future, there was laid up for me, the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge will award to me on that day and not only to me, but to all who have loved his appearing.

So God speaks not only of eternal life that is gifted, but he speaks of eternal rewards. And the righteousness, of course, he’s referring to is not an earned righteousness. We don’t earn heaven. He’s already covered in chapter one that Christ saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace. But when we avail ourselves to be a spirit-filled person in eternity, God rewards us for that. And one of the rewards is called the Crown of Righteousness, which is defined as someone who loves his appearing, which makes sense because as we’ve already covered, when you think about Christ’s return, it motivates you to be different, not to live for this world only, but for things that really matter. We have a new Christian’s class that’s 55 weeks long and they get all these handouts.

It’s called basic discipleship online, but the longest handout is how to develop an eternal perspective. It’s 128 pages long. It’s available online if someone wants to study it, but we deal with the five crowns of the believer. And one crown that I want to receive is I love his appearing. And so we’re not talking about, when we talk about loving his appearing, about whether you just enjoy discussing God’s timetable of events, it’s some intellectual exercise as to how the Lord will come back and so on. We’re talking about we love his appearing. Why? Because we love him. And if we don’t love his appearing, it just means our heart is cold. We’re out of fellowship with the Lord. We should be longing, looking, waiting for the return of Jesus from heaven. That’s his promise. And again, as we quoted earlier that everyone who has this hope fixed on him, we purify ourselves as he’s pure.

And so every believer should ask, do I love his appearing? And if I don’t, then there’s something wrong on the inside and we should get on our knees and say, God, I don’t really love your appearing. I’m sorry. I don’t know why. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I want you to fix it because you have told me I ought to long and look for his appearing. So anyway, I hope that makes sense.

Sam Rohrer:

No, I think it does make great sense. And what you’re describing, Carl, there, it could be, if I don’t love his appearing, it’s possible that I don’t have a relationship with Jesus Christ. And we know that there are many. I just had George Barton in the program a week ago. And I mean, 4% of American people have a biblical worldview. He says his latest research, 3%, only about 3% of Americans would actually profess that they would be true, genuine believers in Jesus Christ. So there are a lot of people who are on the path maybe, but they don’t really know, have relationships. So that could be one reason. And well, there could be a number of things, but that’s where I would go first. We’re about out of time. Just a quick comment and then could you close the program in prayer, Carl? I would think that would be great.

Carl Broggi:

I will. Father, we love you and thank you that this week, passion week, we are remembering the fact that Jesus died for sins, not for his because he had none, but for ours, dying in our place, bearing the very judgment that we deserve so that if we will call upon him in faith, knowing that the one who is raised from the dead will return again to judge the living in the dead, that will be right with you. Thank you for the gift of eternal life, not earned, but humbly received. Help someone today in simple faith to say, Lord Jesus, save me and help those of us who’ve cried that line to make a difference until he returns or you take us and we ask it in his name and for his name’s sake. Amen.

Sam Rohrer:

Amen and amen. Dr. Carl Broggi, thank you so much for being with me again today. And what an exciting topic to talk about in such days in which we live. Ladies and gentlemen, I hope that you have been encouraged. I hope that you’ve been edified and as a result would look anew at what scripture says, look around with a different set of eyes and come to the conclusion that we are in eventful days and the return of Christ is closer than ever before. So may we all observe and make a decision to live more like Christ than ever before. God bless you all. We’ll see you back here tomorrow.