Reading Signs of The Times

INTRO / WELCOME:

Praise the Lord Everybody, Welcome To Another Broadcast of Elisha Ministries, “What’s Really Going On”     I’m your host Bishop C.S. Miller.

Matthew 16:3 “and in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today for the sky is red and threatening.’ Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky but cannot discern the signs of the times?” The Lord chastised the people for being able to do all manner of things, but they were not able to read the signs of the times.

We live in critical times and dangerous times. Surely you must be concerned about your nation and what is happening in the world? Do things seem to be spinning out of control?

There is such an advance of evil in our times. wickedness on steroids. “What’s Really Going On

WHAT DOES THE TERM “IN THE LAST DAYS” MEAN?

THERE ARE TWO USES OF THIS TERM. The first one applies to all that concerns Israel. For example, in this verse – Ezekiel 38:16 “and you will come up against My people Israel like a cloud to cover the land. It will come about IN THE LAST DAYS that I shall bring you against My land, in order that the nations may know Me when I shall be sanctified through you before their eyes, O Gog.” The armies of Gog/Magog (Russia, Iran, Libya, Ethiopia, and all the nations to the remote north of Israel) will invade Israel.

Every single one of the Old Testament references to the last days – and there are many  – are prophetic and concern Israel. They speak of trial, blessing, and the coming of the Lord to the nation Israel. Every single one of these references remains in the future and CANNOT HAPPEN while the Church is still on earth.

Many of them are connected with “the end of the age.” For example, the disciples asked Jesus in Matthew 24 verse 1 what the signs of His coming would be and when would be the end of the age. The end of the age regarding Israel is when the Lord returns at the Second Coming.

The second use of the term “In the last days” in the New Testament and applies to the last days of the Church age. This verse relates to that time – 2 Timothy 3:1-2 “Realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come, for men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,” (etc).

Let us make that very clear. There are two ways the term “In the last days” or just “last days” is used in scripture. The first use is for the last days of the Jewish age and for the world society. That ends at the Second Coming. It means the end of the age for the whole world, and that will end after the Tribulation at the Second Coming when Jesus returns to establish His kingdom on earth.

The second – usually found in the New Testament references – is the last days or the time before the Rapture, when the Lord returns in the air to catch up His believing people, as we have in these verses – 1Thessalonians 4:16-17 “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.”

WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON?

Where are we today? We are living in the Church Age, actually right at the end of the Church Age. This is why it is so important to understand that we are right at the end. This is not a time to be slack in our Christian witness and living for the Lord. The time is short – very short!

CHURCHES HAVE FAILED IN BIBLICAL PROPHECY

Many churches have neglected the study of biblical prophecy and relegate it to be unimportant. This attitude dishonors God. Those churches have no expectation of the Lord’s return or the redemption of the believers at the Rapture.

Churches, even denominations, do not teach the Rapture because they cannot be bothered or don’t believe it, yet the imminent coming of the Lord for the believers in the New Testament days was an essential doctrine called “the glorious hope.

The “coming of the Lord” is what inspired godly living and gave hope to the martyrs who were being killed for the name of Christ. The neglect and dismissal of the Rapture understanding is a cunning insertion of Satan into doctrines, especially at and after the time of Constantine and in the Reformation. The Reformation did not go far enough.

This is what God says about it (the church at Sardis represents the Reformation period) – Revelation 3:2 “Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain which were about to die, for I HAVE NOT FOUND YOUR DEEDS COMPLETED in the sight of My God.”

In a survey done on Rapture teaching in the churches, quote from Daymond Duck: In early March 2023, prophecy teacher Amir Tsarfati wrote, “According to those who gather such statistics, of the 2.42 billion people who bear the label ‘Christian’ today, only 6.6% believe in the Rapture of the church.”

The reason for that low percentage is the fault and neglect of churches and their ministers and denominations who are too careless about the Bible.

On May 3, 2023, a Decision Magazine article was posted on Harbingers Daily about Aaron Edwards, a theology professor in England, who tweeted that homosexuality is “invading the Church.”

Edwards said, “This is a ‘Gospel issue,’ by the way. If sin is no longer sin, we no longer need a Savior.”

His statement caused a backlash that got him suspended and then fired. But Church leaders who deliberately reject the truth (and deliberately promote a lie) are serving Satan.

World's Largest Baptist University Hosts 'Queer Sex Ed' Night

Founded in 1845 and claiming 16,000 students, Baylor University is the world's largest Baptist University and also one of the oldest - it is the oldest perpetually-operating university in Texas but that didn't stop it from giving into woke theology.

Heavers Farm Primary School in London, forcing the 4-year-old into an LGBT-themed Pride Parade.

The dispute reached went to the court, Circuit Court Judge Christopher Lethem plunged headfirst into LGBT advocacy.

He issued a ruling wildly claiming that there was little in the Pride parade that was inconsistent with the Montague’s Christian beliefs, and even claimed a poster, "Some people are gay. Get over it!” actually what Christian teaching advocates.

School officials, during testimony, claimed Christian views about homosexuality are "homophobic," and in their emails to each other, charged Christians with concerns about the school's leftism were "bigots."

Shock Poll: Results Show More Than Half Of Christians Are Deceiving Themselves

More than half of born-again Christians don't believe Jesus lived a sinless life. That is what the respected George Barna survey tells us.

The apologetic website Got Questions explains, Jesus being sinless is central to the hope Christians have in Him as Savior. It explains why it's so important to believe. If he was not God incarnate, Jesus would not be able to forgive sins.

Born-again Christians make up the backbone of church activity and have a high level of commitment to their faith, but the study shows that between 2020 and 2023, the share of those who say they believe Jesus did not commit sins during his lifetime on Earth fell from 58% to 44%.

WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON

The Rapture will end our current Church age and the times we live in. The Church will be translated to heaven before the great and terrible Tribulation breaks out over the earth for 7 years. Any of you people who are skeptical of the Rapture and believe there is just one coming of Jesus in the future, please read the New Testament carefully and pray and ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom.

Get wisdom! Get understanding!Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth.Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you;Love her, and she will keep you.Wisdom is the principal thing;Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.Exalt her, and she will promote you;She will bring you honor, when you embrace her.She will place on your head an ornament of grace;A crown of glory she will deliver to you.” Proverbs 4:5-0

READING THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES

So far, we have spoken about the last days as they apply to Israel and to the Church and about the Rapture, so we must address the SIGNS OF THE TIMES.

We live in such evil times, and the things that concern us are getting worse. Listen to what Paul said about the last days of the Church age – 2 Timothy 3:1 “Realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come,” (etc). That means “days or hardship” – difficult times” (NASB) and “perilous times” (AV). In examining the signs of the times, we need to understand what is meant by “difficult times.”

Difficult times must be understood as something different from what has been in the past. Horrible things have featured in the past, like wars and famines and persecution and death and other things, so what makes our times difficult or unique?

Let us what is happening is now in the global arena.

DESTRUCTION OF GOD’S DECLARED ABSOLUTES FOR MAN

God instituted marriage between man and woman, but wickedness has turned that on its head by making it the perversion of homosexual marriage. It is sick, but that sickness proceeds from the corrupt nature that makes up what mankind is. The degrading aspects of homosexuality are now enshrined in the law courts of Australia and the USA and are so radical that people are now persecuted for disagreeing with it and are losing their jobs and freedoms. It is satanic, just one more sign of the times.

God established true sexuality, that of male and female: man and woman. He created them in the image of God, and for all these last 6,000 years, the world recognized male and female genders. However, in the last few years, we have the great confusion and perversion of sexuality and gender. Some of us know this terminology from hell – LGBTQIA +, and there are more of these distortions.

They call it gender identity, gender diversity, and gender fluidity. I call it demonic gender corruption. God will not allow this evil to continue for much longer, and as the flood came crashing on the ancient world, so shall the Tribulation burst onto the earth.

Finally, are you Rapture Ready?

If you want to be rapture ready and go to heaven, you must be born again (John 3:3). God loves you, and if you have not done so, sincerely admit that you are a sinner; believe that Jesus is the virgin-born, sinless Son of God who died for the sins of the world, was buried, and raised from the dead; ask Him to forgive your sins, cleanse you, come into your heart and be your Saviour; then tell someone that you have done this.

NEXT Broadcast: THE SEXUAL DESTRUCTION OF CHILDREN