Ask the Pastor – September 2015
Question:
Hi Pastor Campbell: I’m in my early forties now but it seems that most of my adult life people have been saying that Jesus is soon to return. What do you think? Do current world events support this thinking?
Reply:
Oh, yes, the sixty-four dollar question! But, yes I believe all the signs point to His early return. Certainly we are in those days He warned about, the perilous times, where there are numerous signs indicating we have reached this point. The climax, of course, is His warning that all flesh would be destroyed unless He returned visibly, literally and personally, not spiritually as so often taught today by our theologians.
Let’s look at just some of the signs He warned would be visible.
He talked about wars and rumours of war and while we can point to many times in the past when they were prevalent, the number taking place in the world today is astonishing. It almost doesn’t matter where you look, in Europe, the Mid-East, the Far-East, Africa, there are conflicts galore. We hear mostly about the Middle-East these days and it is explosive. ISIS continues to flex its muscles, gaining greater and greater control in Iraq, Syria and other Mid-Eastern countries; Saudi Arabia is attacking Yemen, which only recently overthrew its government; Libya is still a hotbed of terrorism and other nations in the area are fraught with unrest.
Indeed, the rise of the Islamic system is more forceful than at any time since the days of the crusades, but didn’t Jesus warn of the false prophet.
Still, we have seen African nations like Somalia, Kenya, Central African Republic and others in internal conflict and China’s expansion in the islands in the South China Sea that could well threaten shipping lines. Then there is the growing conflict in Europe with Russia on one side and America and the EU on the other. From some quarters, it looks like Russia is being provoked and the west should be careful. Their symbol is the Bear and one thing is certain, like the bear, Russia is unpredictable in temperament, and will attack if they are surprised or feel threatened. Isn’t this what we are told in Ezekiel 38:4, that God will “put hooks into their jaw and bring them forward with all their armies” If that happens, and God tells us it ultimately will, then all hell will break out throughout the entire world.
I would be remiss if I did not make more mention of Matthew 24:7 where Christ warned, “….their shall be famines, and pestilences and earthquakes in various places”. In recent years we have seen the effects of plagues like Ebola, SARS, etc.; the latest is MERS (Middle-East Respiratory System) that has already begun its worldwide journey, hundreds of cases in South Korea alone. Travel will speed up the incidences of this plague throughout the world. Combine this with a growing world hunger and you have a recipe for disaster. Accompanying disease and hunger are the natural disasters that are increasing in number and you have more hunger, more disease. This past month, we have witnessed the devastation of earthquakes in Nepal, Malaysia and Japan and a myriad of disasters in America, from hurricanes, tornados and earthquakes. One could almost predict with certainty that the world is under judgment.
And why, particularly in the Israel countries. The reason is simple, we have seen the rise of secularism and godliness; even our governments don’t heed God any more. Most in our nation simply have no time for God’s Commandments and probably have not bothered to read them. And so immorality reigns supreme. And as Jeremiah suggested in chapter 5:31, “…and my people loved to have it so”. This is why there is a different view from sixty years ago when things were seen as bad compared to where they are now acceptable, abortion being just one. The prophet Isaiah talked about the changing times and attitudes in Chapter 5:20-23 and in verses 24 &25 he talks of the inescapable punishment for the evildoers. Their wrongdoing is clear, “…because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.”
Interestingly, what probably led to much of the change in our Israel nations has resulted in the world population upheaval. Millions of immigrants and refugees, as a result of wars or simply a desire to enjoy better living standards, have come to our countries but have brought with them their own customs and gods and in an effort to placate them, the Christian faith has been watered down to, as some would say, milk toast and an all-inclusive faith that has no place for much of God’s Word,
In fact, over the years the Christian church in True Israel nations will not take a stand against evil, even tolerating the persecution and killing of Christians by ISIS and other rulers in nations around the world. One only has to look at the way Christian Israelites permit a denigration of Christianity and Jesus Christ by factions within our nations to realize we are in the last gasp stage of the Church of Laodicea age. (Rev. 3:14) Being hot nor cold will no longer be tolerated by the Lord and all Israelites should begin their study and dwell on John 15:6, “If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned”.
A final note, dear reader, the world, particularly in the Israel nations, is speeding toward an economic crash. Why it hasn’t happened as yet, I don’t know, but there is so much air in the balloon, so to speak, it will soon come crashing down. The debt usury of the Babylonian money system cannot be sustained as it has been and even the one worlders know it. They will believe it is they who are behind the collapse, indeed they be sitting back observing and/or provoking all this terrible event, believing as they do that there can be “Order out of Chaos,” which people will accept for some form of peace. Instead, they will be rich men (and women) of James 5 being sentenced for their evil and awaiting the day of their slaughter.
As Isaiah said (13:9), “Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate, and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it”. It will not be something to look forward to, Ezekiel 7: 8 tells us this, but it is coming and I think, soon.
