Impossible!

Impossible!

by David Brenneman

Still reading in Obadiah and in Revelation today...and it's sad that I can still hear the spoken from history who decried "impossible!" to the prophets of old...yet...history has revealed the divine truth that it certainly was not impossible. Revelation 8 says that in verse 18 "A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths."  Jump down to verse 20 "The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as to not worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts."

Consider it well this depiction isn't in the far distant future...it could easily be in the next decade.  

People today refuse to recognize what's in this world for what it is.  

People today refuse to acknowledge the truth of God's Word in what's really happening int his world and around them.

People today blame this behavior and that on everything EXCEPT what the Bible says that those things really are.  For to do so would mean acknowledging the rest...that they are indeed sinners in need of a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

People do not want to let go of their idolatry.  They do not want to let go of their immorality. Watch any news footage daily and see that people do not care to give up on stealing. Not caring that it costs someone else something they DESERVE what they went to steal. 

Look at the 'murder capitols' that the news keeps depicting.  Murders happen every second.  Murders happen concerning Christians and are labeled as to a different cause of death. 

In tihs one judgment...1/3rd of mankind will die.  This is on the heels of them all being tormeneted for 5 months....a torment that left them wanting to die yet being unable to because they weren't allowed to by God. Yet in the face of all of this...we read that sad ending of that chapter "did not repent...".

Morality and Truth have been torn usunder in even our world today.  It's been trampled down and crushed.  It's mocked, scorned, and berated.

People of Noah's day mocked, ridiculed, and daily made fun of Noah's preaching.  Laughed it off, went on living life their way, as they saw fit. Marrying and being given in marriage.

Peple today mock, ridicule and daily make fun of Biblical preaching.  Laughing it off, living life their own way, as they see fit. Marrying and being given in marriage.

Jesus said that when He does return it will be like in the days of Noah.  My Dear Reader..we're are there.

Timothy was told by Paul that to increasing degrees people would not want to endure, that is to listen to, sound doctrine.  People today would rather cling to lies than the truth.  Lies don't have the ring of Biblical truth to them.  Lies and deception numb the painful truth of the effects of sin.

Truth is coming in the form of Jesus Christ.

Truth will be that in the moment, in the twinkling of an eye, those who are dead in Christ will be raised back to life...their glorified physical bodies rejoined to their soul and spirit.  Those who are alive in Christ will have their bodies glorified and all these will leave this world to be with Jesus forever.  Then the rest of the judgments of God will be put off no longer.  As certain as the birth, location, conditions of life were in Jesus coming the first time, so it's as it is with the certainty of His return.  

We who are alive in Christ will, one of these days, hear a trumpet unlike any other.  We will hear Jesus cry out "Come!"

We will not be packing any bags.  Taking nothing with us...we will be gone quicker than anyone has ever known.

My Dear Reader do not take it lightly the things that are being said.  If the Earth's population in Noah's day was comparable to today's...out of a potential 7 to 8 billion people....only 6 people survived on the Ark of God.  The rest went to Hell for rejecting the promise of God of what was to come.

In our world, we all live in the promise of God that never again would a global flood wipe the Earth.  But...this world WOULD still see the judgments of God in many other ways.  We often are sensitive to the losses of life in wars and in other catastrophies...yet nothing...NOTHING...in our overly photographed, overly video'd, overly written culture...will compare anyone for billions dying.  Then to have those who remain....STILL be in denial...still refusing to acknowledge the truth of God.  That's what's coming.

At the end of those 7 years that will happen after Jesus DOES return...He Himself will physically return to rule this world.  Idolatry, immorality, thefts, sorceries...will not be tolerated.  They will not happen for a thousand years.  We look back over our miniscule 50 to maybe 100 years of life lived and have no concept of living longer.  Yet those entering into that age of humanity will indeed live for hundreds of years.

It's oh so important in this here, this now, to know for sure that you are a Child of God.  That indeed you HAVE received the free gift of Salvation available only in Jesus Christ the Son of God.   It's oh so important for those who HAVE...to be found by Jesus, when He does come, to be DOING what He had commanded when He left the first time.   Making the most of every opportunity.  

Life indeed is NOT going to be getting better.  We are NOT in some 'golden age' of humanity.   The things that John attempted to describe in the book of Revelation are entirely possible TODAY.  There's nothing major left in Prophecy to take place before the return of Christ.  In all likelyhood it's only down to whomever would be the last person to be saved is saved.   There is an end-point of what the Bible called "the age of the Gentiles" or as it's also referred to as "the fullness of the Gentiles".   That end-point was determined by God the Father.  He set the second, the minute, the hour and the day of Jesus's return.

We live in an age of 'impossible' compared to even 50 years ago.  50 years ago it was only a faint idea that you would carry around a telephone in your pocket.  50 years ago it was possibly only a faint idea that you could carry around a super powerful computer in the form of a tablet.   It was probably never considered that in a matter of seconds you could download an entire Bible in seconds when it took centuries to write.

I don't dwell on the news but the times that I do skim headlines it's full of stories of people who never considered that today would be their last day.

Full of people who didn't think that in an instant their lives would be forever changed.  People who blame 'fate' for what has befallen them.

People who blame 'bad luck' on what had happened to them.  People who actually deny it when a bonafide miracle happened that saved them.

These are the same type of people described in Revelation 8.  The same.

We live in a time in human history that's oh so ripe for the return of Jesus.  People that put self ahead of everyone and everything else.  Caring not for whatever the consequences are.   People raging about this or that.  People clinging to this or that.   Evil is certainly on the rise.  Victim's are finding themselves cast into prison for defending themselves.  The VICTIM.  The purpetrator goes free or barely pays for their crimes.  The victim spends more time in jail than them.

In looking at your life, are you seeing the world or are you seeing Jesus?  Are you embracing things in this world or are you embracing what the Spirit teaches?

Are you entertaining idols in your heart and in your life?  Are you entertaining immorality in your life?  Do you justify your actions as deserving what you've wrongly attempted to aquire?  

Have you mocked and waved off any idea of Jesus returning...maybe even today?   When the Rapture of the Church happens...not if but when...it happens...the utter destruction this world will endure...the insane levels of forced worship of a world leader...will be unlike any other in human history.   Undoubtedly millions will die when the Rapture happens only due to collateral damage.  A Christian pilot and co-pilot vanish and the plane goes down.  A Christian semi-truck driver vanishes and the truck plows through dozens of other vehicles or even a building. Construction workers vanish and equipment runs uncontrolled.  Manufacturing plants will have people vanish and others will die as a result.   Heaven won't be the only place receiving people.  Hell will get a surge at the same time.

Have you considered at all how you're living today?  Would Jesus approve of your life?  Are you who claim the name of Jesus as your Savior and Lord...are you growing in Christ?   Is that your main priority?  Are you loving the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and spirit?  Are you loving your neighbor as yourself?   Do you mock, belittle, berate, tear down people...all because of what the world calls 'fun' and 'entertaining'?  Does selfishess honestly define you?

We each will give an account before Jesus...for those who are Believers...we will for what we did in our bodies for Christ.  For the unbelieving it will be shown that no matter the deeds done, without Christ as their Savior...their lives didn't measure up to God's standards.  

In one sense this is certainly a gloomy post...but it's also a fair warning post.   Noah preached fair warnings to probably millions of people while he and his family built the Ark of God.  Jesus IS coming soon.  Will you be leaving with Him or will you be among those who didn't?