Home | Articles | Poetry | About The Author | Contact Us |
Are we living in puzzling times of peril? Do you look around and see the danger, the confusion, a world filled with images that scream loudly and clearly that the world is in trouble, full of despair, anguish and sorrow, all of which can be very frightening? Do you wonder just what is next?
Some of us can see that the “stage is being set” for perilous times of catastrophic events, unlike anything the world has ever seen before (Matthew 24:21). Others may wonder just what is going on but are too busy to really pay much attention, preferring to be like the ostrich with its head stuck firmly in the proverbial sand...oblivious or ignorant so that knowledge of current newsworthy events cannot affect them, and understandably so. Likely, these will be the ones who will be swept up in it all, completely deceived into thinking there is no God, or that Jesus Christ returns to earth again before He actually does, at some point in the not too distant future. Matthew 24:23-27 provides clear warning as to what will happen so that we can prepare now.
We have also been warned of great, widespread deception, as Christ explains in Matthew 24:3-4 when His apostles asked Him what would happen at the end of the age of man. Christ said many things — the first reply contained a warning about deception of many who would come in His name, but that they would be false teachers. There have been so many of these down through the ages and even now as we live in the end times, saying they speak the words of God but instead they are liars...imposters...wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15). Unless they have God’s message of keeping the 7th day Sabbath (Friday sunset to Saturday sunset) along with the 7 annual holy day festivals, preach only the truth directly from His Word, the Holy Bible, which contains not only the 10 commandments, but also the accounts of Jesus coming in the flesh almost 2,000 years ago to save the whole of humanity — then turn away from these deceivers! They may be sincere and believe what they are preaching, but they are indeed sincerely wrong! (2 John 1:7).
The point is this - get ready for Christ’s return. While the world is under the sway or influence of the wicked one, the god of this present evil age (Galatians 1:4) Satan the devil is wasting no time in killing human beings en masse. How many wars have we had? Over the vast majority of the last 6,000 years there have only been very few years of peace and prosperity. Satan is taking us out any way he can. If not with wars, then with drugs including cigarettes, alcohol, pills, injections, vaccinations, euthanasia, poisonings, botched operations including the desire for unnecessary plastic surgery, addictions such as gambling or pornography, diseases in epidemic and pandemic proportions, rapes, shootings in shopping centres, high schools, cinemas or anywhere the public used to feel safe, murders, gangland violence, domestic violence, drownings, tsunamis, nuclear explosions, pollution of our waterways, GMOs in our food chain, famines and droughts, terrorism, beheadings of Christians, sex trafficking, human trafficking into slavery, disasters such as Chernobyl and Fukushima, earthquakes, car accidents, poverty, homelessness, divorce, same sex unions and abortions to control growth of the population. These are just some of his ploys to destroy the human race. He has many more ways of luring the human mind into doing what he wants them to do without the person even suspecting a thing. The devil knows our weaknesses and will even use our strengths against us. Do not be fooled into thinking you are in charge of your life and master of your own destiny. The whole world is under the sway of the evil one (1 John 5:19) and it is even more diabolical because of the way he does this whilst invisible to us. Satan is the master of deception and the father of lies (John 8:44).
The prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2) is busy influencing humanity when we tune in to his airwaves, whether they be through music, TV programmes, internet sites, phones, radio, and attitudes as we communicate with others. The world is extensively saturated with the devil’s messages of lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh and the pride of life (1 John 2:16). Satan will stop at nothing to achieve world domination. The serpent was there in the Garden of Eden where it all began when he deceived Eve into partaking of the forbidden fruit, which set off a chain of events to change the course of history — and we know Adam joined in also which gave Satan success in causing separation between God and man (Genesis 3:1-13). Enter the devil into all of our lives ever since. This is why the world is in “one hell of a mess” and suffering abounds, as he rules this current age of man as it is his domain — under his dominion — and only because God allows it for now (Matthew 4:8-9).
The suffering will continue until Christ returns as God has to determine how we use our own free will during our lifetime. God created us to have the ability to choose because He does not want obedient robots but deeply desires His creation to repent, turn from our ways — the ways that do not line up with the Bible — and this involves humbling ourselves. Then He can build righteous character in us, and enjoy a deep relationship with us. There is nothing like it and once you commit your life to God you then begin to see who God is. He has blessed us beyond measure in the English speaking countries such as Canada, England, Ireland, Scotland, America, Australia and New Zealand because we are descendants of Abraham (Genesis 12:3; Galatians 3:29). However this blessing is slowly being withdrawn due to our nations horrific sins of abortion, homosexual marriage and removing the Bible from schools, among many other sinful acts. These ways are becoming worse as people decide for themselves to do whatever is right in their own eyes as the devil invisibly sets the human race up for destruction (Deuteronomy 12:8) just like he did in the days of Noah (Genesis 6, 8, 11 and Matthew 24:37-44).
The perilous times will come but we need not be worried or afraid if we are close to God. He will provide all we need to get through the days ahead by giving us the courage to take one day at a time and live our lives righteously in order to be obedient to the very end. We pray as in Luke 21:36 for the strength that can only come from our Father. God will see us through because we know He will never leave us provided we keep the faith (Deuteronomy 31:6; Hebrews 13:6; Matthew 28:10; Isaiah 41:10; 1 Corinthians 16:13-14; Romans 8:28; Psalm 118:6; Joshua 1:9; Philippians 4:6-7). Despite living in these puzzling times of peril we will rise victorious on the other side of this present evil age to enter the glorious Kingdom of God. As Romans 8:18 so encouragingly says “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us”. And so we take just one day at a time — we do become weary but we must not become too weary to go on — as the beautiful hymn by Ross Jutsum says “It won’t be long now till the world is at peace, till troubles have ceased, it won’t be long”. Enjoy for yourself by clicking on this link: https://youtu.be/Ej6x42aOWtg and go to Father in prayer and ask for strengthening for the perilous times ahead.