Living
in this present evil age
Billy Graham: In Our
‘Lawless and Wicked Age … We've Taught the Philosophy of the Devil -- ‘Do
As You Please’
Doomsday pope
warns man's greed will destroy world
Fear of deadly ‘religious war’
between Jews and Muslims raised after synagogue attack
Moral decline in America
unprecedented
We live in days where evil is called
good and good evil and lawlessness is abounding
In these days of lawlessness and darkness, evil is abounding
seemingly unchecked. Around the world we see evidence of the devil’s work; violence,
cruelty, senseless bloodshed, wars and rumors of wars, sexual perversion of all
kinds, the blatant disregard for the sanctity of life, deception, and moral
decline in general. We are truly living in an evil age. We are also seeing
Biblical prophecy dealing with the days before the Lord’s return unfolding
right before our eyes (for those that know and believe the prophecies of the
Bible). Where is all of this leading?
There seems to me to be only two possible scenarios.
[2Ch 7:14 NKJV] 14 "if My people who are called by My
name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their
wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal
their land.
1. If we, God’s people, will humble ourselves, pray, seek
His face, and turn for our wicked ways, God says that He will hear and heal our
land. But will we? So much of the so called church is becoming “politically
correct”, in other words, following the ways of the world. So how many true
believers will it require to cause the healing?
2. The second possible scenario is the story of Noah and Sodom
and Gomorrah. At some point the evil becomes so great that God moves in
judgment to deal with the situation.
Noah - [Gen 6:13, 22 NKJV] 13 And God said to Noah,
"The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with
violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. ...
22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.
[Gen 7:1 NKJV] 1 Then the LORD said to Noah, "Come into
the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen [that] you [are]
righteous before Me in this generation.
For Noah, when Noah and his family were the only righteous
ones left, they were taken out of the judgment and judgment came to those that
remained.
Sodom and Gomorrah - [Gen 18:20-21, 26, 29, 31-32 NKJV] 20
And the LORD said, "Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is
great, and because their sin is very grave, 21 "I will go down now and
see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that
has come to Me; and if not, I will know." ... 26 So the LORD said,
"If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all
the place for their sakes." ... 29 And he spoke to Him yet again and said,
"Suppose there should be forty found there?" So He said, "I will
not do [it] for the sake of forty." ... 31 And he said, "Indeed now,
I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose twenty should be
found there?" So He said, "I will not destroy [it] for the sake of
twenty." 32 Then he said, "Let not the Lord be angry, and I will
speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there?" And He said,
"I will not destroy [it] for the sake of ten."
For Lot, when the righteous of the land went below ten,
judgment came and lot and his family were taken out of the judgment.
[Gen 19:13-17 NKJV]
13 "For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has
grown great before the face of the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy
it." 14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his
daughters, and said, "Get up, get out of this place; for the LORD will
destroy this city!" But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking. 15 When
the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, "Arise, take
your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the
punishment of the city." 16 And while he lingered, the men took hold of
his hand, his wife's hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the LORD being
merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. 17 So
it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, "Escape
for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to
the mountains, lest you be destroyed."
All of this tells us that at some point, evil becomes so
great that God removes the righteous and brings judgment to the earth. Where
are we today? It is my personal feeling that considering the condition of the
world today, and the end time prophecies that have been fulfill, and those that
are in the process of being fulfilled, we are quickly approaching the day when
God will remove the righteous remnant and bring the judgments of the book of
the Revelation upon the earth.
So, what is the righteous remnant to be doing in days such
as these?
Luke
12:35-44 - 35“Be dressed in
readiness, and keep your lamps lit. 36“Be like men who are
waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they
may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. 37“Blessed are those
slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to
you, that he will gird himself to
serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them.38“Whether he comes in the
second watch, or even in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.
39“But be sure of this,
that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he
would not have allowed his house to be broken into. 40“You too, be ready;
for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect.”
41Peter said, “Lord, are
You addressing this parable to us, or to everyone else as well?” 42And the Lord said, “Who
then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge
of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? 43“Blessed is that slave
whom his master finds so doing when he comes. 44“Truly I say to you that
he will put him in charge of all his possessions.
In short, we are to ready,
alert and found busy doing the Lord’s work.
And what is that?
We
are to be His ambassadors, His representative to re-present Him to the world
around us. We are to destroy the works of the enemy, set captives free, call
people out of this present darkness and into His marvelous light, and make
disciples!
[Isa
61:1-2 NASB] 1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has
anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners; 2 To
proclaim the favorable year of the LORD And the day of vengeance of our God; To
comfort all who mourn,
[Mat
28:19-20 NASB] 19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20
teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you
always, even to the end of the age."
[1Jo
3:8 NKJV] 8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the
beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might
destroy the works of the devil.
And
as the Father sent Jesus, so He sends us: [Jhn 20:21 NKJV] 21 So Jesus said to
them again, "Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send
you."
From
the letters to the Churches in the book of the Revelation, the Lord gives us
these general words of counsel regarding how to live in these days of evil:
From Rev. 2 and 3, we are to:
·
Love
God with all our heart,
·
Serve
Him faithfully and diligently,
·
Have
no fear,
·
Be
faithful even unto death,
·
Repent
of sexual immorality and idol worship in any form,
·
Hold
fast to what we have,
·
Be
watchful and remember what we have received and heard,
·
Keep
the Lord’s commandments and persevere,
·
Seek
His righteousness,
·
Seek
discernment and revelation of truth from the Holy Spirit,
·
Be
zealous for the things of God,
·
Listen
for His voice, and
·
Open
the door wide for Him to come into our hearts.
[Rev 3:22 NKJV] 22 "He
who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." '
"
Let’s
pray that the true Church will rise up in this hour, strong, courageous, not
afraid and not discouraged!
[Jos
1:9 NLT] 9 This is my command--be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or
discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."
The course and future of
this present evil age of darkness is clear. Judgment will come. God’s master
plan is made clear in the scriptures. Our task is to call people out of this
present age of darkness and evil and into His marvelous Kingdom of light.
[Gal 1:3-5 NKJV] 3 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our
Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us
from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5
to whom [be] glory forever and ever. Amen.
The
future of God’s people is secure and glorious. We are already citizens of the
Kingdom of God destined to rule and reign with our Lord forever by virtue of redemption and wedlock to The King of Kings; Jesus. This is
our hope of glory.
[Col 1:27 NKJV] 27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches
of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the
hope of glory.
[Rom 5:2 NKJV] 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this
grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
[Eph 1:18 NKJV] 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened;
that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the
glory of His inheritance in the saints,
Remember: [1Co 2:9-10 NKJV] 9 But as it is written: "Eye has not
seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which
God has prepared for those who love Him." 10 But God has revealed [them]
to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep
things of God.
And we pray:
[Mat 6:10 NLT] 10 May your Kingdom come soon. May your will
be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
[Rev
22:20-21 NKJV] 20 He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am
coming quickly." Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Maranatha!
21 The grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ [be] with you all. Amen.
