Luke 17:24 For as the lightning, that comes out of one part under heaven, shines unto the other part under heaven; so, shall also the Son of man be in his day.
26 And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
The signs are all around us, there is no denial, even persons in the secular realm are alarmed at the way things are going on planet earth. As Christians, we have heard over and over again, from our youth up, that Jesus is coming soon.
And because of the lapse of time the climactic event might have slipped from our view, and we may have become desensitized by the daily onslaught of bad news. But now, the time has come for us to take a second hard look at those prophecies pointing to His return, since almost everything that has been prophesied is being fulfilled, even as we speak.
There is distress of nations for the nations are angry with each other, and there is much violence across the earth, there is intransigence among members of congress, who seem to be at sword’s point on every issue, and there is corruption in high and low places.
But that’s not all, there is perversion of the marriage institution, there is perversion of the Sabbath, and there is the plague of illegal drugs, taking a daily toll on millions across the world. Then there are famines and pestilences, food and water shortages and wars and rumors of wars.
Indeed, the earth seems to be teetering on the edge of a precipice, that could fall away beneath our feet at any moment. To top it all off, and to make the bad matters worse, there are numerous lies, conspiracy theories, and delusions being gobbled up by many people, so that the truth of the Bible concerning the things that are happening, gets lost in the mix.
In addition to these things, what’s taking place is a dramatic increase of demon possession across the land, but it is not recognized for what it is, because it is taking place in the upper echelons of society in persons who are looked up to as role models, and, who otherwise may seem to be decent intelligent folk.
Just because a person dresses up in a suit and tie, with a briefcase, does not mean to say that he can’t be possessed by devils. In fact, the latest version of the devil is the one that has just emerged from your neighborhood department store, complete with the very latest clothing, a clean-cut shave, and speaking perfect English, as the case might be.
Many, who are at the lower end of the totem pole are also suffering the same fate too. When you have a mother leaving her baby girl alone in a house, and going on vacation for ten days, only to return to find the baby dead, you ought to know that demons are taking control of the minds, and reasoning powers of individuals.
Thus, according to what is written, we haven’t seen anything as yet, because occurrences like these are scheduled to become more frequent, as more folks yield their reasoning powers to the control of devils. The situation will soon become a spiritual epidemic, where it is predicted that most of earth’s population will become infected. Let’s read:
Revelation 16: 13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
[S.P. Bk 4 pp 432] When Jesus leaves the sanctuary, darkness covers the inhabitants of the earth. In that fearful time the righteous must live in the sight of a holy God without an intercessor. The restraint which has been upon the wicked is removed and Satan has entire control of the finally impenitent.
The following are just some of the signs given by the prophets of God, pertaining to our present day, and even though we may not like to dwell on negatives, we have to take stock of what’s taking place, lest, as Jesus said, that day should come upon us unawares.
As we read let us be honest with ourselves and ask, is it true? And are the things spoken of happening in the here and now? We all must avoid the tendency, and the temptation to bury our heads in the sand, simply because we may prefer a return to normalcy. There will not be any return to normalcy, according to what is written in the Bible. Let’s read:
2nd Timothy 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
Is it true? Can we safely say that “Perilous times have come”
2nd Timothy 3:2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good.
Is it true that we are living at a time when persons in high and low places are known to be boasters and lovers of their own selves? When folks study sacred, history, we are advised in the Bible, to do so with a double-lensed glasses, with one eyeglass in the rear view mirror, and the other in the here and now.
Is it true that we are living at a time where men in high and low places seem to be lovers of themselves and love to speak of themselves? If you don’t know the answer to this question, we will humbly ask you to put on your double lensed glasses. Let’s read:
Isaiah 14: 12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north.
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most-High.
[S.P BK 1 pp 20] Concealing his real purposes, he assembled the angelic host. He introduced his subject, which was himself. He told them that henceforth all the sweet liberty the angels had enjoyed was at an end. He promised them a new and better government than they then had, in which all would be freedom. And now they must assert their liberty and gain by force the position and authority which was not willingly accorded to them.
What about the issue of “false accusers” referring to the many lies, and multitude of conspiracy theories folks are now inundated with on a daily basis? Is it true?
Is it true even as we speak? Is it true that we’re now living at a time where more and more women, and more and more men are without natural affection, referring to the plethora of alternative lifestyles to be found across the globe.
The problem is scheduled to get so very bad that it is written in the Bible that seven women would take hold of one man since finding a good man and a real man is getting increasingly difficult by the day. Some interpreters apply that passage in Isaiah to apostate churches, but that is not the primary interpretation. Isiah is speaking about a literal drought of real men.
If you want to get married nowadays and you desire a stable, lifelong relationship, you will have to look pretty long and hard, and you have to fast, and pray, sometimes for many years before you come up with Mister or Misses right. And, when you do find your knight in shining armor, he often has some issue you have to deal with. Let’s read:
Isaiah 4:1 And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, we will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.
2nd Timothy 3:4 Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with different lusts.
But our first introductory passage specifies that the signs preceding earth’s final crisis would be similar to what took place in Noah’s day, just before the flood, so, in order to make a reasonable conclusion about where we are in the stream of time, we must do a deep dive into the state of the world before the Antediluvians’ probation was closed. Let’s read:
Genesis 6:1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, 2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
The perversion of the marriage institution, in all of its various forms are here included. Even though the practice of polygamy, and multiple sex partners was introduced early on, the passages are inclusive of all distortions, variations, and deviations of, and from the original God gave us.
These variations have come down to us in our day, and have morphed into myriad strands including gay marriages, transgender issues, alternative lifestyles, shacking up, and packing up, without a just cause.
If you now have the perversion of marriage as being the law of the land then we may know for sure that we have exceeded the Antediluvians by far. Back in Noah’s day, the Antediluvians had their issues with perverted marriages, but as far as we know, they did not go so far as to make it the law of the land.
Even by Sodom and Gomorrah’s standards, we are beating them at their game hands down, for at the very least, they kept the distinctions given by God intact, albeit they indulged freely to the contrary.
In Sodom, when the men of the city tried to break down Lot’s door, they asked for “The men” and by this we can deduce that the plagues of genderism we now confront, hadn’t yet infected them.
But that’s not all, for Christ specifically mentions, of Noah’s day, the amount of violence, and bloodshed that was upon the face of the earth at that time. Is it true, that violence, and bloodshed have overspread the earth currently? Again, if there are any doubts, lets peruse the daily news and the Bible, just for a moment. Let’s read:
Genesis 6:11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
Let’s examine what is taking place currently, from a snapshot of the headlines to the frontlines to see if we’re indeed correct in our conclusion, that earth’s final crisis is drawing near, based upon prophetic utterances in the Scriptures. Let’s read:
[Patriarchs & Prophet pp 91] “Neither the marriage relation nor the rights of property were respected. Whoever coveted the wives or the possessions of his neighbor, took them by force, and men exulted in their deeds of violence, until they came to regard human life with astonishing indifference”
Is it true that the earth is reeling from violence in a multitude of places, even as we speak? Let’s read:
(CNN) “At least 139 dead and dozens are injured after attackers open fire inside Moscow-area concert venue, Russian state media reports.”
(CNN) “Corpses lie on the streets of Port-au-Prince as Haiti teeters toward collapse” Carnage on the streets of Port-au-Prince as the world stalls on a promised intervention for Haiti.
(CNN) “31,923 Palestinians. The latest death toll stands at 31,923 Palestinians and about 1,139 people killed in Israel since October 7”
[CNN) Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine will enter its third year next month. Estimates of those killed in the conflict have been hard to substantiate, with neither side publishing tallies of their losses. U.S. officials said in August that Ukraine and Russia's total deaths and injuries had neared 500,000.
Matthew 24:7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in different places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Is it true that millions of people the world over are now in the throes of severe famine?
(UN News) Recent analysis by the UN agency reveals 41 million people in 43 countries “are teetering on the very edge of famine”, up from 27 million two years ago.
(World Vision) Soaring food prices driven by the war in Ukraine, persistent drought and other extreme weather events, and the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have escalated extreme hunger worldwide.
“Today, nearly 45 million people in 37 countries are at risk of starvation. Due to a lack of adequate nutrition, 22 million children are suffering from wasting — severe weight loss that can lead to death if not treated. This number is equal to the combined populations of New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, and Philadelphia”
And it is not only wars and famines, perversion of the marriage institution, and violence that point us to the imminent unfolding of earth’s final crisis. The prophet Isaiah adds another sign by signaling to us that excessive heat, with all of its byproducts will be one of signs of the last days. Let’s read:
Isaiah 4:6 And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.
The order in which Isaiah writes tells us in the most unmistakable terms that he was inspired by God to write these things. He first mentions heat, and then storm and rain, in that specific order, for inevitably, when the surface temperatures of the oceans go up significantly, sever storm and much rain follow like clockwork.
The dramatic increase in global warming would also trigger dangerous wild fires, and these in turn would release toxins into the air so that persons who suffer with asthma, and other breathing or lung issues will find that their situation will generally deteriorate with the passage of time.
The sad truth about all of these signs is that, for the most part they are self-inflicted wounds brought by man upon the planet, so that Isaiah, and the other Bible prophets are simply predicting the inevitable results of wrong doing by the nations of earth. In other words, they are predicting the harm we have done to ourselves, and not necessarily any punishments brought upon us by God. Let’s read:
Isaiah 24:4 The earth mourns and fades away, the world languishes and fades away, the haughty people of the earth do languish.
5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.
[Youth Instructor Nov 13 1906 Par 9] God does not stand toward the sinner as an executor of the sentence against transgression; but he leaves the rejecters of his mercy to themselves, to reap that which they have sown.
Hottest single days globally on record.
Drawing on multi-source analyses from NOAA of daily global temperature that extend back to 1979, the Climate Re-analyzer website shows that July 3, 2023, was the warmest single day on record, only to be toppled by July 4, tied on July 5 and broken again on July 6.
The Copernicus Climate Change Project, part of the European Center for Medium-range Weather Forecasts, also pegged July 3 as a global record.
All of these signs are currently taking place, and are scheduled to accelerate greatly as earth’s final crisis draws near. But according to the Bible, there is only one more shoe to drop and when it does the history of our planet, as we know it will come to an end. Let’s read:
Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
This gospel of the kingdom is not your ordinary run of the mill gospel, neither is it the prosperity gospel which so many of the popular majority subscribe to. The word “This” is a pronoun that is used to identify a specific thing or person such as: “Is this your bag? Or "is this your Bible?"
Therefore, when Jesus speaks of “This gospel of the kingdom, He must be referring to a particular aspect of the Gospel, that would be pertinent to the now generation, for He specifically says that the end will come soon after that aspect of the gospel has been preached in all the world.
It is obvious, that Christ was speaking in the context of earth’s final crisis, thus, the aspect of the gospel which pertains to our generation in particular, is the one that features in a prominent manner, the laws and commandments of God and the true worship of God, for here is where contemporary Christianity is lagging far behind.
This aspect of the gospel is featured in Revelation 14 just around the time when the mark of the beast is to be instituted, and since 666 will trigger the final and irrevocable decisions of every individual on the planet, the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, which brings to light God’s Creatorship and true worship, is “This gospel of the kingdom” that Christ is referring to. Let’s read:
Revelation 14: 6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
Thus, there is one, and only one more question to ask, since Jesus says that this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come: How far along has “This specific gospel” come, and in how many countries worldwide is it to be found?
At the rate at which Adventist World Radio is going, together with all of the other You-tube, Facebook, satellites, and television broadcasting networks now up and running it wouldn’t be long before the entire world is reached with “This gospel of the kingdom”
The you and I in the here and now are tasked with the responsibility of preaching it in our neck of the woods, by honing in on the specifics of Revelation 14, explaining to neighbors, friends, coworkers and family members what is at stake in those solemn messages, and we are also to be found living what we preach on an ongoing basis.
It is true that not all are granted the same gifts as the elders or pastors, but you can share a link with a friend or coworker, or better yet, offer to study with them at their convenience. The grim urgency of the moment is to be on the front burners of our minds, since, as we have studied earlier, all of the stars are lining up currently.
Therefore, to all who may have been sitting on the fence, and to all who have been in limbo concerning the mission, God is calling us to focus, and be of one heart and mind, as far as prioritizing the preaching of the everlasting gospel for we owe it to those who do not know.
We therefore will end with a passage of Scripture that calls us to the mission, for the purpose of God in saving us, is so that we can reach others. Let’s read:
Matthew 28: 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
God Bless!