Random thoughts about the end...
By Pete Rose
The end of what? No not the end of the world, but the end of the Age of Grace, the end of the Church Age. It is coming, and much more rapidly than most of us think.
Some signs:
Israel. From the time Titus sacked Jerusalem in 70 AD, the nation of Israel ceased to exist and the Jews were scattered all over the world. Early in the 20th Century the Jews began to regather in the area that once was Israel, and in May of 1947 Israel was once again declared a sovereign nation, in full accord with Bible prophecy (Ezekiel 36:22-38). Never before or since in history has any nation ever been assimilated among other nations, and returned to be a nation again. Only Israel.
Earthquakes, famines, pestilences, disasters. These have been ever since there has been a world, but in the end of the last century and what part of the 21st century has arrived, there has been an exponential increase in these things.
Genetic engineering. Man is playing with lit dynamite with this one. We are tinkering with something we know just enough about to be dangerous—to ourselves most of all. Some scholars believe that it was genetic corruption that necessitated the flood of Noah's day, based on things written in the apocryphal book of Jude. Man is taking genes from one species and splicing them into another species to achieve some desired effect or attribute, without any consideration of the side effects or long term effects on those consuming these genetically modified crops. Apparently animals know more about this than we do, wild animals if given a choice will always go for the natural and reject the GMO food. Already some of these effects are starting to show up. Monsanto's Roundup Ready crops already have become a disaster. The Roundup Ready gene has made a horizontal transfer to weeds around it, and given genesis to super weeds resistant to pretty nearly every herbicide available. The response to this has been to drench the fields with herbicides, which become a part of these crop plants, rob nutrients from them and slowly poison the livestock consuming them. Not only this, but seed and pollen from these GMO crops are contaminating natural crops, corrupting the gene pool and in some places leading to massive crop failures. This alone could lead to world wide famine.
Morals—In the last half century there has been a moral landslide like never before. When I was growing up in the 1940s and 50s homosexuals were outcasts, and homosexuality was something you just didn't talk about in mixed company. Now they're parading their shame in the streets and demanding not just equal rights but special privileges that others don't have. Back when I was growing up marriage vows were sacred and divorce seldom. Now around 50 percent of marriages end in divorce, promiscuity is considered an acceptable thing, and government schools in many states are teaching homosexual behavior as normal and an acceptable alternate “lifestyle”, thus corrupting an entire generation of children. At least one state, California, has passed a law mandating this teaching. God says it's an abomination and those who do it are worthy of death (Romans 1:26-32, Leviticus 18:22, 20:13)
Wars and rumors of wars—Tensions are rising between Iran and Israel, and there are rumors war could break out any day now. Hamas and other Islamic terror organizations have stockpiled tens of thousands of rockets, ready to launch at Israel at a minute's notice. Unrest in Syria is very close to the level of civil war, and the whole middle east could explode into war at any time.
Political alignments—Middle east nations are lining up just as prophesied in the Bible for the end times. Psalm 83 suggests that the nations immediately surrounding Israel will attack it and calls for the annihilation of the attackers, then Ezekel 38-39 states that Russia and the Islamic nations outside that ring of countries immediately surrounding Israel will attack, and will be destroyed by supernaturally orchestrated events directed by God. Five sixths of the invaders will be destroyed on the mountains of Israel and the remainder will be driven into the far north. Putting both together, the two suggest that those nations immediately adjoining Israel will attack first, with those attacking being annihilated, whether by the IDF or by God supernaturally is not said. In any event it appears that Israel will take over those nations and the wealth of them. Ezekel 38-39 state that at the time Russia attacks Israel will be a land of unwalled villages, and living at peace (38:11), a condition that at this time doesn't exist. It states that these outlying nations at that time attacking Israel have come to take a spoil, indicating Israel has great riches (38:12), a condition which now does not exist. If Israel destroys and takes over these adjoining nations as indicated in Psalm 83, that would fulfill the first condition of Ezekiel 38, and the wealth of these countries particularly in oil and other resources would fulfill the second condition. But in any event they will get no support from its allies, only a feeble protest (Ezekiel 38:13) as to the invasion.
Some things to watch for (from my own observations and from God's written Word):
Damascus will be utterly destroyed, and the surrounding area rendered uninhabitable, suggesting the possibility of a nuclear weapon, possibly launched by Israel (Isaiah 7:1 and following).
Islamic nations immediately surrounding Israel will attack it and will be utterly destroyed, and Israel will occupy their territory (Psalm 83, Ezekiel 38:10-12).
Russia and a confederation of outlying Islamic nations will attack Israel, drawn in by the wealth of these nations Israel has taken over which God will use as hooks in their jaws to draw them on as a fisherman reels in a fish (Ezekiel 38:1-6). They will cover Israel as a cloud, but God himself will destroy them through supernatural means such as earthquakes, flooding rains, fire and great hailstones (Ezekiel 38:19-23).
Increasing tyranny. Already this year multiple unconstitutional bills have been signed into law or are close to being signed-the defense authorization act, with its provision allowing the military to arrest anyone for practically any reason, just on suspicion, and detain him/her indefinitely without a trial, without a hearing, without any due process; the expropriation act, allowing the government to strip anyone of his citizenship just on suspicion he is a terrorist (and the government can define “terrorist” as pretty much whatever it wants to), SOPA and PIPA, extremist copyright bills, the entertainment industry's pipe dream of laws which allow them or the government to shut down virtually any web site they don't like with no hearing, no safeguards against false reports and no way for those affected to defend themselves. And now come ACTA and TPP, copyright extremist bills masquerading as trade agreements each trying to outdo the ones before on restrictions. I believe these restrictions will be used by governments to shut down websites such as Rapture Ready and alternative news sites, and perhaps the entire Internet, to keep the truth from reaching the public. All this is part of setting the stage for the antichrist to control everything and everybody under his rule.
Increasing pestilences and diseases, as people living the homosexual “lifestyle” transmit AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases through multiple sexual partners, and a general health decline as the population continues to be exposed to unlabeled GMO foods and other unhealthy substances.
Increasing food shortages as GMO crops fail, and as honeybee die-offs continue, possibly the result of toxins generated by GMOs and especially those which grow their own insecticices. Honey bees are responsible for probably about 80 percent of pollination of plants, without which they cannot grow any of the produce they normally would.
Financial collapse. The nations of the world have built up insurmountable debt in the past few decades, hyper inflation has already set in, and pretty soon they will run out of ways to continue to prop things up, and the whole mess will come crashing down like a house of cards in a strong wind. All these things are paving the way for the antichrist to make his move, once we, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ (not a denomination but the collective of all born-again Christians) are gone.
Somewhere in all this will come the rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). Suddenly millions, maybe billions of Christians will be missing, taken to meet the Lord Jesus Christ in the air, taken to be with Him for eternity. Chaos will follow, cars, planes, trains crashing, utter panic, fear and worse. Businesses collapsing because so many of their workers are gone. Infrastructure, transportation disrupted because highways and railroads are blocked by massive pileups of vehicles. And through it all an atmosphere of total terror.
After this a great world leader will rise to power, who seemingly will have the solutions to all the world's problems. He will come in peaceably at first(/revelation 6:1-2), but will later show himself to be the devil incarnate, a man possessed by very Satan himself who will proclaim himself to be God and demand that all worship him only (Revelation 13).
In the seven years following this leader's rise to power all the plagues of God written in the book of Revelation will be poured out on Planet Earth. All restraints will be taken off of evil (2 Thessalonians 2:7-8). All will be required to take a mark (possibly a microchip) somehow embodying the number 666, the mark of the beast (Revelation 13:16-18). No one will be able to perform any kind of financial transaction without that mark. Those who accept it are eternally doomed (Revelation 14:9-11). Those left behind who willfully rejected Jesus when they had opportunity to receive him will be sent strong delusion, that they might all be damned who refused to embrace The Truth (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12). While it will be possible to be saved during these seven years, it will be much more difficult than before and will probably cost you your life. But better to get your head chopped off knowing Jesus than to live a few more years without Him and spend eternity in hell (Revelation 6:9-12, 20:4).
Yes, 2012 could well be the year of the rapture. I am not setting dates, no one knows the exact time. But things are rapidly building to a head, and Jesus could come for His own at any time. Much better to receive Jesus now while you can still make the rapture and spend Eternity with Him rather than get left behind and go through the horrors of the Tribulation with no certainty that you will be able to escape hell.
Getting saved is very simple. There is no set formula or ritual for salvation, it is all based on faith. You don't have to go to an altar in a church and cry a bucket of tears. You don't have to know and understand the Bible-in fact without Jesus you can't. You don't have to do good works to outweigh your bad works, that won't work anyway.
Only three things you need to know and believe and do:
Believe and acknowledge that you are a sinner (Romans 3:23, 6:23).
Know and believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins and rose again from the dead (2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
Ask Him to save you and believe that he has (Romans 10:9-13).
It's that simple. Do it today. Don't put it off, tomorrow never comes. Today is the day of salvation, now is the accepted time (2 Corinthians 6:2). And once you have, live for Jesus. You will never regret it.
