Is it Finally the End?

Numerous news reports about the devastating fires in California had quotes from first hand accounts of people involved who thought that perhaps the end had come or that Armageddon was ongoing.  There were people who took photos that made their rounds across the globe in the media regarding how California’s Disneyland looked liked a scene from Hell.

 

There were those who were thinking and saying the same thing when Harvey hit Texas, when Irma hit tropical islands, etc.  They thought perhaps the end was upon them, as devastation appeared on all sides around them, as far as they could see.  In one case there were people begging for God to make the rain stop from Harvey, as the nonstop rain became the biggest rain event in the continental United States recorded history. 

 

All of these terrible disasters the United States has been experiencing are just a drop in the bucket of similar events that have been taking place around the world.  Unfortunately many in America hold an attitude of such self worth that they care little about floods in Asia or terrifying events in India.  A point-in-case would be an attitude regarding a potential North Korean & United States war, where the talking point of many is sacrificing Seoul in South Korea is better than it coming to our homeland.  In other words, millions dying ‘over there’ is a small price to pay. 

 

Our country is being destroyed slowly by disasters that are costing tens of billions of dollars in damage EACH.  While we have the advantage of holding the world reserve currency that is backed off of nations having had to (largely still doing so) purchase oil in Federal Reserve notes, eventually the time will come where the debt will be too obvious to the world.  The United States will be bankrupt, as it technically already is.  Just how much more money will we continue to put into our national debt in order to offset these disasters? 

 

How about the insurance companies, how many people are going to see an increase in their premiums, simply because these insurance companies can not have these sort of losses over and over again, they were not designed for that many dollars of catastrophic events?  The following graph illustrates the complexity of these issues, regarding just one type of emergency event.

 

 

Nearly every year since my family moved out to Kalispell, Montana, we have had a smoky August.  This year was particularly bad, as the smoke hit very toxic levels in Flathead Valley.  In fact there was an area south of us in Seeley Lake, Montana, where the toxic air levels exceeded the ability of the air quality gauges, promoting some to suggest that a new level of threat, beyond hazardous needed to be thought of.  How about catastrophic? 

 

The orange groves in Florida, where much of our orange juice comes from, has its lowest yield since World War 2.  Now much of the nations well-known wine groves are under serious threat, as several people have been killed and scores more are missing in the devastating northern California wildfires.  As of this writing there were 3,500 homes and businesses lost in that area of California with a threat of winds to cause even more damage.  Truly as one news reporter put it, the firescape simply looked as if entire neighborhoods in the Santa Rosa area had been bombed out.  Historically when a city was bombed, like as the world saw throughout Europe in World War 2, there were at least the remnants of standing structures, rather than totally burned to the ground neighborhoods, the prospect of finding some items of value leftover were much greater.

 

FEMA is nearly fully activated with 95% of their employees on the ground at disaster sites right now.  The California wildfires might just be what requires them to go above their perceived need to get more boots on the ground to help out.  What if we have yet another disaster in the upcoming weeks or months in the United States?  Just how much more can we handle? 

 

Unfortunately there are always those who lurk in the shadows, who in but a moment are ready to take advantage of such disasters and purport evil upon a community.  Such was the case with hurricane Harvey and Irma, such is the case with the wildfires in California.  Scarcely have people evacuated from their homes, running for their lives that the criminals start breaking into homes and looting as much as they can.  Yet most Americans are willing to open up their wallets, lend a hand and help each other out, despite the constant media badgering about racial divide in the United States.  Truly one American helping another, irregardless of race, is often the images that those who would rather promote a divide and conquer worldview prefer not to play on our televisions. 

 

Certainly disasters happen in this country and around the world from time to time.  This has always been the case and until the end of the age, this will be the case.  However it is certain that America has seen an increase in disasters over the past couple of decades and this year we have been hit particularly hard.  Some of these disasters have been harsher than others that we have seen in a long time, thus prompting people to ponder whether or not the end has come or Armageddon is upon us.

 

Surely those who know the Holy Scriptures, understand that what America is experiencing would not even be measurable in comparison to what God has foretold will happen during the “time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. 30:7) or what is coming known as the Great Tribulation or Tribulation amongst many people.  So to liken these current events to such scenarios is modest to say in comparison to what events are prophesied to unfold during that time.  Truly comparing Houston or Santa Rosa, even Barbuda, to Armageddon shows a large lack of knowledge amongst the inhabitants of this once great land regarding biblical truth.  Even more so, comparing a smoky sky with an ominous backdrop outside California’s Disneyland to Hell is even more folly.  There is a large lack of knowledge amongst people regarding what the Word of God teaches in all regards.

 

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”  Hosea 4:6a

 

So what of those who think such things?  What about America as a whole reflecting upon these disasters that are played endlessly by the big media outlets?  Do we look at our hearts towards our Creator and consider our way?  Rather do we band together to ‘do good’ to help out those who have need after such a disaster, but refuse to contemplate whether our sinful actions as a society need to be corrected? 

 

Indeed!  What we are seeing is but a drop in the bucket of what will take place upon the inhabitants of the Earth.  Those who truly know the Lord, whom have repented and believed into Jesus Christ as their Savior, accepted the free gift of Salvation will be Raptured out of this world to be with Jesus prior to the Tribulation beginning, despite the naysayers.  For those who are ‘left behind’ they truly don’t understand the Bible, they truly don’t understand the seriousness of the situation as a comparison of such events as we have currently seen would offer absolutely no comparison to what will take place.  The bodies of the wicked will lie upon the ground all over the planet, with no one to bury them during that time.  A situation will unfold that is truly catastrophic and one that should gather the attention of all the inhabitants of the Earth. 

 

“A roaring noise shall come to the ends of the earth; for Jehovah has a controversy with the nations; He will enter into judgment with all flesh. He will give those who are wicked to the sword, says Jehovah.  Thus says Jehovah of Hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great tempest shall be roused up from the recesses of the earth.  And in that day the slain of Jehovah shall be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They shall not be mourned, nor gathered, nor buried. They shall be as dung on the ground.”  Jeremiah 25:31-33

 

Yet even in that time the vast majority of people will refuse to repent of their wickedness before their Creator.

 

“And they did not repent of their murders nor their sorceries nor their sexual perversions nor their thefts.”  Revelation 9:21

 

The ignorance of humanity’s understanding of God’s Word isn’t going to go away anytime soon.  For those same people who refuse to acknowledge their Creator and repent of their sins, accepting the free gift of Salvation through His Son Jesus Christ, will continue to do so.  How is it that the inhabitants of the world marvel that the Two Witnesses rise again after three and a half days?  Clearly God’s Word teaches that this event will take place, yet the world will marvel.

 

“And after three and a half days the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood on their feet, and great terror fell on those who saw them.”  Revelation 11:11

 

There will be those who do repent and become martyrs for Jesus Christ during that time. 

 

“Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?  And I said to him, Sir, you know. So he said to me, These are the ones coming out of great affliction, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”  Revelation 7:13-14

 

So while the world as a whole will not repent, those individuals who do will have secured their eternity in Heaven, a far cry from those who will inevitably end up in the Lake of Fire, of which there is no comparison to a smoky Disneyland sky.  Even now, those who hear, those who are willing to understand, as this is written the Rapture has yet to occur and God’s mercy is still extended to those who are willing to seek Him.  Will you seek the Lord before it is too late?

 

“Seek Jehovah while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near.  Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to Jehovah, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.  For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says Jehovah.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”  Isaiah 55:6-9

 

“The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.”  Jeremiah 8:20

 

Do not be of the later crowd!  For all will stand before God Almighty!

 

“So then each of us shall give account concerning himself to God.”  Romans 14:12

 

“And the devil, who led them astray, was cast into the Lake of Fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.  And I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away. And there was found no place for them.  And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God. And books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, out of the things which were written in the books.  And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one, according to their works.  And Death and Hades were cast into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death.  And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire.”  Revelation 20:10-15

 

Amen!