Signs of the times
Matthew 24:14(KJV) 3And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? (KJV) 4And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. 6And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. 10And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. 11And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. 12And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 13But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. 14And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
When people ask me questions about the things that are happening in the world and how these relate to the end days, I always tell them let's look at the Word Of God. The Bible tells us that from the time of Jesus' ascension into Heaven we have been in the end days. But let's go to the source. In the Gospels the Disciples asked Jesus what the signs would be of the end days. It amazes me that this rag tag band could at some moments be so in depth and at other times be so dense. But in this instance, they get down to "Where the Rubber Meets the Road"! Jesus first warned us that we should be on guard that no man deceives us. My friends you need to learn to test EVERYTHING by the Bible, the Word of God. This must be your standard. If someone tells you something and it is not in God's word then it is not of or from God.
The first sign Jesus tells them is that many will come in my name and say I am the Christ and deceive many. This short statement has messed up theologians for years. They say that one of the signs of the end days will be all these people coming in the name of Jesus and claiming to be Jesus. They point to people like Jim Jones and others. But what they miss is that Jesus is speaking in the first person. He is telling them that many will come in His name and will tell people that Jesus is the Christ and will deceive many. Do you understand what Jesus said? How many false preachers are there in the world today? One example of a false preacher is the one with a 30,000 member church. He will admit he believes Jesus is the Christ, but will also tell you he does not preach the blood, the cross, repentance of sin or the need for holiness! Why? He will tell you his job is to encourage and uplift and that these subjects bring people down. You see my friends the first thing that Jesus warned about is happening. We here in the United States have a great number of rich and famous preachers and teachers that will readily admit Jesus is the Christ but will then preach and teach their version of the Bible. The United Church of Christ will readily admit Jesus is the Christ in one breath and say that being an openly practicing homosexual is just fine in God's eyes and not a sin. So the first thing Jesus warned us about is happening right before our eyes.
The second sign Jesus gave was 6And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8All these are the beginning of sorrows. Well take a look around you cannot deny that all these are happening already.
The third sign Jesus gave us was 9Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. 10And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. Have you kept up with the Christian headlines lately? In North America alone, Christians are being afflicted for speaking out against the truth! A sin is a sin no matter how you sugar coat it. Any sinner that does not fall down before our Lord and Savior before their number is up will wake up in Hell, PERIOD! We are beginning to see the hatred by all nations against Christians. Christians are not being killed in America, but thousands a day are being killed overseas for their faith. Sure seems to me that we are seeing this sign growing and growing every day.
The Fourth sign Jesus gave us was 11And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. Oh! This one will get me in trouble, but has anyone besides me noticed how in the last few years it seems every one has become a prophet. When I first became a pastor I could count the number of prophetic ministries on my one hand. Now there is such a proliferation of them no one can keep track. The thing I like the most is that the Bible is very clear that a true prophet of God will always, (do you get that always) be 100% accurate. Deuteronomy 18:22 (NLT) 22If the prophet predicts something in the LORD'S name and it does not happen, the LORD did not give the message. That prophet has spoken on his own and need not be feared. Did you get that don't fear him and more than that DON'T listen to him. God did not say if the prophet is sometimes right listen to him. Nope!
But the new prophets call it the new dispensation that they are learning prophets and only have to be accurate 60% of the time at best. I cannot speak for you but if a "prophet of God" tells me that he is only 50% accurate, and then tells you God is doing a new thing. I would grab my hat and run away from that "prophet" with Jesus' words screaming in my ear 11And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. In my opinion the exponential increase in prophetic ministries is the fourth sign Jesus gave us because many of these false prophets are leading many astray. I will leave this sign on what the Lord gave me about America when I was praying about the state of the Church one morning. Isaiah 30:8-13 (TLB) 8Now go and write down this word of mine concerning Egypt, so that it will stand until the end of time, forever and forever, as an indictment of Israel's unbelief. 9For if you don't write it, they will claim I never warned them. "Oh no," they'll say, "you never told us that!" For they are stubborn rebels. 10-11They tell my prophets, "Shut up-we don't want any more of your reports!" Or they say, "Don’t tell us the truth; tell us nice things; tell us lies. Forget all this gloom; we've heard more than enough about your "Holy One of Israel: and all he says." 12This is the reply of the Holy One of Israel: Because you despise what I tell you and trust instead in frauds and lies and won't repent, 13therefore calamity will come upon you suddenly, as upon a bulging wall that bursts and falls; in one moment it comes crashing down. On one TBN Beg-a-thon I witnessed Jan Crouch on her knees bowing down to one of these so called prophets. I am pretty sure that Jesus did not think that was funny or appropriate. God said Isaiah 42:8 (NLT) 8"I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to anyone else. I will not share my praise with carved idols." The Lord also said Deuteronomy 13:5 (NLT) 5The false prophets or dreamers who try to lead you astray must be put to death, for they encourage rebellion against the LORD your God. Finally if a so called prophet of God even mentions or suggests that he or she is fulfilling the prophecy of Elijah coming before the Lord he or she is a false prophet not from God. Listen my friend to Jesus words. Matthew 11:9-11(NASB)"But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one who is more than a prophet. "This is the one about whom it is written, "Behold, I send My messenger ahead of You, Who will prepare Your way before You." "Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. "From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force. "For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John. "And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come. "He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Did you hear Jesus' words? John himself fulfilled the prophecy and no where in the Bible does it indicate that Elijah will just keep coming and coming.
The final sign Jesus gave us was 12And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. Have you kept up with the happenings surrounding the Hurricane Katrina? When they put 20,000 people in the super dome in New Orleans they had fights, murders and rapes. The authorities said it was just the stress. They moved 12,000 of those people to the Super Dome in Houston. They gave them food, shelter, clothes, and showers. Within 24 hrs there were fights, murders and rapes. The hearts of many shall grow cold. When the looting started, what were the first things to go? Guns and ammo were. Yes Guns and ammo were looted before the food. I believe one news commentator said it correctly. "all you are seeing is their natural behavior being brought out into the light."
Are we in the end days? If you believe Jesus' words, WHICH I DO, we are not only in the end days but my advice to you is if you are not ready you had better get there. Because Jesus could come sooner than we think. Get your eyes back on what counts Jesus and God's pure and holy word before it is to late. As Isaiah said. "13therefore calamity will come upon you suddenly, as upon a bulging wall that bursts and falls; in one moment it comes crashing down " Without Jesus it could be a very rough time my friend.
REMEMBER JESUS DON'T LEAVE EARTH WITHOUT HIM.
God Bless
Pastor A. j.
