Preface: Who out there now....Christians I'm asking this of....still do not think that the return of Jesus Christ....in power and glory.....with His holy angels....in judgment on this world....is near.....not....'maybe fifty years'....or some such number that we like to use just to drop the subject....but near....in Webster's definition? It's not just what Putin is doing right now....for this may lead to a world war....or it may not....but it is rather the speed of how things can transpire. There are two separate articles on potential catastrophic earthquakes in America right now on Drudge as I type. Billy Graham was comparing America to Sodom and Gomorrah back in the 1970s....and get this folks....we as a nation were all church-going saints compared to what we are today! We have been....as in the wilderness these past forty years....and should recall the instruction of Deuteronomy 8:5...."You should know in your heart that as man chastens his son, so the LORD your God chastens you." I would like to think that we would at this time wake up....but if things would settle out....we would be right back to where we were....saying as I put in the title to the following post from July of 2020....Come Lord Jesus.....Just Not Right Now....
This is powerful stuff....man and how he is unable to turn over sovereignty to God. What we have before us in America....and the world....is about as clear as anything in scripture as it was with God's warnings to the Israelites....along with their....and now our....finding a way to ignore those warnings. We are so embedded in our own dreams and desires that although we can think logically on most of the doctrinal truths of God's Word.....we struggle with His Second Coming. Oh we acknowledge it....and can stand firm in it....but only until that Second Coming might actually effect our plans....as honorable to God as they may be.There are places on the earth....many places....and even here in America....where the return in power and glory of our Lord is what believers are pleading for....for they live in tribulation from a world that hates them....yet we in evangelicalism want the opposite....for we do not live in tribulation. All the same we want to be able to 'proclaim' that He must be coming soon.....but that 'soon' is an abstract....it's real....but it isn't.
Many if not most Christians use the 'Rapture" as a convenient excuse for not really taking seriously God's warnings. We find that in the Rapture theory we can at the same time pretend that we want Him to return....and since it will come as a thief in the night....in the twinkling of an eye....with no real warnings that can actually be interpreted as pointing to us....for that is date setting....we can put it out of our mind....and concentrate on things that we are really interested in....like building our 401k....and making plans for retirement. There may be a lot of surprised people if the Rapture does indeed turn out to be at the beginning of the Tribulation....for far from meditating on His Word morning and noon and night....we can't even give him a tenth of our time....and our devotion and attention comes in a poor second....at best....to any e of a number of goals that we have.
We in America....still....in spite of the collapse all around us....live for the plans we have made....and are unable to consider let alone accept the fact that we may be the generation where our plans will be interrupted by the Lord's appearing in judgment. We purposely choose only to believe what we see with our eyes....the buses and trains run....sun comes up....the pension check arrives on time....and to dispel any doubts that the Lord's near return....is not really a 'near' return.....we can take a leisurely walk in the park any day of the week....or the concourse of our town....all is well....sort of....Praise the Lord....Come Lord Jesus....just not right now.
