The demise of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has sent shockwaves throughout the political and cultural landscape of the U.S., resulting in discussions of world war—and for evangelical Christians, debates about the end times.
Among those leading the charge in end times predictions is Greg Laurie, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Southern California.
Laurie has often spoken about geopolitical conflicts through the lens of biblical prophecy. In a recent video, Laurie celebrated the end of Khamenei’s oppressive regime while arguing that apocalyptic events could be on the horizon.
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After noting that the biblical stories of Esther, Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah occur against the backdrop of the Medo-Persian empire, which is modern-day Iran, Laurie said, “Now many are wondering if what is happening right now in Iran is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy.”
“Granted, we know that there’s a large force to the north of Israel identified in the Bible as Magog that will march against her in the end times,” said Laurie. “And one of the allies of Magog—who many believe could be modern-day Russia—one of the allies of Magog is Persia, now known as Iran.”
“When will that happen? We can’t really be sure,” he continued. “But any turmoil in this part of the world should cause us to pay attention and give extra heed to the words of Jesus, who said, ‘When you see these things begin to happen, look up, for your redemption is drawing near.’”
While Laurie acknowledged that “this can all be very frightening,” he urged Christians to be prepared for the rapture. The doctrine of the rapture, which posits that Christians will one day suddenly be taken to heaven, is a feature of the dispensationalist framework of theology, a framework held by many, but not all, evangelicals.
“The main thing we need to take away from this is, as Christians, we need to be ready to meet the Lord,” said Laurie. “As far as I can see, the next event on the prophetic calendar would be the rapture of the church.”
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“You know, the events of the end times are closely stacked together, not unlike dominos. And once the first domino falls, the others will fall in rapid succession,” Laurie went on to say. “So again, I think that the next event to happen would be the rapture.”
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