The “end of days!” Oh, big words, filled with fear and foreboding! For some it is truly
a fearful thought and one they would just a soon not think about. For the born-again believer the “true” follower of Jesus Christ it is going to be a wonderful experience, to say the least. We hear the Mayan calendar will end as of December 21, 2012 and scholars are predicting nothing to take place on that day, any more than any other day.
Is it true, or should we be spending more time considering the Word of God and HIS day, otherwise known as the “Day of the Lord─the Tribulation and also spending time considering the coming Rapture. And then we see all these “preppers” making excessive accommodations to meet the coming catastrophe when the USA will descend into an abyss of financial failure, evoking the call by the president to a “national emergency” and the takeover by FEMA. So many horrible scenarios to be considered and, “What will people do?”
The problem here is this: Who will take on the duty of being prepared and who will let the Lord handle these things? I believe the problem breaks down to: Who is afraid to die and who is not? I truly believe this is the crux of the matter. I’m not talking about being dumb and walking into trouble, carelessly. I’m talking about the innermost thoughts of people about the coming “end of days” and how they are handling these thoughts.
Followers of Jesus Christ already know that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). It is this knowledge that holds us to a different standard because the Lord is our protector and benefactor in all things. And as we already know, the unsaved do not have this knowledge to rely on.
Revelation 6:15-17: “And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”
For a moment, remember where the Taliban hid themselves: In caves, and then look at where the preppers are making their accommodations now, many in old missile silos! It would appear that they are headed underground, thinking this to be the best place for safety─Bible fulfillment right before our eyes! For the followers of Jesus Christ, we often forget what happened to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Thrown into a furnace seven times hotter than normal and still the king saw four people walking about and when they came out, there wasn’t even the smell of smoke on any of them.
We like the phrases, “critical thinking.” Why have we not made these stories of the Bible into that same “critical thinking?” What most people miss is this: The “physical” is nothing, it will die and decompose one day. The “spirit” is whole different story all together, the “spiritual life” that the Lord has given each of us, saved or otherwise, is the essence of all that will come in the future. And again, “Where” exactly you spend that “spiritual life” is of significance in the here and now!
So many things are around us exclaiming the truth of the Bible. A “switch” in code of computer programming is a 0 or a 1. It is either nothing or it is “on”. You are either standing or sitting here or you are over there, but never both at the same time, right? I could go on and on, but I believe you get the idea. Everything in our lives is a “decision” and it is good or bad, right or wrong, but never both. That is why a “gray area” is always wrong, because it is never a “right.”
Go ahead on and let that bounce around the old head a few times and you’ll get the gist of statement. Odd isn’t it? Once you get this concept straight in your head, life will be so different than you thought before hand. BUT...too many don’t want to accept that rule, it matters little, God made it a rule of life and we must then learn to accept it or not, just like salvation. It is then the reason that life becomes so very difficult, the “gray areas” tend to grow exponentially and skew our views. I love the one statement people like to use, “Well...it’s complicated.” Umm yeah, when it contains too many lies.
Matthew 5.37, emphasis added: “But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay [Yes, yes; No, no]: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.”
Why is it that we tend to complicate our lives when at the same time we seek it to be simple? Just saying ya’ll...another oxymoron, right? How many times have you sat in a conference and heard the speaker talk about being “transparent” to keep things easy and simple or to speak from the heart? Is it not apparent to you, these are always the same individuals that require their lives to be complicated, usually in the name of “sophistication?”
What they are endeavoring to promote, is something about them, not about what they are talking of. Stop once again and thinking of things you say, are they for the betterment of someone else or to promote you in better light? Come on, let’s be honest here and let’s simplify our lives.
In the “end of times” do you think you will have a chance? Will anything save you from the wrath of God, if you do not belong to HIM? Your life has never been in your hands, never has and never will be in the days to come! Hide from God, that’s like trying to hide from air! In the end, even your thoughts are going to be known by God and the question always is this: “How are you going to respond to the question, concerning all your thoughts?”
Either your name will be written in the “Lambs book of life” or it will not be written there. It’s still an either/or. Your “oxymoron” just caught you. You tried to be complicated and sophisticated and simplicity found you out and made you answer the ultimate question known in front of all of us.
You see! Everyone runs around saying, “It’s all about ME!” And then you are all so “deep” so filled with color, like a kaleidoscope. But ultimately, you just want “someone” that will “love and accept” you “as you are.” Now you’re trying to be simplistic. I think we’re getting better at understanding the word “oxymoron,” don’t you?
The Word of God has said from the beginning that we are a fallen people. Then when we hear this, we think we can be better than that, somehow or the other!
“Fallen, who me?” “Never in life am ‘I’ a fallen anything!” And off we go, complicating the simple, skewing the truth, wiggling for position...wiggle all we want, we’re still a worm when SIN is still in us. With the Word of God, filling our lives, we are like a pupa that eventually emerges as a new creature, like a butterfly. Without the Word of God in us, we die as a pupa and never become anything more. Without Jesus Christ, our lives are worthless and amount to nothing.
Make Jesus Christ the Center of your Life!
You may contact the author @; dontwobears@sbcglobal.net
