These are the Times
By Hal Lindsey
These are times of brutality, vulgarity, rage, and recklessness. We live in an age of pestilence, earthquakes, extreme weather, and signs in the heavens. This is the era of humanism, dark arts, floods of pharmaceuticals, and spiraling levels of mental illness. We are entering a season of uncertainty, fearfulness, and escapism. The spring of pride is fast becoming the winter of despair.
Everything on the list above is a sign that we are approaching the last of the last days. And it’s a list that could go on for pages and pages. For those of us who love our fellow human beings and our country, seeing these biblical signs play out is not pleasant. But we must remember where we’re going. This road travels through tough terrain, but it’s headed for glory.
I don’t know how long the world can go on in this condition. But I do know that things could fall apart in short order. The moral foundation of the world’s leading nation has, in only a few decades, been largely abandoned. The resulting chaos prepares the whole world to follow Antichrist and the False Prophet. Our society worships technology, honors blasphemy, rejects truth, believes lies, and is becoming progressively more violent. Those are the Antichrist’s main attributes.
As you read these words, I hope you will not despair. Instead, I hope they will encourage you to remember where your hope and security really lie. They are not in this world or the institutions of this world. They are in Jesus Christ and His kingdom.
On more than one occasion, Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd.” He who laid down His life for us, will not stop caring for us just because we live in dark days. A good shepherd watches over the sheep of His pasture. He protects them from harm. He makes sure that their needs are met.
Psalm 84:11-12 says, “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, How blessed is the man who trusts in You!”
That’s just as true today as it has ever been. No matter how dark the time, we walk in the light of Jesus Christ!
Not only does He promise to care for us in times of difficulty, His word teaches that He will remove us from this world before the worst of the dark times ahead. Titus 2:13 in the English Standard Version says, “Waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Soon, He shall appear and snatch us away from this world. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 says, “The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.”
Those words should comfort us. They should also spur us to action. Don’t give in to the despair of our times. Instead, let the urgency of the hour draw you ever closer to the Lord and His word.
People everywhere need Jesus, and we need to faithfully share Him. He’s the only hope. The darkness of our times should remind us of 2 Corinthians 4:6. “Light shall shine out of darkness.”
