Weather report from heaven: Sunny and bright with an abundance of light, and lots of singing and rejoicing.
Scripture- “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” – 1 Corinthians 3:11
“At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens. ”The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Hebrews 12:26-27”
“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.” – Mark 13:8
Insight: This week I wanted to do a series on what I believe is really happening in the world. To be perfectly fair, some of this is personal opinion, but I believe most of it is drawn from a structurally sound scriptural viewpoint. In the end, none of my opinions or anyone else’s will really matter, but only God’s word and His Kingdom will last forever. We all can sense that there is trouble in the air. The world seems to be spinning out of control, world’s are colliding, chaos is all around and fear is rampant. Evil is being called good, and good is called evil. ( Isaiah 5:20 ) We are told to follow the science around a pandemic, even thought that science seems to change every few days, but then we are told that our gender, which is the most irrefutable scientific truth of all, is really based on emotion and can be changed at a whim. Just writing that makes me want to take some sort of crazy pill! However, we must always return to to the bigger picture of what God is doing amidst all of the chaos. The one thing I know for sure is He is in total control, and He uses all things, even things godless man means for evil, and turns them for good, which ultimately is the saving of many souls. ( See Genesis 50:20 and Romans 8:28 )
The scriptures of the day above are all inter-related and they point to a few really important facts that I believe are seriously relevant for what is happening in our World right now. They are: 1. Jesus is the only foundation that will last. 2. God will shake all created things, in other words, false, man-made kingdoms that are not of Jesus Christ, so that they will all be removed and only He, and what is done in His name, will remain. 3. Lastly, there will be birth pains at the climax of the sinfulness of man that will begin to reveal themselves on earth prior to Christ returning to wrap this whole thing up.
I am not one who is particularly caught up in trying to worry about or predict what God might do prior to Christ’s return, but I definitely have the sense that the shaking of false kingdoms has begun. As an illustration, I find it fascinating that the NFL, the epitome of a man-made kingdom and the largest and most profitable sports league in the world, is suddenly caught up in huge political and social controversies that are threatening its popularity. Similarly, other sports leagues are seeing their ratings plummet as they alienate their constituencies with divisive rhetoric. I see the media losing all credibility and any semblance of moral objectivity, as their hypocrisy reaches new levels. Fear seems to be their only agenda, and they are masters at peddling it. I know of very few people who tune into the news at all anymore, which is quite sad. But as Mark Twain once famously said, “if you don’t read the newspaper you are uniformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed.” I see political systems, including ours in the U.S., in total upheaval and gridlocked and ripe for collapse. I also see the world careening towards the one world government predicted in the Bible as necessary before the Anti- Christ can come on the scene and deceive the whole world. All of the technology is in place, and we know know it has the ability to control the global narrative, to the extreme of even being able to censor a sitting President of the United States. Whether you like a President or hate them, that type of censorship should scare you to the core, as it is right out of George Orwell’s 1984. Global Totalitarianism is close behind when free speech can be manipulated on a global basis. Technology is also bringing us quickly to the global digital currency that the Bible refers to in Revelation 13:17 as being a necessary tool of the anti-Christ to control all global commerce. You will not be allowed to conduct commerce without the mark of the beast. It sure seems like some of the vaccine passports currently being considered are a precursor to what the systems will look like when the anti-Christ takes over power 3 1/2 years into the 7 year period of tribulation.
We see famine and incredible pain all over the global as a result of the pandemic. We see rogue nations like N. Korea and Iran with Nuclear capabilities coming on board soon, threatening the destruction of the USA and Israel. In a nutshell, we see chaos everywhere. However, God is still on His throne and He has not lost any power, nor will He ever. He is Omniscient, Omnipresent and Omnipotent, and through these events, He is working out His eternal plan. He is the Holy Check Mate to all of the enemy’s wicked schemes. Many are being saved as they come to the end of their rope, and in desperation cry out to Him to save them. My sense is God is trying to wake people up to their need to put Him first in their life and not to put their trust in things that can be shaken or taken away in an instant. It feels like He is pleading with us to unplug from all the distractions and noise and to tune into Him. We desperately need more knee mail right now, not more email. Prayer is our weapon of choice. We need to pray like never before, like 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, we must 17 pray continually. Paul also teaches us in 1 Thessalonians 5:2 that Jesus will “come like a thief in the night.” It could be for us individually or for Christians as a larger group, like predicted in the rapture, in 1 Thessalonians 4;16-17. But either way, the question you and I have to constantly ask ourselves amidst all of the swirling chaos is, will we be ready?
Prayer: Father God, we live in very interesting times where there appear to be twinges of birth pains taking place all over the world as you begin to shake foundations which cannot stand because they are not authentic. Only what is done in the name of your Son, Jesus, will remain in the end. In the meantime, give us love, wisdom and discernment to help others in their time of need and to show your love to a hurting and fearful world. We pray this in Jesus mighty name. Amen.
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