Read the latest article from Pastor Parish entitled:

Looking for That Blessed Hope

Anyone who has taken an in depth look at present world conditions is aware that the we are now faced with problems that defy an answer. The so called experts seem to be incapable of offering much hope for the future. Statements coming from climatologists speak of global devastation as a result of unprecedented climate changes. Military analysts are looking with trepidation at global hotspots that threaten to erupt in nuclear conflict. Economists are pessimistic in their assessments of current trends.

The United Nations Secretary General said a few weeks ago, "Now I believe we are on the verge of a catastrophe."

Whether its the weather, the economy, the culture, the ecology, or nations arming themselves for war, it is apparent that the world is on the verge of an unprecedented time of trouble.

A recently released British study on natural disasters revealed that there are four times the number of natural disasters occuring now than did two decades ago. The scientists that conducted the study said, "This is no freak year. It follows a pattern of more frequent, more erratic, more unpredictable, and more extreme weather events that are affecting more people."

Floods and wind storms have increased from 60 events in 1980 to 240 last year, with six times more floods in 2007 than in the past. Earthquakes continue to rock the globe as practically every fault line of this planet shows signs of seismic activity. Thousands of new volcanos are forming beneath the ocean waves causing one scientist to note that something unprecedented is happening at the earth’s core.

The present upheaval is not just confined to the changing climate. The moral fabric of society is breaking down as the line between right and wrong is erased by the proponents of political correctness. A Colorado Congressman, Tom Tancredo, recently warned in a book he titled, "Mortal Danger" that "The country is on a course to the dustbin of history." He explained how the economic success and historical military prowess of the United States has transformed a nation founded on Judeo-Christian principles of right and wrong into an "overindulgent, self-deprecating, immoral cesspool of depravity." He says the nation is poised for a catastrophe. It wasn’t a preacher who said those words, but a congressman who is sounding the alarm.

Pat Buchanan lists the reasons that America will become a third world nation by 2050 in his book, "Day of Reckoning." He says the US army is breaking down and is too small to meet global commitments. The dollar has sunk to historic lows and is being abandoned by foreign governments. Our ill advised trade agreements have shipped jobs, factories, and technology to China, plunging America into permanent debt and dependency on foreigners. He doesn’t mince words when he says that "we are on the path to national suicide."

Our enemies continue to exploit the freedoms and fears of this land to plot the overthrow of our nation, and Islamic leaders boast that the country will soon fall into their hands. A Washington D.C. Imam, who heads a Muslim organization called Vanguard, with branches in Oakland, Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento, and Philadelphia, said a few months ago that the US government will soon be replaced with "the Islamic State of North America." His website stated, "We are sending out a call to the believers: Join with us in this great struggle to change the world."

The Council on Islamic-American Relations recently told a group of Muslims in California that they are in America not to assimilate but to help assert Islam’s rule over the country. Radical Islam is not just an enemy we engage on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, it is present in the major cities of America.

The medical field has no hope to offer for the global plagues that threaten our world. At a global health conference held in December, physicians worried over the emergence of a drug resistant form of tuberculosis. Some two billion people worldwide are infected with TB and one person dies every twenty seconds from this dread disease. One of the speakers used the word "apocalyptic" in describing the current situation. Hepatitis B has reached epidemic proportions, the HIV virus continues its march of death, and the mysterious avian flu is on the rise.

At a World Health Organization meeting this summer, it was noted that the number of new diseases has escalated in the past forty years. Since 1967, at least 39 new pathogens have been indentified, and the centuries old threats of pandemic influenza, malaria, and tuberculosis are rising due to mutations and resistance to medicines.

On the military front, 2007 witnessed the nations of the world spend more money on weapons and military gear than in any year of history. A record $1.6 trillion was spent by a world that increasingly is beating its plowshares into swords. Experts have warned that with the escalation of nuclear arsenals, the possibility of an accidental nuclear war is high. Nine nations of the world now have nuclear weapons with 40 more countries possessing the technical skill and required materials to build a bomb.

Mohamed ElBaradei, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency said that "global tensions could push some over the line."

WE ARE LIVING IN A WORLD THAT HAS RUN OUT OF ANSWERS AND IS RUNNING OUT OF TIME.

It is on a collision course with judgment. In rejecting the Lord, His Word, and His plan of salvation, the world is opting for disaster. Unregenerated man does not possess the ability, the intelligence, nor the power that is needed to keep the world from self destruction.

The prophet Jeremiah noted centuries ago in Jer 10:23: "O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps."

Jesus revealed future conditions of the world to his disciples in Matthew 24, and said that God would divinely intervene to keep man from destroying this planet. He said in Matt 24:22, "And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened."

He revealed to the Apostle John in Rev. 11:18, that a time would come when He would intervene and judge the nations of the earth. It is written:

"And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth."

The Word of God remains the only source of reliable good news in a world gone crazy. It alone has the explanation for the events which are shaping our times. It alone reveals the outcome of all that is happening on this planet. It alone shows the direction that the world is taking. It is alone reveals with accuracy the events which will change the times. It alone offers hope in our hopeless world.

The Apostle Paul wrote to stressed out believers at a time of world upheaval and said, "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope , through the power of the Holy Ghost." (Rom. 15:13)

He reminded a young, discouraged, pastor named Timothy who had come under many personal attacks, that Jesus never failed. He wrote that "He is our hope." (I Tim. 1:11)

And to Titus, he described hope as an event that will rescue every blood washed believer from a disintegrating world. He said, in Titus 2:13, "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ."

ALL THE MAJOR EVENTS OF OUR TIME ARE SIGNS THAT THE WORLD IS ABOUT TO SLIP INTO AN UNPRECEDENTED SEVEN YEAR PERIOD CALLED TRIBULATION, BUT BEFORE IT OFFICIALLY BEGINS, JESUS WILL COME AND TAKE THOSE WHO HAVE PREPARED FOR HIS RETURN.

The book of Revelation is a prophetic book which outlines the events and characters of the coming period of wrath. But before that time of unprecedented spiritual, religious, political, economic, and climatic upheaval, the Lord has promised to catch away a glorious church and present it to Himself.

He said in Revelation 3:10, "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown"

He is not coming back for those with a superficial relationship with Him. There will be numbers of people who call themselves Christians who will miss the coming of the Lord. They will be those Jesus described in Rev.3:16 who were "lukewarm." They gave lip service to Him, but their heart was not committed. They had a profession of faith, but didn’t maintain a vital relationship with Him. They had a form of godliness, but denied the power of an experience that saves and changes people for time and eternity.

The disobedient, the wavering, the fence rider, and the indifferent will be left behind. The Master warned in Matt 7:21-23, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

So that we wouldn’t miss His Return, Jesus said in Luke 21:36, "Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man."