End Times

To me, one of the strangest oddities of the year of 2020 was the call for safety in the face of COVID-19.

“Stay safe,” we were cautioned. Here in Wisconsin, our governor even issued an order titled “Safer at Home.”

This seemed to me to be an extraordinary choice of wording—because COVID-19 results from a virus. I’m sure that experts disagree on the best methodologies for warding off infection from a virus. But one thing that you certainly cannot do to escape it is to stay safe. Your only hope is to stay healthy.

Pastor Kevin Schaal wrote recently to address the question of whether recent events—and our times in general—signal Christ’s return to end human history. I agree with his conclusion on that question.

I want to respond to his introduction, though.

Read Part 1.

Did you know that there will certainly be a future end-time spiritual revival upon this Earth? Jesus prophesied in Matt. 24:14, stating:

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

What will that look like during the days of the tribulation? Who will be the personalities that will be involved?

It is indeed one of the great untold stories in all of the Bible—to say nothing of the prophetic future.

Did you know that a great end-time revival is promised in Holy Scripture, and that its impact will be such that it will push any previous so-called revivals or awakenings into the shadows forever?

Or perhaps better—the imminence of death as related to prophecy.

The Imminence of Death—note that I didn’t say The Death of Imminence—though some want to quash the latter. Death isn’t a nice subject. Yet it’s one which demands our attention. Barring the Lord’s return for His church—in whatever context we think that will be—we’ll all have to cross the Great River of Death at some point.

Read Part 1 and Part 2

In our culture, it’s become the proverbial fifth wheel of holidays.

Really, we don’t even celebrate it anymore. It used to be that we would pause for much of the day—to feast, spend time with our families and, yes, to watch football … but, most importantly, to worship and give thanks.

Read Part 1

It will be here before we know it! December 25^th, that is….

But long before that big day, we’ll sense the sights, the sounds and smells.

Christmas, in fact, permeates our culture so thoroughly that it almost mingles together with all things related to fall—the cooler weather, a warm sweater, the desire to stay inside, football on television, a hot cup of cocoa, and the crackling of the fireplace.

If you work in a retail environment, you’ve already seen them—maybe as early as July, but certainly in August. Yes, you’ve seen the signs!

I am referring, of course, to the signs of Christmas.¹ They’re all around you by now.