A Time of Trouble

“And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.” (Luke 21: 25-26)

Jesus spoke the above words as a sign of some of the conditions that would be on the earth just before His return. A simple glance at any newspaper or TV news channel today pretty much indicates we are well on our way to a time of trouble and distress of nations. Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne have caused havoc wherever they have hit land.

Almost daily we hear of flooding in China, Taiwan, Britain or somewhere else in the world, while in other parts of the world there are severe droughts or a lack of rain. There are wildfires in California and earthquakes and typhoons on almost every continent. At the time of this writing Mount St. Helens volcano in Washington State has had minor eruptions and they now fear a larger eruption is on the way. Recently Russia experienced two plane crashes and a horrible hostage taking involving children at a school. There have been hostage takings and beheadings in Iraq and numerous bombings in that country. The violence between the Israelis and the Palestinians appears to be escalating. Terrorism is out of control and in Britain they spent 15 million dollars on booklets to inform the public how to prepare for biological terrorism.

The Aids epidemic is rapidly increasing. Child abuse is everywhere. Recreational drugs have become so common place that people are no longer shocked by their use. Devil worship has been increasing. The Avian flu appears to be on the rise again and the economy is struggling with the US debt alone having risen to 7 trillion dollars.

All of these things are happening and the people say “Oh well these things have happened before and we’re still here” or, “I’m OK so it doesn’t affect me” or they remain completely unaware of what is happening in the world. We are indeed a lost generation.

We are a complacent lot. What will it take to wake us up? Perhaps there is too much going on in the world and therefore people just don’t want to think about it. Soon though, I believe, we will all be forced to think about it. These weather upheavals, pestilences, terrorist attacks, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, economic problems and violence will continue to increase. We will all be affected sooner or later. We no longer liv e in a kind and gentle world and as the terrorist attack on the school in Russia confirmed no one is immune. Young innocent children were taken hostage and ultimately died in this attack. We are living in an evil world and anyone who cannot see that has their head in the sand.

It is amazing to me that people cannot see how far we have fallen in a very short time. Britain plus the Commonwealth countries and the United States of America had all of God’s blessings and we are throwing them away. In Deut. 28 God speaks of all the blessings we would have if we obeyed Him, but if we did not obey Him we would have all of the curses. When we followed God’s laws and obeyed H im we did have all of God’s blessings but now, due to our disobedience, we are suffering all of the curses. We are in the time of Jacob’s trouble.

“Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it; it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him: But they shall serve the Lord their God.” (Jer. 30: 7-11)

God is in the process of working His plan out in this sinful world that we live in. We must keep our eyes focused on Him and realize that this distress of nations has to happen before Christ’s return. We can be greatly comforted by reading the scriptures daily and the words from Psalm 91 are indeed inspiring. It may be one to read daily to remind us of God’s protection.