The sad commentary today is that there has been another shooting in America. A man supposedly killed some 26 people at a Church event, yesterday Sunday, November 5, 2017. Just some weeks previously in Las Vegas, a man is supposed to have killed some 50+ people at a Country Music concert. Last week also, allegations about and confessions by various known public American personalities of sexual abuse have shocked the listening public. Why does the moral decay in America and the world seem so alarming? Where is this taking us? Why is it happening? Why are some older Portuguese longing for another Salazar? Let's look at these questions and see if we can find some answers through our knowledge of Bible prophecy.
In the New Testament we read,
"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.[1]...Ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.[2]...But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived."[3]
The Apostle Paul is telling us what the conditions in the world will be like in the Last Days, the days just preceding the Great Tribulation and the return of Christ. We are not going to go through each word he uses and explain how they are coming to pass today. I am sure you can find examples that these things that Paul mentions are happening to a greater extent today than they were 50 years or more ago. But we will just look at the ones that touch these recent events.
Paul has told us that dangerous times would come because men would be incontinent. One online dictionary says the following:
"Incontinent: lacking in moderation or self-control, unable to contain, especially of sexual desire."[4]
The past week with the confessions of and accusation towards various Hollywood and cinema personalities, we have been confronted with the truth that many men in positions of power, like we have seen in the case of the pedophilia in the Catholic Church, have abused their position to take cruel advantage of minors and women for sexual gratification. Hollywood itself has seemed to have fed us this necessity for greater sexual fulfillment in its array of films and television programs. We have seen it also in the Islamic State movement in Syria and Iraq with the buying and selling of captured woman by IS soldiers.
Jesus also warned us in his discourse to his disciples on the end of the era that
"Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold."[5]
He also added,
"But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be."[6]
What was the condition of the world before God sent the Global Flood to destroy the former civilization of man? (That same flood, which modern science denies, is the best explanation for the millions of fossils around the world found buried in sedimentary deposits, i.e., deposits laid down by water.) Let's read from Genesis and see what the Bible says.
"And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."[7] "The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence."[8]
We see, therefore, that God destroyed the first great civilization of mankind, because of the corruption and violence. Paul and Jesus both warned us that before the dreadful period of the Great Tribulation depicted in the book of Revelation found at the end of the New Testament, the earth would again be violent and corrupt. Paul uses the phrases "fierce," and "despisers of them that are good."
Surely, these killers are fierce in their actions, like IS in the Middle East, and both the shooting events in the USA and those of IS have been against innocent Christian peoples going kindly about their business. This is just as Paul warned, that good people would be despised. Jesus also mentioned in that same chapter of warning about the end times that,
"And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another."[9]
It certainly seems that the Christians are beginning to be targeted and victims of these hate crimes and atrocities. In America today as the result of the election of Trump it seems the Americans are hating one another just because one voted for Trump and the other voted for Clinton. America is today a deeply divided country and the Press seems to be doing its utmost to make it so. Turn off that television, it's influencing your thoughts and opinions for the bad. Can't you understand that?
Since Trump took a large part of the Christian vote through his alliance with Vice President Pence and the anti-abortion, anti-gay groups, Christians are being demonized as gay haters and fascist and supporters of everything that Trump says and does. Christianity is being painted as conservative, reactionary and intolerant. Could this wave of opinion have affected the perpetrators of these hate acts and caused them to choose Christians for victims?
Seeing all this take place from their safe haven here in Portugal, many of the Portuguese older generation are longing for a man like Salazar, the last Portuguese dictator. Though a strong man, he did much for the country, balancing the budget, leaving a surplus in the National Bank. He attacked corruption and gave power to the police to enforce the law. Could the longing of the Portuguese people be the same longing found in all peoples around the world, a longing for peace and brotherhood? Could that longing actually bring to power the One World dictator predicted in the Bible for the Last Days?[10][11] A dictator that comes in peacefully and seems to help solve some of the crucial problems of the world, only to use his power later to take absolute control over the lives of all humanity and bring on the Great Tribulation?[12][13]
It remains to be seen. But things do seem to be slowly but surely moving in the direction predicted in God's book, the Bible. Pick it up and read it. It will do you good, especially the New Testament.
Notes
[1] 2 Timothy 3:1-5
[2] 2 Timothy 3:7
[3] 2 Timothy 3:13
[4] www.dictionary.com
[5] Matthew 24:12
[6] Matthew 24:37
[7] Genesis 6:5
[8] Genesis 6:11
[9] Matthew 24:6-11
[10] 2 Thessolanians 2:3-4
[11] Revelation 13:7
[12] Daniel 8:23-25
[13] Daniel 11:21
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