What Does the Bible Mean By "Last Days?"

Many of the folks I wrote about in my previous posts assume that the Bible's mention of "last days" means our epoch. Thanks to a man named John Nelson Darby, they assume that The Revelation of John the Divine was written for modern people and not to the seven churches in Asia as plainly stated in chapter one.

But what does "last days" or similar phrases mean?  Revelation 1:1 (KJV) gives this answer. "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must SHORTLY come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:" Some folks believe that "shortly" means two thousand years after. How can that be so when the letter was written TO those seven churches?

And how could those people living back then know who the beast John wrote about would be if he is yet to come? Revelation 13:18 (KJV) states, "Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six." The Jews and Greeks had a system of corresponding letters and numbers. Emperor Nero's name fit both systems perfectly. Nobody could have guessed the name of a twenty-first century beast but they certainly knew of Nero.

I could cite many other proofs of this being a book for first-century Christians in what is now Turkey but I won't this time. Remember that the various books of the Bible were written to the people to whom they were delivered, not us. Paul wrote that the scriptures were written FOR our learning (Romans 15:4 KJV). Furthermore, the same applies to all twenty-seven New Testament books.

Thanks to humble Bible scholars, I know how to read the Word of God. I wrote about this in a book called How I Was Razed. Read more about this wondrous testimony of God's providence at Amazon.

What's the Real Purpose of Pentecost?

Because I was writing to a theme last month, I didn't write about Pentecost which some Christians celebrated on May fourteenth. I'm mentioning it now because it lines up with my next book's theme of who goes to heaven.

As you can read in Acts chapter two, the Holy Spirit was given to all who believed, and still believe, in Christ. He spoke through the disciples in real languages which attendees of the feast could understand. It was a kind of reversal of the tower of Babel incident where people heard preaching in their native language.

Doctor Steve Wells, pastor of South Main Baptist church in Houston, Texas, made a point in his Pentecost Sunday sermon which I hadn't realized before. Though Jesus appeared to those "lost sheep of Israel," the third member of the Trinity came to dwell in all who would put their trust in Christ. We wandered from God but he came to us through the Holy Spirit.

Sadly, many Christians get hung up on the miracles of tongues of fire and speaking in tongues. They forget about the miracle of the Holy Spirit coming into them and believe that he is just there to make them jabber in a supposedly heavenly language.

The reason people hold to this misguided doctrine is because they misread what the Apostle Paul wrote. Romans 8:26 (KJV) reads, "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." If those words can't be uttered by us, how then can the Holy Spirit speak them through our mouths?

As John MacArthur pointed out in his Strange Fire series, the jabbering done by Charismatics is mere gibberish and not real speech. What the Holy Spirit does for us is express the longing to the other two members of the Trinity for the new heavens and Earth which God promised.

I used to believe the nonsense which various charismatic sects taught. Now I know that modern day speaking in tongues is bogus. You can read how I was fooled and then helped to see the light in How I Was Razed. Read more about my memoir at Amazon.

Who Will be Barred from Heaven?

 I've written before about sinners and obliquely mentioned who won't be allowed in heaven. Thanks to the Apostle Paul, I can be more specific.

Those proponents of political correctness want us to tolerate supposedly alternative lifestyles. Too bad for them that God doesn't share their reprobate ideas. Instead, they'll face his wrath and miss out on eternal joy.

Look at what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 (KJV). "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God."

While this is not a comprehensive list, it does show that out-and-out sinners of all sorts will end up barred from God's kingdom. Even those who claim to have same-sex attractions, or who believe their the opposite gender of the physical bodies they were born with, will miss out.
Some folks object that they were born homosexual or lesbian. Like June Hunt of Hope for the Heart aptly said, these people are victims of mistaken identity. Thousands of former homosexuals and lesbians attest to the fact that they can and have changed. If those individuals were actually "born that way," change would be impossible.

No matter what a person's proclivity toward forms of sin is, the Lord commands people to forsake their supposed lifestyle and obey him. If they don't, he honours their choice by sending them to the place where all other wicked rebels end up. This is because he knows that heaven would be hellish for those individuals so he graciously lets them go to where they desire to be.

Why Do Some Believe Incorrectly?

 Continuing on with my theme of who will or won't believe, I present what Jesus said regarding the parable he told of the four kinds of ground which the gospel seeds fell into. Matthew 13:18-23 (KJV) reads:

    18  Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
    19  When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and  understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth  away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received  seed by the way side.
    20  But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he  that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
    21  Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when  tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he  is offended.
    22  He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth  the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches,  choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
    23  But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth  the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth  forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

Christ had a large following of believers but almost all of them had ulterior motives. As he said in John 6:26 (KJV), "Jesus answered them and said, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.'"

Many folks are like that today. They only want God to give them what they crave without surrendering their lives to him. The Bible says that only dedicated followers of Christ will be admitted to his kingdom.

In my How I Was Razed memoir, I demonstrated how an errant house church misled me and how I found the truth at last. Please check it out on Amazon or message me on Facebook or Twitter.

What is a Reprobate Mind?

Here's another reason why people can't understand how wondrous and beneficial salvation from sin, which leads to hell, actually is. Advanced sinners can't think straight. It's as simple as that.

The first chapter of the Apostle Paul's letter to the church at Rome explains this quite clearly. After the preliminary greetings, he gets into the reason why people are so stuck in their sins.

The dichotomy between those who live by their righteous faith is then set against the habitual wickedness of sinners. Verses eighteen and nineteen in the Bible in Basic English read, "For there is a revelation of the wrath of God from heaven against all the wrongdoing and evil thoughts of men who keep down what is true by wrongdoing; Because the knowledge of God may be seen in them, God having made it clear to them."

Verses twenty to twenty-three explain how God revealed himself through nature but people suppressed this knowledge with their lamebrain philosophies. "For from the first making of the world, those things of God which the eye is unable to see, that is, his eternal power and existence, are fully made clear, he having given the knowledge of them through the things which he has made, so that men have no reason for wrongdoing: Because, having the knowledge of God, they did not give glory to God as God, and did not give praise, but their minds were full of foolish things, and their hearts, being without sense, were made dark. Seeming to be wise, they were in fact foolish, And by them the glory of the eternal God was changed and made into the image of man who is not eternal, and of birds and beasts and things which go on the earth."

Instead of zapping them with lightning or fire from heaven, this is what the Lord did. Verses twenty-four to twenty-eight explain what resulted from humanity's errant cravings. "For this reason God gave them up to the evil desires of their hearts, working shame in their bodies with one another: Because by them the true word of God was changed into that which is false, and they gave worship and honour to the thing which is made, and not to him who made it, to whom be blessing for ever. So be it. For this reason God gave them up to evil passions, and their women were changing the natural use into one which is unnatural: And in the same way the men gave up the natural use of the woman and were burning in their desire for one another, men doing shame with men, and getting in their bodies the right reward of their evil-doing. And because they had not the mind to keep God in their knowledge, God gave them up to an evil mind, to do those things which are not right;"

Paul names the sins of these wicked individuals from verses twenty-nine to thirty-one. He ends the chapter by showing how these reprobates want others to sink to the same level of depravity that they've sunk to. "Who, though they have knowledge of the law of God, that the fate of those who do these things is death, not only go on doing these things themselves, but give approval to those who do them."

We see this going on in the world today through the LGBTQ movement as well as the rejection of traditional values and even physical gender. Sexually-transmitted diseases such as AIDS have taken many lives and ruined others, all for the sake of momentary human pleasure. These deluded people, along with their backers, are too dense to see what they're doing to themselves and others.

If you are rebelling against God and refusing his generous offer of eternal life in heaven, consider what you're giving up. Genuine Christians have satisfaction in this life and an eternity of bliss to look forward to. Those who reject Christ's rule have only dissatisfaction and eternal agony in hell awaiting them. Please be in the former group, not the latter.

When will people listen?

As I've pointed out before, people refuse to listen to God. They do so because they don't want to obey the Lord. God spoke in Jeremiah 32:33 (KJV) "And they have turned unto me the back, and not the face: though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them,  yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction."

The Lord clearly wants to teach us but some don't want to learn. Scripture calls them fools. Psalm 53:1 (KJV) reads, "To the chief Musician upon Mahalath, Maschil, A Psalm of David. The fool hath said in his heart, 'There is no God.' Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good."

In fact, it's human stubbornness which makes people reject God and his wisdom. Look at what Proverbs 1:7 (KJV)says.  "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction."

But what happens to those who reject God in this life? They damage themselves with their folly. Job 5:2 (KJV) reads, "For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one." A search for words like "fool" and "foolish" brings up many verses regarding the dichotomy between the unwise and the wise. Foolishness is always related to rejecting God in the Bible.

Since this is so, we need not fret when people reject the gospel that we preach. God has given humanity the astonishing privilege of accepting or rejecting his reign. It's for this reason that I'm writing a book called You Think You're Going to Heaven? I hope to change people's minds, through the power of the Holy Spirit, so that they may be saved from an agonizing eternity apart from God.

Why Did Fort McMurray Burn?

 This might not sound like it's related to the theme of this blog but it does. Amid all the feel-good stories on the news, reports arose about Facebook posts from environmentalists rejoicing that this oil sands city is receiving "karmic justice."  Those individuals don't realize how easily their homes and lives can be snuffed out.

In my previous posts, I noted how people refused to believe the evidence in nature. They are like the foolish farmer in Christ's parable. Here's what he said of those who care only for wealth and their own personal security in Luke 12:15-21 (Bible in Basic English).

"And he said to them, 'Take care to keep yourselves free from the desire for property; for a man's life is not made up of the number of things which he has.' And he said to them, in a story, 'The land of a certain man of great wealth was very fertile: And he said to himself, "What is to be done? for I have no place in which to put all my fruit".And he said, "This I will do: I will take down my store-houses and make greater ones, and there I will put all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have a great amount of goods in store, enough for a number of years; be at rest, take food and wine and be happy.'" But God said to him, "You foolish one, tonight I will take your soul from you, and who then will be the owner of all the things which you have got together?" So that is what comes to the man who gets wealth for himself, and has not wealth in the eyes of God."'

Our souls could be required of us in an instant. We don't know the time of our deaths so to live like we're made of gold and can't be sold is the height of hubris.

So is the idea that we can guess the intents of the Lord. Apparently, some folks think these disasters are the wrath of God. How presumptive and rash can people be? Look at what the Lord said in Deuteronomy 18:20 (KJV) "But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die." Though God doesn't strike dead presumptive preachers and fool hearty Christians today, it's still a dangerous thing to say "thus sayeth the Lord" when he didn't say it at all.

To those who don't believe in the Lord and those who do, I warn you not to get cocky and figure that you're immune to tragedy. The folks in Fort McMurray woke up on May third thinking the fire had been largely extinguished. By one o'clock, the flames roared into the city and everybody was ordered by the Alberta government to evacuate immediately. Life can change so quickly and we can't presume that we'll even be here tomorrow.

Placing your whole-hearted trust in Jesus and the forgiveness he purchased for you on the cross is what will get you into paradise. This is why I'm working on a new book called You Think You're Going to Heaven? This is the most important question you must answer since death is the cut-off point. Please choose wisely since eternity is endless.