“…This gospel of the kingdom
will be preached in the whole world,
as a testimony to all nations,
and then the end will come.”
Mathew 24:14
“No one knows about that day or hour,
not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,
but only the Father.”
Mathew 24:36
“Christ, the Source of Life” by Nathan Greene, ©, All Rights Reserved, Used by Permission
“Terrible trouble” engulfs end-time cultures.
Irrational hatreds unleash unspeakable violence.
Merchants of death, slaughter children in school rooms.
Ruthless tyrants, grasping for power, murder millions.
Lying voices corrupt justice, laws and messages of faith.
The Apostle Paul warned of “terrible troubles in the last days.” He cited signs of an end-time society drowning in a culture of evil.
“But mark this: there will be terrible troubles in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power.” II Timothy 3:1-4
But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people…You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived… All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” II Timothy 3
“As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”
Matthew 24:37
A Time of Trouble
“Then the dragon was enraged with the woman
and went off to make war
against the rest of her offspring—
those who obey God’s commandments
and hold to the testimony of Jesus.” Revelation 12:17
Five hundred years later, (590 A.D.), the Church, led by Gregory, Bishop of Rome, had wandered away from its rich, spiritual roots into a deceptive quagmire of secular, political power. For the following millennium, what had been the “persecuted” in the first century emerged as a “persecutor.” As a result, survival of the simple beauty of the Christian faith proved at risk. The Bible had predicted “a time of trouble such as never was” and an era of bloody conflict when “nations shall rise up against nations” while “men cried ‘peace, peace’ and there is no peace.”
Objective review of the last 500 years reflects fulfillment of the Apostle Paul’s dire predictions outlined in his 2nd letter to Timothy, verses 3:1-4.
The Church itself emerged as a persecuting power. Dissenters and “heretics” were introduced to the physical agony of the wrack and the screw to induce “confessions” and “allegiance” to a religious/political power that ruled by force. Slavery destroyed the lives of other humans to line the pockets of the privileged.\
Human ingenuity devised weapons capable of wiping out as many as 100,000 other humans in an instant. Hate-inspired racism introduced a mid-twentieth century holocaust that introduced a system of organized murder to kill six million Jews. Twentieth century combined war deaths run as high as 70,000 apart from millions of wounded.
Other than the hunger, hate, brutality, and agony of wars, the worldwide wars of century twenty-one destroyed nearly 100 million human lives. Poverty, homelessness, havoc-wreaking storms, polluted air, racism, corrupt governments, drought, uncontrolled disease, and new dimensions of criminal conduct, all conspire to dominate the last days.
This, less than pretty end-time picture, is darkened further by a growing world population estimated to have passed seven billion—and growing. Signs suggest the fraud launched by Lucifer (aka Satan, the Devil) may have virtually run its course in the “theater of the universe” so that all observers have seen the dire consequences of his deceit.
Christ himself alerted all mankind as to what to expect in the last days of Earth’s history.
“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Mathew 24:14 “So as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so will be the coming of the son of man.” Mathew 24:27
This world is awash in multiple religious organizations, each claiming to carry the truth about God. Forget the dazzle, claims, and nice words and vest your faith in Christ’s words presented in Mathew 25. Forget the titles and the promo. There are but two classes of humans when judged by Almighty God: the good and the evil; the righteous and the unrighteous; the saved and the lost.
God’s eternal judgment is based on His unchanging law written in the ten commandments and summarized by John the Beloved in Revelation 14:12. The saints are all those of every era from creation to the present who “obey the commandments of God and remain faithful to Jesus, the ” only begotten Son of Almighty God.
© 2023 Warren L. Johns. All Rights Reserved.
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