“I can’t believe this!” — “What’s going on around here?” — “What’s going on with our country?” — “The whole entire world is going crazy!” — “What’s going to become of us?” — “If things get any worse, I’ll just leave the country.” — “What’s going to become of my kids and my grandkids?” — “How could it get any worse than it already is?” — “This weather is freaking me out!” — “I’m scared!”

VERY common to hear remarks like this these days. And even though we the people are so mega-desensitized to changes in society compared to 10 short years ago — even 5, 4, 3, 2, or 1 years ago — each day the things we are witnessing keep getting more intense (and shocking) with a pace that is building in momentum. The Bible refers to this as “the beginning of birth pains” (Matthew 24:8). Daily I’m seeing firsthand, through my own personal Facebook news feed, a major division within my own mini-network of social media friends. Extreme behaviors and attitudes are now apparent in our once happy-go-lucky community. And, unfortunately, some ungodly decisions are being made uphill only to trickle downhill, causing havoc in our beliefs, ethics, freedoms, choices, race relations and liberties. On top of that our weather patterns are changing and growing more intense. What IS this world coming to?

With this, I’ve been noticing the types of coping mechanisms people are falling into within these days-gone-crazy. You have the people too afraid to think about any of this, Christian and non-Christian, avoiding the the subject all together –they don’t want to talk about it. There are those who have a lot of hope and think things are going to start getting better — this is just a phase we are going through. There are the ones who are aggressively seeking answers, but are looking in all the wrong places — outside of the Bible — only to continue to be lost with no answers.

Then you have the Bible-believing Christians, that hold fast to the truth of the Word. I have posted part of this before but I will post it again, as it directly answers the questions people are currently having on what’s going on in our world. Jesus’s disciples were wondering about his return.  It is written:

Later, Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives. His disciples came to him privately and said, “Tell us, when will all this happen? What sign will signal your return and the end of the world?”

Jesus told them, “Don’t let anyone mislead you, for many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah.’ They will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately. Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world. But all this is only the first of the birth pains, with more to come.

“Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because you are my followers. And many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other. And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:3-13)

Jesus continually told his followers to stay awake, to watch their lives, and to be ready for his return. By studying his Word and getting to know as much as we can about the end times, the less mystery there is. This allows us to stay calm, because we are prepared for what’s to come. As quoted above, he tells us not to panic. (I love that!!)

Lisa has some great topics coming up that will be zooming in on some of the end time particulars, so be on the look out. In addition, I’d like to share a great resource I found off the (amazing) Greg Laurie/Harvest website. It is a super comprehensive outline of what to expect in our final days and is very well written:

http://www.harvest.org/knowgod/new-believer/foundations-for-living/the-last-days.html#introduction

Prior to this post, I’ve tried to keep things fairly foundational about my faith when sharing. The basics are beautiful, because of God’s love and what this entire story is about, including the ending of the story — which is really about the beginning of our eternal destiny. However, I would be doing God and those I love a disservice by not being upfront and to the point when it comes to the truth of what God’s Word says about these things. We are headed toward some very dark days and we will need to know how to cope, which we believe can only be found through the assurance of our faith in Jesus Christ. So, here I am, opting for positioning myself on the watchtower and giving the shout out!

Holding fast,

Lori

This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. (Romans 13:11)

 

^{Photography by Lechon Kirb}