Matthew 24:3-13

3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.

9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Revelation 6 – The First Four Seals

1 I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” 2 I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

3 When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword.

5 When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. 6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “Two pounds of wheat for a day’s wages, and six pounds of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”

7 When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” 8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

Birth pains increase in intensity and frequency over time. This video illustrates that in a very powerful way just by looking at the last 100 years. Confirming bible prophecy is not the purpose of this video but it certainly does a good job of showing it in one 10 minute video.

What do you think of this? Are we coming up on the return of Christ in your opinion?

And the words of the Lord are flawless,
like silver purified in a crucible,
like gold refined seven times. You, Lord, will keep the needy safe
and will protect us forever from the wicked, who freely strut about
when what is vile is honored by the human race. (Psalm 12:6-8 NIV)

There were a couple of things that stood out to me in
this passage. The first two are obvious but are good reminders for all of us as we move through our days.

1. the words of the Lord are flawless
2. You, Lord will keep the need safe and will protect us

For many Christians, these are obvious truths that we know, but how often do we take them for granted? When was the last time you took a look at the core truths from the Bible and really took them to heart?

God’s word is FLAWLESS… We can trust it… We can grow from it… God uses His word to communicate to us what we need to hear.

God does and continues to protect us every minute of our lives. We are his precious children and he wants to keep us safe and see us grow. Again, I know this is obvious and you’ve probably heard it a million times but have you ever really focused on it… Have you thought about what that really means?

The God of the Universe LOVES you and PROTECTS you… If He is for us, who can be against us… An important truth to remember in the days ahead…

The final truth that struck me this morning is the last verse in Psalm 12…

the wicked, who freely strut about
when what is vile is honored by the human race.

This description of the wicked by the Psalmist, probably written hundreds of years before Christ’s birth, speaks volumes about the world we live in today…

This statement speaks to the flawless word of God. Unfortunately in 21st century America we live in a time when the vial is honored by humans. Things the Bible speaks against directly are looked upon as okay in our society. Because of that, the “wicked” gain confidence and do strut around freely trying to mold our world into their differing view of what is right and good.

We need to be willing to stand up no matter the cost. If something is wrong, don’t shy away and hide your views in the corner – It does no good. We are living in times where passive Christianity is not an option anymore – It’s time to pick a side and actively defend it at all costs.

Which side of the fence are you on? You can’t play the middle of the road any more… Choose today whom you will serve…As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord…

When you take the Word of God and combined it with the lives of other guys – it’s amazing how God’s Word, yet again, can transform your life.

I would concur with some of the guys comments this morning after finishing a discussion on chapter 31.

For me, The Story was a great way to get the overall story of the Bible from a “50,000″ foot level in most cases and it was the community of guys that really brought it down to a more personal impact level.

I enjoyed exploring the many stories of faith, both highs and lows, and ultimately the hopeful victory in the end – that is, the Bible.

If you’re like me, and you just can’t get through the Bible from cover to cover, I would definitely recommend reading The Story from Zondervan… Two Thumbs Up!!

This verse came into my inbox this morning after my previous post…. I thought it fit well…

I know i struggle to love others well…How well do you love others?

Just like others…

I lean toward certain views when it comes to the rapture, tribulation, and millennial kingdom, but I try to objectively look at things with the understanding that I could be wrong and God could be doing it another way.

It’s this open minded approach that has allowed me develop some possible THEORIES (not facts) about what is happening in our world right now.

As I said in my last post on this topic, I believe we could be moving rapidly toward seals 5 and 6 in Revelation 6. But at the least we are definitely living in a world that looks exactly like what Jesus talked about in Matthew 24. Check out this chart below. Keep in mind that Jesus talked about these situations as being like “birth pains” – gaining strength and frequency as the time nears…

I would love to know what you think of my thoughts here. Again my goal is not to figure it all out because the scriptures clearly state that only God knows the true timeline of events. But there is some value in knowing and being aware of what is happening and what is coming today.

I want to make sure that you also don’t get lost in the details… The whole point of all this is that Jesus is coming very, very soon and the hope that is found in that. Don’t lose sight of that hope and expectation of His return or you will become overwhelmed.

My next post will reveal some of the events in the heavens that are happening that could potentially be pointing to the very, very soon return of Christ.

Until then, Keep doing His will and spreading His Gospel…

Let me explain a bit about my journey first.About almost two years ago, I and some guys that I meet with on fridays decided to begin a study of the book of Revelation. We all had an interest in the book and were noticing that pretty much all pastors seem to avoid the topic. So we got a 3 book study series and dove in.

Now about 2 years later, our world looks a lot more like the world Jesus describes in Matthew 24. For those who don’t know in Matthew 24, the disciples of Jesus come to Him and ask what will be the signs of the end of the age. Jesus then precedes to share with them regarding what’s to come.

For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains…As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.(Matthew 24:5-8,37-39 NIV)

Honestly, it sounds a lot like today to me…

We are seeing financial strife throughout the world (especially in the US), political upheaval everywhere with a focus on the middle east and Israel, and a natural world that seems to be going crazy. This coincides with exactly what Jesus was talking about in Matthew 24.

Jesus refers to these signs as birth pains. Anyone who has had kids or witnessed someone having kids knows that when labor hits it increases in both frequency and intensity as the time gets closer. We could make the case that that is happening in all three areas listed above.

Along with this, the next two weeks we will see a impressive display in the skies as June 1 brings us a Solar Eclipse and a partial lunar eclipse then on June 15 a rare total central lunar eclipse will happen (next one will be in 7 years – July 27, 2018). Both of these celestial events will be 7 days before and 7 days after Pentecost which begins at sunset on June 7.

Why are celestial events important to Bible prophecy about the future?

Well, the Jewish calendar is actually based on the lunar month and some of the major Jewish festivals center around the moon. For the Gentiles, our calendar is based on the solar year. Basically, the way it was explained to me was “when God wants to get the attention of the Gentiles, He uses the sun. When He wants to get the attention of the Jews He uses the moon.” Here is an example where He is using both. Seems to me he might be trying to get everyones attention.

(If you want to read an interesting perspective on Bible prophecy and Celestial events visit, RaptureWatch.net)

With all that is going on in our world and all that is going on in the skies above and all that is going on in nature (Massive tornadoes, flooding, heavy rains/snow, major earthquakes, volcanoes) it seems to be all converging on the next two weeks (June 1 thru 15) with Pentecost (a major Christian event) right in the middle. This is why I believe that something significant that ties with Biblical prophecy could happen in this coming two weeks. We all need to be aware of this…

Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door…

Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. (Matthew 24:32-33, 42-44 NIV)

Now, what could happen? Well, I am not going to tell you specifically what I think because I am human and I don’t know everything. But I have done some serious searching on the Internet and found a couple theories for events that could happen in this time frame. You may read them if you like or skip them  - the choice is yours but please  note that these are not ideas that represent my personal view just the product of the research I have done.

Possible Rapture on June 1, 2011 (not nearly as publicized as the last prediction) – Rapturewatch.net (scroll down a bit)

Possible major earthquake event – centered in CA

or maybe God will surprise us…

My point in writing this is not to predict something… I don’t have that kind of insight from above but I do feel that God has called me to educate people about the Truth and how to discern it and raise awareness about the times in which we are living. I truly do believe that we are living in a time when we will see amazing events of Biblical proportions. We all need to be aware of this and while looking for His soon coming – living lives that point others to Him. If ever there was a time for boldness in your witness of Jesus – Now is that time!

if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

God is calling us to Him. Don’t run from Him, run to Him. The only way our country is going to be blessed is if our people repent and return to God and remain Israel’s ally…

Do this today!