Search This Blog

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Is this the end of the world? / Part 4


Why must the world end?
Listen to radio programs

  • Matthew 24:3 / And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

In part 1, part 2 and part 3 of this series I drew the following conclusions based on the prophetic teachings of Jesus, and of His prophets and apostles throughout the Bible. The following facts emerge from the questions that the disciples asked Jesus in the above quoted scripture.
1.       THE WORLD IS GOING TO END / The disciples took for granted the fact that the world was going to end, what they inquired from Jesus was to clarify the following points regarding the end of the world:
2.       THE TIMING / ‘When shall these things be’ was the question that was posed to Jesus? In response to that question Jesus gave a whole series of signs that will be listed and detailed throughout this series.
3.       THE SIGNS OF THE END / The signs that the disciples desired of Jesus were meant first of all to show us that the return of Jesus was near, which in turn would indicate that the end of the world was also near.
So the return of Jesus to this Earth is intricately connected to the end of the world. The world must end before Jesus will return; this old system must give way to the new, so it can be surmised that the very fact that Jesus will be returning soon is the same cause for which the world will come to an end. As proven in previous segments the term, ‘the end of the world’ does not mean the end of the planet Earth. However the fact remains that there will be catastrophic destruction of much of the planet itself, and loss of human life on an unprecedented scale as the prophesied events begin to happen in earnest. As concluded in previous segments the events that comprise the end of the world may last up to 40 years and will occur in phases of ever increasing magnitude and severity. From one phase to the next the world will hardly have time to catch its breath when the next phase will be upon them. As an aside the end of the world does not mean the end of all human life on the planet either; mankind does indeed have an expiry date but that is yet in the future. Adamic flesh and blood was not destined for eternal existence from the very beginning. The reign of Adam and his children on Earth has a fixed amount of time allotted to it, and it seems that we are close to the end of the age of Adam and his children. Therefore the end of the world also means the end of the age of man, and ultimately of man himself for it is written that ‘flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 15:50)
In part 3 I wrote that the catastrophes that will befall this world during the times may be divided into three categories:
·         Manmade catastrophes – Economic collapse leading to warfare, which in turn would lead to famine and pestilential diseases such as the Spanish flu after WW1.
·         Natural catastrophes – Earthquakes, volcanoes, powerful storms, tsunamis, and asteroid or meteor impacts.
·         Supernatural catastrophes – This category presently resides on the fringes of society in Ufology and those who believe in the Alien / ET phenomenon. The fact is that non – human intelligences occupy dimensions that occupy the same space that man occupies. The veil that separates the various dimensions will be removed to reveal the hidden masters of history; in turn these ‘entities’ will interact openly with man and will bring about much destruction and loss of life on Earth.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Is this the end of the world? / Part 3


Faithful unto death: A test of Endurance
Listen to radio programs
 In part 1 and part 2 of this series I drew the following conclusions based on the prophetic teachings of Jesus, and of His prophets and apostles throughout the Bible. The exact term, ‘the end of the world’ is used in the Bible in the following verse of scripture:
Matthew 24:3 / And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

The following facts emerge from the questions that the disciples asked Jesus in the above quoted scripture.
1.       THE WORLD IS GOING TO END / The disciples took for granted the fact that the world was going to end, what they inquired from Jesus was to clarify the following points regarding the end of the world:
2.       THE TIMING / When shall these things be was the question that was posed to Jesus. In response to that question Jesus gave a whole series of signs that will be listed and detailed throughout this series.
3.       THE SIGNS OF THE END / The signs that the disciples desired of Jesus were meant first of all to show us that the return of Jesus was near, which in turn would indicate that the end of the world was also near.
So the return of Jesus to this Earth is intricately connected to the end of the world. The world must end before Jesus will return; this old system must give way to the new, so it can be surmised that the very fact that Jesus will be returning soon is the same cause for which the world will come to an end. In part 1 and part 2 of this series I also proved that the Biblical definition of the word WORLD does not mean the planet Earth. Although the Bible teaches that God will someday in the future make a New Heaven and a New Earth (Revelation 21:1), that event is not the same as the end of this world. The planet will continue long after this world has ended and Jesus has returned as He promised He would after His first coming. The word WORLD actually means an Age and The System that governs the existence of people on this planet.
The present age is a fixed period of time that God has allotted to man to be the caretaker of this planet. In this age man has created a world on the Earth; the world he has created is a system of commerce, of trade, of merchandising, of buying and selling, it is a system based on money. Life for most people revolves around earning enough money, first of all for their bodily survival, and then for the accumulation of goods. Indoctrination into the cult of money or mammon begins rather early in the lives of all people. People are taught from birth that the more money a person has, the more goods he can acquire, and therefore the more successful he will be considered by his peers. This indoctrination by parents and teachers, and by the exaltation in society of the rich and powerful, leads all of us to believe that the very purpose of our lives is to make as much money as possible. The love of money, which is the root of all evil, ensnares almost everyone at a rather early age. It is only by the power of God that any of us are able to break free from this deadly snare that destroys the very souls of men. So when Jesus returns to Earth to set up His Kingdom and Government, He will not govern based on the Universal Commercial Code, His governance will not be based on a system of banking and money. He will introduce an entirely new system in which there will no buying and selling of God’s creation that He has freely given to all men. Therefore the term, ‘The End of the World’, literally means the end of the system based on money, there will be no dollars or treasuries or bonds or derivatives or stocks or any instrument of money in that New Age, and New World that will be ushered in upon the return of Christ to Earth.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Is this the end of the world? / Part 2


Beware of Deceivers





In part 1 of this series it was proven that the Bible teaches that the present world will indeed come to an end at some point in time. God has given us clearly distinguishable signs to show to his people when the end will be near. The signs are not some vague clues but rather detailed information as to the events that will transpire in the lifespan of the last living generation before the end comes.  Just before His death and resurrection, upon being asked by His disciples, Jesus gave them a long list of signs to look for that would prove indisputably that the present world was ending, and Jesus’ promised return was imminent. That time is now upon us, and studying Biblical prophecy in light of current events would seem to indicate that the current generation may be that last generation that will inhabit the Earth just prior to the end.  
This series will take a detailed look at ‘End Times’ prophecies found throughout the Bible with a special study of the book of Revelation which is almost all prophetic. Let me begin by first discussing why Biblical prophecy is different than other sources of prophetic information such as Nostradamus, the Mayan calendar etc. We who believe in Jesus Christ understand that all things were created by God, for God.
Colossians 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:  16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Man lives under the illusion that he has an existence independent of God. The above scripture would oppose this view; God is the Creator who has created all things for Himself, all things exist because of Him, and furthermore He is the Power that maintains the existence of all created beings, including man. Man has desperately sought to break God’s bands asunder, to have an independent existence but this is impossible. Man is not the source of his own life, if man could keep himself alive or existing by his own power, he would do so, in other words man would choose not to die. If you had power to keep yourself alive, you would also have to have the power to keep yourself healthy, and any man with such a power would surely exercise it, he would forever keep himself healthy and alive. However in all recorded history, there is only one instance of any man coming back from death, and that man is Jesus Christ who became the conqueror of death when He arose from the dead, never to die again.
·         Romans 6: 8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
·         Revelation 1:17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: 18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.


Sunday, September 12, 2010

Is this the End of the World? / Part 1


Listen to radio interview


Lately I have been thinking about the end of the world; not because I expect the world to end tomorrow or even next year or the year after or even in this decade but because it is 100% certain that it will end sometime soon, and there is a very high probability that it will end sometime by the middle of this century. The end of the world conjures up visions of nuclear holocausts, zombie like hordes of starving humanity, charred and deserted cities, desert wasteland like country sides, dried riverbeds, burnt out trees and other such apocalyptic imagery. In truth the end of the world will see many such ‘Mad Max’ movie like scenes played out in reality but the question is when can we expect the end to begin, and how long will it be before the world has actually ended? The ‘end of the world’ is also a term that holds different meanings for different people. So in this series of articles I will define the term as found in the Bible and also attempt to establish a realistic timetable as to when we might expect ‘The Apocalypse’ to overtake the planet and how long we can expect it to go on. Roughly 25% of the Bible is calculated to be prophetic; it a prediction of yet future events, related mostly to the ‘Day of the LORD’ which is a period of time immediately preceding the return of Jesus Christ, and of the end of the world. It is a time of catastrophic destruction, and of great distress for all nations and peoples.
Joel 2: 1 Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand; 2 A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.

The idea of the world coming to an end has been ingrained in the psyche of the people since very early on in human history. As a matter of fact, the prophet Enoch is identified as the first prophet in the Bible and according to the NT book of Jude he warned the then living inhabitants of the earth that the world would experience the judgment of God because of the evil of man. The judgment of God therefore would be the cause for the end of the world. In the days of Noah, Enoch’s great grandson, the global deluge destroyed the world that then existed. Noah is called a ‘preacher of righteousness’ and surely warned the inhabitants of the day that the world was coming to an end. As an aside I do not believe that the so – called book of Enoch, actually the books of Enoch, are worthy of being accounted as scripture. I do not believe the authorship of the books can be attributed to the patriarch Enoch who was translated by God, and did not see death. An article on my website disputing the authorship of these books is a must read for all students and believers of God’s Word. Click here to read the article titled ‘Debunking the book of Enoch’.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Famines in diverse places / The Food crisis fast becoming Food Catastrophe


In a previous blog entry titled Famines in diverse places / The growing food crisis, it was hypothesised that based on Biblical prophecy one of the prominent signs that the end of the world is near will be the lack of food. The shortage of food would be caused both for supply reasons and due to the price of essential food items going so high that even subsistence quantity foodstuffs will be priced out of the reach of poor people. Even the middle and upper classes will be forced to devote more and more of their disposable income to food; this in turn will strain an already strained beyond repair world economy. The world has become a consumer economy, even for countries like China and India where most of the world’s goods are manufactured but not consumed by the citizens of those nations. However if the consumers in western countries cut down their consumption of non – essential goods such as designer clothing, TVs, computers, video games etc., it effects the economy of the manufacturing countries dramatically. Due to rampant globalization and so – called ‘free trade’ the economies of almost all countries have become interlinked and even their survival depends on the health of the economies of countries far removed from their borders. This is true more so for North America (not including Mexico) and Western Europe than the rest of the world. The majority of consumers, outside of Australia, Japan and South Korea are to be found in the US, Canada and Western Europe. When these consumers stop buying disposable junk; TVS, DVD players and such it impacts third world nations far more severely than the people in wealthier nations, at least where subsistence is concerned. The current misnomered ‘Economic Crisis’ has not impacted all nations equally; in the US or Spain or Ireland many have lost their houses, and have been forced to turn to the State for their essential needs, food, clothing and shelter. 40 million people are on food stamps in the US now, but they are getting fed, at least for now.In third world nations the story is a little different and far more tragic as some of the following news reports prove. This article will cite many mainstream sources as evidence that the food crisis is in fact growing rapidly, and may reach catastrophic levels much sooner than most people anticipate.
The following headlines have not yet taken centre stage in our world but I fear that they will very soon. I fear not for my own body that I might have to go without some day in the future, but I fear that the poorest in the world that are barely surviving today will be starving tomorrow. As a matter of fact many are already starving and that number is sure to grow. As proven in ‘What is the real Matrix’ series of articles and radio programs, Satan keeps the majority so focused on their own little world through pressures of work, entertainment and other meaningless activities that they do not stop to consider the suffering of the rest of the world as their problem. If the problems are in a far away country or even nearby city or state they mistakenly believe that such problems will never impact their world. Jesus forewarned us that ‘tribulation’ would come upon the whole world; no corner of the globe is going to escape. Besides praying and fasting, and doing whatever we can to help those already suffering, we should pay heed to these problems as signs of pending bigger catastrophes, signs of the end of the world. In a separate series of articles and podcasts coming soon, I will expound in detail on the Biblical meaning of the term ‘the end of the world’...and more importantly what sort of timetable can be determined for the prophesied events, prominent among which is ‘famines in diverse places’.
Matthew 24:7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 21For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.