The figure is either a comic in itself or incorporated into another syndicated comic. We are all familiar with the little man with a long beard....carrying a sign with four words scribbled on it....THE END IS NEAR. Actually an idea just came to my mind where that same little man is carrying a sign only the scribbling reads....THE END IS HERE. Someone says to him...."Don't you mean....the end is near?" And he says...."No....Those people don't know how near it really is!"
I feel like that little man at times. I wonder often if it is my imagination...four decades....three decades ago or thereabouts....Christians seemed to know that Jesus in His return was near....and it seemed that we actually desired it to be near. Today it seems to be a thought that has to be kept hidden.
Oh there are still the prophecy conferences here and there....mostly in the Southwest....and there is Jonathan Cahn who is the only one whose books disappear from the shelves as soon as they are published....but is that what the church has been relegated to....patches of people here and there who actually believe that Jesus is at the very doorstep?
I have thirty-some years of R. C. Sproul's monthly Tabletalk magazine stored in the basement....a new one added every month....and am I right in having detected an urgency in his speaking before he went to be with his Lord in December of 2017? Billy Graham unequivocally....and increasingly warned us for those forty years before the Lord called him home sixty-nine days after R. C. Sproul.....and forty years seems to be the norm in how long God sends men such as Jeremiah....to warn....and usually they are ignored. Jonah came to Nineveh with a forty day warning....and that was one of the few instances where the people believed him....although they probably heard the story in advance of how Jonah was thrown overboard in a storm....and then he appeared in Nineveh....probably bleached out from the whale's belly? That may be what it takes with us....only I have described it before as....hitting rock bottom....and apparently we are not quite there yet.
Folks....I don't write long articles. I write short posts....in a way much like that little bearded man with a sign. Not every post is about the Second Coming....but every post is about the gospel of Jesus Christ in some way....and the gospel of Jesus Christ is also a warning.....to look forward to and prepare for His return in great power and glory! I recommend Charles Spurgeon and Martyn Lloyd-Jones and John Piper sermons all the time....that is the real essence of these posts....and neither Spurgeon nor Lloyd-Jones specifically preached a lot of the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior....although they did so....and there was an urgency there....but every sermon of theirs magnified Jesus Christ....and His Word....and therefore did include the state of the world in their times....and the imminence of....and at least the need for....and the need for preparation and desire of the return of Jesus!
We knew back then that there would be great delusion at the time of the Lord's return. We knew that there would be a falling away....and that false prophets would abound....and we knew that judgment would come to the church first....but in retrospect we did not comprehend the warning as clear as we might have....for by 'the church'....it not only pointed to a general apostasy in the worldwide church....but it actually meant us also....not just the liberal unbelieving church! The delusion would hit us....and most astounding of all....we would be the ones that brought in the worst false prophet of all....and believe his false prophecies!
Billy Graham....according to his son....spent his last year....his ninety-ninth....unable to converse much at all....just listen. Also according to Franklin....his father voted for Trump in 2016....but then so did I....and I celebrated that Hillary did not win....but I have to believe that Billy Graham saw what was coming as he lay there or sat in his rocker....and much like Daniel....could only reflect on the words...."closed up and sealed till the end of time. Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand."
Daniel 12: 9,10
