The Signs Of The Times And The Coming Of The Lord

The doomsday prophets of today continue to fill the airwaves with their messages of doom as our society takes on a more sinister character of degradation. We live in a time where crime is on the rise, families are being destroyed, sins of the flesh abound all around us. The prophets of doom would have us believe these events point to the direct coming of the Lord. I heard a man on the radio Sunday describing how the world is on the verge of destruction from the Lord because of the rise of ungodliness all around. Early in the morning, a woman decried the condition of the country and the coming of the Lord must be imminent.

Having had the opportunity to live in other countries, I have seen firsthand the moral structures of other societies. I can also read in the papers and magazines of the intolerable conditions found throughout the world. On the streets of Sofia, Bulgaria newspapers were covered with naked women. Markets that had little food and no milk were filled to capacity with alcohol and cigarettes. The immorality was evident in many areas of society.

In some countries today, if you try and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ, you will be arrested. Sever persecution befalls any who try to convert their neighbor to Christ. The political, social and moral structures of many societies today are writhing in immoral decadence. If what the doomsday prophets say is true, the Lord should have come many years ago. If the things that are happening in our country today are the indication of the coming of the Lord, He would have come long ago when other cultures were much more wicked than we.

The problem with this type of mind-set is to believe that the Lord was only writing to good Christian people in America. The words of the Holy Spirit were not written to describe events happening in our land today. The coming of the Lord will not be preceded by these immoral, decadent and tragic events we seem to feel point to His coming. The only purpose doomsday prophets serve is to stir the imaginations of the people to believe in the great delusion that Christ is coming back to earth to reign and fight some great battle with the forces of evil.

The Bible clearly teaches that when Jesus comes back again, it will not be with all these terrible signs that people keep pointing too. 2 Peter 3:10 says, "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." The apostle Paul also tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:2, "For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night."

A thief does not announce his coming no more than Christ will announce His coming. The signs of the times are not to be taken as a prophetic utterance of the coming of the Lord. He will come but when He comes it will be as in the days of Noah. (Genesis 6-9) The world knew it was coming but only eight people believed it enough to get ready. When the rain started and the fountains of the deep were broken up, it was too late for everyone except the eight people inside the ark. There was no warning, no signs, no social events that took place to warn of the coming of the flood. God told the people what was coming and what to do to prepare for it. He did not tell them when it was coming. Those who were ready were saved and those who were not ready were lost. The same holds true for today. All of the doomsday prophets believe that Jesus will return to earth to set up a kingdom and reign for a thousand years. The Bible does not teach this. The Bible teaches the coming of the Lord will be like a thief. Are you ready?

By Kent E. Heaton Sr.

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