The Beginning of the End
Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" Matthews 24:3
The term last days can become ambiguous to many when taken out of context in scripture. The author of Hebrews states: God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,has in these LAST DAYS spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; Hebrews 1:1-2
Scripture uses the term "last days" to refer to the entire period of time between Jesus' first and second comings. For example, on the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes down on the disciples like flames of fire while they are at the temple, and some who are present believe they are drunk. Peter explains what is happening with these words: This is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: 17 and it shall be in the LAST DAYS,’ God says, ‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit upon all mankind, (Acts 2:16-17) Peter says that Joel's prophecy about the last days was fulfilled at least in part on the Day of Pentecost, almost two thousand years ago. So in essence, Peter lived in the "last days," Martin Luther lived in the last days, and we live in the last days.
Apostle Paul wrote, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.” It’s describing world conditions that simply could not have been applied to an America of 100 years ago or even 50. But it’s uncanny how accurate the description fits today’s world.
Today, man lives in fear of catastrophic changes that are occurring in the world's weather patterns: more extreme temperatures, more severe cyclones, floods and droughts. In space, comets are coming out of nowhere and are making close calls to the earth, such as the 1996 Comet Hyakutake, or the 1997 Hale Bopp comet. A direct hit of even a small comet would be catastrophic. We all saw with our naked eyes the Comet Lulin as is approached the Earth in February 2009. What made this comet fascinating is its green color, which comes from the gases that make up its atmosphere as it races through the vacuum of outer space and approaches the heat of the Sun. March 2, 2009. A small asteroid 2009 DD45, approximately a hundred feet wide, passed by earth, missing it by about 40,000 miles. Nov. 8, 2011. Asteroid 2005 YU55 passes very close to earth, approx. 4 - 1.4 Lunar Distance. Its 130 meters wide, about 400 feet in diameter, so if this 120 Megaton estimated energy if it hit earth, it will result in a very large H-Bomb size explosion.
Jesus mentions: "and there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars” The sun has never been more unstable, with solar storms at an all time high. As well, there is concern over the harm that is being done to the earth through man's tampering and weather manipulation with mechanisms like HAARP, which is a project funded by the US Senate and operated by the US Navy & Air Force. HAARP or "High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program" was supposedly started to communicate with submarines deep in the ocean using ELF radio waves which can penetrate the ocean as well as the earth’s surface.
HAARP is a bed of 48 - 72 foot tall antennas. These antennas which lie in Gakona Alaska in the Copper River valley are on land owned by the DOD or (Department of Defense) and are located about 260 miles Northeast of Anchorage Alaska. The entrance to HAARP is at mile marker 11.3 from Route 1's junction with Route 4. Only partially finished the entire array will consist of 180 antennas and will be more power full than all other antenna array for ionosphere heating ever built. Ionosphere heaters simply use radio waves to heat a portion of the ionosphere which surrounds the earth, many already exist, but this is the largest ever. The government explains Ionospheric heaters simply as a small scale stimulation of natural solar heating of our atmosphere. The antenna array is under control by the U.S. Laboratory located at Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, (ONR & NRL) National Research Laboratory, and Office of Navel Research. Haarp covers 58 acres, of which 22 were wetlands. Wetland of course is useless for building so the government filled this area in with gravel in order to create a level ground for the project. Of course it only makes sense to spend millions in tax payer’s dollars to build something on unstable ground.
The Bible also foretells a breakdown in society and morals: '"this know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers,incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors heady, high minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God" (2 Timothy 3:1-4).
What better words could describe our time and generation? Crime rates continue to soar around the world, as does the incidence of domestic violence and marital breakdown This generation's desire to please "self' first has severe repercussions on social behavior and people's expectation for the future. Drugs, alcohol and other pleasures so heavily pursued by many provide only temporary escape from man's deep unhappiness and discontent. Depression is driving many to suicide (particularly amongst our youth); while mental disorders and nervous breakdowns are more prevalent today than ever before.
The Bible also declares there will be an increase in knowledge like never before during the last days. In Daniel 12:4 we read: "But thou, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: but many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased". Our generation has seen a breathtaking increase in knowledge and technology, unimaginable to those of even a hundred years ago. Advances in communication, transport medicine, materials science, electronics, and nuclear physics, to name a few, are products of this age of increased knowledge and opportunity which the Bible refers to as the "times of the end".
Despite man's preoccupation with knowledge and academic pursuits, Paul warns that many are "Ever learning, and never coming to the knowledge of the truth" (2 Timothy 3:7). Their desire for knowledge is misdirected. And: "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables" (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
Great riches will become useless in the last days. The most powerful economy in the world, America, is on the brink of economic collapse. Its currency is rapidly losing value, its jobs are going to foreign dictatorships like China, from within it is being overrun by illegal aliens, and all of this is being allowed to happen by leaders who have sold out, and betrayed America. The Bible says "Go now you rich men weep and howl for your miseries which shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted . . . Your silver and gold are cankered; and the rust of them shall be as a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as if it were fire. You have heaped together treasure for the last days" (James 5:1-3) Pertaining to the temporary nature of wealth, and the effect of monetary inflation the Bible says: " ... and he that earns wages to put it into a bag with holes" (Haggai 1:6).
Religion will become powerless in the last days. In his letter to Timothy, the apostle Paul describes the religious leaders of the last days as: "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof, from such turn away" (2 Timothy 3:5). The "Christianity" most think of today is a far cry from the excitement that existed in the early Christian church. The Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of the New Testament clearly demonstrate that miracles, signs and wonders were commonplace in the Church. Yet today, even those holding office in many of the mainline Christian churches deny that such things are for today. Some have even gone on record as denying that God exists!
"Now the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; (1 Timothy 4:1-3). The early Christian leaders, reiterating Jesus' warnings, knew that the truth of the gospel would be distorted by men and that superstitious; they called them devilish practices would be introduced in place of the simple message of salvation.
Jesus also warned of many that would try to deceive the innocent: “take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many" (Matthew 24:4-5). We are assured that there will be no mistaking the return of Christ, for all will be witnesses: "And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory" (Luke 21:27).
One of the most obvious, and indeed topical, Bible descriptions of the last days relates to international conflict. Matthew 24:6-7 reads: "And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that you be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom".
The 20th century experienced two world wars, and countless smaller ones, and the development of nuclear weapons. Since 1945 we have experienced well over 50 major wars or conflicts throughout the world, with a number bringing the major nations again to the brink of world war. Now the potential is there for the next major war to destroy the entire population of the earth. With the cataclysmic events of 9-11-2001, and the subsequent wars and chaos in the Middle East, we can clearly see how the world is headed for the brink.
The apostle Paul described these days as "Perilous" (2 Timothy 3:1). Professor Albert Einstein, one of the pioneers of modern physics and whose work contributed to the production of the atomic bomb, said after the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Annihilation of all life on earth has been brought within the range of technical possibilities.
Now, some five decades later, the destructive power of the atomic bomb has been long superseded, and Einstein's concerns are all too real. The effect of nuclear weapons is clearly foretold in scripture: "And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire, and pillars literally 'palm trees" in the original Hebrew of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord comes (Joel 2:30-31). "For behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven ” (Malachi 4:1). "Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth" (Zechariah 14:12). "Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming upon the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken" (Luke 21:26).
The world will become as one as we see the alignment of the nations. A number of Old Testament scriptures collectively provide a comprehensive prophetic message concerning God's promises to the nation of Israel and the alignment of the nations in the last days. In summary, they tell how the southern Islamic nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States previously Russia in association with Libya and Ethiopia (Ezekiel 35-38), will be in direct conflict with the United States of America, nations of the British Commonwealth and their western European allies. At the center of the conflict will be modern Israel and Jerusalem, which the Bible describes as " a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it." (Zechariah 12:2-3).
Many signs heralding Jesus' return were given for our benefit and encouragement, but we must recognize them. Speaking to the "religious" people of His day, Jesus said: "Oh you hypocrites, you can discern the face of the sky; but you can not discern the signs of the times" (Matthew 16:3). Jesus said: "Watch therefore: for you know not when the master of the house comes, at midnight, or at the cock-crowing in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch" (Mark 13:35-37).
When Jesus said, “therefore keep watch”, did he mean we should watch for His return once in a while or occasionally? No, He said to, “Keep watch” which means to maintain a watch, or watch continuously. "Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man" (Luke 21:36).
In the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." (2 Peter 3:3) But what they fail to distinguish is since the time Peter first penned those words we have been living in the last days, in what I call the beginning of the end.
We are living in the most remarkable time in history. But we must realize that this is the last generation, and that our future lies not in knowledge, scientific progress, or in material possessions, but in a personal relationship with God, through His Son, Jesus Christ.