The Times... They Are a-Changing (Part 1)

For as long as I can remember, from my very first days at Sunday School, as a five-year-old, until now as a seventy-one-year-old, I have believed in God. Oh, for sure I have rebelled against His presence in my life, my teenage years were a disaster zone, but in my mid 20's He once again asserted His ownership of my spirit. 

I have seen His hand in the beauty and majesty of nature, His love for humanity in childbirth, compassion in death. I have witnessed one undeniable, faith enhancing, beyond explanation life-changing miracle, I have laid hands on, and prayed for sick people, and witnessed instant healing. Many times I have spoken "words in season" to desperate, scared people... My counsel has saved at least one person from suicide, sadly I was not perceptive enough to prevent another.

I have experienced the effects of a major health event, a heart attack, followed three days later by heart surgery, and I knew His loving care of me during and after that time. My principal nurse was a Christian who prayed, and cared for me (along with many others) during that scary time. My surgeon was a Hindu doctor, who listened and questioned me intensely, as I shared my faith with him during recovery.  

 

I have also been aware of one other fact... God has been ever loving, ever ready and willing to forgive sinners and welcome, nay adopt them, as sons and daughter’s into His Kingdom. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will. Ephesians 1:5 NIV. The Amplified Bible expands that verse. For He foreordained us (destined us, planned in love for us) to be adopted (revealed) as His own children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the purpose of His will [because it pleased Him and was His kind intent]--  

But, and this is a "sea-chnage"... I think that things are changing! God's clock is winding down. All of my adult Christian life I have belonged to churches, that have in one form or another, taught that we are living in the "End Times" While I have always found such teaching exciting, I have usually been sceptical, too many of the prognosticators  of such theology have looked at current events, extrapolated those to the near future and boldly predicted that Jesus would return by such-and-such a date. Hundreds, if not thousands, of books have been written on the same theme, and the publishing of these reached a pinnacle with the Y2K problem. 

The fervour around the changing millennium (A.D. 2000) led many to believe that that date was the logical time for Jesus' return... well that passed and here we are in 2021, and unless I've missed it, Jesus didn't return. So, what has changed me from a sceptic to a watcher for His return? This same level of speculation and expectation also occurred when A.D 999 turned A.D 1000, and religious fervour was significantly greater than today.

I used to think, when listening to the preachers of end times in the 70's, 80's and 90's, that there was just so much that had to happen that it would take many decades for all of those things to come to pass. As I look around the world today, and listen to, and read the news, I realize that my thinking was too narrow and small. From the fall of the Twin Towers in New York, to the fall of Afghanistan recently, it's been a dramatic and disturbing 20 or so years. Every day it seems, some of the events that Jesus talked about, as recorded in Matthew 24, in a private discussion with His disciples, hit the headlines.  

After a lifetime of study, meditation, discussion and observation, I am now pretty much convinced that the current age is the closing days of man's reign on earth. About 25 years ago Tim Lahyae and Jerry B Jenkins published the first in a series of religious novels, "Left Behind" that told of the "adventures" of those left behind after the Rapture. These books very hugely popular, even amongst secular readers. Events have overtaken many of the scenarios portrayed in the books, and in 2014, no lessor a Hollywood big name than Nicholas Cage, stared in a movie based on the first book. End Times stories, tele-movies  etc still remain popular entertainment. The pandemic of the last 19 months or so has exacerbated this paranoia. 

One of the strongest arguments for the imminent return of Jesus is the fulfilment of a seldom mentioned prophecy in 2 Thessalonians, "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first..." 2 Thessalonians 2:3 KJV  

The original Greek word, from which “falling away” comes from, is “apostasia.” According to Strong's Greek Dictionary,  it means: a defection from truth, apostasy, falling away, forsake. Thus, “falling away,” is a forsaking and deflection from truth. To deflect something is to change its direction, as in moving away from.

Many say that this apostasy only applies to the church. It's clear to me that the meaning of apostasy used here involves all mankind, and that a majority of people will forsake “the truth of what is good and moral.” The apostasy is both social and religious. God imbued us all with a measure of faith and the ability to know right from wrong. The root of “apostasia” is “apostasion”( pronounced ap-os-tas'-ee-on)  which is literally a divorce. “Apostasion” is a derivative of “aphistēmi” which is akin to remove, revolt, desert, refrain, withdraw. One does not have to look very far to see that's exactly what's happening today. 

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 KJV 

The Amplified Bible expands these verses, and read like today's headlines. For the time is coming when [people] will not tolerate (endure) sound and wholesome instruction, but, having ears itching [for something pleasing and gratifying], they will gather to themselves one teacher after another to a considerable number, chosen to satisfy their own liking and to foster the errors they hold. And will turn aside from hearing the truth and wander off into myths and man-made fictions. 

It's obvious, to even the casual observer, that over the last forty years or so, societal standards have changed (and not necessarily for the better) dramatically. What was once considered immoral is now touted as alternative life-styles, and those who dare to pronounce those life-styles as immoral are called intolerant, judgemental, mean-spirited and generally marginalized.

Little by little, step by step, wickedness and immorality have seeped into society. All forms of media are now filled with what our parents and grandparents would have considered abominations. Most, if, not all, forms of mass media are owned by people and corporations driven by social change agendas and whatever comes from them, is either filtered or spun to meet their purposes. Even public education has been corrupted so that today many children have become adults with warped concepts, not realizing that they were misled. Most parents did not even realize it was happening. Probably the most destructive form of media manipulation is "revisionist history" or changing historically accepted facts, theology and events to reflect modern thinking and views. 

 

 

In part 2 of "The Times... They Are a-Changing" I will expand on this "falling-away".