About this Book
The purpose of this book is to signal the warning that a gathering storm is on the horizon. Events are leading us closer to the prophesied apostasy and the rapture of the church. In the growing darkened social and spiritual climate, Christians may face a deepening isolation and an outright denial of the opportunity to witness the saving grace of Christ Jesus. Churches may also begin to feel a sharp curtailment of ministry, especially in speaking against the moral evils of the culture.

Not all of the chapters in this book are warning chapters, but together they are meant to lay out a mosaic of things to come. Some of those things have to do with what is taking place in the world, but other issues also point to drastic changes within the larger Evangelical culture.

1. Sixteen outstanding authors and scholars have come together to warn Christians that the storm prophesied in Scripture is on the horizon.

2. The majority of Evangelical seminaries are shifting away from the teaching of prophetic truth. Learn why in this book.

3. Why are truths like the rapture, the tribulation, and the kingdom reign of Christ being denied? This book is written to tell you.

4. In the growing denial of Bible prophecy, what can we expect next? As the November election of 2004 neared, America awakened and found itself split down the middle between two ideologies, between liberal and conservative, but more, between moral Christian values, and between humanistic and secular values. Never before has the nation been so divided in such a deep and devious way. Events that unfold and transpire past 2004 will tell us just how deep the split is in the psyche of the nation. But while America is coming to terms with a liberal agenda that is without doubt destructive, in Europe and Asia there is no division because Christian mores have nothing to do with what is taking place in those cultural and religious climates.

Europe long ago repudiated the spiritual heritage left over from the Reformation. And it can be fair to say that the tombstone is about to be placed over the Christian influences that have so led this nation in the past. The changes are now coming so fast spiritually and morally that the entire social fabric of the country is about to tear and fragment. Here are some examples:

l In 1993 63% of Americans claimed to be Protestant, but unfortunately in that survey, Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses were included in the count. In 2002 the number saying they are Protestant Christians had dropped to 52%. Within a few years Protestants will be a minority in America!

l In 2003 14% percent of Americans claimed to have no religion.

l Up to 1993 Protestant denominations retained 90% of their congregants. The number now is 80%.

It is admitted that because the mainline denominations are turning so quickly to liberalism, they are shrinking rapidly and may soon disappear altogether. The signs that the nation, and the world, is rapidly moving quickly to social and moral humanism are seen in the issues listed below on which Christian values no longer have an influence:

Abortion

Stem-cell research using aborted baby tissue

Homosexual agendas

Same-sex marriage

Galloping socialism

Euthanasia

While some argue that these issues are simply social shifts that will not sap the strength of the western nations, such rapid changes point to an outright repudiation of biblical morality.

Then there is the Middle East and Israel. Evangelicals who hold strongly to what the Bible teaches about the end times, see prophetic patterns in the establishment of the nation of Israel along with the return of the Jewish people to the promised land, and the rise of militant Islam. The Middle East is a powder keg that could explode and draw into that area the entire world. Changes in Europe also point to prophetic signposts. Europe is now virtually a united one nation! It now uses a Euro-dollar, and has a sitting parliament with an elected president. It also is rapidly moving to a total economic inter-dependence. Many of these changes point clearly to the prophesied one-world government that will dominate the globe during the great seven-year tribulation period.

I have assembled some close friends and outstanding spiritual scholars to write about the deepening moral darkness looming on the horizon of our world. I trust that what they have written will help believers in Christ to understand the times we live in, but too, to become more diligent about sharing the good news of salvation found only in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The apostle Paul warns that a time will come when segment of Christians will not want to hear the truth. There will be a turning away from what the Bible teaches. However he adds that there is a special crown awaiting those who look for the day of Christ's appearing. The apostle writes:

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires [lusts]; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths. …[But] in the future there is 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 also to all who have loved His appearing (2 Timothy 4:3-4, 8).
--Mal Couch, MA, Ph.D., Th.D.

About the Title:

THE GATHERING STORM*

*Following World War II, Winston Churchill wrote the history of that horrible conflict but also the history of the buildup leading to its beginning. One of the volumes he authored is entitle, The Gathering Storm. In it he attempts to document the social and geo-political factors that were put into place in the 1930s.

The purpose of this book is to signal the warning that the storm is on the horizon. Events are leading us closer to the prophesied apostasy and the rapture of the church. In the growing darkened social and spiritual climate, Christians may face a deepening isolation and an outright denial of the opportunity to witness the saving grace of Christ Jesus. Churches may also begin to feel a sharp curtailment of ministry, especially in speaking against the moral evils of the culture.

Not all of the chapters in this book are warning chapters, but together they are meant to lay out a mosaic of things to come. Some of those things have to do with what is taking place in the world, but other issues also point to drastic changes within the larger Evangelical culture. Meanwhile, taking a cue from the apostle Jude, believers are urged to "contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to the saints" (Jude 3).