THE NEAR FUTURE

DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN? Actually, it is beginning now!

Matthew 24 has it all laid out!  Just be sure that no one deceives you!

1. Many “preachers” will say they are The One – the Christ – many people will be fooled.
2. Wars and war stories will be on the news – DON’T BE AFRAID.
3. Nations and kingdoms all over the world will be in fights.
4. There will be famines, fires and earthquakes.
5. If you are a follower of Christ, you will be persecuted and put to death.
6. You will be hated by all nations because of Jesus.
7. You’ll notice that many who once claimed Christ will turn their backs on the faith.
8. They will turn on each other and hate each other.
9. Many false preachers will appear on the scene and “buffalo” people – they’ll probably tell you that they can do anything but raise the dead, and maybe that, too.  Pay your $$$ to them and they’ll make you healthy, wealthy and wise. Don’t believe them.
10. Wickedness will be so rampant that the love of many will grow cold, but if you – yes, you – stand firm to the end, you will be saved. [You may need to change your lifestyle and your friends.]
11. The gospel will be preached all over the world (probably by TV and internet), and then THE END WILL COME!
12. Listen, “If those days had not be cut short, no one would survive.”

“‘If anyone tries to flag you down, calling out, ‘Here’s the Messiah!’ or points, ‘There he is!’ don’t fall for it. Fake Messiahs and lying “preachers/promoters are going to pop up everywhere. Their impressive credentials and dazzling performances will pull the wool over the eyes of even those who ought to know better. But I’ve given you fair warning.

So if they say, ‘Run to the country and see him arrive!’ or, ‘Quick, get downtown, see him come!’ don’t give them the time of day. THE ARRIVAL OF THE SON OF MAN ISN’T SOMETHING YOU GO SEE!  He comes like swift lightning to you! Whenever you see crowds gathering, think of carrion vultures circling, moving in, hovering over a rotting carcass. You can be quite sure that it’s not the living Son of Man pulling in those crowds.

Following those hard times, the sun will fade out, the moon will cloud over, stars will fall out of the sky, cosmic powers tremble. “Then, the Arrival of the Son of Man! It will fill the skies—no one will miss it. Unready people all over the world, outsiders to the splendor and power, will raise a huge lament as they watch the Son of Man blazing out of heaven. At that same moment, he’ll dispatch his ANGELS with a trumpet-blast summons, pulling in God’s chosen from the four winds, from pole to pole.”
Matthew 24:23-31 (msg)