From encouragement to warning, continuing from the Lord’s encouraging words in my last post…

The angels are coming; the angels are coming
The devils are coming; the devils are coming

One if by land; two if by sea
What does that mean to you and to me?

Sound the alarm; ring out the bells
Evil released from the deep pits of Hell

But the Son rises up; He draws near, He draws near
To lead in the battle: You have nothing to fear

For years and for years, you have all asked Me why
The time has now come; hear the Lord’s battlecry

Onward and upward; follow My lead
I’m sufficient My Bride, for all that you need

The victory, the victory, the victory is won
Keep your eyes on Me; keep your eyes on the Son

In some of His final words to the disciples shortly before He was crucified, Jesus couldn’t have been clearer that time is short and we should heed the ‘storm warnings’:

And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
Matthew 24:4-14

Sadly, even as everything Jesus mentioned happens right before our eyes, many people (Christians included!) could be compared to those who have ignored modern-day warnings of natural disasters, with tragic results. Warnings such as:

• 2005 – Hurricane Katrina: Three years previously, the city’s main newspaper, The Times-Picayune, had devoted several days of coverage to a special series, Washing Away, in which that dangers associated with failing to correct weaknesses in the levees that were meant to protect New Orleans were addressed.
• 2007 – Minneapolis Bridge Collapse: Thirteen people were killed and another 145 injured in a sudden bridge collapse, despite the fact that officials at multiple levels of government had been warning of structural defieciences for almost twenty years.
• 2011 – Fukashima Meltdown: No one could have forecast the massive earthquake, which triggered a disastrous tsunami that not ony killed over 15,000 people but also triggered the failure of the nuclear power plant and forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people. The negative effects of that meltdown are still being felt, yet the Carniegie Endowment for International Peace concluded that the disaster could have been prevented, “Bureaucratic and professional stovepiping made nuclear officials unwilling to take advice from experts outside of the field. Those nuclear professionals also may have failed to effectively utilize local knowledge. And, perhaps most importantly, many believed that a severe accident was simply impossible.”

Such a list could go on and on. It seems that mankind routinely ignores valid warnings time and time again, the worst of which is when multitudes fail to receive Jesus:

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:12-15

Jesus was clear; the end-of-times ‘storm warnings’ are clear throughout both the Old and New Testaments. May we all be wise and heed God’s words:

Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. The Lord roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth quake. But the Lord is a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the people of Israel. Joel 3:14-16