What is it that you envision in your mind that needs to occur before the rapture of the church (1 Thess. 4:16) and the beginning of the great and terrible day of the Lord begins. We know that there are no more prophecies that need to be fulfilled, in fact, from the moment of the resurrection of our Lord to that day that His bride is removed from the earth, there are no prophecies, every Christian since the day of Pentecost until this very moment has been in a sort of waiting mode, knowing that the day is imminent, but not knowing when that day will appear, “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” (Matt. 24:36) But are there signs?
Has not every generation of man looked for any and every particular sign that would tell them that they are the generation that will be blessed to be raptured, that they will be the only ones to never taste death. No matter the turmoil that is going on, there is always someone marrying and being given in marriage, (Matt. 24:38) knowledge is always increasing and travel is always abounding, (Dan. 12:4) and while we could say “Yes, but never like this,” so could those of only forty-years ago, so could those during the industrial revolution. Just because there is more of something does not necessarily mean it is a new thing, remember, “There is nothing new under the sun.” (Eccl. 1:9)
I personally believe that one of the ways that we are able to tell that this generation maybe the last one before the rapture is by the advent of evil on a global scale, but unlike the previous times this happened with the two world wars, or even with some of the pestilences that have occurred in the past, these evils on a global scale were not accompanied by a world-wide economic depression, or even a complete failure. No one goes to war without an intimate knowledge of their enemy, and more than any other created being, Satan has an intimate, yet finite, knowledge of Almighty God. Brief skirmishes must be attempted, defensive capabilities must be tested, and in these the object is not the gaining of more ground, but the knowledge of the possibilities of future advancements. Where God allows, Satan advances, where the Lord removes His hand of protection, Satan grabs a firm hold onto, and he moves in quickly.
God is a spirit, (John 4:24) and so is our adversary, spirit can see what flesh cannot, unless granted by God to do so, as in the case of Elijah. (2 Kings 6:17) Satan has been granted certain powers over creation, he is the prince of the power of the air, (Eph. 2:2) but until the Holy Spirit is removed, and in reality even after, he is allowed to do only so much, both in creation and in the totality, or complete encompassing in the affairs of man. Nowhere in history has the entire economic structure of the planet been so intertwined as it is today, every nation on the planet feels the ripple of economic effects when anything happens to any one nation, and no matter how vehemently some may try to deny it, this planet will cease to exist, this world in other words will fall into complete anarchy, and the strong, those with the greatest armaments will rule all others with an iron hand if and when these economies fail. It is one of the reasons that all will need the mark or the number of the beast to buy or sell in the tribulation period. (Rev. 13:17) But, we won’t be here for that, will we, praise God!
The question then for us here today is how we are to spiritually discern these times, how are we to warn the lost of what is coming without sounding like conspiracy theorists, doomsday announcers, or most importantly, without dishonoring the name of God. Are there signs, if you will, events that are casting a shadow before them that announce to the followers of Christ that His return is not just imminent, but approaching rapidly. Beyond those events that are occurring around the planet on a localized scale, unprecedented phenomenon within the created aspect of the earth and atmosphere, there are events that are occurring within the realm of men that we have never seen before, and these are based upon one foundation, globalization.
There are at the time of the writing of this letter to you over 190 nations on this planet, and every one of them is connected in one way or another to each and every other nation. In a sense my friends, we have almost completed the construction of the Tower of Babel, and the corner stone of that monolith is money. Out of all the countries, there are only a very few that hold the power to control where and who the wealth goes to, and the distribution of that power is the foundation of this globalization, this final tying together of all the loose ends. The Lord is warning us through His creation, and He is allowing Satan to use fear, fear of the loss of their financial stability, and to put it quite bluntly my friends, the majority of the people who don’t have any money are not going to be eating.
I have not been given near the necessary wisdom to understand the one statement that would open the knowledge of my mind to know what is the reason that “The whole world will wonder after him.” (Rev. 13:3) I know only that it will have to be a catastrophic event, I do not believe it to be a singular event, but a compilation of many occurrences that will culminate on the day that we get to go be with the Lord forever, the rapture. I know the one sign above all that I do not hesitate to tell all that will listen, evil is abounding, by leaps and bounds. We must be able to discern that which is a normal occurrence from that which is not, and to be able to do this, we must be spiritually discerning.
There is a crown waiting for those who love His appearing, (2 Tim. 4:8) but there are no rewards for warning the lost, that is our responsibility, our obligation, if we truly love our neighbors. If you spend the rest of your life warning the lost about the approach of our Lord, and end up living a long, full life for Him, look on the bright side, every time one of those lost souls comes back to tell you that you were wrong, then you will have another opportunity to witness to them. We don’t need to know the hour and the day, we just need to continue to believe that day will come, and to continue serving Him until then.
“And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.” (Luke 21:28)
