I could write about my bad day yesterday. I could but anything that I'm going through is extremely petty in light of what is happening just south of me.
To me this is worse than September 11th. September 11th was at least comprehensible on a simplistic level. Warefare between nations is rarely simple but at least we can understand it.
But this ...
Young children are being raped and murdered. Can you comprehend that?
Thousands of dead bodies floating being eaten by birds, fish, and alligators. Can you comprehend that?
People dropping like flies without food and water. Can you comprehend that?
People being rounded up (coralled) and sent to stadiums. Can you comprehend that?
People shooting their military. Can you comprehend that?
The military shooting their people. Can you comprehend that?
I find it very difficult to understand these things ...
People throw out their reason when the get scared. The human tendancy to hang on to life will make rational people act desperate. You can see that in New Orleans. No food. No water. No nothing. They become animal.
I think of Revelation where only those who receive the mark of the beast (align themselves with that last political world rulership) will be able to buy and sell. Think about what that would mean for you. You are starving. Your kids are starving. This world government is dangling food in front of you and saying you can eat if you join us, you can get healthcare if join us, we can protect you if you join us. And yet we have to make a choice to side with God's Kingdom and let the consequences be what the consequences will be.
It calls to mind the three Hebrews who refused to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar's idol. (Is it coincidence that the idol carried the measurements 60 and 6? The name of the Beast is 600 60 6.) They were willing to suffer the consequences - death by fire - for their giving Jehovah their God exclusive devotion. Would Jehovah save them? It didn't matter to them because it wasn't about them. If He would He would if He didn't they would still worship him. Their concern was Jehovah and Jehovah only. And so they were grabbed and hurled into the fire. It appeared that Jehovah wouldn't rescue them. It wasn't until the 0 moment and they hit the flames when Jehovah did save them. At the very point of not turning back He sent an angel to deliver him. This is a lesson for those who will make up the great crowd that survives the Great Tribulation.
For awhile now I have felt in my bones and my heart that we are close. Each new day tells me I'm right.
The terrorist attacks of September 11th happened and we woke up ... and then went back to sleep.
The tsunami hit and we woke up ... and then went back to sleep.
We can't afford to go back to sleep. Not now. Not this time.
Jesus gave us the stuff to look for in Matthew 24 and Luke 21. I know some of us feel that list came true in 1914 or shortly thereafter and we don't have to keep on the watch anymore. But the stuff we are going through and will soon go through will make all those "big events" seemingly insignificant. Really how bad will World War I seem if ever we were involved in a nuclear war? Really how bad with the spanish flu seem if the dreaded avian flu begins spreading to humans? Really how bad will the great depression seem if the american economy collapses and plunges the world into global depression? And if/when the weather finally breaks due to global warming how will anything compare to the natural disasters, disease, and food shortages that such a change will bring about?
I don't know that any of that stuff will happen but as a matter of practicality I think you have to assume and prepare for the worst. Remember "for then there will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again." (Matthew 24:21)
I think we have decided to sell everything non-essential and try to live as simply as possible for the time being. This will probably include stuff we love like record collections and music equipment It's not that the extra money will be any protection but I just don't want to be encumbered by possessions. I don't want to be the guy who is staying behind when the warning is given because he is afraid of losing his stuff. I don't want to be the guy shot and murdered for his material posessions.
Matthew 24:15 “Therefore, when YOU catch sight of the disgusting thing that causes desolation, as spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in a holy place, (let the reader use discernment,) 16 then let those in Ju·de´a begin fleeing to the mountains. 17 Let the man on the housetop not come down to take the goods out of his house; 18 and let the man in the field not return to the house to pick up his outer garment."
This is the guy I really want to be ... I want to be the guy that is able to flee unencumbered without looking back. (Remember Lot's wife? These things are a lesson for us to learn from.) When it comes time to move or preach or whatever work there is to do in the final days I want to do it without reservation.
