I have been thinking about the last days.
I say that carefully. I am not setting a date, and I have no interest in assigning a figure from Revelation to a politician I disagree with. I have watched sincere people read tomorrow’s newspaper into ancient prophecy, then watched their confidence age poorly.
And yet, reading the headlines and Scripture in the same quiet morning stirs questions I cannot set aside.
Paul told Timothy that difficult times would come. People would love themselves and money. They would turn from what is good, holding on to the form of godliness while denying its power. A chapter later, he warned that people would drift from sound teaching toward voices that told them what they wanted to hear.
I recognize the temptations of our age in those words. I recognize them in myself, too, which is less comfortable to admit. It would be easier to write only about what is wrong with everyone else. I don’t think that would be honest.
Still, what is unfolding around us deserves attention.
Israel is growing more isolated, including here at home. Pew found this spring that 60 percent of American adults view Israel unfavorably, up from 53 percent a year earlier. It is possible to question a government’s decisions while caring for its people. That distinction matters. But such a rapid shift makes me wonder where public sentiment goes next, and what becomes possible if criticism hardens into something darker.
China is building military strength on a timeline measured in decades. Russia pursues its ambitions at a terrible human cost. No prophetic framework is needed to find either development sobering. The great powers of this world are planning well beyond the next election.
Closer to home, I find myself reflecting on another change. Zohran Mamdani and Abdul El-Sayed have won consequential races. Hasan Piker has built an audience that political leaders cannot overlook. In 2019, Piker said America “deserved 9/11.” He later said his phrasing was wrong and explained that he was criticizing American foreign policy. I hear that clarification. I still cannot hear the original words lightly.
I had been named host of my program only the day before the towers fell. I spent the next 18 hours on the air, trying to find words for grief the country could barely hold. I remember the callers’ voices and the long pauses when none of us knew what to say. I share that neither to make my experience the measure of anyone else’s nor to reduce Piker to one sentence. But I wonder how words like those can reach millions and carry so little apparent cost.
These men do not all hold the same views. Their prominence makes me ask which ideas are finding a welcome with Americans. What do they teach about justice, freedom, faith, Israel, and the dignity of those who disagree? We ought to listen to each person’s words and challenge what we believe is mistaken. We must never let someone’s religion or heritage stand in for an argument. Followers of Christ should be able to do that with grace.
None of this gives us license to declare that we have found the final chapter of history. Daniel and Revelation deserve more reverence than a hurried effort to match their images to today’s map. Faithfulness does not ask us to claim knowledge God has not given us.
But uncertainty is no reason to stop watching.
What if we are seeing some of the conditions take shape? What if we are nearer to the end than we realize? I cannot tell you that we are. I also cannot read Paul’s words, look honestly at the world, and conclude that the thought should never cross our minds.
The better question is what that possibility ought to do to us.
It should draw us back to the God of the Bible and to the whole of Scripture, including the passages that correct us. Back to prayer that seeks wisdom rather than asking God to bless the outcome we already prefer. Back to churches where truth is spoken with courage and people are loved with patience.
It should make us discerning without making us suspicious of our neighbors. It should deepen our concern for Israel and for every innocent life caught in war. It should make us harder to flatter, slower to anger, and quicker to repent.
Paul’s counsel to Timothy was to preach the word, endure hardship, and faithfully do the work God had given him. That is good counsel for a broadcaster, a parent, a pastor, and anyone wondering what kind of times these are.
We may have years ahead that surprise us. We may be closer to the end than we imagine. Either way, the calling remains the same: know the Lord, speak the truth, love your neighbor, and stay awake.
The headlines cannot tell us the hour. They can remind us whose we are, and how we are meant to live until He comes.