Why Now? Part 1

What makes people think that the times Jesus warned about are happening now?

Why Now? What makes the Watchmen on the Wall think that the birth pains are upon us? That we are the generation that “sees all things come together?”( Lk 21:28) There’s a whole lot of stuff happening or coming together or trending that points to Jesus’ predicted return happening soon. Let’s look at just some reasons: birth pains, technology, military, and geopolitical.

Jesus referred to the signs pointing to His soon return as warnings that lead directly to the “birth pains.” Those of us who have given birth know what that’s like. Often, some time before the due date, you feel some “odd” pains. “Is this it?,” we wonder, “am I in labor?” Then after a bit, things subside and we conclude, “Nope, false alarm; Braxton-Hicks pains.” Then the day comes when we really are in labor. Sometimes labor starts on schedule but sometimes it comes as a surprise, well before expected. As time goes on, the pains come more frequently and more intensely with little time to catch your breath in between.

Jesus doesn’t want us to be ignorant about when He’s close to coming back. We are to know the warning signs and to watch for them. Watch. Pay attention, He said. While teaching end times prophecy over the last 20 years, I have always stayed away from talking about birth pains. After all, we’ve always had wars and famines and droughts and disease and earthquakes. Little Old Ladies have always said, “tsk, tsk, tsk” about the morals and behavior of younger generations. So how would one know this time is different?

In the past decade, Planet Earth has been subjected to more and more and stronger and stronger fires, floods, winds, rains, hailstones, earthquakes, volcanoes, insect invasions, diseases. I recall reading a report in mid-February that said ten significant natural disasters were occurring simultaneously: poor Australia was being hit by one ecological disaster after another, Western Europe was being slammed over and over again with gale force storms, Ebola was re-emerging from the Congo, fires were raging across California, locusts were swarming in Africa, the Corona virus was escaping China, earthquakes and volcanoes were erupting all over the place.  

Climate change is touted as the cause of all these ecological disasters. Okay, but who engineers climate change? God. He frequently warned the Israelites that if they turned from Him, one of the consequences would be that He’d turn their lush, crop-producing land into a barren wasteland. Done. (Deut., Lev., Ez, Jer., Zk) Who was it that sent the rains and flood of Noah? God. Who was it that parted the Red Sea with a strong wind? God. Who sent the fierce storm that resulted in Jonah being thrown overboard? God. Who calmed the seas? God.

2 Timothy 3:1-4 states, “There will be terrible times in the last days…” People will be lovers of themselves (Selfies, obsession with how many people “like” them). He said people would be lovers of money (and the stuff it buys). I’m reminded of an old Veggie Tale where Larry has a new ATV and Bob says, “Boy, I bet that makes you happy.” Larry says, “Well, there’s the trailer, too.” They go back and forth for awhile until an exasperated Bob gasps, “So how much stuff do you need to be happy?” Larry responds, “I don’t know? How much stuff is there?”

One birth pain sign that has always stood out to me is that people will not tolerate the truth but will be lovers of the lie. They will not put up with sound teaching but will seek out others who tell them just what they want to hear. (2Tim 4)They have taught their tongues to speak lies. (Jer 9:5). Read 2Tim 3,4 and Rom 1:28-32 for the long list.

We’re told that these culture-related warning times would be like the days of Noah. (Lk 17:26) Genesis 6:5 says that in Noah’s day, the earth was corrupt in God’s eyes, full of violence with people’s thoughts and hearts evil all the time. At that time, the economy was good, people were eating and drinking and having wedding celebrations. They trusted the future. For 150 years Noah built the two football field-sized ark in plain sight. You couldn’t miss it. No doubt people asked him what he was doing and no doubt Noah told them but people chose not to know what was going on. So the rain, when it started, was completely unexpected. Our generation is just like Noah’s.

We’ve talked about some of the warning signs as they relate to the planet and people, next time we’ll address a few of the prophecy trends from a technology, military and geopolitical perspective.

Please, neither offhandedly accept nor reject what is said in this blog. Check it out. Look it up for yourself in the Bible. If you are a child of God you are in good hands and there is the most wonderful eternity waiting for you. If you are not a Christ follower, now is a really good time to honestly explore the truth claims of the Bible,