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.

[Petronski]

Your 'gifts' of logic and common sense are man made...

My gifts of logic and common sense are from God. Yours, well, perhaps a little green man gave them to you--or took them from you, with a probe...

[Marysecretary]

I only had a few names when I started my dad’s history, and people on Norway Rootsweb and NorwayHeritage, and even one on FR, help me find a wealth of information; census data, births and baptisms, addresses of where they lived (they sure moved a LOT), deaths, marriages, a wealth for sure. I have over 60 pages of info and memories.

[Petronski]

So Jesus sanctioned your religion to erect statures of Mary all over your churches and none of Him, eh???

Well, since that's not true, I'd say no, He didn't.

The bible says you are wrong...

Nope. Just your own personal interpretation of Scripture.

[Marysecretary]

I also added my Christian journey and family diseases for the future folks.

[Marysecretary]

makes more sense.

[Judith Anne]

What people like and listen to is no one’s concern but their own, even if it’s not a teaching of the church.

[Marysecretary]

That’s true but what I’m saying is many will believe because Padre Pio says it that it’s a teaching of the church. Nuff said.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you for the insights, dear sister in Christ! If you'd care to send me a Freepmail with the urls to get started on the genealogical side, I'd greatly appreciate it!

Also, I love your idea of gathering information on diseases. Future generations would find that very helpful.

[Iscool]

We DO join ourselves, by exercising our free will by deciding to take part.

Petronski...Salvation is not a joint operation...Jesus provides it, you accept it as a free gift, or not...

If a fisherman offers you a sardine and you accept it, you did not join in the process of catching the fish...You only opened your mouth for the fish to be deposited...

[netmilsmom]

>>And with your wisdom from God you discerned that your church full of statues of Mary and none of Jesus, which then added a picture of Jesus looking 'up' to Mary was really focusing on Jesus and not Mary...Bizarre...<<

What church full of statues? Did you mean this church in Poland?

On the left, there is a mosaic of Christ, on the right a mosaic of Mary, in the middle on the top is Mary with the Christ Child (it would be silly to have an adult Mary smaller than the Christ Child), middle below is a classic painting of Christ in the Garden, praying to His Father, not gazing at his mother (!) then the Stations around the church, every one with Christ in it.

Are you seeing lots of statues there? Mary on the cross? How many are there?

[Judith Anne]

That’s true but what I’m saying is many will believe because Padre Pio says it that it’s a teaching of the church. Nuff said.

The fact that Padre Pio says it does not mean that it ISN't a teaching of the church, either.

Each person must find it out for him or herself.

[Petronski]

I’ll not be taking any spiritual advice from UFO kooks who openly deny their own discernment.

[netmilsmom]

>>That’s true but what I’m saying is many will believe because Padre Pio says it that it’s a teaching of the church. Nuff said.<<

That’s reading people’s minds. You don’t know that. You have no clue what people are thinking as they read the history of Padre Pio.

That is awfully presumptuous.

[Iscool]

There is nothing in the Bible mandating sola Scriptura.

There's nothing in the bible that says someone who doesn't believe the bible would be able to understand it...In fact, quite the contrary...

[Petronski]

Most posts from anti-Catholic bigots are pristinely unsullied by facts.

[Marysecretary]

You can even photocopy what you want to from their bibles and incorporate it into the story. Sounds to me like an interesting journey! I’ve put in pictures, copies of different things like marriage licenses and declaration if intent for citizenship, actual citizenship papers for my dad and grandfather, etc. I’ll also copy them for the addendum so all papers will be together. My grandmother saved some important papers as well and I’m copying those, too, so everyone who wants copies will have them. I’ll only make copies for close relatives and put them also on disks with my two thousand photos. (Yes, two thousand. THAT was fun scanning, wow.)

[wagglebee]

You might be right, J-d could be the reincarnation of L. Ron Hubbard and he will do battle with Xenu, Dictator of the Galactic Confederacy, they might even get to borrow one of John Travolta’s planes.

[Petronski]

There's nothing in the bible that says someone who doesn't believe the bible would be able to understand it...

Tell that to someone who doesn't believe the Bible.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

1) There are probably TENS of thousands of Roman Catholic websites glorifying idolatry and elevating Mary to "co-redeemer" status, just like their pope John Paul II did. A simple google search reveals their pathetic multitude.

2) The photos of Mary on the cross with Jesus have been attributed to Roman Catholic churches. Obviously no amount of authentication would satisfy those who believe their popes are infallible one day; and not the next.

3) If that link isn't a Roman Catholic website, it was an easy mix-up because SO MANY Roman Catholic websites offer the same idiotic fantasies, fever dreams and "vain jangling" with their "crying statues" and their "bleeding hearts" and their "visions of Mary" appearing to gullible peasants who cough up hard-earned cash to support a church that paid out a billion dollars in two days in one city to settle sexual abuse charges against its priests, those "alter Christus."

For instance, here's what they're peddling at catholictradition.org as "our hope"...

Blasphemy. Our hope, our ONLY hope, is Jesus Christ.

"For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?" -- 1 Thess. 2:19

Apparently some aren't, and so they look elsewhere.

[Petronski]

...it was an easy mix-up...

It was deception.