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Matthew 24 at the door
“For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be
famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.”-
Matt 24:7 (KJV)
“Prophecy” remarked a wise soul “is nothing but history written in advance”. Quite true!
Have we ever wondered, why there were plethora of prophecies regarding Jesus’ I advent?
He could have well taken been born to
a virgin supernaturally, lived a sinless life, died an atoning death on the
cross, rose again providing the salvation to fallen mankind and ascended
without a single prophecy foretelling all these events. But there was a
prophecy regarding every single landmark occurrence in His spotless life. If
Isaiah 7:14 foretold His miraculous birth then
Micah 5:2 blared about the place
of His birth (i,e…Bethlehem). Ditto the same about the prophecy regarding His crucifixion in
Psalm 22 (penned
by David at a time crucifixion as a mode of execution did not exist), resurrection in
Psalm 16:10 and ascension in
Psalm 68:18.
So why so many prophesies regarding His I advent? Remember
on His single, singular life depended the very salvation of Mankind. So the
Almighty God did not want any rationalist to attribute His unique life, death and
resurrection to a mere accident or coincidence. Let me illustrate. I had a
bosom buddy by name Anandeep in my school and Junior college days. After I
accepted the Lord in my Junior college days, I was particularly guilty of never
having shared the Gospel “full-throttle” with him. After passing out of Junior
college, we pursued different fields in education as such we almost lost
completely touch with each other. With passage of time, having grown more in
the Lord there was that ever-growing burning desire in my heart to share the
Gospel with an old mate of my alma mater. Oh how I wanted to share about the
NEW joys (I was growing spiritually, you see) of the walking with the good
Lord, with the chum, I had shared so many childhood joys! So I prayed fervently
about it. Some years later, when I was traveling in a train in the evening
hours (Rayalaseema Express to be precise, which plies between Hyderabad
and Thirupathi in Andra Pradesh) I DID MEET my friend. That night, I shared the Gospel with all my heart, soul and
might. I profusely thanked the Lord for all the happy time I had in my journey
with my friend and the opportunity to share the Gospel with him, what with
others in the compartment listening too! Look at the Lord’s providence! May be,
if I had met good ole’ Anandeep in a busy bazaar, he may not have listened to
me so patiently. Boy, when the good Lord answers our prayers, He does it in the
best way possible! Of course my rationalist friends would doubtless attribute
this fulfilling experience of mine to an accident or a coincidence. Not for
them a belief that my “train encounter” was a result of passionate prayers. Now
consider for a moment…if everything about my travel on that particular day when
I met my old pal had been foretold by way of a writing in a certain book, would
they still put it down to an accident or a coincidence? NO WAY! Ditto the same about Christ’s
life…IT WAS NOT BY CHANCE THAT EVERYTHING HAPPENED IN HIS FIRST COMING, THE WAY
IT DID!
So it follows that if all Biblical prophecies have been fulfilled regarding His
First advent, would not all the prophecies
(Matt 24:7) regarding His Second advent be also fulfilled besides others like in
Psalm 2,
Matt 24,
Mark 13,
Luke 21? SURELY YES! Simply consider
the above captioned Scripture portion. While famines have been raging in
African countries (the following site gives all the grim details
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00019261.htm ),
the Earthquakes have been shaking the cities and villages the World over with alarming regularity.
The facts and figures encapsulated in the following table emphasize the increase in the frequency
of Earthquakes. Doubtless, they would leave many a doubting Thomas regarding the
impending Church rapture quaking in his boots…especially those who say “Oh
earthquakes, have been occurring all along, so what is new”? Yes, what is new
about this News about Earthquakes (also graphically illustrated) is the ABNORMAL
increase in their frequency of occurrence in recent times, to underscore THE
TRUTH about imminent Church rapture and onset of 7 years of severe tribulation.
While on the context of “Abnormal” increase in Earthquakes, has not Second Coming been also compared to childbirth
pangs
(I Thess 5:3), which GRADUALLY INCREASE IN INTENSITY?
Yes, there are pains even in 5th or 6th months of
pregnancy but it is only when the time of childbirth draws near, pains become
acute.
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| DATES FROM & TO |
PERIOD |
NO of EARTHQUAKES (Magnitude > 6.99) |
| 1863 to 1900 incl |
38 yrs |
12 |
| 1901 to 1938 incl |
38 yrs |
53 |
| 1939 to 1976 incl |
38 yrs |
71 |
| 1977 to 2011 incl |
34 yrs |
164 (to March. 2011) |
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(Source: http://www.earth.webecs.co.uk/index.htm)
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And Epidemics? At a time, health care and sanitation have improved considerably even then,
have we not been witnesses to the outbreak of epidemics, worse pandemics such as Anthrax,
SARS, Chickungunya, Bird Flu and now Swine flu. Are they not pointing to fulfillment of end-time
prophecies before the Second Advent of Christ?
Says a WHO website
“Current epidemiological models project that a pandemic could result in two to 7.4
million deaths globally.
If an influenza pandemic were to occur today, we could expect the virus to spread
rapidly due to the interconnected nature of the world and the high level of global travel.”
(Source : http://www.who.int/csr/disease/influenza/pandemic/en/)
Now if we compare the culled-out information with the following Prophecy in the Book of Daniel
– noted for its end time prophecies -
“But Daniel, keep this prophecy a secret; seal it up so that it will not be understood until the end times,
when travel and education shall be vastly increased”.
– Daniel 12:4
the fact would dawn upon us that all end-time Prophecies (the outbreak of epidemics and growth in travel are end-time phenomenon)
are falling into place slowly but surely.
Throw-in the World wars of recent vintage (yes many wars took place in the centuries past also but were there World
wars? Only now, less than a century ago, have World Wars taken place) and the full significance of Jesus’ words
uttered two thousand years ago
“For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines,
and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.”-
Matt 24:7 (KJV)
would register upon us with a force measuring at least 7 on the Richter scale! Now the Biblical
scholars well versed with the Greek Language would tell us that the word “in divers places”
means actually “every place” including unlikely places such as sea surface. Was not the devastating
Tsunami of December 2004 triggered by earthquake in the sea surface off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia?
“Down here on Earth, Nations (note: several nations were affected, not one nation) will be in turmoil,
perplexed by roaring seas and strange tides (Tsunami was the very definition of the word strange tide)”-
Luke 21:25 b (TLB)
Now why is the good Lord sending sign after sign to the unbelieving, skeptic world? The answer is
clear “in order people would believe in Him, repent and set right their relationship with Him”
(2 Peter 3:9) as Grace age is poised to end anytime coinciding with the rapture of the Church.
With every single Biblical prophecy coming true in full view of the public (they are not happening in
some remote corner of the World, which the prying media cannot reach), including outbreak of epidemics
like “swine flu”, it stuns me that some of us are still being “pig-headed” deliberately closing their
eyes to clear-as-daylight, tell tale signs?
“Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.” –
Jesus (Matt 24:35)
“Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal,
I would not be Christ’s servant.” – Galatians 1:10
Dear Friends speak out wherever the good Lord has placed you (schools, colleges, offices’,
business places etc) about the imminent rapture
(I Peter 3:15), even if there is a great risk of rejection
in all quarters, for no genuine prophet was ever accepted by the people of his generation but still the
servant of God would go about His God-ordained task faithfully
“Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment…” –
Jude 23
Finally let me conclude with the insightful words of that great Biblical scholar C.S. Lewis
Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it
cannot be is moderately important.
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(Suresh Manoharan)
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