Knowing Our Time

ANON—West Malaysia

Economic turmoil in Europe; devastating earthquakes in New Zealand and Japan, a massive tsunami, sweeping away everything and anything in its path; the disaster-stricken Fukushima-Daiichi plant, a nuclear catastrophe in the making, more gripping and terrifying than before, as radiation seeps into tap water, livestock, vegetables and even the soil and sea waters off Japan—the world anxiously wonders what else to expect as the catastrophe unfolds.

Chaos in Africa and the Middle East, a growing threat of retaliation and terror strikes against the USA and other Western nations—wars and rumors of war abound.

Russia and China—renewed forces, new economic powers. When will these nations collide with the Western world? We live in a world with an acute shortage of oil and other natural resources. How much longer until nations rise up against nations to control the dwindling resources, especially oil, in the Middle East? How much longer until a global war, the final battle by the great rivers of Tigris and Euphrates, is unleashed?

It seems almost that the other great issues facing the world have since been put aside, forgotten for now. What about climate change, a dying planet, the melting ice caps, droughts, famines, pestilences, new diseases and unsustainable population increase? Forgotten for now, in the face of new and more pressing matters; man has no answer to these problems.

These are the signs of the current times, the end times, when the hearts of men grow even harder and colder to the calling of the Lord, and the wrath of God against this wicked and perverse generation is at hand. This is the time when the end of days, the apocalypse, draws ever closer. The horses and their riders in the book of Revelations are ready to be unleashed, a multi-faceted color of white, red, black and pale horses (Rev 6).

Yet, what have we done to equip ourselves for the day of reckoning? Which treasures have we laid up in heaven and how many good deeds have we undertaken that will follow us to God’s righteous judgment? How many souls have we added to God’s fold, how have we served the Lord, dare we meet our Master?

We are the chosen ones and the time is at hand to heed the call of our Lord to stand up, bold and brave as Christian soldiers. Have we hoisted the banner of the Lord as we march and press on in our spiritual endeavor to save souls and, ultimately, to save ourselves and our loved ones? Or are we too caught up with our own matters and worries, forgetting the time that is at hand and the call for us to arise as bold Christian soldiers?

Just as it was in the days of Noah, people were eating and drinking, marrying and given into marriage, right up to the day when Noah entered the ark. These were matters of pleasure, matters of the flesh, matters of the heart. In short, matters of the world. These matters had no place in the spiritual kingdom, which the Lord was to establish. These were impertinent and inconsequential. The flood came and the flood destroyed them all (Lk 17: 26–27).
Let us reflect to amend our wrongful ways and steps. We who have been given this passage into the ark of the last days, the True Jesus Church: do we still have valid passage to this ark or have we traded our boarding pass for the matters of the world?

Just as it was in the days of Lot, people were eating and drinking, buying, selling, planting and building, right up to the day Lot left Sodom, when fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all (Lk 17: 28–29). These too are materialistic things, matters of desire and of vanity. These are matters of the world and have no part with our spiritual salvation, but concern those who die an eternal death.

Are these, sadly not, the matters of many of us today? How can these worldly matters help us on the day the Son of Man, our Lord Jesus, returns with His righteous judgment? Where is our heart and our focus set in these end times? Have we indeed turned a deaf ear to these warnings, cold to the Lord’s teachings and love, and stubbornly refusing to amend our wicked ways as we determine to live in the perishing world of man?
Remember Lot’s wife (Lk 17:32). Her ways were still set in Sodom and her eyes lingered only on its fallen beauty, even as she fled its destruction.
Let us therefore resolve to change our focus to matters that are spiritual and of the Lord.

We must lose our life in the world, so that we can gain and preserve our life and destiny, which the Lord has intended for us in heaven. Book our passage and that of those whom we love in the ark of the last days, The True Jesus Church. There is simply no other way.
The world must die, and so must our lives in the world, in exchange for a life spiritual, everlasting and incorruptible. We die so that we can live. Truly! Truly.

[Voice of a female newscaster in the background]

            “…nuclear experts plan for the next generation nuclear power plants, which will avoid the mistakes of Fukushima–Daiichi. In other related news, countries are now asking whether foodstuff purchased from Japan including seafood and other Japanese food products can be certified to be free from radiation exposure…”