I have found myself doing a lot of thinking in the last few days as I watch the news, as I read comments made by some of my favorite websites, and see how the news sounds like it comes right out of things written thousands of years ago in the Bible. In between trying to take care of some of the normal spring chores that I am behind on, I’ve found myself almost stuck in neutral. There are so many things to comment on…which to choose! Today, I can use the weather as an excuse for not working outside because we are having an April snowstorm. This gives me the opportunity to formulize some thoughts that are on my mind. I have so many directions that I would like to go with this post, but I’m going to continue a little further along a subject I’ve been on lately. I pray that I can challenge you with some thoughts that I myself also have to think about and put into practice.
I have said quite a lot about what I see happening in the church world, especially in relation to some of the leadership, particularly in America. I had thought to go much further and tackle the apostasy that a much larger percentage of mainline church organizations are falling into than some of us might think. But, I’d like to speak more to us as individuals today. When Jesus spoke of Christians being the light of the world and salt of the earth, He was speaking to us all, not just the people in leadership positions. The commentary will of course apply to leaders and lay people alike.
One thing I notice with people today has to do with how many view the things that are going on. For many people, they have very little idea of all the things that are changing in our world at this time. There are also some people that are aware of many of the changes, but there is a real disconnect between knowing the facts that one has heard, and a true knowledge of how it is going to affect us, and how we should adjust our way of thinking and living in order to deal with this changing world while we are still here. So far, this may sound a bit philosophical, but that’s not what I’m after here.
I have run into more non-Christians that are aware that this is the terminal generation, than Christians. There are a lot of non-Christians coming right out and questioning how this all is going to affect them, and what should they do about it?” Many Christians on the other hand, seem to be aware of some things, but it has not really registered enough for them to change anything in the way they live their lives.
There are thousands of non-churched people who at one time or another have made a commitment to Jesus Christ. It may have been when they were a child, or maybe at a youth camp, or some other time. Since then, life has happened. Troubles, work, kids, car troubles, bills, and most everything else has taken 24 hours of every day. The things of God that they may have heard long ago in Sunday School seem little more than fairy tales by now. The original fervency has been pretty much forgotten. If it hasn’t been forgotten, it is now looked on as just kid’s stuff. The exuberance of the church youth camp experience has lost its significance. Yet, God has not forgotten. This means that His love is just as real, just as all-consuming, and just as far reaching as it always was. God knows how to turn on a light in someone’s soul that has seemed nearly off for years.
I believe one thing that is lacking for most people is the realization that in a short time, we may be staring into the face of eternity. What will it hold for you? For many, we have heard our whole lives that the time of the end is near. We have gotten to the place to where it has no effect on us anymore. I remember thinking I may not graduate from high school before the return of the Messiah. And here I am, 42 years later, still expecting Him. But, no matter how long any of us have heard this, the event will arrive. It is easy to get overdosed on “news”. We live in an age when everything that happens around the world is available to us within seconds. Some people can’t get enough news. Others get tired of it and avoid it completely. If a person isn’t careful, it becomes depressing, and then you depress everyone around you. That only happens if it is not offset by something positive though.
Jesus, in response to being questioned by His disciples, gave a long list of events that were going to happen which usher in a time that the Bible calls the Great Tribulation. This time is described as the absolute worst that mankind has ever experienced. Some other time I’ll detail these things, but Jesus statement was this: “When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:28 NIV). A couple verses later He said this, “even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the Kingdom of God is near.” He then made an incredible statement, “I tell you the truth, this generation (that sees the things already listed) will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” (Luke 21: 31-33, NIV)
If we really understand this, it should change how we live! Our generation is witness to the first wave of the shocking events that Jesus spoke of, and they are escalating quickly. You know what that means? WE ARE THE GENERATION that will experience the absolute best, or…the absolute worst! To experience the best, it only takes a bowing of the knee to the God of Creation and accept the price already paid for our freedom. This was the whole reason for the first coming of Jesus Christ to this earth. He was God in the flesh, and as incredible as it sounds, He came to die! That was the only way for you and I to have freedom for eternity. That was the only means of forgiveness. Just acceptance of God’s free gift, and asking His forgiveness meets the requirements that He has laid out. But, that is hard on man’s pride to do! Man does not like to be told how he should live—not even by God! Many people will also say that they do not need to be forgiven because they are good people. The problem is that all humans are born in a fallen condition because man’s fall since the Garden of Eden has been passed from generation to generation through the bloodline. No one is good enough to make it on their own. No one!
I’ve put this question out before, but how would you live differently if you knew that true Christ followers were going to be supernaturally taken from this world and into His Presenece 30 days from now? How about 90 days, or even one year? If we’re really honest with ourselves, we would make some major adjustments to our lives. Our priorities would change. Many things that are so important in our lives now would lose their position on our priority list.
As I write this, I am overwhelmed with the knowledge that our world is full of scoffers, and those that ridicule what the Bible has said about the days we’re entering in. What is a heart-breaker is how many people that have been touched by God in the past, are listening to the scoffers way more than paying attention to the signs of the times that God gave us to watch for. There’s an interesting Scripture passage in 2 Peter 3: 3 that reads like this, “First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, ‘where is this coming He promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.’ But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.”
Noah told his generation that God’s judgment was coming and no one believed him. He preached this message for 120 years. But the time came when the huge ark was finally finished, the animals had been loaded, and after Noah’s last message was laughed at and rejected, God told Noah to get his family into the ark, and God shut the door. It was time! Many laugh today. What is sadder yet, is all of those that really do know better but seem to be lost in a fog.
The Scripture in 2 Peter 3 continues in verse 8: “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief…” (verses 8-10a, NIV)
I read a statement made by one man that was permitted by God to see what the world is going to be like after God has pulled His remnant of believers from the earth. He just said this: “It will be worse than anything anyone can even imagine! YOU DON’T WANT TO BE HERE!”
I have made the outrageous statement more than once now, but I believe that not only have the birth pangs begun that Jesus spoke of when referring to the terrible events that are going to transpire in these days, but I believe the water has now broken, just like it does before an actual birth! Everything imaginable is converging at the same time. Like I said earlier, I have to save the details of all this for another post, but one thing that Jesus spoke of was great signs in the heavens. He even said that the very powers of the heavens will be shaken. I’m sure that most of you have heard of the possible magnetic pole shift that the earth may be about to experience. I have run into more and more articles on this lately, and they are written by scientists, not sites that mainly deal in fringe areas. No one has lived through such an event, and so there are all kinds of varied opinions on how this will transpire, if it does. Yet, more and more people are having trouble with their GPS units in different areas. I have seen the scientific equipment fluctuate in abnormal ways myself. The magnetic pole has wobbled as much as 20 degrees and back within the last week or so. The magnetic north pole has been moving toward Russia for some time, but many unexpected things are happening with it now.
Below I’m going to bring a hypothetical possible catastrophic event to the table that could very well be right at the threshold of human history as it is unfolding today. I have a point to make with it, and so no matter how ridiculous some may feel about this, please hear me out. How it will unfold, and how much validity there is to this, only God really knows. I am finding too much information lately to just automatically dismiss.
We all know that there are those that want to blame everything that is happening to man causing global warming, but it’s pretty foolish and has been proven not to be scientifically sound. It is just making a bunch of people a whole lot of money and is effectively shifting power. Did you know that astronomers are saying that the outer planets of our solar system are experiencing magnetic pole shifts, one after the other from the outside in? Not long ago I wrote a series of posts called, “What if?” One of the “what if’s” was the possible passage of Planet X or “Nibiru” (which means Wormwood or Destroyer, by the way!) through the solar system. According to the arrival dates I’m seeing now, it will make its first pass next year. This means that it is already within the orbits of the outer planets. This planet is like a giant magnet flying through the solar system. This would explain the polar shifts occurring in the outer planets already happening. These outer planets are experiencing scientifically verified huge planetary changes—and without any of us even having parked our SUV’s there! According to some sources I have read, Nibiru is heading in our direction at about a million miles per day. In looking for it via scientific sources it’s rather suspicious that every source I’ve seen has the same area of space blacked out. The blacked out are is obviously done mechanically, with the whole sky around every side full of stars except for an area that is roughly square. The blacked out area is reported to be the location of Nibiru’s course in toward the inner planets, including earth. In one of the blacked out space photos, some photo cleanup work was done and because the original photo was not totally blacked out and was not totally opaque, a red planet could faintly be seen right in the middle! Interesting! Nibiru is apparently four or five times the size of the earth and is said already to be causing many of the disturbances we’re witnessing. According to the ancient Sumerians the earth changes began about a handful of years before it actually made its destructive pass.
This sounds crazy to many, but we’ll know soon enough. Supposedly the incoming Nibiru will be visible with binoculars or even good eyes this fall, 2011. There have already been numerous photos being taken from different locations around the world that are showing two suns. Many say that the smaller one is Nibiru with the sun’s reflection shining back at us. It could be. The Sumerian records describe cataclysmic events coming with the passage of this very same Nibiru that sound like they come right out of the Book of Revelation.
We know that many abnormal things are happening to the earth. These are things that are way beyond the ability of man to do anything about. I have listened to many hours of interviews with scientists from several fields including astronomers that are not making any bones about the fact that we are experiencing unprecedented events. This is because modern man has not experienced the things that are now developing right before our eyes, and so there is no written record for us to go by other than ancient ones. The things that are threatening are beginning to cause a great deal of fear, and it is going to get much worse. The Bible speaks of a time when men’s hearts will fail them because of what they see that the oceans are doing.
I could go into much more detail but do not intend to at this time. I’ve been an astronomy lover all my life, so something like this is quick to catch my attention. Here is the underlying thought I have to share. Whether this whole thing about Niburu or “Planet X” is right on the money or not, all of us have an appointment with eternity. This includes believers in the Bible as well as unbelievers. What strikes me about this whole possible event is that if it is true, it is coming at the earth at one million miles or more per day. It is not going to make a U-turn and head back out to the outer reaches of our Solar System where this elliptically orbiting heavenly body spends most of its 3600 orbital cycle. If it is the real deal, it has two close encounters with earth because it cuts through earth’s orbit once as it comes in to the inner Solar System, and then another time after it is slung around the sun and cuts across the earth’s path again on the way back out.
Here is the thing we need to realize. As already said, I believe that we are experiencing the first wave of major destructive changes in the world. They of course go way beyond the changes having to do with the sun, moon, comets, planets, asteroids, meteors, or other phenomenon of this type. There are huge things developing at lightning speed now all over the world which are described in great detail in the Bible. We have a major convergence of events that is all coming together at nearly the same time.
Jesus did not say that we should get all hung up on the events happening. Like I said at the beginning, if we do, we get depressed, despondent, and nobody can stand to be around us for long. It also cripples us in our ability to finish what God put us on this planet for at this critical time in history. YOU and I were put here TODAY BY GOD’S DESIGN AND PURPOSE. We don’t want to miss finishing well!
Whether Nibiru is what I described above or not, we are closing in on a change of dispensations on this earth, and possibly much quicker than we would like to think. The Mideast alone is an indication of that, along with nearly 50 or more other Biblical unfolding prophecies that I can point out. Do not underestimate the importance of this time. It’s high time to re-evaluate our lives today. Being counted “worthy” in God’s sight has to do with our giving our lives totally into God’s hands by accepting the price that the Messiah paid for our sins, but how we use the time that God gives us to live, also has great importance. What things are of eternal value in our lives and what is going to burn? Scripture says that many will stand before God someday and the record books of Heaven will be opened. Of course our sins will be paid for, but have we really lived for Him? No one can define this for another person, but the Bible does. Check it out while there is still a little time.
We have a tendency to think that things will just keep on keeping on, but that’s wrong. We could be called home at any time now, and then whatever we were going to do in this life is over. Let’s finish well! Time for us is rapidly running out.
To be continued…
Jake
What an absolutely GREAT opportunity for preachers world wide; Sit up straight, pay attention, and make up your mind!