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. – Matthew 24:14
We see through social media and other forms of internet communication tools, that the message of the Gospel had never been so easier to share with others. I also believe that the last two years have accelerated the spread of the Gospel.
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. – Matthew 24:6-8
Obviously, we have heard of the war in Afghanistan, Iraq, and most recently the invasion of the Ukraine, but we see that wars and rumors of wars are not only increasing, but they are also escalating quickly. A week into the Ukraine invasion, Russia has already threatened to used nuclear weapons against their advisories. We see this is fulfilling this verse in Matthey 24.
“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 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 24:36-39
Over here in North America, we are far away from wars and though we are impacted by the issues in the war, we are still living life as we normally would. Eating, drinking, marrying and giving away in marriage without concern for what may be around the corner.
“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.” – 2 Timothy 3:1-5
This generation is very obsessed with themselves and promoting their own platform. The content on most of these social media apps are only of the person who is publishing it hoping that they get likes or follows. People willing to do anything, even break the law, disrespect or hurt others for a laugh. We also see a conceited attitude and that people rather love themselves more than they love God. This is not everyone, but it is a majority of people today. These are all signs of the time if you look around and are honest with yourself.
Above all, you must understand that 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 ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” – 2 Peter 3:3-4
Never before have I seen so many people scoff at Christianity. The term “Scoff” means “speak to someone or about something in a scornfully derisive or mocking way”. I know people have always disagreed with it. But this level of scoffing is something that I’ve never seen before.
The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. – 1 Timothy 4:1-2
False teachers are a threat to the church and the Bible warns us about them. It’s not enough that a teacher appears to know a lot about what he or she is talking about. If their words contradict the Bible then the teaching is false. We need to be aware of these teachers today more than ever.
And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about. For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve. – 2 Corinthians 11:12-15
Paul calls these opponents exactly what they were. False apostles and deceitful workers. Don’t assume that Satan’s temptations and tactics will always be obvious. He’s a liar and deceiver and he’s been doing this since the beginning. The enemy knows how to make falling to his temptations appear good but we need to put on the full armour of God so that we can stand against the schemes of the devil. In these last days we need to be aware of false apostles and deceitful workers that try to get us to fall.
The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. – 2 Corinthians 4:4
Satin is the god of this age. This is a reminder to us that though we may face opposition from people as we spread the gospel of Jesus, it’s satin that is using those people. He has blinded those people from seeing the light and he is using those people as well. As we speak to others it will be a challenge to bring the gospel without severing the relationship with these people. We want to lead them to Christ by bringing them the truth but we don’t want to cut ties with them through arguments and disagreements.
How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. – Matthew 24:19-22
Jesus is talking about the end times here. Many of these persecutions have already occurred and more are yet to come. But our God is in control. He will not forget his people. This is all we need to know about the future to motivate us to live rightly now.
Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. But you, Daniel, roll up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge. – Daniel 12:3-4
Many people today are trying to be stars in the world. We see this by the social media trend of people trying to get likes and follows. God tells us how we can be true stars and that is by leading as many as we can to Gods light.