“The earthly ministry of the church has failed, iniquity will abound and evil men and seducers will wax worse and worse.”
I read these words in a book tonight written by a man of God in 1938, and they struck me hard, for I thought, these days he was writing about are the days we are living in. What was most surprising was the first sentence, that the ministry of the church has failed, not will fail.
It takes a man of God willing to reprove and correct in love to speak such words, and to use them as a blanket covering was something that I believe he pondered over diligently before writing them down. And then to pen “will abound…” foresaw a day much worse than what he was living in, and my friends, we are just in the beginnings of sorrows.
If you spend any amount of time on social media sites, you will hear words these days such as crazy, unreal, hard to believe, but you will rarely hear unrighteous or sin. “Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.” (Romans 1:32) There will be no revival, save for perhaps in your heart, and if that revival does occur in you and you do not speak of these events as what they are, sin against the Most High God, then it is not truly a revival.
I have found few that are willing to speak this truth, and unless I am mistaking 2 Timothy 3:12 then there are far fewer true followers of the Lord Jesus Christ then even I have imagined. “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” That persecution does not mean that you will inevitably be cast into prison, tortured and then killed, but it might, it could mean being completely ostracized from you family and friends, it could even mean those who you have attended church with for years will ask you to “tone it down” a little, stop being so adamant, less verbal against the unrighteousness, less active against the evil that they also see, but do nothing about.
“For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.” (Matt. 10:35)
“Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.” (Matt. 10:34)
The end of the age of grace is upon us, the time of the Gentiles is coming to a close, and no matter the circumstances or the possible consequences to you, you are to remain faithful. Can you do that? Are you willing to lose everything for the Lord Jesus Christ, for the glory of God?
Those who disagree with the way the world is going will rarely speak above a whisper against it, and then only in specific company, they fear to lose those friends and family members, those who they have grown accustomed to seeing every Sunday morning, even their jobs and livelihood. In other words, when push comes to shove, they will stand down and become obedient. Satan was right about most people when he said, “Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.” (Job 2:4)
Will he be right about you?
Not all wheat stems grow many kernels, but they are not the chaff, if you fall, if you falter, there is time to repent, to beg for forgiveness, but those days are coming to a close.
My lovely wife and I speak of these things often, and I generally use the same analogy, it is quite easy to discuss the “what ifs” in a warm, comfortable house with a full belly.
You can see the fulfillment of the Scriptures happening right before your eyes, and I can promise you it is going to get much worse. The 3,000 that were saved that day of Pentecost had no clue that soon they would be hunted down or exiled from their homes. “And he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is.” (Luke 12:54) The clouds are approaching; the wind is picking up. Are you prepared for what is approaching?