Don’t be deceived by the coming wickedness

SOME biblical scholars have refered to Matthew 24 and 25 as the “Olivet or prophetic discourse”.

When the disciples asked the Lord Jesus about the end times, not only did He give them a prediction of things to come, He also “gave them deep spiritual truth to ponder as they became aware of His imminent return.” (David Jeremiah)

The scenarios in the discourse are as if one is watching a series of slide shows spread over both time and place: “Tell us,” they said. “When will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

Jesus answered, “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ, ‘ and will deceive many.

“You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.

Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains . . . At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 24:3:13)

Thus the bombshell that the United States of America Supreme Court threw on the world on June 26 when it legalised gay and/or same sex marriages throughout the US is being regarded as one of the many slide shows of events that most believe are pointers to the end times.

It was a landmark decision that “triggered wild jubilation and tears of joy” and President Barack Obama lauded the ruling as “a victory for America.”

A young man holding a placard that read, “Jesus had 2 DADS and he turned out fine,” summarised the full picture whose impact of the “new America” will influence global sexual trends, marriage and religious beliefs. The power of culture even in faith matters should not be under-estimated.

Homosexuality is a “sexual sin” mentioned in the Bible many times – from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19 to other scripture references like Romans 1:18-32, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, 1 Timothy 1:9-11, etc. No amount of defending it will make it a righteous or gracious act.

Paul teaches in Galatians 5:13 – “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as opportunities for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”

And, Marilyn Hickey, founder and president of the Marilyn Hickey Ministries also warns that “when weakness comes down, the enemy comes down and attacks too.”

Where is the Church headed?

John Piper writing in the online Prophecy News Watch newsletter on June 30 said, “My sense is that we do not realise what a calamity is happening around us. The new thing – new for America, and new for history – is not homosexuality. That brokenness has been here since we were all broken in the fall of man. (And there is a great distinction between the orientation and the act – just like there is a great difference between my orientation to pride and the act of boasting.)

“What’s new is not even the celebration and approval of homosexual sin. Homosexual behaviour has been exploited, and revelled in, and celebrated in art, for millennia. What’s new is normalisation and institutionalisation. This is the new calamity . . . And the magnitude of the assault on God and his image in man.

Christians, more clearly than others, can see the tidal wave of pain that is on the way. Sin carries in it its own misery: “Men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error,” (Romans 1:27).

I also believe that this “sexual sin” is set to redefine the Church’s agenda, especially the winning of souls during the end time period.

Is the Church rightly positioned to attract the Lord’s attention to deal with this cultural onslaught reminiscent of Noah’s times?

Is the Church also positioned to reach the lost with the grace of God through the Lord Jesus Christ?

Is the Church equally positioned to “equip believers to live wisely and ‘redeem the time’ so it counts for eternity?”

The Lord says: “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.” (Matthew 24:36-40, Genesis 6 – 7)

This is a critical moment for the Church to demonstrate to the grace of God to those are in danger of being swept away by the “gay rights” phenomenon, which is also a direct threat to the institution of marriage and family as the Lord defined them in the Bible.

This is no time to slumber. The gay rights craze is not only after the US or this current generation, but it is targeting future generations.

In November last year, Mrs Tsitsi Togara (46) of Zengeza 2, Chitungwiza who fellowships with Celebration Church International wrote an email that sounded alarm bells: “I am in intercession and the Holy Spirit has been talking to me about praying for children as a nation and He was saying: women of Zimbabwe, young and old pray for your wombs, pray for those unborn babies, pray for teenagers, pray for all children according to Jeremiah 9:20-21.

“Our children are dying because of drugs, prostitution, even the teachers are afraid of them.”Vana vaoma moyo” (They have hardened their hearts).

“The Holy Spirit is saying ladies of Zimbabwe it’s time to wake up no matter you are a Christian or not, if you are a mother it’s time for you to stand. God is calling us to change the plans that the devil has for our children,” she said.

Marilyn Hickey recommends that when faced with such a scenario, we have to tell the devil in the face: “You don’t get my children, you don’t get my grandchildren, you don’t get my great grandchildren. If Jesus tarries, you don’t get anyone who belongs to my house for a thousand generations! This curse will not go on. It will stop in Jesus’ name.”

Church organisations in the US are also doing something. According to a statement by the Family Research Council (US), “Nature and nature’s God . . . cannot be usurped by the edict of a court, even the United States Supreme Court. No court, no law, no rule and no words will change the simple truth that marriage is the union of one man and one woman.”

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops, called the June 26 outcome ‘a tragic error’. “Jesus Christ, with great love, taught unambiguously that from the beginning marriage is the lifelong union of one man and one woman,” they said.

The Catholic Church in the Philippines raised similar sentiments: “The Church continues to maintain what it has always taught. Marriage is a permanent union of man and woman,” said Archbishop Socrates Villegas, the president of the influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.

“This is the way the Church has always read sacred scriptures. This is the way it has lived its faith, inspired by the Holy Spirit,” Villegas said in a statement.

On June 28, the Presidential Prayer Team’s online prayer wall dedicated prayer to the US president and it sounded like that in Nehemiah chapter 1: “Oh, our Lord, we seek your face. We repent on our faces before you for the actions of our Supreme Court in legalising same-sex marriage.

“Forgive them, Lord, and forgive us, forgive all of us for creating a culture in which that would even be considered. Have mercy.

“Have mercy on our nation. We pray for our president and all our officials, elected and appointed, that your laws will be honoured. Bring us back to righteousness. Bring us back to revival. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”

More prayers were posted with “E” of New Jersey imploring, “Father we pray that our leaders and our country will repent of this violation of your standards and moral justice that says marriage is between a man and a woman. We know it is wrong to say it is between two people of the same sex. Please bring our nation to a correct understanding. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”

We draw inspiration from the fact that where sin abounds, grace abounds much more! As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:10, “While my own doing completely disqualified me; His doing now defines me. I am what I am by the grace of God. I am because He is! His grace was not wasted on me; instead I am inspired to labour beyond the point of exhaustion, more than anything I ever did under the law of performance; whatever it is that I accomplish now has grace written all over it. I take no credit for it.” (Mirror Bible version).

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