Return to Normalcy

“Come, my people, enter your chambers, And shut your doors behind you; Hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, Until the indignation is past.  For behold, the LORD comes out of His place To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; The earth will also disclose her blood, And will no more cover her slain.”   Isaiah 26:20-21  NKJV

Although this passage was written for the nation of Israel concerning the coming tribulation period, it would certainly feel as if it was written to the Church considering what has occurred in the past few weeks.  I for one, though, believe what is happening now has had a profound effect on many in the body of Christ.  I say that because, from what I hear and read, many have begun to contemplate that the rapture might just be closer than they have thought.   As a watcher, I have long despaired that so many are so caught up in what this life has to offer that they gave little or no thought to the fact that the rapture could occur at any time.  That now appears to be changing.

“Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”  2 Timothy 4:8  NKJV

Of all the sermons and teaching you may have heard up until now, I would expect that while the subject of many was love, it would be a safe bet that few if any revolved around the love of Jesus’ return for His Church in the rapture.  Yet this passage makes it clear that “the crown of righteousness” awaits those who have looked forward to the expectation of “His appearing”.  That being the case, is it any surprise that one of Satan’s goals is to try to get us to change what we love with the temptation of all this world has to offer us?  I think it’s fair to say that the priorities of many have made a drastic change in the past few weeks.

“while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”  2 Corinthians 4:18  NKJV

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”  Matthew 6:19-20  NKJV

One of the words you have probably started to hear in the news quite often lately is “recovery”.  It should come as no surprise that the majority of the world is concerned with things somehow returning to normal, and the focus of many is just how to accomplish that.  Obviously, from the steps we have seen taken this past week, it is the opinion of some that an influx of money could somehow begin to accomplish a return to normalcy.  While some might be skeptical of that actually occurring, I want to suggest that the eventual return to some semblance of normal is actually prophesied in scripture.  Consider what this passage, that may of you are familiar with, actually says
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“But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”   Matthew 24:37-39  NKJV

Now some might disagree with me, but it certainly appears to me that this verse makes it clear that at some point in the future, the world and those who inhabit it, will be living much as they were before all of the current troubles arrived on the scene.  Many commentators have described this passage using the phrase “business as usual”.  Although just my opinion, when one considers all the tragedies which have occurred throughout history, it seems reasonable that we will recover from this one.  I think the most important point we as believers should contemplate though, is will the Church be here to see it? 

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.”   John 14:1-4  NKJV

You might well ask, how do we not be troubled in times like these?  I believe the Word of God reveals the answer to that question.  First we need to prepare ourselves for His appearing by growing stronger in our faith through study of His Word.  Lately I can’t help but remember a song I learned in Sunday School as a child called “Standing on the Promises of God”.  Studying the Bible, and all of the promises He has made to us, reminds us of who is really in charge and the fact that He will do exactly as He has promised.  The more of His promises we are aware of, the more we will long for His appearing.

Secondly, we should work to simplify our lives by divesting ourselves from the things of this world which serve only to take our focus away from the next life.  We would do well to be reminded that this world is but temporary and it is the next life, which lasts for eternity, which should be the focus of our efforts.  Making the commitment to serve Him while on this earth is how we lay up treasures in Heaven which we will enjoy for eternity.  As one pastor put it, money invested here will pass away but treasure invested in Heaven will last forever.  May our focus be on the next life, and not the present one.

If you have never made the decision to accept the gift of eternal life by putting your trust in Jesus and the sacrifice He made for you by dying on the cross, I urge you to do it today.  Simply ask Him to forgive you for your sins and believe that He died for you, and you will become a child of God. Best of all you can then join all of us who believe and look forward to the promises God has given to all who have chosen to be part of His family, especially the promise to take us away to live with Him in Heaven for all of eternity
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Keep watching.

ps. here is a link to some teaching you might enjoy during this time of isolation. 

https://www.tilproject.com/webinars

A Spring to Remember?

“Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, in the spring, and Sarah shall have a son."  Genesis 18:14  RSV

If the news the past few weeks seems devoid of anything positive, my hope today is to share something many may find encouraging considering our current situation.  As I have studied over the years, a fact that I discovered is that God ordained many events to occur in the springl. I found it especially interesting to see how many of those events could be identified with the idea of a new beginning. In the passage above, God has visited Abraham and Sarah and told them that Sarah was to have a son. He also tells them that He will return to see them when that happens, and even tells them that it will be in the spring! If you look closely at the Hebrew you will find that in this particular case, the RSV translates it best, because if you take the two words “’’mowed and “chay” together in the same phrase, you understand spring is identified as the season this event will occur.

mow`ed : 1) appointed place, appointed time, meeting

chay : 1) living, alive, a) green (of vegetation), b) flowing, fresh (of water), c) lively, active (of man), d) reviving (of the springtime)

Since Abraham is told he would become the father of the nation of Israel, the birth of Isaac began the fulfillment of that prophecy and as we see, it began in the spring. We also find in the book of Exodus that the deliverance of the nation of Israel from bondage in Egypt occurred in the spring. The first three feasts of Israel, Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits all occur in the first month on the Jewish calendar which normally begins around the end of March or the beginning of April on our calendar, and is called Nisan or Abib.

“And Moses said to the people: "Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out of this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten. "On this day you are going out, in the month Abib.”    Exodus 13:3-4   NKJV

Of course, of greater interest to us as believers is the fact that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ occurred at the time of these three feasts as well. If you recall, Jesus celebrated Passover with His disciples, was then arrested, crucified and rose again on the third day which was the Feast of Firstfruits.

“Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, that He said to His disciples, "You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified."   Matthew 26:1-2     NKJV

“Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it.”   Matthew 28:1-2    NKJV

Now you talk about the idea of spring being a time of new beginnings, how important could the fact be that our deliverance occurred in the spring? Do you really think so many events happening in this particular season are just coincidence? Do you begin to see what I mean about the spring being the most interesting season? The Bible is full of “new beginning” type events which occur in the spring. Is it possible then that the rapture of the church could occur in the spring season? If it did, it would certainly fit in with the idea of a new beginning type event happening the same time as so many others have. Throw into this thought the events we have been experiencing since the start of the year and you can easily imagine the possibility of our deliverance being at hand.

“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.”     1 Corinthians 15:22-23   NKJV

What is the possibility that Jesus could rapture the Church and present it to God on the Feast of Firstfruits?  I think it’s very plausible, but again, there are other days to consider as well.  Let’s return to the story of the Exodus for a moment. The thought occurred to me that we are told of deliverance along with a new beginning in the story of the children of Israel and their escape from Egypt. Not only were they delivered out of bondage in the spring, notice if you will when they entered the Promised Land.

“And it came to pass, when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD had come from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet touched the dry land, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks as before. Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they camped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho.”    Joshua 4:18-19   NKJV

Here we are again, back to the first month, the spring, the time of new beginnings. God delivered the children of Israel into the Promised Land on the tenth day of the first month. Is it possible this is also a picture of when the Church will enter her “promised land”? Could spring be the season of the rapture?  Although I believe our deliverance could occur at any time, considering the fact that so many events have happened in the spring certainly makes me wonder if we as believers should be especially watchful in the spring.  All of which brings us to this next passage which might be the most compelling argument of all.

“Woe is me!  For I am like those who gather summer fruits, Like those who glean vintage grapes; There is no cluster to eat Of the first-ripe fruit which my soul desires. The faithful man has perished from the earth, And there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; Every man hunts his brother with a net.”      Micah 7:1-2   NKJV

This passage from the prophet Micah describes the period of time we call the Tribulation.  Notice he tells us that all the faithful have disappeared from the earth, every man is against each other, and looking for upright faithful people is like looking for the first grapes of the harvest and finding none.  So when does the grape harvest begin in Israel?  The first ripe fruit is gathered at the beginning of summer.  My thought is that if all the faithful are gone at the beginning of summer, it follows they must have disappeared in the spring.

Today we find ourselves in a situation that the majority might call unprecedented, and many are looking at the events of the past three months and asking the question why are we still here? My question to you today is this.  Just how close do you believe the rapture of the Church is on God’s calendar?  If you believe like many others, it could be right around the corner. That nearness, however, also prompts me to ask you this question. If you have come to this point in your life and not made a decision to accept the free gift of salvation offered to you by our Savior Jesus Christ, don't you think it would be a good idea to do it now?

“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:”   John 1:12  NKJV

Keep watching.

A Week to Remember

You are probably familiar with the expression, “confession is good for the soul”.  That said, I have a confession to make.  Back in December when I wrote my article “2020”, the truth is that although I firmly believed what I said, even I am surprised at the number of events which have occurred already this year.  The troubles of this past week have only served to convince me that the world is fast approaching its final destiny.  The greatest sign this past week for me was actually one that none of you are aware of.  As my daughter was driving my six year old grandson home from school, after a day where the subject in first grade was the coronavirus, his question to my daughter was; “mommy is this Revelation”?

The fact that he even knew what the Bible says in Revelation at six ears of age is a testament to how his parents are raising him, yet the truth be told, that question is one which a great manyothers are asking as well.  I want to again today share with you a couple of exerpts from articles which may help shed some light on the times we are facing and what we can probablyexpect in the very near future.  The first is from Chuck Missler of Khouse.org which was written back in 1995, but deals specifically with the threats we are facing today.


“Most of us are familiar with the plagues inflicted upon Egypt in Exodus 5. After the Egyptians were stricken with a series of plagues, including infestations of lice and flies, Pharaoh condemns himself and his land by stating, "I and my people are wicked, and deserve what is brought against us," and he allows the Jews their freedom.
Commentator Matthew Henry writes, "The plagues were standing monuments to the greatness of God, the sinfulness of sin and standing monitors to the children of men in all ages not to provoke the Lord to jealousy nor to strive with their maker."

In Revelation 16, immediately after John's vision of Armageddon, seven "bowl" judgments are poured onto the earth. "And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the bowl of the wrath of God unto the earth." The bowls include "foul and painful sores upon men" (Rev 16:2) and the sea becoming "like the blood of a dead man" (Rev 16:3). They will cause man to "blaspheme the name of God, who has power over these plagues; and repent not to give Him glory" (Rev 16:9).
Plagues can be expected as part of the scenario that the Bible predicts for the "last days". They will also be exploited to justify a centralized world government-- the "New World Order."

For those who know their Bible and have a personal relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ, rather than creating an atmosphere of fear these tragic incidences should draw us closer to the Creator Himself and our incredible destiny now on the horizon. But it's time to do our homework. May we be prepared to minister to those who have yet to discover the Redeemer of Mankind.   

https://www.khouse.org/articles/1995/78/


Our Safety:
In Revelation, we find the pale [chloros, green] horse as one of the four horsemen: 
And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth. -Revelation 6:8 
We usually infer that the "beasts of the earth" are of the four-footed kind; we rarely include in our perspective the possibility that they might be microbial. There are many passages that may take on a different complexion when viewed from the vantage point of the current technological revolution in genetics, and the potential Bibilical implications are provocative.

In these uncertain times, more than ever we need to put all our trust and comfort and faith in the person of Jesus Christ and the love of a God who has all of our hairs numbered. Our job is not to fear, but to trust wholly in Him.  Whether dealing with deadly diseases or simply crossing the street, He is our true source of safety.

Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. (Psalm 91:5-10)

http://www.khouse.org/enews_article/2012/1877/
 

Global Threats by Steve Elwart, Senior Analyst, Koinonia Institute

For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.  Matthew 24:7–8

 

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is a quasi-governmental organization consisting of 34 countries. It was founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade. Truly globalist in nature, some of the founding countries consisted of most of the European countries, the United States and Canada, with Japan joining three years later (Turkey was also a founding member). During the next twelve years Finland, Australia, and New Zea-land also joined the organization. The OCED website¹ states that its purpose was to: “… work with governments to understand what drives economic, social and environmental change. … We analyze and compare data to predict future trends.” [Emphasis added].

On June 21, the OCED held a closed webcast to present their findings of what they determined were “Future Global Shocks.” Global shocks are active threats that spread across the entire planet. They may take the form of health, climate, social, or financial issues.

The impetus of the report came from the 2008 financial crisis, which demonstrated the fragility of world systems. The OCED was afraid that another shock of that type would challenge economic recovery, social systems and possibly political stability. The crisis revealed the national vulnerabilities through economic imbalances, un-stable commodity prices and currencies, large public debts and severe budget deficits.

The organization commissioned the study to investigate these vulnerabilities and recommend remedies. The report draws primarily from analysis contained in four case studies. The webcast reviewed the report, which identified the types of events that could lead to global shocks.

These disruptive events, such as earthquakes, volcanoes, financial crises and political revolutions will destabilize critical systems, producing economic disruptions that can have effects far beyond their point of origin. In today’s world of interconnectivity, these disruptions can circle the globe faster and more often than ever before. An example of a global shock would be the July 2010 wildfires in Russia, the world’s third largest wheat producer. Those fires consumed twenty percent of the nation’s wheat crop. At the time of these wildfires, there was also a record drought that had already threatened the country’s crop harvests. Because of the double threat, Russia halted its wheat exports, which resulted in an increase in the world wheat price. 

While Russia was decreasing its wheat exports, massive floods were occurring in Australia, Canada and the United States that further reduced wheat supplies.

Meanwhile, in North Africa, repressive governments, access to the Internet, a “youth bulge” in its population, and relatively high unemployment pushed social stability in the area towards its “Tipping Point.” 

The effects of rapid and multiple price hikes in wheat combined with the natural and man-made problems produced social unrest, which in turn spread into Egypt, Libya and throughout several countries in the Middle East and North Africa region.² 

Four Global Shocks

The OCED reported on four global shocks that are probable events in our future:

1) Pandemic

The first global shock discussed in the webinar is the pandemic. A pandemic is the spread of an infectious disease through a human population across a large region. While the timing of a pandemic cannot be predicted, experts seem to agree that a viral outbreak that will reach pandemic proportions will be some form of influenza A, for which there is little or no immunity and spreads easily among populations. 

Influenza virus strains are always circulating in the world, and flare up during the “flu season” in the temperate climate zones of the world. Most epidemiologists³ consider the next flu pandemic to be inevitable, but they do not know precisely when or where it will begin. 

Over the past three centuries, a flu pandemic has been identified every 25 to 30 years. Three influenza pandemics occurred during the 20th century: 1918-19, 1957-58, and 1968-69. The most severe influenza pandemic of the 20th century occurred in 1918-19 when an estimated 40 to 50 million deaths were caused world-wide. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) considers 2.0 to 7.4 million deaths globally as a conservative estimate of a flu pandemic, with substantial effects on both the physical and financial health of countries. The most severe impacts are concentrated in the very young and the elderly, although school children may have the highest attack rates. Persons with certain underlying chronic illnesses are also at higher risk of serious complications.

During a pandemic, shocks to supply systems are expected in transport, trade, payment systems, and major utilities.⁴ A separate study assuming a pandemic that causes 200,000 deaths in the Unites States, and more than 700,000 hospitalizations estimated that the economic losses would be US $550 billion across all developed countries.

Modern air travel means that an outbreak of infectious disease in one country could spread worldwide in a matter of days where in the past it would have taken months or years. The 2002 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) illustrated that one person in the densely populated city of Hong Kong, China could transmit a virus to guests staying in the same hotel, thus enabling the virus to spread quickly worldwide once they returned to their homes in airplanes. There were 8096 recorded cases with 775 deaths, a 9.6% mortality rate.5

2) Financial Crises

Well before the global financial crisis of 2008, regional and national financial crises had been increasing in number over the past twenty years. Japan, Mexico, Southeast Asia, Russia, Turkey and Argentina all suffered financial crises that were bellwethers of what was to come.

Financial experts had put forth theories about how crises develop and how they can be prevented, but there is no clear consensus. What is clear though is that the crises did not end in 2008. They will continue and be at least as bad as they have been in the past.

When an individual overleveraged borrower defaults, the spread (or contagion) of the effects of the default, while serious, is spread to a small group of people and institutions. When the borrower is a sovereign nation or major financial institution, the “financial contagion” will have far wider implications.

The default will affect only a few financial institutions at first, but then spread to the rest of financial sector and other countries whose economies were previously healthy. It is very similar to the transmission of a medical disease in a pandemic.

The financial woes of the United States, Ireland, and Greece illustrate how defaults carry the risk of contagion in a globally interconnected economy. In complex systems like those exhibited by financial institutions, financial shocks can emerge from inside the system it-self, meaning that the system can collapse from within. It does not necessarily take a shock from outside forces to trigger a financial crisis and eventual collapse of the system.

A good example of a “financial contagion” is the May 6, 2010 “Flash Crash.” Because of computerized trading (the “inside system”) the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged about 900 points or nine percent of its total value in minutes. About $1 trillion in market value dis-appeared. The financial contagion from this crash was seen in the Standard & Poor’s 500 (a competing stock market). Congressional investigations indicated that while the drop was temporary and the stocks rebounded, the United States dodged a large financial bullet.⁶

3. Cyber Risks

It has been well documented that cyberrelated events can generate a great deal of harm and financial disruptions. Many cyber experts hold that a single cyber attack using current technology is unlikely to cause a full-scale global shock. For such a shock to occur, the attack would have to exploit a fundamental flaw in the Internet. It would also have to be a flaw that could not be easily remedied. The attack would have to disrupt a minimum amount of major hubs to spread the attack across the entire world-wide network.

One scenario for a global shock consists of several simultaneous attacks on key infrastructures by attackers with sophisticated skills, probably a nation-state as opposed to a hacking group or an organized crime ring. In this scenario as well, while there could be area or regional disruptions, a global disruption is unlikely. The Internet was designed not to have a “single point of failure,” so a damaged section of the Internet can be routed around along a different path. 

However, an attack that targets about 5% of central hubs, such as telecommunication switching centers, has the capacity to make the Internet collapse, very rapidly breaking down the entire network to small, unconnected islands containing no more than 100 computers each.⁷ 

Such a scenario for a global shock due to a cyber at-tack would entail a combination of events, the proverbial “Perfect Storm.” Such a storm could occur if a cyber attack occurred while some other form of disaster or attack (such as a pandemic or physical attack) prevented technical experts from defending and patching the system or rerouting computer traffic.

In another scenario, electricity, gas, water and oil services require constant monitoring. Monitoring operations present cyber-vulnerabilities that could be exploited, potentially leading to massive disruption for households, manufacturers, retailers and public services.⁸

Since the 1960s many of these services have been monitored and controlled by using Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) computing equipment. SCADA are used for the flow of gas and oil through pipes, the processing and distribution of water, the management of the electricity grid, the operation of chemical plants, and the signaling network for railways. Newer industrial control systems communicate using the Internet. These systems are more open to cyber attacks than older systems.⁹

Evaluating risks of global shocks from cyber incidents is different from natural incidents. Earthquakes occur along fault lines, floods occur along rivers and large bodies of water. Cyber attacks are not that straightforward. They come from intentional acts and target specific vulnerabilities in the system. Natural events have occurred along with some sort of predict-ability while cyber events cannot be predicted unless there is a warning by a person or organization. This is why organizations take the position that any vulnerability discovered will be exploited.

4) Geomagnetic Storms

Every eleven years, geomagnetic disturbances oc-cur that have the potential of causing a global shock of long-lasting duration.

Geomagnetic storms are the result of eruptions of plasma from the Sun’s corona, or its “atmosphere.” The storms that head toward Earth take two to three days to make the trip and when they get to Earth, they interact with the Earth’s geomagnetic field. Disturbances in the geomagnetic field can disrupt the operation of critical infrastructures relying on signals from satellites involved in the Global Positioning System. They can also overload the circuits and trip breakers of electrical systems and in extreme cases melt the windings of heavy-duty transformers, causing permanent damage.¹⁰ Due to limitations of manufacturing replacement high-voltage power transformers, affected areas could experience very long outages. 

The most severe space weather event recorded in history is the Carrington Event of 1859, which disrupted telegraph networks and outages around the world as a result of the currents generated. An event of the same magnitude today could be catastrophic, with some damage estimates as high as several trillion dollars.¹¹ 

Beginning of Sorrows

The webcast closed with recommendations for more study and estimates of the social and financial consequences of global shocks. 

Jesus tells us in Matthew that the “beginning of sorrows” will give the world strife on a grand scale, “nation against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” Some believe this describes normal conflicts of interest that through the centuries have led to war after war. Others believe there will be forces at work beyond the control of the nations. This is certainly the case when we move to pestilences and geomagnetic storms. 

These and the other global shocks are beyond the control of kings. Other disasters (i.e. tsunamis, floods, droughts, and famine) form part of the general unsettlement that will characterize the end time. “In divers places” means that the disasters in question will be widespread, truly global, shocks.

While even the most secular of organizations realize we are entering a period we have not experienced be-fore and give estimates and make plans, we as Christians need to go a step farther. We need to pray for His coming.“Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” 

https://www.khouse.org/articles/2011/1010/print/

The question that is constantly running through my mind these days is just what will it take for the world to realize God is speaking?  The time when the Church, the body of Christ, is taken out of this world in the event called the rapture could occur at any time.  Anyone who is sitting on the fence about their salvation is in truth, playing with fire. If you have never made the decision to accept Jesus Christ into your heart and accept the free gift of eternal life He has offered you, I urge you to do so right now. You can do that by praying this prayer and accepting the gift of eternal life God has offered you by the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ.

Father, I know I am a sinner in need of salvation. I believe you sent your Son Jesus to die on the cross for my sin, and I ask you now to forgive me of my sins. I want to receive your gift of salvation so please come into my heart and help me to live and follow you as my Lord and Savior. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Keep watching.