“I want to start out by saying this: I was wrong.”

John Bevere made that three-word admission during a recent appearance on CBN’s Faith in Culture podcast, where he opened up about his past avoidance of teachings on the second coming of Jesus.

Years ago, the well-known author and Bible teacher would say — and even brag — from the pulpit that he didn’t speak about the end times or the second coming of Jesus, a peculiar boast for a man who just wrote a book about that very subject.

It makes sense, though, when he explained the change of heart he had in 2021.

Bevere, author of “The King Is Coming: It’s Time to Prepare for the Return of Christ,” said he used to believe spending time poring over Scripture on the end times or Jesus’ return would foster an “escape mentality,” that “people would stop planning for the future” and “become lazy and argumentative.”

That was until four years ago, when the Texas-based minister felt convicted to begin studying the end times and Christ’s second coming in-depth.

“What I noticed — the fruit I noticed — was different than what I expected,” he said. “No. 1, I became more passionate about ministry. I started weeping to just see souls saved, and I hadn’t done that before as intensely.”

But it wasn’t just that, he said. Bevere’s family started noticing a difference in his entire demeanor.

“My family started saying, ‘Dad, we’re noticing that you’re calmer. You don’t get upset as easily,'” he recalled. “My wife started saying, ‘You’re my favorite husband.’ I said, ‘What does that mean?’ She said, ‘Well, I like this version 2.0 better than 1.0.'”

Spending what he described as “thousands of hours” studying what the Bible has to say about the second coming of Jesus and the end times had produced “good fruit” within him.

The key, he explained on Faith in Culture, is having a right perspective — a hopeful and expectant perspective — about the return of Jesus.

“Only one subject is talked about more [than Jesus’ return], and that’s salvation,” Bevere said. “Three-hundred-and-eighteen verses of Scripture in the New Testament alone speak to the second coming of Christ — that’s one out of every 30 verses. It is the … second most written about subject by the early church fathers of the first three centuries.”

Bevere pointed to the New Testament passage of Luke 2, which describes both Simeon and Anna with the Koine Greek word “Prosdechomai,” meaning they were expectantly awaiting the coming of the Messiah.

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“Keep your lamps burning speaks of living a godly, holy life,” he explained. “Staying dressed for service, the fear of the Lord motivates us, taking the Word of God seriously, girding up our loins with truth.”

Bevere continued, “[W]hat creates eager expectation? It’s what we’re looking forward to. Think about when you were engaged. Think about when you were a kid and it was December 1st and mom and dad put up the Christmas tree.”

At another point in the conversation, he added, “As believers — I believe this with all my heart — we should live like He’s coming back today, but we should plan like He’s not coming back for 200 years. Why do I say that? Because Jesus Himself commanded us: occupy until I return. Now, to occupy means we’re taking territory. We’re actually doing kingdom business on this earth. And I believe that takes planning, wise planning.”

Listen to our full conversation with Bevere in the Faith in Culture episode above.