If Evangelicals Really Believed What They Preach

According to most Evangelicals, the Bible is the inspired (God breathed) Word of God, inerrant and infallible in all that it says. “God said it, I believe it, and that settles it for me,” Evangelicals often say. “We are people of the book!” Supposedly, Evangelicals are True Christians, people who take seriously the teachings of Christ. Yet, when careful attention is paid to how Evangelicals live, we find that most believers preach one thing and practice another

Some Evangelicals believe Jesus is coming again on September 23, 2025. Yet, if you look at their lives, you see little difference between them and the unwashed, uncircumcised Philistines of the world. If I believed Jesus was returning tomorrow, I would be doing all I could to win my family, friends, and neighbors to Christ. Instead, most Evangelicals live as if Jesus is NEVER coming back, even though they believe his return is imminent.

Thirty-seven years ago, Edgar Whisenant predicted Jesus would return between September 11 and September 13, 1988. Whisenant wrote a small book titled 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988. Five million copies of the book were sold and distributed. At the time, I pastored the Somerset Baptist Church in Mt. Perry, Ohio. I still remember the big crowd we had at church on September 11. Most church families had read Whisenant’s book, frightened, yet excited, that the rapture was about to happen. As their pastor, I felt it my duty to minister to them, telling them what I believed the truth to be about the rapture. The title of my sermon was oh-so catchy: Why Jesus Won’t Return in 1988. My sermon relieved some and angered others. As you know, Jesus did not return in 1988.

Now we have yet another prediction of Christ’s return:

South African pastor Joshua Mhlakela predicted the Rapture, or Second Coming of Jesus, will take place tomorrow, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025, or Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025. Mhlakela’s claims, which have gone #RaptureTok viral on TikTok and social media, state that the revelations came to him in a dream, with Jesus telling him he will “come to take my church.”

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The dates of Sept. 23, 2025, or Sept. 24, 2025, that Mhlakela has marked the “Rapture” coincide with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish Feast of Trumpets, which many Christians associate with the fulfillment of the biblical prophecy.

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A TikToker with over 1 million followers said people are selling their cars and houses, leaving items behind for those who “don’t get Raptured.” Tiktoker Sonja (@sonj779) has shared multiple videos on “Rapture Trip Tips,” which have garnered tens of thousands of views. Her posts have led to confusion over whether it’s satire or truth: Among her tips, she urges people to buy new underwear before the Rapture, suggesting that the last impression of you” should not be your old underwear.”

Sigh. (Please see Why I Use the Word “Sigh.”)

As with past predictions, scores of believers will really believe Jesus is coming to earth, and come Wednesday, they will be sorely disappointed. No rapture, and all the stupid decisions they made thinking Jesus was coming again now come due. Most Evangelicals, however, will continue living their lives just as they always have — giving lip service to the teachings of the Bible. Imagine if you were an Evangelical Christian and you KNEW the rapture was happening tomorrow. How would you respond? Everywhere I look, I see Evangelicals acting more like the people talked about in Matthew 24:

Who, then, is the faithful and wise slave whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves their allowance of food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives. Truly, I tell you, he will put that one in charge of all his possessions. But if that wicked slave says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he does not know. He will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 24:45-51 NRSV)

Here’s what I know: watch how people live, and they will reveal what they really believe. Most of the people I pastored were good people. However, their lives were so filled with the present — jobs, family, church — that they had little time to ponder the imminent return of Christ. It was no different for me, as their pastor. Between ministry and family obligations, I had little time to think about the return of Christ. I thought that if I were busy working in God’s vineyard when Jesus returned, all would be well. Whether my thinking was justified or not, one thing was certain then and is still certain today: Jesus is not coming back to earth. Why? Jesus is dead. That’s why, 2,000 years after Jesus was executed by the Roman government, he remains buried somewhere in an unknown grave.

Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

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