50 Reasons Why We Are Living In The End Times: Part 1

Lamb and Lion Ministries Blog ^ | 13 JULY 2009 | Dr. David R. Reagan

[Quix]

The Bible says we cannot know the time of the Lord's return (Matthew 25:13). But the Scriptures make it equally clear that we can know the season of the Lord's return (1 Thessalonians 5:2-6):

"You yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night... But you brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night or darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober."

This passage asserts that Jesus is coming like "a thief in the night." But then it proceeds to make it clear that this will be true only for the pagan world and not for believers. His return should be no surprise to those who know Him and His Word, for they have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to give them understanding of the nature of the times.

Furthermore, the Scriptures give us signs to watch for — signs that will signal that Jesus is ready to return. The writer of the Hebrew letter referred to these signs when he proclaimed that believers should encourage one another when they see the day of judgment drawing near (Hebrews 10:25-27). Jesus also referred to the end time signs in His Olivet Discourse, given during the last week of His life (Matthew 24 and Luke 21). Speaking of a whole series of signs which He had given to His disciples, He said, "When you see all these things, recognize that He [the Son of Man — that is, Jesus] is near, right at the door" (Matthew 24:33).

A Personal Experience

Every time I think of "Signs of the Times," I am reminded of a great man of God named Elbert Peak. I had the privilege of participating with him in a Bible prophecy conference held in Orlando, Florida in the early 1990's. Mr. Peak was about 80 years old at the time.

He had been assigned the topic, "The Signs of the Times." He began his presentation by observing, "Sixty years ago when I first started preaching, you had to scratch around like a chicken to find one sign of the Lord's soon return."

He paused for a moment, and then added, "But today there are so many signs I'm no longer looking for them. Instead, I'm listening for a sound — the sound of a trumpet!"

The First Sign

One hundred years ago in 1907 there was not one single, tangible, measurable sign that indicated we were living in the season of the Lord's return. The first to appear was the Balfour Declaration which was issued by the British government on November 2, 1917.

This Declaration was prompted by the fact that during World War I the Turks sided with the Germans. Thus, when Germany lost the war, so did the Turks, and the victorious Allies decided to divide up both the German and Turkish empires.

The Turkish territories, called the Ottoman Empire, contained the ancient homeland of the Jewish people — an area the Romans had named Palestine after the last Jewish revolt in 132-135 AD.

In 1917 Palestine included all of modern day Israel and Jordan. In the scheme the Allies concocted for dividing up the German and Turkish territories, Britain was allotted Palestine, and this is what prompted the Balfour Declaration. In that document, Lord Balfour, the British Foreign Secretary, declared that it was the intention of the British government to establish in Palestine "a national home for the Jewish people."

The leading Evangelical in England at the time was F. B. Meyer. He immediately recognized the prophetic significance of the Declaration, for he was well aware that the Scriptures prophesy that the Jewish people will be regathered to their homeland in unbelief right before the return of the Messiah (Isaiah 11:11-12).

Meyer sent out a letter to the Evangelical leaders of England asking them to gather in London in December to discuss the prophetic implications of the Balfour Declaration. In that letter, he stated, "The signs of the times point toward the close of the time of the Gentiles... and the return of Jesus can be expected any moment."

Before Meyer's meeting could be convened, another momentous event occurred. On December 11, 1917 General Edmund Allenby liberated the city of Jerusalem from 400 years of Turkish rule.

There is no doubt that these events in 1917 marked the beginning of the end times because they led to the worldwide regathering of the Jewish people to their homeland and the reestablishment of their state.

Since 1917

Since the time of the Balfour Declaration, we have witnessed throughout the 20th Century the appearance of sign after sign pointing to the Lord's soon return. There are so many of these signs today, in fact, that one would have to be either biblically illiterate or spiritually blind not to realize that we are living on borrowed time.

I have personally been searching the Bible for years in an effort to identify all the signs, and it has not been an easy task to get a hold on them. That's because there are so many of them, both in the Old and New Testaments.

I have found that the best way to deal with them is to put them in categories, and in doing that, I have come up with six categories of end time signs. We will explore these catetories beginning in Part 2 of this series.

[topcat54]

He's a scam artist.

"To the skeptic who says that Christ is not comingsoon [sic], I would ask him to put the book of Revelationin [sic]one hand, and the daily newspaper in the other,and then sincerely ask God to show him where weare [sic]on His prophetic time-clock." -Hal Lindsey, "There's a New World Coming" ( Rapture Ready Who’s Who in Prophecy)

The only folks who would comes to Hal’s conclusion are theological illiterates who have already been duped by the false hermeneutics of dispensationalism.

[Quix]

Thanks for bumping the thread.

And displays of ignorant rubber Bible’d hideousness is always a good contrast to the truths I post on such threads.

Much appreciated.

[topcat54]

Any opportunity to present solid biblical truth in the midst of outright dispensational nonsense (handwaving, obfuscation, and name-calling) is always a welcome thing.

It gives folks the chance to see the difference between the two systems; one built soldily on the Bible alone, and the house-of-cards built on the recent traditions of men like Darby and Scofield, Hal Lindsey and Edgar Whisenant.

[JohnnyM]

Both the pre-trib and post-trib camps have a lot of splaining to do in order to harmonize Matthew 24 & 25. In my view, both camps have serious Scriptural hurdles to overcome in those two chapters, not to mention other places in Scripture.

Eschatology is an exciting topic, but it is not one that should cause division in the Body of Christ. We can all agree to disagree, because I'm sure when the end comes we will all be surprised how it unfolds.

JM

[Alex Murphy]

Hal Lindsey, the consummate scammer within dispensaitonal circles

Hal Lindsey is currently married to his fourth wife, having divorced his previous three. On the back cover of the sixth printing of his 1974 book, There's a New World Coming, is a picture of Lindsey with his second wife, Jan. (Jan is the mother of Hal's three grown daughters.) He also dedicates the book to "my best pal, my wife Jan ..." However, "best pal" Jan is gone from the back cover of the book's 1984 "updated" edition, as is the dedication to her. A later Lindsey' book, Planet Earth--2000 A.D. (18 million in circulation as of 1/95), carries a picture of Hal and his third wife, Kim, who is approximately 25 years his junior. (Kim is the sister of author Johanna Michaelsen, and the sister-in-law of Tetelestai Center's Associate Pastor, Randy Michaelsen.) After dumping Kim, Hal is now married to wife #4, JoLyn, a member of Tetelestai and in a Bible class taught by Lindsey when she was evidently "discovered" by Hal.
-- excerpt from an article on Lindsey found at Biblical Discernment Ministries

See also Hal Lindsey's There's A New Wife Coming

[topcat54]

Eschatology is an exciting topic, but it is not one that should cause division in the Body of Christ. We can all agree to disagree, because I'm sure when the end comes we will all be surprised how it unfolds.

Especially those looking for a "second chance" for certain people based on ethnicity.

[antisocial]

BTTT

[topcat54]

The OP begins by mentioning Matthew 24:13 and quoting 1 Thess. 5:2-6 where the phrase “a thief in the night” is used to describe Christ’s return, aka “the day of the Lord”.

1 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. (1 Thess. 5)

The irony here is that the dispensational premil system is undermined by a careful comparison of Scripture with Scripture, i.e., 1 Thess 5: and:

9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, F10 not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. (2 Peter 3)

According the Peter, the “day of the Lord” introduces the new heavens and new earth. This is the day that Christ returns to judge the world. There is no time period between 1 Thess. 5 and 2 Peter 3. The language is unambiguous. They are the same event.

The validity of the other (nonsensical) 50 points is completely undermined by a careful examination of the opening assertion and demonstration of how it fails to be true from the Bible alone.

[topcat54]

Hal Lindsey is currently married to his fourth wife, having divorced his previous three.

Hal Lindsey is a giant in the world of Bible Prophecy. During the early eighties, the New York Times hailed Hal Lindsey with the honorable title " The Jeremiah of Today ". ( Rapture Ready Who’s Who in Prophecy)

What an insult. I don’t think the career of Jeremiah of the Bible was characterized by multiple wives and ungoldly divorces.

[Lee N. Field]

Even dispensationalists recognize the heresy of arguing for the reinstitution of Levitical animal sacrifices.

I wouldn't count on it.

One of the things that got me looking into it, 4 or 5 years ago, was hearing some pretty outrageous things coming from a prophecy pundit. What I heard didn't necessarily have to do with "bible prophecy", but was perfectly consistent with dispensationalism's axiomatic radical church/Israel distinction.

[topcat54]

One of the things that got me looking into it, 4 or 5 years ago, was hearing some pretty outrageous things coming from a prophecy pundit. What I heard didn't necessarily have to do with "bible prophecy", but was perfectly consistent with dispensationalism's axiomatic radical church/Israel distinction.

Many ministries that have dispensationalism as a characteristic are plagued by additional heretical constructs. E.g., John Hagee’s dual covenantalism, TD Jakes’ oneness/neo-arianism.

[Quix]

NONSENSE.

RUBBER BIBLED DENIAL OF GOD’S SCRPTURAL TRUTHS is one of the WORST foundations for anything remotely good.

BTW . . . re “name calling,” who have I called psychotic even indirectly, much less directly? Last I noticed, the REPLACEMENTARIAN accusation is still there.

[Quix]

Certainly the full unfolding will leave all of us surprised, imho.

I don’t think anyone has THE RAPTURE all figured out.

It still appears to me that the Pre-Trib folks have the BETTER Scriptural argument.

[Quix]

I’m sure Father God is quite impressed with all the Hal rock throwing.

Perhaps He’s building a gilded rock wall around some Heavenly estates with the spent rocks.

/sar

[Quix]

NONSENSE.

NO SUCH THING.

THE PROMISES OF ALMIGHTY GOD TO THE CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB ARE BUILT

ON GOD ALMIGHTY’S WORD, HIS EVERLASTING PROMISES TO HIS BUDDY ABRAHAM.

That’s more than sufficient foundation.

Idiotic brazen distortions of Biblical fact by the Rubber Bible Brigade are simply utter nonsense.

[Quix]

Thanks.

God’s best to you and yours.

[Quix]

Thanks for bumping the thread.

The RUBBER BIBLE GROPING is laughable but at least it bumps the thread.

[Quix]

Looks like another fireside sale was found on

‘holy rocks’ for
‘sanctified rock throwing!’

Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

IMPRESSIVE!

/s

[Quix]

Thanks for bumping the thread.

There’s ABSOLUTELY NOTHING

radical about

TRUSTING GOD’S UNRUBBERIZED WORD to be fulfilled to the letter.

God typically honors such trust and disciplines lack of such trust.

[Quix]

Thanks for the thread bump.

And for a new twist to the RUBBER BIBLE GROPING.