The End Times

By Bruce Cannon

Mitchell County

The only possible explanation for the condition of our society is that we are living in the end times.  How many times have you and I said, “I never thought I would see the day when….”   The Scriptures teach that when the Lord returns for His Church the condition of society will be like the days of Noah and the days of Lot.  They also teach that iniquity would abound and the love of people would wax cold.

The days of Noah were characterized by the unheeding of man to the warnings of God through Noah and of wickedness being lived out in the open with no shame.  Genesis 6:5  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.”  For one hundred years Noah witnessed to those living around him that judgment was coming.  With every board being placed and every nail or peg being driven, Noah witnessed that a flood of rain was coming that would destroy mankind.  The only hope for those who saw Noah building the Ark was to believe: to believe that Noah was acting as instructed by God and that the flood was indeed coming.  Sadly, as we know, only a few were spared that judgment.  Only Noah’s three sons, their wives, and Noah and his wife escaped.

There are so few today who will hear the message the Church is preaching and, it seems, that there are so few Churches who are preaching the uncompromised truth of the Word!  A social gospel, one that is accepting of all walks of life regardless of the teachings of the Word, will never bring the soul of man to the understanding that he or she needs to repent and receive the salvation of the Lord!

The days of Lot were much the same.  Society was reset because all but Noah’s family were destroyed.  But in just a handful of Chapters in the Scriptures, the same condition of society was evident. Jesus said in Luke 17:28-30,  “Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.”

The need for parents to train their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord is greater today than ever.  The need for neighbors to pray for and work with neighbors to come to Christ is huge.  Our evangelism field is wherever we go.  We literally are in the presence of unbelievers wherever we may go.  Tell them about Jesus.  Work Him into every conversation somehow.

As I write this article my heart is broken because of the overwhelming evidence that our nation has not hit rock bottom, but is continuing in its spiral away from the Lord.  Let me share a couple of pieces of evidence.  On Easter Sunday our president declared that day Transgender Visibility Day and issued this official proclamation: “I am proud that my Administration has stood for justice from the start, working to ensure that the LGBTQI+ community can live openly, in safety, with dignity and respect.  I am proud to have appointed transgender leaders to my Administration and to have ended the ban on transgender Americans serving openly in our military.”  On the Sunday we celebrate the Resurrection, our President is celebrating the gay community and establishing rights for them and the transgendered that other Americans do not have.   Add to this proclamation the fact that he reaffirmed the ban that had been in place for decades that there be no “questionable content, religious symbols, overtly religious themes,” on the Easter eggs used for the White House Easter Egg Roll.

These are just two of the latest incidents and examples that show that our nation has turned so, so far away from the only Hope of our rescue and redemption.  As you know, there are many, many more evidences which show that we have turned so very far away from God.

What is the answer?  Prayer!  Repentance! We, you and I who have never supported deviant lifestyles or who have rejected the Lord or His presence in our daily walk, must stand in the gap for our nation and beg Him for mercy, grace, forgiveness, and help.  He is our only hope.  Seek Him today and encourage every believer to do the same.  Who knows?  God may remedy our situation by granting us the help we so desperately need.

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Bruce Cannon is the Pastor of Pine Branch Baptist Church in Spruce Pine, NC

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