Signs of the Times

Matt. 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?

Many people ask me about events that are happening in the world today. I just simply say, “It’s the signs of the times.”

While that is true, many people have no clue what that really means. On this page and sub pages, we will attempt to categorize different world events and things to watch for.

First, we need to show Gods time table for the past 6000 years. In the past 6000 years, there has been a major event in the world every 2000 years. In the first 2000 years, we had the flood. The second, we saw Jesus coming as a baby and being crucified on Calvary. The third, we are looking for the rapture of the church and the return of Jesus to set up His final thousand year reign (known to the church as the Millennial Reign of Christ). Now between the rapture and the millennial reign of Christ, we see the seven years of tribulation, or Daniels’ 70th week. After this we will see Jesus’ return to earth and we will be riding with Him on white horses. The millennial reign will be for a 1000 years, upon this earth that we now live on. After this, God will destroy this earth and make a new Heaven and a new Earth. (Rev. 21:1)

The Book of Revelations is where we are told about the things that will happen during the final days of this earth. Daniel, Jeremiah, and even Jesus told of things to come, and we will see these things come into focus here in this study.

. As you study, remember, that before the 1900’s we had little to no books written as commentary explaining the Book of Revelations. Then the books that you did find were very vague on their explanation of what you were reading. Then thru the 1900’s to the late 1960’s we started seeing a few more books on the subject. Now in the 2000’s, we see hundreds if not thousands of books written on explaining the end times. I like to describe this by calling your attention to a microscope. When you first put something in the view finder, it’s like the way people looked at Revelation and the end times in and before the 1900’s. Now the more you dial in the focus of the slide, it becomes more in focus and more defined. The same is with the end times. The closer we get to the end, the more focus everything becomes, and the more we see the signs of Jesus return in the clouds as the book of Acts proclaims. I also believe that what God told Daniel in Dan 12:9 is coming to play here also.

Dan 12:9

9 An he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.

Now we need to understand some ground rules for studying the Book of Revelations, and the Signs of the Times. I personal use the King James Version for this reason I’m about to give you. The King James uses comparative language throughout the Book of Revelation to let the reader know that some things are figurative. Words like, “like unto”, “as unto”, and “as if it were” are key to understanding what you are reading. Then when John is describing something you also must keep in mind that what he is seeing is in the future, and he is doing his best to describe to us (the reader) what he is seeing in First Century knowledge. For this reason, you will see John use animals and things in order to describe what he is witnessing. Rev. 9:7-10 is a good example of why I am explaining these rules.

Rev 9:7-10

7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.

8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.

9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.

10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.

John is not seeing a locust, or a strange beast of the field. He, I personally believe, is seeing a piece of military equipment, that may even be a Apache helicopter, or some other type of flying weapon that has armor plating, and maybe he could even see the pilot sitting there flying it. I want to mainly call your attention to the comparative words used in this passage. These words let the reader know that it’s not a weird animal that has morphed into this creature. Words like unto, were as it, as it were, and was as are used here to let us know that he was doing his best to describe what it was he was seeing.

The Suffering Church

For years, the American church has been lulled asleep by the lack of persecution. While around the world the church of God has seen its share of suffering including many giving their lives as martyrs. Over the years, this has been widespread, but in the last ten years we see that the suffering of the church has increased dramatically. The following headlines are just a sampling from the internet with a quick search, along with the news source and dates so that you can go and research them for yourself:

USA Today

Global Christians persecution is worsening while American churches slumber.

June, 18 2019

Barnabas Funds

You have three days to go or you will be killed! Boko Haram tells Christians in Niger.

June 17 2019

Middle East Form publication

11 Christians killed every day for their faith.

March 5, 2019

These headlines do not tell the whole story of what is happening in the last few years around the world. Christians are killed every day for their faith. Many are beaten and thrown into jail for years and years. Some have loss all their earthy possessions, due to taking a stand for Christ.

But as history has proven we see the church of God still alive and well. In many case, the church is stronger and more powerful due to the persecution. As in the days of Jesus in Israel, the true church was hated and despised. The Holy Spirit was and will always be with His church to empower and dwell within them.

Now as for the American church, we have seen in the past few months just how the government can control God’s people and the church. We have witness preachers being fined and going to jail for meeting. If you would have told me five years ago that this was going to happen in America, I along with many of you would have laugh and said that can’t happen here. Well, brother and sister, this I believe is just the start of Satan rising up in America, and being able to control God’s people and the church. Dear friend, persecution of the American church is on the horizon. Are you ready? How will you respond to a government closing all churches permanently? Friends, we need to have a game plan and be ready for what lies ahead of us.

Matt 24:10-11

10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.

Today, we have more people carrying their feelings on their shoulders. People are so easily offended. In fact, they may be offended already at this site about something that is said or what the Bible has said. They get affend over the least little thing. Today, I believe we have a bunch of spoiled brats, as my daddy use to say.

We also see people betraying their family and friends. Because of this, we have people in our churches that won’t speak to each other. In fact, they sit on opposite sides of the building in order not to have to come in contact with them. As a side note, dear brother or sister, if this is you, God will NOT and cannot bless you in that state. In fact, you are a hindrance to the Holy Spirit of God as long as you remain unforgiving to others.

Eph 4:30

30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption

1 Thess 5:19

19 Quench not the Spirit.

Many have said to me, “Preacher, you don’t know what they did to me?” Friend I say this with love. It doesn’t matter if they stole everything you ever owned, and they took a gun and even murdered your family. Now I would have to admit, that is something very hard to wrap our heads around. But friends, if we want God’s blessing on our lives, we must forgive others.

Matt 18:21-22

21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?

22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

Job is the perfect story in the Bible to illustrate this message. He lost everything but his wife. He lost his ten children, his cattle and sheep, and ever last possession that he owned as far as wealth is concern. He even had two best friends that tried to reason with him along with his wife and counseled Job to just curse God and die. To me though, the funniest part of this story is the best. Because Job refused to blame God, God blessed him by doubling all his possession back to him. Here is the funny part. God gave Job ten more kids. Yes, that’s right, TEN more children, and his wife, you know the one that said curse God and die, well she had to bare him ten more children. Who said the Bible isn’t funny? So you see dear friends, it does not pay to be unforgiving. Besides the health risk that unforgiveness has on a person, the blessing are just out of this world.

Matt 24 11

11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

Today we have preachers and other Christian leaders with cult like followers. The major problem with this is that heresy can creep in and Satan will use it to destroy good people. I know of young men who went to college with that imitate Dr Hyles to the point that they would clear their throats just like him. While I’m not saying this is wrong, but I am saying we need to be aware of what Satan will use to destroy people. This is what Jesus said would happen in the last days. As an illustration I simply summit to you the story of Jim Jones, a leader of a cult that was able to get hundreds of people to drink the Kool-Aid, and die along with him.

Matt 24:12

12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

I have had people come up to me and say things like, “I have heard that the Lord is coming all my life, and nothing has happen.” Well friends, He is coming, and we need to be ready. This verse I believe is talking directly about our churches today. Jesus said iniquity (or sin) shall abound (grow, flourish), then Jesus said, “the love of many shall wax cold.” We are seeing in our churches a decline that has never been seen before. Churches that were running 300-400 in attendance now have dropped to 75-150. Churches that were running 100-150 now run 25-60 in their main service. When you go out and talk to people about coming to church or coming back to church, they will tell you that they don’t see a need. They will promise you and even promise God that they need to get back into church, but we never see them. I’m not talking about your average Joe; I’m talking about people that were Sunday school teacher, deacons, and even pastors. Another words, people that were leaders in our church have failed. This is what the Bible is talking about when He says the love of many shall wax cold. We can’t forget the first part of the verse. We have seen sin become exalted in our world, our homes, and in our churches. When was the last time you heard a message naming sin as sin. I can answer that, you don’t any more. Sin is always by most preachers, (and I’m guilty) talked about in generality and not by name. That truth was brought home to me a few years ago when I had a young man tell me that he had not sinned. I asked him why he said that, and he replied, “I have never killed no one, and I don’t drink, so you see I don’t sin.” Now at first I was stunned, and wasn’t sure what to say. Then I asked, “Have you ever lied or told a half truth to anyone before?” He answered, “sure preacher, is that a sin?” After spending some time with him on the matter, and on my way home, I had to ask God to forgive me. Why, because I was his pastor and somehow I had given him the impression that sin was only murder and drinking. That’s when I realized that we need to preach more on sin and name sin by name.

Gods Time Line.

In Israel.

America in the end time

Mark of the Beast