PROPHETIC SIGNS THAT WE ARE IN THE END TIMES [A good summary of SOME key evidences--QX]

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The Bible gives many examples of signs that should warn us of the coming end of the age. Six such signs are given by Jesus, two characteristics are given by Paul, and eleven other occurrences are given by the prophets to occur prior to or soon after the end of the age. While we are also told we will not know the time of the End, God obviously wanted us to know when that time was getting closer. As the Christian church is increasingly drawn into the interfaith movement, and as more and more churches go into isolation, preparing to sleep through the growing attacks on their faith, perhaps God knew it would take a few signs to wake us up and remind us that we have work to do.

Unfortunately, many Christians take the verses that tell us we won't know the time of His coming to mean they should ignore any and all scripture that might warn us of this time of tribulation. Others have fallen into the trap of fearing being labeled a "conspiracy theorist" should they display an interest in the Biblical prophecies about our future on Earth. My philosophy is simple. God included it in the Bible and, since God is all knowing, we should trust that it is something we should know and study along with the rest of His Word.

It is increasingly obvious that the time of our Lord's coming is drawing near. Prophecy is being fulfilled daily, and at a faster pace than ever before. Whether you believe in a pre-tribulation rapture, or believe Christians will be witness to the full tribulation, wrath, and final judgments, matters not. The beginning of birth pains and the signs of the times should have the same effect on all of us. It should motivate us to save as many souls as we can in the time that we have left. The Great Commission tells us to be disciples to all nations, bringing the message of salvation through Christ to all people. If the Church is raptured before the tribulation, it is important that we leave behind an explanation for the trials and judgments those left behind will face. How else will they recognize the deception of the anti-Christ and seek instead the truth of the Bible? If we are to endure the tribulation along side them, we will need to be prepared to not only share the message of salvation, but share with them the reasons for God's judgment and hold it up as further proof of their need to be saved.

Below is a study of the prophetic signs God gave us as a warning of the approaching end of the age. Many of them are being fulfilled now and many will be fulfilled in the near future. I would encourage you to study prophecy, know what is coming and be prepared to share it with others.

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In Matthew24:3 Jesus was asked, "Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?" Jesus told his apostles to look for the following signs prior to his second coming and the end of the age.

Matthew 24:5 "For many will come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and will mislead many."

In the last several years many have claimed to be the Messiah. Jim Jones and David Koresh are examples of these false christs as well as countless others who are not as newsworthy. These false prophets are a prelude to the ultimate false christ, the antichrist. Many New Age groups, some even NGO's working for the United Nations, are anxiously awaiting the antichrist, preparing the way for his acceptance as the head of the hierarchy of gods and the one who will usher in world peace.

Matthew 24:6 "And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end."

Rumors of wars in all areas of the world now occur frequently thanks to instant media coverage and the availability of a multitude of 24-hour news sources.

Matthew 24:7 "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes."

More people have been killed in warfare in this century than at any other time in history. As the death toll rises in the Middle East, more and more countries work feverishly to develop devastating weapons of mass destruction. Add to that the expanding threat of terrorism and unpredictable dictators such as Saddam Hussein, and the potential for the outbreak of war exists in nations, kingdoms and places across the globe.

Matthew 24:7 "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes."

As white, Christian farmers are driven out of Africa in increasing numbers, and foreigners move in to replace life-sustaining crops with poppies that now supply 25% of the worlds drugs, famine spreads across the African continent. The undernourished are not limited to Africa, however. A large portion of the worlds 5 billion people suffers from a shortage of food.

Matthew 24:7 "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes."

The number and intensity of earthquakes this century is at a level higher than any other time in history. A staggering number of seismic events occur around the world daily. The earthquake seismic monitor IRIS shows all major earthquakes for the last year. Indicated by yellow and red circles, the seismic events of the last 15 days provides strong evidence of the fulfillment of Matthew 24:7 in our day. By contrast, in the years from 1890 to 1900 there was only one major earthquake in the world.

Matthew 24:8-9 "But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on account of my name."

Christians are under attack throughout the world today. In the United States Christians still enjoy freedom to worship God without suffering much more than ridicule, hatred, or discrimination at work and school. However in many other countries such as China, Sudan, Africa, Saudi Arabia, Korea, Russia, and many Muslim nations, Christian suffer much greater persecution and often times death for their faith. During the tribulation this suffering will be worldwide and will continue even to the point of martyrdom. These first 5 signs will increase in intensity and severity as the tribulation approaches, much like the birth pangs or contractions of a pregnant woman worsen as the delivery time approaches.

Matthew 24:14 "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come."

This prophecy has already been fulfilled through television, radio, missionaries, the translation of the Bible into many languages, and the internet. People all over the world now hear the message of Christ from missionaries who have the means to travel the globe, and via technology that allows us to communicate with people on the other side of the world right from our own homes, churches and offices.

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II Timothy 3:1-5,7 "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of god; holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."

For anyone who has watched television, read a newspaper, lost a retirement to corporate greed and corruption, or just walked outside their front door, it is obvious this prophecy has been fulfilled by our generation. Our leaders are often corrupt; our cities are filled with crime, brutality, and neon signs proclaiming our sinful, godless nature. The New Age Movement brings in increasing numbers of mystics who claim to be the enlightened ones. They are some of the most educated and influential people in our societies, and yet the most lacking in real truth.

I Timothy 4:1-3 "But the spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons. By means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth."

Churches today are becoming more and more ecumenical, embracing the New Age interfaith agenda, and denying Christ as the only way to salvation. Giving in to the politically correct media and a corrupt society, they have embrace homosexuality as an acceptable alternate lifestyle and preach tolerance and compromise in place of God's truth for the salvation of the world. The environmentalist movement within the New Age movement lures them into a worship of mother earth, belief in past lives, reincarnation, and Karma while demonizing all those who would eat the meat God gave us as nourishment for our bodies.

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Revelation 9:16 "And the number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them."

An army of that size had never existed until China's army reached that number in the 1960's.

Daniel 2:32-33 "The head of the statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay."

Daniel 2:40-43 "Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. And in that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have the toughness of iron, and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. And in that you saw the iron mixed with clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery."

The fourth kingdom of iron is the Roman empire according to Daniel's interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar's dream. The two legs are the division of the Roman empire into an eastern portion called the Byzantine empire which ended in the 1400's and a western portion based in Rome which ended in the 400's. The nations of Europe since the Roman empire dissolved have never adhered or formed one empire but continue as separate nations, however, the European Union now has 15 Member States and is preparing for the accession of 13 eastern and southern European countries.

Zephaniah 3:9 "For then I will return to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent."

Prior to the restoration of Israel in 1948, Hebrew was a dead language. Now Hebrew is spoken throughout Israel.

4. REBUILDING OF THE TEMPLE, RESTORATION OF TEMPLE WORSHIP AND ANIMAL SACRIFICES IN JERUSALEM

For several end time prophecies to be fulfilled, the temple will have to be rebuilt.

Revelation 11:2 "Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the oly city for forty-two months."

Daniel 9:27 "And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolation, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate."

Daniel 9:26 "Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary."

Some archeologists believe that the temple mount is actually 340 feet south of the Dome of the Rock site, putting the Dome of the Rock within the Court of the Gentiles. This may be the court outside the temple that is left out.

There are many groups already working on preparations for the new temple. The blueprints are already done, the temple garments have been made, and there have already been attempts to lay the cornerstone of the temple. The only thing standing in the way of the construction of the new temple is Islam's third holiest site, the Dome of the Rock and government support for such an undertaking. Some possible scenarios for the rebuilding of the temple are as follows:

1. The persuasion and performing of miracles by the Antichrist and False Prophet convinces the Islamic world to approve the rebuilding.

2. The United Nations will negotiate the rebuilding of the temple following a war with the armies from the North (Russia and Islamic forces). This assumes that the war with the armies from the North is not the battle of Armageddon as some feel and that this attack occurs before the rapture or tribulation period begins. The supernatural destruction of the Russian army and Islamic forces will cause an outpouring of Christian worship and zeal amongst the Jewish people who will reconstruct the temple.

3. It is determined that the site of the first two temples is actually south of the Dome of the Rock, and the court of the gentiles (Dome of the Rock) will be left out of the 3rd temple.

A group in Israel called the Temple Mount Faithful have obtained most of the clothing, instruments and other equipment required for temple worship and are actively preparing for the laying of the third temple's cornerstone.

Numbers 19:2-7 "This is the statute of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying, "Speak to the sons of Israel that they bring you an unblemished red heifer in which is no defect and on which a yoke has never been placed. "You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and it shall be brought outside the camp and be slaughtered in his presence. Next Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle some of its blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times. "Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight; its hide and its flesh and its blood, with its refuse, shall be burned. "The priest shall then wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward come into the camp, but the priest shall be unclean until evening."

A red heifer will be required to be used in the process of purification described in the book of Numbers. In May 1997 the first Red Heifer was born in 2000 years. Another red Heifer was born in Israel in March of 2002.

Daniel 12:4 "But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase."

Billy Graham was quoted as saying, "ninety percent of all the engineers and scientists who have ever lived are alive today." Air travel, space travel, DNA research and human cloning are all examples of the rapid increase in knowledge in our generation.

Zephaniah 3:10-11 "From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia My worshipers, My dispersed ones, will bring My offerings. In that day you will feel no shame because of all your deeds by which you have rebelled against Me; For then I will remove from your midst your proud, exulting ones, and you will never again be haughty on My holy mountain."

In 1984, Operation Moses saw the airlift of 15,000 Jews who had already fled to refugee camps in Sudan to escape starvation. In 1991, Operation Solomon flew 20,000 Jews to Israel from Ethiopia itself. A further airlift began in June of 1999, aimed at transporting the last 3,000 members of the Quara Jewish community from northeastern Ethiopia to Israel.

Ezekiel 38:2,4,8 "Son of man, set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him. I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them splendidly attired, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them wielding swords. After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come into the land that is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel which had been a continual waste; but its people were brought out from the nations, and they are living securely, all of them."

In order for some end time events to occur Russia will have to be a strong nation with a strong military.

Jeremiah 23:7-8 "Therefore behold, the days are coming declares the Lord, when they will no longer say, as the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt, but as the Lord lives, who brought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the countries where I have driven them. Then they will live on their own soil."

In the 1970's and 1980's there was a mass exodus of Russian Jews out of Communist Russia. In 1999 the Associated Press reported a dramatic increase in the number of Jewish immigrants from Russia, bringing the largest number of Russian Jews to Israel since the early 1990's.

Revelation 13:16-17 "And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name."

On May 10, three members of a family in Florida became the first people to receive the biochip implant. Each device, made of silicon and called a VeriChip, is a small radio transmitter about the size of a piece of rice that is injected under a person's skin. It transmits a unique personal ID number whenever it is within a few feet of a special receiver unit. VeriChip's maker describes it as "a miniaturized, implantable, radio frequency identification device (RFID) that can be used in a variety of security, emergency and healthcare applications."

Is the biochip the mark of the beast to be used by the antichrist? We can't really know. What is significant is that people are being softened to the idea of a mark or an implant as a means of maintaining security, providing medical information, and regulating a more interdependent world. As attitudes change, fears subside, and people are convinced of the need for such a mark, the true mark of the beast will be easily introduced to the world by the antichrist.

The United Nations, World Trade Organization, International Criminal Court, UN peacekeeping/police force, numerous UN NGO's, and other agencies are preliminary steps to the formation of a one world government. We now have the communications technology, transportation, and the pro-globalization media necessary to usher in the one world government headed by the antichrist. The increasing terrorist threat and the middle east conflict will only speed up the formation of this governing body as fear and promises of better security make more people willing to give up their national sovereignty for global governance.

Revelation 11:3, 7-10 "And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophecy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them. And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. Those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth."

Television and the 24-hour news networks make it possible for people around the world to see the dead prophets and rejoice at their deaths.

Luke 21:28 "But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."

Luke 21:32 "Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all things take place."

QX: I still respect DAVID W very highly for a variety of reasons. I think this is worth reading. Color, bold emphases, are mine.

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The Coming Of The Lord

David Wilkerson

When I was a boy, the cry of the church was, "Jesus is coming! Like a thief in the night, he will return when you least expect him. He'll come in the twinkling of an eye, with the sound of the trumpet. Be ready at all times."

Throughout my teenage years, this cry was heard at every Sunday meeting. Every evangelist who came to preach in my father's church had a stirring message about the soon return of Christ. Their cries are burned into my memory. And the message formed in me a godly fear and expectancy. I learned to live expecting the Lord to return at any moment.

This cry, "Jesus is coming", is seldom heard in the church today. I can't remember the last time I heard a message on the coming of the Lord. As a result, when I look at Christ's body, I see little expectancy for the Lord's soon return. Sadly, only a few righteous servants seem to yearn and look for his appearing.

In fact, there is a new mindset on this subject among many Christians. The thinking is, "Jesus isn't coming. We've heard that for years now. Of all the prophecies that need to be fulfilled before his return, only a few have come to pass. Why should we expect his appearing? Everything continues just as it has."

The Bible warned of this very mindset. Peter said scoffers would come in the last days, mocking the message of Christ's return: "There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation" (2 Peter 3:3-4).

Incredibly, many dread the sudden return of Christ. The very thought of their life coming to an end, and of having to face a day of judgment, is so frightening that they put it out of their minds. How could this be true of believers, you ask? According to Peter, their lives are dictated by lusts: "walking after their own lusts" (3:3).

Think about what Peter is saying. If you cling to a bosom sin, you want nothing to do with this message of Christ's return. The idea that Jesus will come and judge you is the most frightening thought any sinner could have. So you have to mock the idea of having to stand before God in your consuming lust and give an account.

Peter's message to us is clear: "Here is what's behind all the flippancy about Christ's coming: a mockery of God's law. It's a hatred for the Bible, a despising of the Ten Commandments, a contempt for the evangelical gospel. That's the cause behind all the lawlessness, the flaunting of sin, the powerlessness of the church. Mockers are preaching a new message: 'Christ isn't coming. There is no day of reckoning. All things continue just as they have for years. You don't have to fear a judgment day.'"

Just as Peter prophesied, those mockers are here today. And they're not mocking the law of the land. They're mocking the laws of God. We see it in the push to break down the institution of marriage between a man and a woman. Their focus isn't the Constitution, but God's Word. And these mockers are in high places: in Congress, in high courts, in colleges and schools, even in biblical seminaries.

Because of this rampant lawlessness, people have been plagued with a willful blindness. Mockers can be heard saying, "All things continue on in an orderly fashion. The sun will rise on schedule tomorrow, the seasons will come and go. All the warnings we heard in the past still haven't come to pass. So, let nothing disturb you. Indulge and enjoy yourself. Do whatever makes you happy."

I have to shake my head at this. How could anyone living today say that things continue as they always have? Think of the absurdity of this statement, in these terrifying times. Terrorists have destroyed the Twin Towers in New York. They've blown up a train station in Spain. And they're beheading people in the Middle East.

It has been said that a mass genocide like the Holocaust could never happen in our day. Yet 700,000 innocent Rwandans have been slaughtered by their own countrymen in a matter of months. AIDS is killing millions in Africa, China, India and other nations. Rogue countries with the hydrogen bomb are poised to hold the rest of the world hostage. And there is a rise of deadly new diseases, such as SARS and Ebola, that consume a person's flesh within weeks.

"All things continue as they have"? What willful ignorance. It should be clear even to the ungodly that the Lord is shaking everything that can be shaken. And what's coming in the near future is too dreadful even to think about.

Yet, as all these things happen, there is a mighty, unseen power at work in the earth. It's a power no man can evade or ignore. I'm talking about the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Christ's administrator on earth. He was sent to empower the righteous, and to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment.

The Holy Spirit knows exactly why Jesus hasn't come yet. It is because our Lord is longsuffering. He is patient toward sinners, willing that no person should perish. In his mercy, he's waiting for the vilest sinner to repent. And for that very reason, the Holy Spirit will not let up on his assignment. You can mock him or try to shake him off, but the Spirit comes again and again, convicting of sin and revealing the truth of Christ.

--- Although mockers will come, Scripture says the Holy Spirit will also come in the last days, being poured out on the earth. ---

This has happened, at Pentecost. And now, at the closing of the age, the Holy Spirit is making a final, midnight cry: "Jesus is coming." Islamics and Hindus will hear this cry. Atheists will hear it. Every sinner and saint, every Jew and Gentile on earth, will hear it. This truth will be proclaimed to the nations.

You may ask, "What kind of 'coming of the Lord' are you talking about? Are you referring to a secret rapture? Are you speaking of a pre-tribulation return, or mid-trib, or post-trib? Or, do you mean Jesus will come at the very end of time?"

Some Christians believe that Jesus will suddenly evacuate his people from the earth in what's called a rapture. Others teach that Christ will come midway through a period known as the great tribulation. This period will last for seven years, and will be marked by terror and chaos such as the world has never seen. Others believe Jesus will come at the end of this seven-year tribulation period. Still others teach that Christ will return at the very end of all things.

There are respected biblical scholars in each of these camps. Yet there is one thing every Christian can agree on: Jesus himself says no man knows the hour of his coming, not even the angels. And for the true lover of Christ, the timing of his return is not an issue. Such servants are ready to go at any time, whether through a sudden rapture or in the midst of tribulation. It doesn't matter to them whether they have to endure terrible trials and suffering. They trust that the same Jesus who carries them through each day now will see them through all things. They live in constant expectancy of his return.

No, there is a greater issue at work here. And that is the wicked thought that Satan has implanted in many who claim to be true believers. The devil is whispering a vicious lie into the ears of multitudes of God's people: "Christ has delayed his coming."

In Matthew 24, Jesus tells a parable about being ready: "Be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.

"But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 24:44-51).

Note that Jesus is speaking about servants here, meaning believers. One servant is called faithful and the other evil. What makes the latter servant evil in God's eyes? According to Jesus, it's something he "shall say in his heart" (24:48). This servant doesn't voice such a thought, and he doesn't preach it. But he thinks it. He has sold his heart on the demonic lie, "The Lord delays his coming." Notice he doesn't say, "The Lord isn't coming," but "he delays his coming." In other words: "Jesus won't come suddenly or unexpectedly. He won't return in my generation."

This "evil servant" is clearly a type of believer, perhaps even one in ministry. He was commanded to "watch" and "be ready," "for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh" (Matthew 24:44). Yet this man eases his conscience by accepting Satan's lie.

Jesus shows us the fruit of this kind of thinking. If a servant is convinced that the Lord has delayed his coming, then he sees no need for right living. He isn't compelled to make peace with his fellow servants. He doesn't see the need to preserve unity in his home, at work, in church. He could smite his fellow servants, accuse them, hold grudges, destroy their reputations. As Peter says, this servant is driven by his lusts. He wants to live in two worlds, indulging in evil living while believing he's safe from righteous judgment.

--- Some claim that Paul warned against preaching that the Lord's coming is near, so as not to excite people. ---

Paul wrote, "We beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand" (2 Thessalonians 2:1-2).

Scoffers point out, "See, someone in the early church shook up believers with the message that Christ was about to come. And Paul told them, 'No, don't worry about it. Don't let it trouble or concern you.'"

But that's not what the original Greek reveals. The root word is "[be not shaken]...that the day of the Lord has come." What disturbed the Thessalonians was they thought Christ had already come, and that they'd missed it.

Paul reassures them in the next verse, "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition" (2:3). Paul was only addressing their fears when he said, "Don't be worried, because two things have to happen first."

So, what was Paul's primary theology about Christ's return? We find it in two passages: "Knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, and the day is at hand" (Romans 13:11-12). "Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand" (Philippians 4:5). Paul is crying, "Wake up! It's past midnight already. The Lord's coming is drawing near, so stir yourself. Don't be slothful. Jesus is coming for those who expect him."

Skeptics may ask, "But what about Paul's own words? He did say two things had to happen before Christ returns. First, the Lord can't come until a great apostasy takes place. And second, the Antichrist has to rise up and proclaim himself God. We have to see the Antichrist sitting in the temple, demanding that people worship him, before Jesus will come."

First of all, you have to be willfully blind not to see a raging apostasy gripping the whole world. Unbelief is sweeping through nations, with believers falling away from faith on all sides. The apostasy Paul refers to clearly has arrived.

Note Paul's words here: "The mystery of iniquity doth already work" (2 Thessalonians 2:7). What is this mystery of iniquity? It is lawlessness. It's a spirit of chaos, with no respect for God's law. And it's the very reason why God destroyed the earth by Flood, because of man's violence and lawlessness.

If the lawlessness that Paul saw in his day has only increased, it's no wonder decent people today are alarmed and frightened by what they see happening. Laws and institutions that for ages kept society from falling into chaos are being torn down left and right.

Paul says of this, "He who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way" (2:7). He's telling us, "There is a restraining power at work, holding back the chaos. But that restrainer is about to be removed." The Spirit will always be here to fulfill his mission. But his restraining ministry will be "taken," or lifted, "out of the way."

I can think of no power that's able to restrain lawlessness other than the Holy Spirit. Think about what happens to a society when the Holy Spirit lifts his restraining power. Every institution, from government down to families, spins totally out of control. I can't imagine what New York City would be like without the Restrainer holding back wickedness from erupting. I wouldn't want to be near this city if the Holy Spirit weren't at work.

Yet we see a spirit of lawlessness at work all over the world. The Antichrist forces are already gathering and revealing themselves at high levels. Right now, the European Union is putting into place a Constitution that totally denies God. A Pentecostal minister in Sweden sits in jail today for preaching against homosexuality. That's just one sign of how the stage is being set.

You may say, "Yes, but Paul clearly says Jesus can't come until the Antichrist is in power." Yet, consider what Scripture says: "Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son" (1 John 2:22). According to John, the Antichrist is anyone who denies the Father and the Son. Moreover, he says, the increase of such Antichrists is proof that we're living in the very last days. In addition, there will come a man who will embody the "name of sin."

In short, nothing is holding back Christ's return. Think of the worldwide terrorism, the deification of self, the blatant attacks on marriage and godly values. Think of Islamic brutality, militant homosexuality, the vileness of TV and movies, the widespread molestation of children. One Catholic diocese on the west coast recently declared bankruptcy, unable to pay the millions awarded to sixty childhood molestation victims by one priest.

Consider that all this has been under restraint until now. I ask you, what happens when God says to the One who has been restraining it all, "Lift your restraining hand. Let it run its course to the climax"? Paul gives us a picture: "(The Restrainer) will...be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed" (2 Thessalonians 2:7-8).

The Holy Spirit knows what is soon to take place, when there will be no more restraint. Every man will give himself over to his lusts. Every militant religion will force its gods on others. Every holy thing will be despised. Every law will be broken freely. And the backslidden church will preach the most corrupt, damnable doctrines of hell.

Everything is in place for this to happen even now. Great apostasy has covered the earth. Self has taken the throne of men's hearts. And in a very short time, when the Restrainer is gone, there will come what Paul calls a "strong delusion, that they should believe a lie" (2 Thessalonians 2:11).

What is this lie? It's the blind acceptance that anyone who comes in Jesus' name speaks for God. False teachers will arise who acknowledge Christ as a good man but not as God: "having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof" (2 Timothy 3:5). Those who follow these deceivers will be drawn to another Jesus, another gospel. The blindness will be sweeping, catching up multitudes, including those who were once on fire for the Lord.

Why is God going to stop the Restrainer? Because, Paul says, "They...believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (2 Thessalonians 2:12). Right now we're seeing the Holy Spirit's restraints being lifted a little more each day.

--- This brings me to the heart of my message: the heart-cry of the man or woman who is in Christ. ---

In Revelation, Jesus announces, "Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book" (Revelation 22:7). Five verses later Christ says, "Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be" (22:12).

Here is the cry of all who look expectantly for Jesus' return: "The Spirit and the bride say, Come" (22:17). This refers to the bride of Christ, made up of a worldwide body of believers under his Lordship. All these servants are born-again, blood-cleansed believers.

You may ask, "I understand this is the believer's heart-cry. But why would the Spirit also cry to Jesus, 'Come'?" It is because this is the Holy Ghost's last prayer, knowing his work on earth is almost completed. Like Paul or Peter, who were told by God their time was short, the Spirit likewise cries, "Come, Lord Jesus."

So, where do we hear this cry of the Spirit today? It comes through those who are seated with Christ in heavenly places, who live and walk in the Spirit, their bodies the temple of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit cries in and through them, "Hasten, Lord, come."

Let me ask you: when was the last time you prayed, "Lord Jesus, come quickly, come soon"? Personally, I can't remember praying this prayer. The fact is, I never knew I could hasten Christ's coming by allowing the Spirit to pray this prayer through me. Yet Peter gives us proof of this incredible truth: "Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat" (2 Peter 3:12). In Greek, the phrase "hasting...the coming of (that) day" means "to speed up, to urge on." Peter says our expectant prayers are hastening, speeding up, urging the Father to send back his Son quickly.

Only one issue is holding up that glorious event. It is a single unresolved matter: "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (3:9).

The Lord's merciful patience dictates the timing of his return. So, does this mean we shouldn't pray for his coming? Not at all. Christ himself tells us in Mark's gospel, "In those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be. And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect's sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days" (Mark 13:19-20). Imagine what might happen if, all over the world, Christ's bride were to wake up and pray in the Spirit, "Jesus, come."

Yet, if I believe the world is racing toward unrestrained chaos, and that Christ is coming soon, then my cry must be aimed at my unprepared family and friends. It would be hypocritical for me to pray for Jesus to come, and yet not intercede for my loved ones to be ready for that day. My prayer must be, "Come, Lord. But first, give my lost family and friends ears to hear. Save them, save the lost."

Paul wrote to his spiritual son, Timothy, "Without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day" (2 Timothy 1:3). Can you say with a pure conscience that you've prayed for your unsaved loved ones with such intensity?

--- Here is the heart of the matter. ---

For a moment, set aside all doctrines about Christ's coming. Consider this heart-cry of the man or woman who loves his appearing: "Then we shall see him face to face. We shall behold him" (see 1 Corinthians 13:12). Jesus' coming shouldn't disturb you. It ought to thrill you. If you truly love someone, you want to be near that person. Can you imagine what it will be like for Jesus to call your name?

Imagine a couple who's newly married, and the husband is called away for an extended period, perhaps on business or in the military. He tells his bride, "I'll be back, but I don't know when. Here's the address where you can reach me."

For the first few years, that bride writes to her husband often, with beautiful love letters. Yet she never says, "Please, come back soon!" Ten years pass, then twenty, and she writes him less and less. Still, she never says, "Come quickly, I beseech you. I need your embrace, I need to see your face. I'm praying for your soon return."

This is a picture of the church today. How can we tell Christ we love him and miss him, yet never pray that he comes back for us? How can we never express to him that he must return soon and take us with him, so we can be in his constant company? How can we not say, "I can't handle this anymore without your being here. I don't want to be away from you"?

In the midst of these times, I hear Jesus saying, "Surely I come quickly" (Revelation 22:20). And I hear the bride of Christ answering, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus" (22:20).

From SpiritDaily.com

AFTER THE STORMS: LITTLE RUMBLINGS CAN LEAD TO SEISMIC ASPECTS OF 'PURIFICATION'

There are the rumblings. There has been that swarm in California -- little tremors, some not so little. There is the rumbling beneath Mount St. Helens, foretelling a potential eruption, and near a much larger volcano at Yellowstone. There have been significant quakes in Japan and most recently the capital of the Philippines -- a magnitude-six, none of them big enough to cause a major event, but omens.

Iran was shaken the other day, a country that has been the focus now of nuclear-terrorist concerns (just as Afghanistan was rocked by quakes soon after September 11), and last but not least, a tremor in Mexico shook a Catholic theological conference last week, a conference full of bishops, at the moment of Communion (or so it was reported over a major Catholic newswire).

All this raises the question of what the rumblings may portend. Are they just routine trembles of the ground or does it have to do with the the next stage of purification (after the lash in Florida)?

Christ indicated earthquakes (see Matthew 24) as part of Divine justice. Will we now see that? Or do the quakes point to an unexpected aspect of purification?

For those with ears to hear, the warnings, yet to peak (perhaps even quite a ways from their peak), have been intensifying since the early 1990s and bring the question of what's next in this period of purification. For years, folks have been reporting inexplicable rumbling sounds in the earth, from the East Coast through Ohio and on to the West. The prophecies in which we put most stock had correctly indicated that an event would occur in New York to break its "pride" (this materialized as 9/11) and regional weather events that would be accompanied (in the words of one) by "strange loud rumblings."

We had the storms, which were Florida's version of 9/11, and now there are the rumblings that lately are materializing not as inexplicable sounds but on seismometers.

Whether the more mysterious ones were a seismic phenomenon, an artifact, or a spiritual manifestation is anyone's guess. What we can say is that earthquakes in one part of the world often seem to presage others.

Is anyone listening?

Something to do with the earth is almost sure to play into the series of coming events. And if it takes the form of quakes, small ones could lead to bigger ones. In 1906, the famous quake in San Francisco was accompanied by even more powerful quakes in Japan and Ecuador.

Indeed, shortly after the great San Francisco quake there was a huge tremor in the Aleutian islands, and just thirty minutes after that was a yet greater one in Chile.

There were major quakes that year in New Guinea, Australia, the Antilles, China, and again in Chile, bigger than any seen in years!

"Normally you have one magnitude-8 earthquake every one and a half to two years," we were told by Lowell S. Whiteside of the National Geophysical Data Center. "That year there were about ten of them."

Prediction: the period we are in will see a magnification of such historic events and there will be a "storm" of earthquakes that will focus on Asia but hit around the world, including at least in one unexpected area.

For decades seismologists believed that earthquakes were unrelated to each other and that it was just a coincidence when they came in a cluster. It is no longer looking like such is a "coincidence."

Instead it appears that when one tremor resonates through the earth, it sets off a chain of what are often larger ones.

In some cases, a quake in one part of the world will precede another by just hours -- the length of time it takes a seismic vibration to get there. According to Dr. Whiteside, the 1989 Loma-Prieta earthquake in San Francisco may have triggered seismic activity as far away as Hawaii.

Smaller quakes often presage larger one.

And right now, the activity includes the notorious "ring of fire" -- that seismic hotbed that stretches from southern South America up through North America and across to Japan, the Philippines, and down to New Zealand.

Mount St. Helens is in this "ring" -- as are 11 other volcanoes in the Cascadian zone and the faults that haunt California.

There is something deeply mystical about the ring. The sulfurous smoke from the lower magma is most visible from the volcanoes on Hawaii -- where the Blessed Mother's rival, a fire goddess, was so revered and where there are still altars to her.

Of all geologic disasters, a mega-volcano far bigger than Mount St. Helens, perhaps at ocean bottom, is the greatest concern. That could be followed by a quake or rock collapse causing a tsunami.

As we head into a time of natural turmoil, we can expect some of God's warnings to come in the form of major and perhaps unprecedented seismic activity, activity that will rumble for days or weeks, that will be without modern precedent, that may even form major chastisements. It is just such regional events that have been indicated by some of the recent seers. Visionaries in Ireland have forewarned of sounds coming from the ground like claps of thunder and the sensation of a split in the earth and an immense wind. In Venezuela Maria Esperanza once warned that the earth's core "is not in balance."

"It's like putting a bullet in a gun," says Dr. Whiteside. "If the stresses are there and they're just waiting for a trigger, it's like putting a bullet in a gun. All you have to do is pull the trigger."

That's if you want one.

If you don't, you can fast and pray and quell a quake (or for that matter -- see Matthew 17:20 -- affect a mountain). What it takes is faith.

[adapted from ]

http://www.spiritdaily.com/tsunamiperspective.htm

EVENT IN ASIA STANDS AS MOST STRIKING IN A SPECIAL TIME OF PROPHESIED DISTURBANCES

by Michael H. Brown

The sad tragedy that is still unfolding in Asia represents the most striking event thus far in a series of events that had been foreseen as intensifying in what the Blessed Mother has called our "special times."

Even those who normally disdain the prophetic component of the Church have been given pause at the stark images of unusual destruction, which secular newsmen have compared to biblical disasters.

It is the images, as during September 11, that have captivated the world. It is not the worst natural calamity on record. There have been earthquakes in China that killed up to 800,000. There was the huge disaster in Bangladesh, when -- on Friday the 13th, 1970 -- a cyclone caused flooding that led to the deaths of 300,000 to 500,000. In the U.S., there was the great San Francisco quake in 1906, and the devastation of Galveston, Texas, a few short years before.

But the "Great Christmas Tsunami" of 2004 easily sails above those later ones in proportion -- affecting as it did at least eleven countries -- and stands as the most remarkable natural disaster in our lifetimes, made more so by its conveyance via the electronic media (especially the internet) and its juxtaposition with many other unusual events.

Its timing is indeed curious. While seismic activity was unusually quiet on Christmas Day itself, it exploded with terrific force as the final time zones celebrated the birth of Jesus and brought to mind one of the last major earthquakes of this magnitude -- a 9.2-tremor that occurred on Good Friday in 1964.

The 2004 tsunami may well turn out to be the most famous in recorded history, harking back to major natural cataclysms in the Middle Ages -- when there was also a rise of prophecy, freakish weather, Church crises, pervasive evil, rationalistic materialism, and a resultant purification that affected the evil and good alike (as purifications are wont to do).

Before that was the great eruption of a volcano on the island of Thera in 1500 B.C. that may also have sent a massive tsunami across the Aegean and destroyed the Minoan civilization. There was also the eruption of the Krakatau volcano in the Sunda Strait near Java on August 27, 1883, killing 36,000 with a tsunami and changing global patterns of weather in a way that led to famine and disease for years after. The explosion was heard 2,900 miles away and caused a glow to be seen as far away as Connecticut -- as if to fulfill a prophecy at the church-approved site of LaSalette in France, which spoke of climate change and a volcano.

Now, with the Christmas quake, is also the prophetic pulse. The Asian event comes on the heels of other extremely unusual patterns. The year 2004 saw an unprecedented hurricane season, freakish storms in Europe, a record tornado season in the United States, outbreaks such as SARS, dramatic evidence of climate change, and the greatest assault by typhoons on Japan in its entire history -- to name a few. Even before the tsunami, it was the most costly year on record for insurers.

And so, with those who have ears, it seemed like a ratcheting up, just as last summer's hurricanes seemed like an intensification of what was seen with Hurricane Andrew and the heightened activity in the 1990s and just as the great "northeaster" storms of the early 1990s turned into the "perfect storm" and other huge weather situations and how now flurries of minor quakes (quakes that in places like Japan, the Philippines, and the Cayman islands, occurred in curious conjunction with cyclones) have concatenated into the greatest earthquake in forty years.

The Asian event is doubly interesting in the light of Catholic prophecy. As in the 1300s, a swarm of seers has been warning that there will be great natural disturbances, and "secrets" from the apparition site of Medjugorje in Bosnia-Hercegovina are said to contain predictions of major disasters that some speculate may include such natural events.

Mirjana during an apparition

No one knows but the seers, yet it is interesting that just several weeks ago one of them, Mirjana Soldo, related an alleged message in which the Blessed Mother pleaded for prayers in an unusual way (see story; "I am calling you, I need your help!" the Virgin Mary was said to have relayed urgently).

It was this same seer who in 1985 indicated that the first of the secrets she was granted involved an event that would occur in a particular region of the world, but would immediately be known around the world, shocking people. When asked by a priest if people would rush to see what is in her first secret, she replied that they would no more go to that than "go to Italy and see a dam collapse."

There is no indication that the tsunami was part of her secrets, which are supposed to be announced in advance, and no indication either whether the first secret -- which is said to mark the end of Satan's special power -- will be larger or smaller than what occurred in Indonesia Sunday. Later events, described as "chastisements," are expected to be much larger. "It will make the world pause and think," she said of her first secret, adding that the secrets could unravel in rapid succession.

The late seer Maria Esperanza of Venezuela warned repeatedly that "disturbances in nature" were coming, and saw a "beginning" of a new period involving them as occurring in 2004. Esperanza also warned that the earth's core "is not in balance," and saw the coming events as the beginning of a major purification that during the next several decades would bring love and reconciliation to the world, along with a major supernatural manifestation. The "1990 prophecy" related on this website saw chastisements occurring on a regional scale, followed by a supernatural occurrence.

Whatever the credibility of such predictions, there is no question that we are in a special time and that -- at least during 2004 -- it seemed to get more special by the moment -- for those who have the ears to hear [Matthew 11:15].

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