Some preachers teach that the world will be converted to Christ and that thus the dominion of the kingdom of God over the Earth will be established progressively step by step as godly men and women take authority over the various spheres of the human enterprise. Do you think that is how the Kingdom will come?
The preachers who teach that the world will be converted to Christ seem to be missing the point completely. This idea of creating a perfect earth to hand over to Christ doesn't seem to align with the way Scripture paints the end times.
Rev 13 talks of the beast taking dominion over the whole earth, making war with the saints and overcoming them, and the second beast taking requiring the mark in order to buy or sell (in other words, taking dominion over the financial systems of the world). That doesn't sit well with the idea that Christians should take dominion over economic matters.
Referencing that against what Paul wrote to the Thessalonians:
2Th 2:1-4 NKJV Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, (2) not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. (3) Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, (4) who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
Here Paul is saying that the coming of Jesus Christ will not come until the falling away comes and the man of sin is revealed. This is calling for people to be leaving the church and the man of sin to be revealed. When the devil's servants are able to perform lying signs and wonders (e.g. 2Th 2:9, Rev 13:13) and people will believe them (2Th 2:11-12) it seems to me that we should expect a figure to arise, take dominion over the earth (initially through peaceful means but subsequently through force - Dan 11) and subsequently start to persecute God's people in some form of tribulation (Matt 24:21-22) that only some will survive (Rev 7:14, Rev 13:15)
A lot of people these days talk of Islam as if it were the beast. A while back I read (I can't remember where) something about the Islamic Mahdi bearing a remarkable resemblance to the beast of the Revelation, but still can't help thinking that Islam is too obvious a choice. For myself I'm expecting a figure to rise within the Christian church who performs signs and wonders but leads people astray. This would at least have some Scriptural precedent, particularly Acts 20:29-30. If we as Christians are looking out for someone who performs mighty signs and wonders but who isn't a Christian, anyone not clearly associated with the Christian church is immediately suspect. But someone who rose from within the church would be far less obvious, and would appear to be in a much stronger place to draw people away.
I'd also expect such a person to be more concerned with unity than sound doctrine, and if unity is elevated to the point that it becomes the primary goal it would seem that more and more boxes are getting ticked. Firstly the call to put sound doctrine second to wider unity, then the person rising up speaking perverse things, then the notion of initially coming in peace (most likely followed by exclusion of anyone who wasn't willing to be inclusive) and so on.
