Are We Living in the End Times? (The non-intellectual version)
One of the things that has brought me to a logical belief in God and the inerrancy of Scripture is fulfilled prophecy. There are some things that are inexplicable if not for the existence of an ever present, all knowing, all powerful God. For example: the prophet Isaiah wrote that in the beginning of the end, a nation would be born in a day.
Isaiah 66:7-9
“Before she was in labor, she gave birth; before her pain came, she delivered a male child. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children. Shall I bring to the time of birth, and not cause delivery?” says the LORD. “Shall I who cause delivery shut up the womb?” says your God.”
The beginning of labor or “birth pangs” is symbolic throughout the Bible as being the sign of the coming age when Jesus will return to judge the earth and set up His kingdom. This passage tells us that one of the first signs that the end is near will be the birth of a nation in one day and it can only be talking about one historical event:
Go to your local library, find a number of history books and search out whether or not there has ever been, in the history of the earth, a nation “born at once.” You will find that only one nation has ever been born in a day, that nation is the current nation of Israel who on May 14, 1948, by decree of the United Nations, was born…that’s right in one day, in one decree, a nation was born… just as Isaiah had foretold over 2700 years earlier.
Now for you folks who believe Bible prophecy is true only because somehow, somebody wrote the “so called” prophecy after the fulfilled events took place then passed them off as though they were written before the event… I challenge you to find a Bible published in the 1800’s (there are plenty of copies available, maybe even in your grandmother’s possessions) and look up this passage. If Isaiah 66 is in there (and it will be) can we agree that it had been written before the event took place? If it was written even 50 years before, then will you concede that it is quite weird that someone would know that a nation would be born in a day when it had never happened ever before in the history of man?
I chose Isaiah 66 to introduce this column because it is an interesting passage that speaks of what I’ll call two births…”Before she was in labor, she gave birth”… In other words, before the end times birth pangs begin, the earth will give birth to a nation. I believe this tells us that Israel’s birth in 1948 was the beginning of the end. If that is the case then we can look at other end times prophecies to see if they might correlate with any events that have taken place since 1948 or are taking place currently. If there are correlations then we can, with confidence, say that we are living in the end times.
So let’s have a look shall we…
One guy guessing right 2700 years ago about a nation’s birth could be just luck right? Possibly… but Isaiah 66 is not the only passage that speaks of the re-birth of Israel. In Ezekiel 36-37, the prophet Ezekiel gets into a little more detail about a future re-gathering of the Jews in the current land of Israel.
Ezekiel states about Israel that God will “make you inhabited as in former times” (36:11) and about the Israelite people that God will “take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land.” (36:24) That’s exactly what happened after the birth of the nation of Israel in 1948…Jews who were scattered throughout the earth came back and once again inhabited the tiny strip of land called Israel. But wait…there’s more!
Ezekiel also gave more detail… he speaks of the land becoming fruitful once again, yielding crops from once barren wilderness. (36:9, 29, 34) Today because of the strategically placed dams and ingenious irrigation techniques put into place by the Israelis, what once was swamp land and desert in the land of Israel has become fruitful farm land. So fruitful that, despite the fact that it is about the size of Massachusetts (the 6th smallest state in the United States) Israel has become one of the largest exporters of agricultural products in the world…Read Ezekiel 36-37 and see if you’d agree that it is a dead on portrayal of Israel post 1948.
We also find more end times prophecies in Ezekiel 38-39 that are eerily similar to current world events. Ezekiel 38-39 speaks of a last days showdown between Israel and a number of allied countries. You’ll have to do a little history research for this passage to make sense because the names of the countries written in this passage are the names of the countries as Ezekiel knew them 2500 years ago… the names have changed, but the geographical territories remain the same so we can know who Ezekiel was talking about by finding who now resides in those territories. Here is the list of nations that are prophesied to come together against Israel in the end times as found in Ezekiel 38:
-Magog: Modern day Russia. “Gog” in Ezekiel 38 refers to the leader of Magog (Russia)
-Rosh: This also refers to Russia
-Meshech: This is thought to be the ancient city now known as Moscow
-Tubal: This is thought to be the ancient city now known as Tobolsk in Russia
-Persia: This was the official name of Iran until 1935
-Cush: Modern day Sudan and Ethiopia
-Put: Modern day Libya, and possibly Algeria and Tunisia
-Gomer: Modern day Turkey
-Beth-togarmah: Modern day Armenia and the Turkic-speaking peoples of Central Asia
The story as prophesied in Ezekiel is as follows: In the end days Russia will form ties with several modern day Muslim countries starting with Iran. Soon Sudan, Ethiopia, Libya and Turkey will join Russia and Iran to come against Israel in a final big war where God will defeat the enemies of Israel. Keep in mind that this was written 2500 years ago and history will tell us that in that 2500 years, the inhabitants of modern day Russia and Iran have never been allies, they’ve fought against each other, but have never been allied…until today… Over the past couple of years Vladimir Putin, Russia’s leader (Gog) has been not only publicly forming ties with Iran and other Muslim nations but has been unashamedly arming those nations at a rapid pace. Russia is today allied with and arming countries who have vowed the annihilation of Israel…Islamic fundamentalist run countries who have vowed to come together against Israel… just as Ezekiel foretold.
Let’s continue…
In Daniel 12:4 we are given another end times prophecy. Daniel wrote that in “the time of the end… knowledge shall increase.” There has never been a time in history that knowledge has been more accessible. With the arrival of the internet all it takes is a couple of seconds to type a question into a search pane and you’ll be able to find out just about anything at any time… knowledge has increased.
Many say this passage refers more to knowledge of scripture as it relates to the end times then to just general knowledge… if that is the case then it is even more so taking place today. So many of the end times prophecies would have been impossible to understand before the advent of today’s technologies. For example: there are prophecies that tell us of a cashless society… without current technologies, it would have been impossible to understand how this would happen even 30 years ago... but today, this could happen tomorrow if we wanted it to. There are prophecies about the whole world being able to witness events as they are occurring… without satellite television, it would have been impossible to understand how this would happen even 50 years ago... but today, we watch world events happening live everyday on several television stations. Ezekiel’s description of the war of Gog and Magog describes quite aptly a nuclear war… without knowledge of radioactive fallout, it would have been impossible to understand how this would happen even 70 years ago… but today… There are so many prophecies that now become clear for us when we read them in the light of current knowledge.
There’s more…
In Luke 17 and Matthew 24 Jesus said that the end days will be similar to the “days of Noah.” (Matt 24:37; Luke 17:26) In Genesis 6 we find a description of the days of Noah: There was a population explosion (v.1), wickedness was great among the people (v.5) and the earth was filled with violence. (v.11)
Population explosion:
Experts estimate that in 1800 the earth’s population was approximately 1 billion. 150 years later in 1950 it had increased to 2.5 billion. Since 1950 the earth’s population has grown to 6.5 billion. Let me put it another way: in the 148 years prior to Israel being born in one day the earth’s population grew by 1.5 billion… in the 60 years since Israel being born in one day the earth’s population has grown by 4 billion… a little more than one third the time, close to triple the growth… sounds like a population explosion to me.
Wickedness was great among the people:
Loosely defined, wickedness is that which is likely to cause harm, distress or trouble. The root of wickedness in people is pride… “I want my will and I don’t care how it affects you”… Unless you have been shut up in a cave for the past 10 years with no TV, internet or contact with the outside world, I think it is safe to say that we all have seen a rapid increase in prideful wickedness over recent years. The shopping season before Christmas is a prime example…routinely you’ll see that people are being literally trampled by other people to get the “hot” item of the year… “I want it and I’ll do anything to get it.” Thieves throughout the world are stealing other people’s identity… not just personal items as in the past, but full identities… names… social security numbers… credit scores… and with absolute disregard for the individual, these wicked people are destroying others’ lives for personal gain. In politics it is no longer appropriate to debate over ideas; it has now become essential that your opponent’s credibility, lifestyle, and even families be obliterated. We are living in a wicked society.
The earth filled with violence:
Here are a few headlines from the past couple of months:
- 13 killed in attack in West Kenyan village in land dispute.
- 7 shot at local fast food restaurant.
- Former police officer convicted in the murder of girlfriend and unborn child.
- Man throws his 4 children off bridge into river.
- Man shoots up church, 2 dead, 7 wounded.
- Outrage over election causes rioting in streets.
- Two police officers found shot dead in parking lot.
- Men wearing stolen police uniforms kill 8 at Honduras pool hall.
- 2 homicide bombings kill 24 in Baghdad.
- Marine suspected of rape now on the run, wanted for murder.
- Assassination of former prime minister triggers rioting in the streets.
Turn on the television any given evening and you’ll find more than one television network devoted exclusively to men (and as I saw last night… in some cases women) beating each other senseless in cages for money. Look through your children’s video game collection and I bet you’ll find mostly violent games… even the sports related video games are now filled with violent acts. Our popular music exalts violent “gang bang” activities and YouTube is filled with videos of teenagers beating up other teenagers for fun. Our earth is filled with violence.
Another interesting verse about the times of Noah is found in verse 2 of Genesis 6: “That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.” The “sons of God” here refer to the angels who were kicked out of Heaven with Saten by God. (Revelation 12:9) Evidently in Noah’s day those fallen angels took wives from among the humans. If we look at it from a human perspective what would that look like? I suggest that, from our vantage point, it would look like women dabbling in the occult… Have you noticed lately a huge spike in occult like behavior? Television shows about ghost hunting and witchcraft, children’s books, television shows and movies about warlocks and casting spells, magicians and musicians who blacken their eyes with make-up, drink blood, and perform some pretty scary stuff. It has become mainstream in our society to accept these types of practices… practices that just a few years ago would have been unheard of… practices that even Christian parents are encouraging their kids to explore by giving them these books, taking them to these movies, buying them the video games and TiVo-ing these programs. We seem to be marrying ourselves to these occultist practices?
Are we living in days similar to the days of Noah? Answer that for yourself…
Another reference to what the end times will look like is found also in Luke 17, Jesus says: “Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.”
The days of Lot? If you read Genesis 19 you’ll see what society looked like while Lot was in Sodom. Just before Sodom was destroyed (judged), God sent a couple of angels into the city to get Lot and his family out. Seeing the angels, the men of the city marched through the streets demanding that the angels (male angels) be brought out of Lot’s house so that they (the men) could have sex with them. Homosexual men boldly walking the streets making demands that the followers of God accept them and give into their demands.
The city of Sodom in the days of Lot was filled with militant homosexuality…t hat’s just a fact of that day (Sodom-sodomy)… I’ll let you decide for yourself if today has any resemblance to the days of Lot.
Just a few more…but these are just the tip of the iceberg…
Daniel 9:27 speaks of a peace treaty that is signed in the last days between Israel and its surrounding nations. Israel is now negotiating such a treaty with the Palestinians and both sides are closer than ever to signing it… all they really need that they don’t yet have is a charismatic leader who can broker a deal. I believe this refers to the treaty that will be negotiated by the Antichrist to rebuild the temple. Everything is in place for when the Antichrist is revealed for this deal to be immediately agreed to; even the materials to build the temple are in place today and are staged in a Jerusalem warehouse.
In Matthew 24, speaking of the end times, Jesus tells us that: “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” This week in the news you’ll hear about the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, the war on terror, holy wars, military bombings in Gaza, Israel and Somalia, Syria threatening war, Iran building weapons of mass destruction, Russia flexing its military muscle, China building a huge 2 billion man army, North Korea thumbing its nose at the U.N. weapons inspectors, and Venezuela ramping up its military at its border with Colombia. Also, since 1948 many earthquakes have been felt causing tsunamis and many deaths throughout the world. AIDS, SARS, Ebola, bird flu, and super bugs have been popping up everywhere. Drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis, malaria, staphylococcus and cholera are rearing their head around the world. In the past 50 years, droughts and famines (usually blamed on so called “global warming”) have been frequent and deadly as well.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 tells us: “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power.” Sounds like Paul was watching today’s TV news.
We started this column with talk of “birth pangs.” My wife is 8+ months pregnant so I’ve been hearing a lot about birth lately. When labor begins the contractions (or birth pangs) she will experience will be about 15-20 minutes apart. As the time for delivery nears, those contractions will get closer together. When they are 5 minutes apart we will head to the hospital, when they are 2 minutes apart the time is very near and you can expect to see the baby at any time.
God called the signs of the end times birth pangs for a reason. It’s a mental picture that everyone who has had a child or has witnessed a woman in labor can relate to. We saw the start of labor in 1948 and at that time we started seeing signs of knowledge increasing, the population exploding, wickedness increasing, violence escalating, homosexuality becoming militant, wars, pestilence, famines, earthquakes. These signs started to show up in the news here and there every couple of years. Have you noticed an increase in the frequency of these types of activities as I have?
Take violence as one example: 30 years ago it was a rarity to hear in the news about a mass killing; a workplace shooting or post office shooting would happen maybe a couple of times a year at most. Today (and I’d love to be exaggerating but I’m not) hardly a day goes by when there hasn’t been a mass killing, school shooting or car bombing somewhere in the world. Today it was in Israel where a gunman opened fire in a rabbinical school, two days ago a car bomb in Bagdad killed 53, last week a man walked into a South Florida Wendy’s and shot seven people… Here is a link to Drudge; read the headlines in the light of this teaching…birth pangs… they are very close together.
I am not a “the sky is falling” type of guy… but when the evidence is as obvious as this… I will say… the sky is falling. We are living in the end times… Jesus will soon come to judge the earth and set up His kingdom.
So what now?
The Bible is clear about what is going to happen in the 7 years prior to Jesus returning to righteously judge the earth. It’s spoken as the Great Tribulation and it will be worse than any other time in history… a time of great enslavement and suffering. But God has provided a way for us to miss out on all that suffering. Before the Great Tribulation begins (and I believe it will begin within the next few years) everyone who has given their life over to the Lordship of Christ will be taken out of this world and caught up into Heaven to be with Him and will return with Him when He comes to judge the earth and set up His kingdom. “Now that’s just weird…caught up… to Heaven… with Jesus?” You might say, “You had me up until then… you were making sense… but that’s just crazy!” If that is you, if you think that’s crazy let me ask you this: If what I’ve said about fulfilled prophecy is true… if God, more than 2000 years ago, inspired men to write about events that are taking place today… don’t you think it might be a good idea to look at what God inspired those men to write about that hasn’t yet taken place… and maybe believe it too is true?
Isaiah 66:7-9
“Before she was in labor, she gave birth; before her pain came, she delivered a male child. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children. Shall I bring to the time of birth, and not cause delivery?” says the LORD. “Shall I who cause delivery shut up the womb?” says your God.”
The beginning of labor or “birth pangs” is symbolic throughout the Bible as being the sign of the coming age when Jesus will return to judge the earth and set up His kingdom. This passage tells us that one of the first signs that the end is near will be the birth of a nation in one day and it can only be talking about one historical event:
Go to your local library, find a number of history books and search out whether or not there has ever been, in the history of the earth, a nation “born at once.” You will find that only one nation has ever been born in a day, that nation is the current nation of Israel who on May 14, 1948, by decree of the United Nations, was born…that’s right in one day, in one decree, a nation was born… just as Isaiah had foretold over 2700 years earlier.
Now for you folks who believe Bible prophecy is true only because somehow, somebody wrote the “so called” prophecy after the fulfilled events took place then passed them off as though they were written before the event… I challenge you to find a Bible published in the 1800’s (there are plenty of copies available, maybe even in your grandmother’s possessions) and look up this passage. If Isaiah 66 is in there (and it will be) can we agree that it had been written before the event took place? If it was written even 50 years before, then will you concede that it is quite weird that someone would know that a nation would be born in a day when it had never happened ever before in the history of man?
I chose Isaiah 66 to introduce this column because it is an interesting passage that speaks of what I’ll call two births…”Before she was in labor, she gave birth”… In other words, before the end times birth pangs begin, the earth will give birth to a nation. I believe this tells us that Israel’s birth in 1948 was the beginning of the end. If that is the case then we can look at other end times prophecies to see if they might correlate with any events that have taken place since 1948 or are taking place currently. If there are correlations then we can, with confidence, say that we are living in the end times.
So let’s have a look shall we…
One guy guessing right 2700 years ago about a nation’s birth could be just luck right? Possibly… but Isaiah 66 is not the only passage that speaks of the re-birth of Israel. In Ezekiel 36-37, the prophet Ezekiel gets into a little more detail about a future re-gathering of the Jews in the current land of Israel.
Ezekiel states about Israel that God will “make you inhabited as in former times” (36:11) and about the Israelite people that God will “take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land.” (36:24) That’s exactly what happened after the birth of the nation of Israel in 1948…Jews who were scattered throughout the earth came back and once again inhabited the tiny strip of land called Israel. But wait…there’s more!
Ezekiel also gave more detail… he speaks of the land becoming fruitful once again, yielding crops from once barren wilderness. (36:9, 29, 34) Today because of the strategically placed dams and ingenious irrigation techniques put into place by the Israelis, what once was swamp land and desert in the land of Israel has become fruitful farm land. So fruitful that, despite the fact that it is about the size of Massachusetts (the 6th smallest state in the United States) Israel has become one of the largest exporters of agricultural products in the world…Read Ezekiel 36-37 and see if you’d agree that it is a dead on portrayal of Israel post 1948.
We also find more end times prophecies in Ezekiel 38-39 that are eerily similar to current world events. Ezekiel 38-39 speaks of a last days showdown between Israel and a number of allied countries. You’ll have to do a little history research for this passage to make sense because the names of the countries written in this passage are the names of the countries as Ezekiel knew them 2500 years ago… the names have changed, but the geographical territories remain the same so we can know who Ezekiel was talking about by finding who now resides in those territories. Here is the list of nations that are prophesied to come together against Israel in the end times as found in Ezekiel 38:
-Magog: Modern day Russia. “Gog” in Ezekiel 38 refers to the leader of Magog (Russia)
-Rosh: This also refers to Russia
-Meshech: This is thought to be the ancient city now known as Moscow
-Tubal: This is thought to be the ancient city now known as Tobolsk in Russia
-Persia: This was the official name of Iran until 1935
-Cush: Modern day Sudan and Ethiopia
-Put: Modern day Libya, and possibly Algeria and Tunisia
-Gomer: Modern day Turkey
-Beth-togarmah: Modern day Armenia and the Turkic-speaking peoples of Central Asia
The story as prophesied in Ezekiel is as follows: In the end days Russia will form ties with several modern day Muslim countries starting with Iran. Soon Sudan, Ethiopia, Libya and Turkey will join Russia and Iran to come against Israel in a final big war where God will defeat the enemies of Israel. Keep in mind that this was written 2500 years ago and history will tell us that in that 2500 years, the inhabitants of modern day Russia and Iran have never been allies, they’ve fought against each other, but have never been allied…until today… Over the past couple of years Vladimir Putin, Russia’s leader (Gog) has been not only publicly forming ties with Iran and other Muslim nations but has been unashamedly arming those nations at a rapid pace. Russia is today allied with and arming countries who have vowed the annihilation of Israel…Islamic fundamentalist run countries who have vowed to come together against Israel… just as Ezekiel foretold.
Let’s continue…
In Daniel 12:4 we are given another end times prophecy. Daniel wrote that in “the time of the end… knowledge shall increase.” There has never been a time in history that knowledge has been more accessible. With the arrival of the internet all it takes is a couple of seconds to type a question into a search pane and you’ll be able to find out just about anything at any time… knowledge has increased.
Many say this passage refers more to knowledge of scripture as it relates to the end times then to just general knowledge… if that is the case then it is even more so taking place today. So many of the end times prophecies would have been impossible to understand before the advent of today’s technologies. For example: there are prophecies that tell us of a cashless society… without current technologies, it would have been impossible to understand how this would happen even 30 years ago... but today, this could happen tomorrow if we wanted it to. There are prophecies about the whole world being able to witness events as they are occurring… without satellite television, it would have been impossible to understand how this would happen even 50 years ago... but today, we watch world events happening live everyday on several television stations. Ezekiel’s description of the war of Gog and Magog describes quite aptly a nuclear war… without knowledge of radioactive fallout, it would have been impossible to understand how this would happen even 70 years ago… but today… There are so many prophecies that now become clear for us when we read them in the light of current knowledge.
There’s more…
In Luke 17 and Matthew 24 Jesus said that the end days will be similar to the “days of Noah.” (Matt 24:37; Luke 17:26) In Genesis 6 we find a description of the days of Noah: There was a population explosion (v.1), wickedness was great among the people (v.5) and the earth was filled with violence. (v.11)
Population explosion:
Experts estimate that in 1800 the earth’s population was approximately 1 billion. 150 years later in 1950 it had increased to 2.5 billion. Since 1950 the earth’s population has grown to 6.5 billion. Let me put it another way: in the 148 years prior to Israel being born in one day the earth’s population grew by 1.5 billion… in the 60 years since Israel being born in one day the earth’s population has grown by 4 billion… a little more than one third the time, close to triple the growth… sounds like a population explosion to me.
Wickedness was great among the people:
Loosely defined, wickedness is that which is likely to cause harm, distress or trouble. The root of wickedness in people is pride… “I want my will and I don’t care how it affects you”… Unless you have been shut up in a cave for the past 10 years with no TV, internet or contact with the outside world, I think it is safe to say that we all have seen a rapid increase in prideful wickedness over recent years. The shopping season before Christmas is a prime example…routinely you’ll see that people are being literally trampled by other people to get the “hot” item of the year… “I want it and I’ll do anything to get it.” Thieves throughout the world are stealing other people’s identity… not just personal items as in the past, but full identities… names… social security numbers… credit scores… and with absolute disregard for the individual, these wicked people are destroying others’ lives for personal gain. In politics it is no longer appropriate to debate over ideas; it has now become essential that your opponent’s credibility, lifestyle, and even families be obliterated. We are living in a wicked society.
The earth filled with violence:
Here are a few headlines from the past couple of months:
- 13 killed in attack in West Kenyan village in land dispute.
- 7 shot at local fast food restaurant.
- Former police officer convicted in the murder of girlfriend and unborn child.
- Man throws his 4 children off bridge into river.
- Man shoots up church, 2 dead, 7 wounded.
- Outrage over election causes rioting in streets.
- Two police officers found shot dead in parking lot.
- Men wearing stolen police uniforms kill 8 at Honduras pool hall.
- 2 homicide bombings kill 24 in Baghdad.
- Marine suspected of rape now on the run, wanted for murder.
- Assassination of former prime minister triggers rioting in the streets.
Turn on the television any given evening and you’ll find more than one television network devoted exclusively to men (and as I saw last night… in some cases women) beating each other senseless in cages for money. Look through your children’s video game collection and I bet you’ll find mostly violent games… even the sports related video games are now filled with violent acts. Our popular music exalts violent “gang bang” activities and YouTube is filled with videos of teenagers beating up other teenagers for fun. Our earth is filled with violence.
Another interesting verse about the times of Noah is found in verse 2 of Genesis 6: “That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.” The “sons of God” here refer to the angels who were kicked out of Heaven with Saten by God. (Revelation 12:9) Evidently in Noah’s day those fallen angels took wives from among the humans. If we look at it from a human perspective what would that look like? I suggest that, from our vantage point, it would look like women dabbling in the occult… Have you noticed lately a huge spike in occult like behavior? Television shows about ghost hunting and witchcraft, children’s books, television shows and movies about warlocks and casting spells, magicians and musicians who blacken their eyes with make-up, drink blood, and perform some pretty scary stuff. It has become mainstream in our society to accept these types of practices… practices that just a few years ago would have been unheard of… practices that even Christian parents are encouraging their kids to explore by giving them these books, taking them to these movies, buying them the video games and TiVo-ing these programs. We seem to be marrying ourselves to these occultist practices?
Are we living in days similar to the days of Noah? Answer that for yourself…
Another reference to what the end times will look like is found also in Luke 17, Jesus says: “Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.”
The days of Lot? If you read Genesis 19 you’ll see what society looked like while Lot was in Sodom. Just before Sodom was destroyed (judged), God sent a couple of angels into the city to get Lot and his family out. Seeing the angels, the men of the city marched through the streets demanding that the angels (male angels) be brought out of Lot’s house so that they (the men) could have sex with them. Homosexual men boldly walking the streets making demands that the followers of God accept them and give into their demands.
The city of Sodom in the days of Lot was filled with militant homosexuality…t hat’s just a fact of that day (Sodom-sodomy)… I’ll let you decide for yourself if today has any resemblance to the days of Lot.
Just a few more…but these are just the tip of the iceberg…
Daniel 9:27 speaks of a peace treaty that is signed in the last days between Israel and its surrounding nations. Israel is now negotiating such a treaty with the Palestinians and both sides are closer than ever to signing it… all they really need that they don’t yet have is a charismatic leader who can broker a deal. I believe this refers to the treaty that will be negotiated by the Antichrist to rebuild the temple. Everything is in place for when the Antichrist is revealed for this deal to be immediately agreed to; even the materials to build the temple are in place today and are staged in a Jerusalem warehouse.
In Matthew 24, speaking of the end times, Jesus tells us that: “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” This week in the news you’ll hear about the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, the war on terror, holy wars, military bombings in Gaza, Israel and Somalia, Syria threatening war, Iran building weapons of mass destruction, Russia flexing its military muscle, China building a huge 2 billion man army, North Korea thumbing its nose at the U.N. weapons inspectors, and Venezuela ramping up its military at its border with Colombia. Also, since 1948 many earthquakes have been felt causing tsunamis and many deaths throughout the world. AIDS, SARS, Ebola, bird flu, and super bugs have been popping up everywhere. Drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis, malaria, staphylococcus and cholera are rearing their head around the world. In the past 50 years, droughts and famines (usually blamed on so called “global warming”) have been frequent and deadly as well.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 tells us: “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power.” Sounds like Paul was watching today’s TV news.
We started this column with talk of “birth pangs.” My wife is 8+ months pregnant so I’ve been hearing a lot about birth lately. When labor begins the contractions (or birth pangs) she will experience will be about 15-20 minutes apart. As the time for delivery nears, those contractions will get closer together. When they are 5 minutes apart we will head to the hospital, when they are 2 minutes apart the time is very near and you can expect to see the baby at any time.
God called the signs of the end times birth pangs for a reason. It’s a mental picture that everyone who has had a child or has witnessed a woman in labor can relate to. We saw the start of labor in 1948 and at that time we started seeing signs of knowledge increasing, the population exploding, wickedness increasing, violence escalating, homosexuality becoming militant, wars, pestilence, famines, earthquakes. These signs started to show up in the news here and there every couple of years. Have you noticed an increase in the frequency of these types of activities as I have?
Take violence as one example: 30 years ago it was a rarity to hear in the news about a mass killing; a workplace shooting or post office shooting would happen maybe a couple of times a year at most. Today (and I’d love to be exaggerating but I’m not) hardly a day goes by when there hasn’t been a mass killing, school shooting or car bombing somewhere in the world. Today it was in Israel where a gunman opened fire in a rabbinical school, two days ago a car bomb in Bagdad killed 53, last week a man walked into a South Florida Wendy’s and shot seven people… Here is a link to Drudge; read the headlines in the light of this teaching…birth pangs… they are very close together.
I am not a “the sky is falling” type of guy… but when the evidence is as obvious as this… I will say… the sky is falling. We are living in the end times… Jesus will soon come to judge the earth and set up His kingdom.
So what now?
The Bible is clear about what is going to happen in the 7 years prior to Jesus returning to righteously judge the earth. It’s spoken as the Great Tribulation and it will be worse than any other time in history… a time of great enslavement and suffering. But God has provided a way for us to miss out on all that suffering. Before the Great Tribulation begins (and I believe it will begin within the next few years) everyone who has given their life over to the Lordship of Christ will be taken out of this world and caught up into Heaven to be with Him and will return with Him when He comes to judge the earth and set up His kingdom. “Now that’s just weird…caught up… to Heaven… with Jesus?” You might say, “You had me up until then… you were making sense… but that’s just crazy!” If that is you, if you think that’s crazy let me ask you this: If what I’ve said about fulfilled prophecy is true… if God, more than 2000 years ago, inspired men to write about events that are taking place today… don’t you think it might be a good idea to look at what God inspired those men to write about that hasn’t yet taken place… and maybe believe it too is true?
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