Luke 21:9-12; “And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified, for these things must first take place, but the end will not be at once. Then He said to them, nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places, famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from Heaven. But before all this, they will lay their hands on you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for My name’s sake.”

Luke 21: 25-26; “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth, distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves; people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the power of the heavens will be shaken” (ESV, any emphasis is mine.)

There are people today who are trying to say that we are at this point right now. While I agree that the times are more evil and difficult than we’ve seen in our past, everything above is describing the tribulation period this earth will go through for seven years. For anyone who may say that today’s events will get better, they are wrong.

We are seeing the lead-in to the introduction of the “one-world everything” – one-world currency, one-world government, and a one-world ruler. When he appears, this would be the “lawless one” of 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4; and then it can be said that the tribulation or wrath has officially arrived.

Once this takes place, the events of today will seem like a picnic compared to what lies ahead. All who will bow down to that evil leader and who will accept his mark, indicating they worship him, will be able to buy and sell and live a fairly decent life. All who reject his mark will be the ones who will be hunted down and most likely be martyred. Sadly, all who take his mark will have committed an unforgivable sin, and they will enter the lake of fire after appearing at the Great White Throne Judgment of Revelation 20:11-15.

For God’s chosen people, the Jews, He will protect a remnant of them at a location that the antichrist will not be able to get to. However, there again will be a great cost involved, as given in Zechariah 13:8; “In the whole land, declares the Lord, two thirds shall be cut off and perish; and one third shall be left alive.” All who don’t go to this ‘sanctuary’ will be part of the two-thirds. It will be absolutely horrible for them.

What has been described so far, and even then, not a complete description of the horrible extremes that will take place, is for all who will be here when Satan’s evil one appears with his false prophet. However, there is a way that exists right now that can prevent anyone from going into that awful time.

Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 1:10 and 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10, and John tells us in Revelation 3:10 that those who belong to the Savior will not enter the wrath. John 3:36 states, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

Jesus Himself spoke of the narrow path that leads to Him as being hard, and few would be on it. The part that is hard is to believe that Jesus is Lord and that God raised Him from the dead to conquer our sins forever. Romans 10:9-13 plainly gives the simple but straightforward path to eternal Salvation. Verse 13 sums it up with, “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

It will still be possible to be saved during the wrath, but the question is, why would anyone want to be there to begin with? The changing times of this sin-filled world are practically screaming that the end of this age is very near. We can’t even begin to imagine just how close we are to the Savior calling His “flock” up to meet Him in the air, to be kept from the wrath as the Father has promised. And just a note here: God never makes a promise that He won’t keep.

Please read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 and then 1 Corinthians 15:51-53. Paul describes the event we call the Rapture. Everything about those who will be involved is open to being accepted right now. Please note that the lawless one cannot appear until “He who now restrains him (the Bible says “it”) is out of the way.” That’s 2 Thessalonians 2:7.

When a person receives and accepts Jesus as Savior, He sends the Holy Spirit to indwell us until we leave this earth. John 16:7-15 describes this. Other verses that speak of the Holy Spirit being with us are 1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 6:9; Ezekiel 36:27; 2 Timothy 1:14; Romans 8:11; Galatians 4:6; and 1 John 2:27, just to name a few.

So, are there actually better times ahead? Yes, for all who are in Christ Jesus. Also, it’s our choice to make, as all who truly call on Him will be saved. Choose Jesus and have eternal life; refuse Jesus and have eternal condemnation. There are no other options, no matter what any false prophet may try to tell you. Also, Jesus is the only way to Heaven (John 14:6; Acts 4:12).

As one who called out to the Savior to forgive me about 35 years ago, I want to share Him with as many souls as possible. Therefore, “I Love to Tell The Story” about My Jesus. This just happens to be a hymn by Kate Hankey from 1866. Please consider the words of her song.

1.) I love to tell the story of unseen things above, of Jesus and His glory, of Jesus and His love. I love to tell the story because I know it’s true. It satisfies my longing, as nothing else can do.

Ref) I love to tell the story; ’twill be my theme in glory to tell the old, old story of Jesus and His Love.

2.) I love to tell the story; more wonderful it seems than all the golden fancies of all our golden dreams. I love to tell the story; it did so much for me. And that is just the reason I tell it now to thee. (ref)

3.) I love to tell the story; ’tis pleasant to repeat. What seems each time I tell it, more wonderful and sweet. I love to tell the story, for some have never heard the message of Salvation from God’s own Holy Word. (ref)

4.) I love to tell the story; for those who know it best seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest. And when in scenes of glory, I sing the new, new song, ’twill be the old, old story that I have loved so long. (ref)

We do not know exactly when the Trumpet of God will sound, and there is a shout from the archangel. We can see all the signs that have begun, and in Luke 21:28, Jesus said that when they begin to take place, His return is very near. Those signs began several years ago.

Taking a chance that this is not true could put you in a most terrible time that will make the events of today seem like a Sunday picnic. Call out today, right now, and you can rest assured you will not be a part of the tribulation. It’s totally up to each person to choose, and it’s a free-will choice as the Father will force no one to accept His Son. Please read John 3:16-18 and then 2 Peter 3:9. God wants no one to fail because He loves us so much. No man-made deity can make this claim. He has provided everything we need to be saved, and He will turn no one away.

One final comment: you have not sinned so greatly that the blood of Jesus won’t cover you. The unforgivable sin right now is to not have Jesus as your Savior when you take your last breath here. Jesus died for all of us. Call out for His forgiveness, and live whatever time you have left for Him.

Come, Lord Jesus! (Maranatha!)

huebshman46@gmail.com

Romans 2:1-16, John 15:22, Proverbs 12:15, Proverbs 20:6, Proverbs 21:2, 2 Corinthians 10:12, Revelation 3:17

Summary: The Apostle Paul has shown in the opening words of Romans that apart from Almighty God, humanity will sink into deep perversion and rebellion. He will also nail down the hard truth that none of us are exempt from God’s judgment, even if we think that we are “good.”

In the first chapter of Romans, Paul writes that the creation clearly shows the work of God Almighty (1:18-20). Even with this obvious evidence, people chose to turn their backs on Him and refused to acknowledge Him as Creator and Provider. They foolishly decided instead to worship everything but Him and go down the road of depravity, perverseness, and abnormal actions. Instead of stopping to see where this would lead them, they instead encouraged others to join them in their sins, resulting in certain judgment from God in the form of abandonment (1:28-32).

As Paul continues to present his case, he also puts the brakes on the readers of this letter who are thinking, “Good grief! These folks are atrocious! I see why God would judge them! Man, I’m glad (here come the expected response) I’M NOT AS BAD AS THEY ARE!!” We love to play that game, now, don’t we? We look at criminal acts, political intrigue, the overall rotten behavior of others, and then look at ourselves, feeling content that we certainly would not stoop to such levels of evil. We see ourselves as “too good” to go down the route of depravity and reprobation, yet apart from the grace and mercy of the LORD, we are heading to the same hell as they are, perhaps not for open crimes and actions, but for the hypocrisy in our souls and the self-righteous excuses we tend to flaunt when confronted with our sins.

We have no excuse for our sins and will be judged by the LORD for pronouncing our self-exalting, hypocritical verdict upon others (Romans 2:1-5). No one, except for the LORD God Almighty, who knows the thoughts of every person, has the complete story on why we do wrongful deeds and speak callous words (Matthew 7:1-5; Luke 12:2; Romans 14:13; 1 Corinthians 3:11-5, 4:5; 2 Corinthians 5:10; James 4:12; 1 Peter 4:4-5; Revelation 20:11-15).

Paul knew what he was talking about in penning this letter. At one time, he was the model of a self-righteous Pharisee who saw Jesus Christ as a threat to Judaism. Jesus’ death on the cross was viewed as a certain sign of being cursed by God for His claims of divinity (Deuteronomy 21:23; Galatians 3:13). Paul deeply detested anything and everything to do with Jesus and His followers. He would do anything to stop the spread of the early church, even killing Jesus’ followers or at least seeing to it that they were thrown in jail and later sentenced to death, not sparing man, woman, or child (Acts 8:1, 9:1-6, 26:8-18; Galatians 1:13-14; Philippians 3:3-6).

Many of the Pharisees who had encountered Jesus also displayed self-righteous acts that amounted to nothing more than a show of both personal and spiritual hypocrisy. Their teachings and public demonstrations of “piety” smothered the truth of Scripture, instead implementing stern adherence to the traditions and teachings of the past elders upon the people of Judea. Jesus rightly called them out and publicly condemned them for these atrocities (Matthew 23:2-36).

Saul, the self-righteous fanatical Pharisee who thought he was doing God a favor by viciously persecuting the followers of Jesus, was instead humbled and radically transformed into the apostle Paul, the living embodiment of a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) when the glorified Christ encountered him on the Damascus Road. He had judged Christians as sinners when he himself was sinning by his blasphemous acts against them (Romans 7:18-22; 1 Timothy 1:12-17).

Let us note something here in reading Paul’s letters, or any other portion of God’s Holy Word, for that matter. Every writer of Scripture lived in the real world and dealt with real people with real problems. None of them lived aloof from the conditions around them nor wrote from an ideal concept formed in their minds of how things should be. All of them, including the Lord Jesus, underwent periods of emotional, mental, spiritual, and physical turmoil that toughened their spiritual hides and also provided them the assurance that everything would come to its proper and great conclusion for God’s glory.

Paul knew what he was talking about in warning his fellow Jews and others not to look down with any kind of disdain or spiritual “snobbishness” towards anyone, for they were going to be held accountable before God on the Day of Judgment in the same manner as the garden variety pagan or “good” religious, moral person. There is no partiality with God (Romans 2:11). Although the Gentiles did not possess the Law, they were without excuse, as God placed within them a conscience that bore witness to their hearts as to know the difference between right and wrong (2:12-16).

Ignorance of God’s expectations of us, whether Jew or Gentile, is without excuse. No one at the end of their life can stand before Almighty God and pretend that they didn’t know Him, or about Him, or what He demanded from them. He also warned that no one can approach Him with the belief that their “religion” or “good works” or anything else they do or say is going to get them into God’s heaven (Isaiah 64:6; Ephesians 2:8-9).

This principle applies to us today. None of us are “good” apart from God’s standards, which is holiness, without which we cannot see the LORD (Leviticus 11:45; Hebrews 12:14; 1 Peter 1:16). We possess nothing in our flesh that will appease God or cleanse us of our iniquities (Romans 3:23, 6:23). That has already been accomplished for us by the sinless life and perfect sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, who willfully took our sins upon Himself and died on the cross in our place, paying a debt that we can never repay.

His resurrection was the sign that He is LORD and that His work satisfied the demands of God the Father. The work of our redemption was complete, and we cannot add anything to it (John 19:30; Ephesians 2:1-10). You do not have to do anything except to admit that you are a sinner and that you cannot save yourself, to believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is LORD, and that God has raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9-10), and to call upon Him to save you (Romans10:13). That works regardless of whether you are Jew or Gentile.

donaldwhitchard@gmail.com

www.realitycityreverend.com

My new book, The Scope of Biblical Prophecy, is now available from Parsons Porch Publishers.

Their website is: www.parsonsporch.com.

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Donald was born and reared in the authentic “Cajun Country” of southern Louisiana. He is a graduate of Louisiana College (B.A. in History Education/ Biblical Studies, 1984), New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (M.Div. In Christian Education, 1994), and Andersonville Baptist Seminary (Doctor of Ministry, Biblical Exposition, 2000). He has been in the Gospel ministry since 1986, serving as an evangelist, interim and supply pastor, hospital and rescue mission chaplain, high school and college teacher, and pastor in churches in Louisiana and Oklahoma.

In 2018, he began to devote his time to the rich field of internet and social media evangelism and outreach. In 2021 he became a member of the Oklahoma Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists, using his skills as a writer to contribute articles and sermons to websites such as Rapture Ready, Sermon Central, and Inspirational Christian Blogs. He also writes Bible studies and curricula for churches in southeast and central Asia and Africa, the locations of which are anonymous. He can be contacted at: donaldwhitchard@gmail.com for inquiries, information, and speaking/preaching engagements. A copy of his resume is also available upon request.