11 Minutes
Today, we are at the beginning of what will quickly become the complete downfall of humanity. There are still those who will cease to reject, to rebel against God.
Matthew 24:6-12
We see the truth, or rather the misunderstanding of truth, turn unity into separation. No one ever made a belief true by believing it. Belief does not make something true. You believe your perfectly new car has fuel in it. You get others to believe it too. You try to start your car. It grinds but no turnover.
Your belief was not true. You substitute belief for truth. Believing won’t even put fuel in your car. That’s why saying “what is truth to me”, is so destructive. Truth is so important that we must not fail to understand that it is unyielding in the face of beliefs. Truth is what God has put in creation to help us understand reality. If our beliefs are true, we are enabled to deal with reality effectively. Truth must always match up to reality. Most people do not know how to work with truth. The broom is in the closet. We know how to find out whether or not that statement is true. We go look at the broom in the closet. Reality. All truth is not that direct. That’s why reasoning with revealed verifiable statements will lead to truth in reality. Jesus spoke the warnings of truth for the last days. Our response is to see the reality of his words. The time of trouble is just as the bible says it will be. And if we want to be responsible to the truth and for the truth, to lead others in that path, to be prepared for the time of trouble, that can be only effectively done by being steadfast followers of Jesus Christ in our whole life. We must have truth beyond opinion, the truth about truth. It can’t be done any other way.
Let us not be casual in our approach to this “timed” event. People unblinkingly focus on their pleasure. Giving no thought to God, they are casually uninterested in the moral welfare of our children, our friends, our families, that are collapsing into utter depravity. Shame for sin has disappeared. The nations are falling. Society shows significant breakdowns in three vital areas: in political and business leadership, in family life, and inability to tap into the spiritual resource of God. Specific blame is shaping up to be placed on a specific people. Rebellion, obstinacy, betrayal, distrust, shamelessness, and greed, comprise an audacious self-centeredness against God and fellow man. These are the characteristics of a nation that will completely abandon all things godly. Sin has gradually carried less of a stigma in the world. The sense of shame has been slowly replaced by a growing boldness of an attitude of acceptance, a flaunting of sin. Much of that sense of shame has disappeared from the American psyche altogether. Bold immorality has become the way of life so that sin is now blatantly committed. Civility is becoming a thing of the past. Rudeness and open, brazen misconduct is becoming the normal way of doing things. This nation has formed herself into that cruel beast of prophecy. This is the kind of conduct the "whore's forehead" pictures. It represents the blatant, audacious sin of the people, openly displaying what they are, promoting themselves, and tempting others to engage in sin with her. The whore's forehead represents obdurate practice of sin done overtly with no attempt to camouflage. This attitude is reminiscent of the story of righteous Lot dealing with the homosexuals in Sodom just before God dropped the fire and brimstone on the people of that vile city. This relaxed and careless acceptability of sin did not happen overnight. It has gradually become tolerated over decades. Its growth is significantly aided by a so-called christian church that abandoned its responsibility to God. We must be very careful to guard ourselves from succumbing to the temptation of being drawn into the same casual approach. It is our responsibility to overcome sin.
God is using these final days leading to the time of trouble to accomplish His will and refine His people. We are approaching a season of severe testing that will make Job’s testing seem as a sunny day in the park. We need a closer relationship with God to deepening our faith in and reliance on Him. We will be in the time of stygian gloom so deficient of light that all human interaction will be toxic. It will be as a black abyss. But no matter how dark the situation will be, believers can rest in the promise that God “will not leave you nor forsake you”. And it is for this cause that regardless of our troubles or difficult circumstances, we will make an impact by sharing the truth of the word of God, our Creator and our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing that God has decided to make this terrible time short. We are in a season of acceleration towards both the greatest outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the greatest hour of temptation in world history. The bible makes it clear that both darkness and the glory of God will increase to unprecedented levels together in the generation that Jesus returns to. No other generation has had to navigate these two extremes. This will create a situation in which many will be afraid and confused, searching for answers. That is one reason why the Lord put more information in the bible about that one generation - us. We must have God’s perspective on saving souls. We must understand the biblical narrative related to the coming difficulties. It is now in this day that God’s people are to have a burden in a way that will help them and others to grow in deeper love and peace with a steadfast faith in Jesus’ excellent leadership.
Isaiah 60:2
The greatest harvest of souls is coming in context to the end-time trouble of the nations. This time of trouble will be like a “perfect storm,” affecting many areas of life; financial, political, societal, spiritual, military, and more. It is in this context that God’s glory will be seen and magnified in the world. I do not ask anyone to accept my understanding of what the scripture shows me on the end times unless you can clearly see them with your own eyes in your own bible. In other words, trust the truth of reality. We are learning these truths together. We cannot afford to make a mistake that will leave multitudes of God’s people spiritually unprepared when dark events escalate more in the end times. We can only have a mature understanding as we honor, relate to, and learn from one another across the different streams in the body of Christ. No one group of people will have it all. But together, the unity can gain a mature understanding of the end time of trouble. We need each other to grow in this understanding. We must study the books of Daniel and The Revelation.
The time of trouble my friends will intensify our suffering. This darkness leads to the manifestation of God’s hatred for sin...the beginning of His wrath. Darkness is a visible sign of God’s judgment and displeasure. There will be unexplained moments of desolation and thoughts of abandonment. But we will be conscious of our Father’s presence because every truth, every word of God will sustain us and we hear “lo, I am with you alway, even unto theend of the world”. No truth will be distant from us. We will know our experience is in accord with God’s declared word. God’s Word is true and His Word was here long before we became the spectacle of display that would be exposed to great hardships for the glory of God. However, God certainly does not need our experiences to validate the truth of what He says, but we need God’s Word to validate our experience. The world will witness our persecutions, sufferings, patience, and magnanimity. They will see that we suffer willingly for our fidelity to Christ, and how we suffer; how great and imminent are our dangers, and how determinedly we encounter them; how sharp our sufferings, and how patiently we endure them, by the power of divine grace and our faith in truth principles. In our coming to this time, we must be more than faithful messengers...we must be the perfection of true biblical servitude and spirituality.
Comments