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We've all seen the cartoons where some long-haired
character is holding a sign that the end of the world is near. While the Bible
teaches it, most people don't want to believe it; we tend to be afraid of this
sort of thing. One of the basic fears we bring with us from childhood is a fear
of disaster. It first manifests itself when we're babies as a fear of loud
noises, then as we mature, this fear of loud noises grows into a more
intellectual fear of calamity and disaster. Since the end of the world as we
know it represents the ultimate disaster, it's natural to become rather
uncomfortable and even ignore the evidence and deny the worsening conditions
around us as long as we aren't directly affected.
Certainly our society is
crumbling and we're hurtling toward financial disaster; many prominent
economists are certain of it. We're spending ourselves into oblivion, having
learned as taxpayers that we can vote ourselves money out of the public
treasury. People vote their pocketbooks, and the candidate that threatens to
cut off government funding will never sit in the high-backed leather chair
behind the desk he seeks. According to those who keep up with it, there is 40
trillion dollars worth of debt and only eight trillion dollars available to pay
that debt.
That's a 32 trillion dollar problem, and it doesn't
count the 101 trillion dollars worth of unfunded entitlements the government
owes. The U.S. is living off her borrowing power. This will eventually push the
powers-that-be to eliminate cash; the money we have will be little numbers
stored in electronic databases, and debit-card technology is where we are now,
along with fingerprint recognition for identification. Each purchase we make
can be tracked and stored in databases, and as giant corporations continue to
merge, the very rich will have more and more control over what we can buy and
what we pay for it in the marketplace.
When all paper and metal money is gone, we'll be
one more step closer to the society where the "mark of the beast" can be
implemented. The tiny electronic chip implants we've heard about will become
necessary in order to do business, (in the beginning, the chip will be neutral
technology, not an evil mark); Satan's forces under the coming Antichrist and
his false prophet will use their version of this chip to control the masses and
keep up with what each person does, where they go, what they buy, and so on. Did
you know that virtually every new cell phone is now trackable via the GPS
system?
"And he causes
all, the small and the great, the rich and the poor, and the free men and the
slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand, or on their forehead, .and he
provides that no one should be able to buy or sell, except the one who has the
mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his
name." Revelation 13:16-17
A hundred years ago
that prophecy seemed preposterous. Right now the technology is here, it's
available, and it only needs a massive financial crash to be implemented. The
technology may be used before the antichrist has his false prophet implement it,
and with prevailing financial conditions it may even be necessary, but it's
definitely a move toward control.
"But as for you,
Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many
will go back and forth and knowledge will increase."
Daniel 12:4
For 5900 years technology remained fairly
constant, with only small advances in transportation and communication
technology. Then, in the latter part of the last millennium, brilliant men like
Leonardo DaVinci, Galileo, Copernicus, Newton and Einstein burst on the scene.
Knowledge began to increase. In 1873 a man named Otto did pioneering work on
the internal combustion engine. Thirty years later Orville and Wilbur Wright
made the their famous Kitty Hawk, North Carolina flight, and very shortly
afterwards, pioneers like Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone began to make their
mark.
Out of the necessity of cracking Japanese codes
during the second World War, the computer was born, and in 1969, Neil Armstrong
landed his tiny spacecraft on the dusty surface of the moon. Computers got
smaller and smaller until in about 1980 they made it into mass-produced
automobiles. Information can leave the personal computer on a 14 year-old's
desk today and be around the globe in a matter of microseconds. At least 150
million Americans have cellular phones, and even for those who don't have cell
phones or computers, they can turn on the television and gather news from all
over the planet in a matter of minutes. Yes, knowledge has certainly
increased...
Then there's the matter of earthquakes, famine and
war. One hundred years ago, standardized and calibrated seismographs were
deployed all over the world, but even before that earthquakes were monitored and
catalogued as closely as possible. A graph of earthquake activity maintained by
Madeline Zirbes of the National Earthquake Information Center shows an upsurge
of earthquakes every thirty years, suggesting the "birth pangs" Jesus mentioned
in His Olivet discourse in Matthew 24.
In the 1800's the prospect of a world
war seemed ridiculous. In the 1900's we've had two world wars. In third world
countries, children starve and Christians are persecuted. False "christs" arise
and lead people astray by the thousands...
"For many will
come in My name, saying 'I am the Christ,' and will mislead many. And you will
be hearing of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened, for
those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise
against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be
famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth
pangs.
Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and
you will be hated by all nations on account of My name." Matthew 24:5-9
The disciples asked what the signs of Jesus'
second coming would be, and many Christians get the Rapture of the church and
the Second Coming crossed up. The discourse here in Matthew 24 is directed at
the tribulation saints who, having been left behind at the Rapture of the church
will have been saved during the period following. There are those who think
they can reject Christ now and be saved later, but if they know the way but
choose to reject Christ before the Rapture, they won't come to Him afterwards
(see II Thessalonians 2:10-11). Only those who didn't know the way and got left
behind will come to Christ, and only the ones of these who endure the torture
and persecution of the tribulation until it's over or they die will be saved
(see Matthew 24:13).
For the born-again believer who has confessed
Jesus as Lord (Romans 10:9), these are exciting times. Death has no sting for
those who love His appearing (I Corinthians 15:54-55), and death for the
Christian is a more glorious time than his birth. For the one who delights in
the pleasures of sin and doesn't "receive the love of the truth so as to be
saved." (II Thessalonians 2:10b), the coming events will be terrifying to say
the least.
Finally, the
deterioration of society, the love of money, and the crumbling of family values
marks the latter days. Economics (FAULTY economics at that) drove almost half
the born-again believers in the United States to vote for the pro-abortion
candidate. How can they believe God is happy with their choice?
"But realize
this, that in the last days, difficult times will come. For men will be loves
of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents,
ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self
control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of
pleasure rather than lovers of God."
II Timothy 3:1-4
Have a look at the newspapers to find the people
described here. There are those who are drawing closer to God in these last
days. It's time to stand for something; Jesus said in Matthew 12 that we would
either be justified or condemned by our words; Jesus is Lord. Everybody knows
John 3:16, but consider verses 18-19:
He that believeth on [Me] is not condemned: but he
that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the
name of the only begotten Son of God.And this is the condemnation, that light is
come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their
deeds were evil.
There's no way around that. If you've publicly
confessed Christ as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the
dead, get excited about it, bear lots of fruit for Him, and get ready to meet
Him; He's coming suddenly and soon to take you home... The signs of the times
are everywhere; the end is right around the corner. R.W.M.
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