Daily Archives: November 15, 2025

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The Presence Of Mockers, Outside And Inside The Church, Is Not Merely A Cultural Trend—It’s Prophetic

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As the return of Jesus draws closer, few things should surprise believers more than the increasing hostility toward biblical truth. Scripture tells us plainly that mockers and scoffers will emerge as a defining characteristic of the last days.

While we expect ridicule from a world that rejects God, what may be more shocking—and heartbreaking—is when scoffing arises from within the church itself. This reality demands our attention, discernment, and biblical response.

Prophetic Warnings About Scoffers

God’s Word leaves no ambiguity regarding their arrival. Jude 1:18 reads, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.” 2 Peter 3:3 further states, “First, understand this: In the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.”

Scoffers are not merely casual skeptics; they openly ridicule biblical teaching—especially the promise of Jesus’ return. Their presence signals profound spiritual decline and moral disintegration. The danger intensifies when their voices rise inside the body of Christ.

In Acts 20:29–30, the apostle Paul said, “I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number, men will rise up and distort the truth to draw away disciples after them.” He echoes the same burden in his letter to the Romans, writing: “Watch out for those who create divisions and obstacles contrary to the teaching you have learned. Turn away from them” (Romans 16:17–18).

These warnings reveal a sober reality: False teaching and spiritual mockery will not only come from the outside; some will arise from within, drawing hearts away from the truth to follow their own desires.

Scripture connects mockery directly to corrupted desire: “…following after their own ungodly lusts” (Jude 1:18).

Scoffing is not merely intellectual rebellion—it is moral rebellion. It flows from a heart unwilling to submit to God’s authority. When God’s Word confronts sin, many do not repent—they mock. The New Testament repeatedly warns that these attitudes erode holiness, distort doctrine, and lead others astray. This is why believers must remain anchored in truth, vigilant in discernment, and faithful in obedience.

A Watchman’s Burden

As the spiritual atmosphere darkens and hostility to truth grows, the responsibility of God’s people intensifies. Believers are called to be salt and light—preserving truth and shining hope in a world drowning in confusion.

Salt once preserved food from decay. Roman soldiers were often paid in salt—a reminder of its value. In the same way, believers are God’s preserving agents in a decomposing culture.

The world is hungry—even desperate—for truth. Ironically, the intensity with which many mock the Gospel reveals how deeply they crave what only God can provide. Their scoffing masks a spiritual longing. But tragically, some scoffing today is fueled not by ignorance alone, but by the church’s mishandling of Scripture.

When the Church Damages Its Own Witness

The world watches the church closely—and often responds not only to what we preach, but how we behave.

When Christians sensationalize prophecy, distort the Gospel, exaggerate biblical claims, or mishandle Scripture, we hand unbelievers ammunition for ridicule. One recent example illustrates this.

“Rapture-Tok”

In 2025, some claiming to follow Christ publicly predicted a specific date for the rapture—September 23–24. Scripture clearly teaches: “No man knows the day or the hour.” — Matthew 24:36

Yet these individuals went public, posted videos, sold belongings, and boasted certainty. Their claims made headlines, including Forbes’ coverage titled: “Rapture-Tok: Why Some Believe the End Is Near.”

This claims of knowing the date of the rapture cause the world to create posts that became known as “Rapture Tok.” Here are some posts from Rapture Tok as social media erupted with mockery:

“They’re selling cars and homes thinking they’re about to float to heaven.”

“We should all pretend we were raptured and let them think they were left behind.”

“If the rapture doesn’t happen, at least rent might get cheaper for the rest of us.”

“What if I’m eating a great sandwich and suddenly I lose it on my way to heaven?”

“My problem with the rapture is it’s before payday. Tell Jesus to reschedule!”

“People are donating assets. Can someone give me their Ford Raptor?”

These comments may have been meant to be humorous, but behind this effort to be witty, is a tragic reality: People are perishing—mocking what they don’t understand—while the church’s missteps reinforce their unbelief. This is not harmless. It reveals how deeply the church has failed to communicate the Gospel clearly, humbly, and faithfully.

Luce: Spiritual Confusion in Pop Culture

Adding to the confusion, an unusual development occurred in 2024–2025 with the Catholic Church unveiling “Luce,” an anime-style mascot designed to engage youth during the 2025 Jubilee.

The church explains “Luce” means “light” in Italian. The character, an anime girl is rendered in art style with big heads and stubby limbs. Luce was designed by Simone Legno, the Italian pop artist behind the tokidoki brand, which takes its inspiration from street graffiti and Japanese art. Portrayed as a cute blue-haired girl in a yellow coat.

In a Facebook post, Luce was presented by Archbishop Rino Fisichella of on October 28, 2024, saying that it was inspired by the Catholic Church’s desire to “live within pop culture, so beloved by our young people.”

In 2024, Luce was the Holy See’s representative at Lucca Comic & Games, which was the first time the Vatican has officially participated in a comic book fair. Her large inflatable present at the fair became a popular selfie spot.

Luce was also represented at the Holy See at Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan. The logo for that expo merged Japanese and Catholic traditions, combines St. Peter’s Basilica with Japan’s sun. The expo was also completely cashless. The church was supporting the idea of a cashless society. This expo ran for 184 days from April 13, 2025, to October 13, 2025. One of its core values was to bring awareness to help people resolve global issues, such as climate change.

While some saw Luce as a harmless outreach tool, others viewed the imagery as spiritually confusing—blurring lines between biblical faith and secular pop culture trends. In a time of rising deception, the church must be careful not to entertain forms that obscure the Gospel or dilute biblical truth.

A Darkening World — A Brightening Hope

The presence of mockers, both outside and inside the church, is not merely a cultural trend—it is a prophetic sign. The world is becoming more hostile to the Gospel. The church is struggling to keep its witness pure. And people are drifting into confusion, cynicism, and hopelessness.

But God has placed His people here for such a time as this.

​We are called to:

​ – Hold firmly to sound doctrine
– Proclaim the Gospel with clarity
– Avoid sensationalism and distortion
– Live holy lives that reflect Christ
​ – Speak truth with humility and love

Mockers will come. Scoffers will shout. But the Word of God will stand. Jesus is still saving. The Spirit is still convicting. The Gospel is still powerful. And our mission remains the same: To speak truth, love boldly, and offer hope to the lost.

Let Jude’s words be our reminder and commission: “Keep yourselves in the love of God, as you wait anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life” (Jude 1:21). Even in a world of mockery, the church must remain faithful and focused.

 

David Bowen is the Founder of Interpreting Our Times, the Senior Pastor of Standing Stones Community Church, and a Contributor to Harbinger’s Daily.

 

 

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The Truth Satan Seeks To Erase Through Antisemitism

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I have long looked for a definition of antisemitism that could help me explain to Christian’s why this targeted hatred of Jewish people is a spiritual battle that’s playing out in real time right before our eyes.

I finally found it in the words of Israeli journalist Haviv Rettig Gur, who captures antisemitism with rare clarity.

He argues that antisemitism is “an ancient idea that recurs throughout history—the archetype that Jews stand in the way of the redemption of the world.”

That definition gets to the heart of something many political commentators, academics, and activists miss entirely. Antisemitism isn’t ultimately about stereotypes, war, money, power, or politics. It’s about a deeper belief embedded across civilizations; it’s the belief that the Jewish people are the obstacle preventing the world from becoming what it ought to be.

For years, I’ve heard evangelicals insist that antisemitism is more than prejudice—that it is spiritual warfare, a satanic assault against the people God chose to bear His promises.

I agree!

But if we want to confront the rising tide of Jew-hatred—especially now that it spreads far beyond the progressive left, infecting conservative spaces and even Christian communities—we must go deeper.

If antisemitism is satanic, we must ask what Satan is actually trying to accomplish, and Gur’s framing, in my opinion, provides the key.

If the Jewish people are seen as the barrier to global redemption, then antisemitism is fundamentally a theological grievance disguised as political, cultural, or racial critique. It is the same ancient lie retold in new vocabulary. Antisemitism is a shapeshifter that has taken on three dominant forms throughout history.

The first is the oldest, religious antisemitism—the belief that Jewish faith and Torah observance are what threaten the world’s progress. That lie surfaces in the book of Esther when Haman describes the Jews as a people who refuse to obey the king’s laws. It resurfaces centuries later in Antiochus Epiphanes, a Greek king who outlawed Jewish practice because it interfered with his imperial vision of cultural conformity. It appeared in Medieval Spain, when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella insisted Jewish difference was so intolerable after the Reconquista that Jews must convert, leave, or die.

Religious antisemitism persists today; it can be seen in Islamic teachings and certain Christian doctrine. Last year, social media influencer Father Calvin Robinson went on a viral rant claiming that there is no such thing as “Judeo-Christian” values, only Christian values. He refused to use the word Judeo. His post was received with acclaim by many, including Candace Owens, who said she’s stopped Judeo because of its “overtly political history.”

Religious antisemitism claims that Jews are a problem because they will not “become like us.”

A second form of antisemitism took shape in the modern era: racial, genetic antisemitism. Unlike earlier hatred, which targeted what Jews believed, this newer version targeted who Jews were. Jewishness became a biological stain, an inborn problem, a threat embedded in DNA. A Jew could be secular or observant, religious or an atheist—it didn’t matter. Their very existence, their bloodline, was now seen as the source of society’s corruption.

This is the worldview Adolf Hitler seized upon, accusing the Jewish people of poisoning Germany and dragging it into humiliation after World War I. Nazi propaganda went so far as to invent physical identifiers, like the infamous “Jewish nose,” even though scientific studies disproved such claims.

But the truth was irrelevant.

Demonization was the goal. And genetic antisemitism gave Hitler the ideological foundation to murder six million Jewish men, women, and children in the Holocaust. It didn’t matter what Jewish people believed; the problem with Germany and the world was the Jew.

A third form of antisemitism has become unmistakable in the 21st century: statehood antisemitism. It claims to be political, offering critiques of Israeli policy, but always ends by targeting Jewish people—anywhere, everywhere.

You see more clearly since the Hamas massacre on October 7, Jewish students on college campuses have been shoved, harassed, screamed at, and excluded from classrooms—many of them aren’t even Israeli.

Synagogues, kosher restaurants, and Jewish community centers across the world have been vandalized or threatened. The message is unmistakable: Israel’s existence as a Jewish state is the problem, and therefore Jews everywhere must pay the price.

Statehood antisemitism pretends to be about geopolitics. But it functions the same way ancient hatred always has: it collapses Israel, Judaism, and the Jewish people into a single target. The war in Gaza becomes a pretext for hostility toward Jews in New York, Paris, or London who may have never set foot in Israel. This is not “critique.” It is the same old lie wrapped in modern language.

As I considered these three expressions of antisemitism through Gur’s definition, one truth became impossible to ignore and helped me see Satan’s goal.

Every form of Jew-hatred aims at undermining the foundational promise God made to Abraham in Genesis 12—God’s promise of a land, a people, and a blessing for the nations.

Religious antisemitism attacks the blessing by targeting the Jewish faith through which Scripture, covenant, and the Messiah came into the world. Genetic antisemitism attacks the people by attempting to erase them entirely, which would make God’s promises void. Statehood antisemitism attacks the land by denying Israel’s legitimacy and centrality in God’s redemptive plan.

In other words, antisemitism tries to dismantle the Abrahamic covenant from every direction. And that is why it is satanic. Not simply because it is bigotry or hatred—though it is—but because it is a direct assault on God’s credibility. If Satan can convince the world that the land no longer matters, that the Jewish people are not chosen, that the blessing through Abraham is irrelevant, then he can convince the world that God is unfaithful.

This is why antisemitism is so persistent. It is why it mutates from religious to racial to political forms. It is why it appears on the left and the right. And it is why today’s Jew-hatred looks eerily like yesterday’s, even when the rhetoric has changed. The covenant God made with Abraham remains, and therefore the hatred remains.

But the Scriptures are clear: the Jewish people are not the obstacle to the redemption of the world—they are the vehicle of it. Through them came the Word of God, the prophets, the Messiah, and the promise of restoration that would begin in Jerusalem and extend to every nation. And through them God pledged to bless all the families of the earth. A promise that still stands!

That is the truth Satan seeks to erase through antisemitism. And that is why confronting antisemitism is not merely a political or moral duty—it is a spiritual one. To stand with the Jewish people is to stand with the covenant God made with them, going back to the moment Abraham took that step of faith to heed God’s call in Genesis 12. To resist antisemitism is to celebrate God’s promise to Abraham. And to proclaim the truth is to declare, again and again, that God’s promises still stand.

According to God, the Jewish people aren’t the obstacle to global redemption; their salvation is the pathway!

Chris Katulka is the Vice President of North American Ministries for The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, the host of The Friends of Israel Today radio program, a writer for Israel My Glory magazine, and a Contributor to Harbinger’s Daily.

 

Source: The Truth Satan Seeks To Erase Through Antisemitism – Harbinger’s Daily