Thursday, May 1, 2008

Suddenly No More Time

Suddenly No More Time

What you are about the read on this page is divided under the following headings. Please feel free to make copies of this material to reach out to people to tell them of the Good News of our Saviour. For your convenience you may wish to print a PDF version of this material.

Suddenly No More Time

Scripture teaches and Jesus said that this present age will come to an end (Matthew 24:14). John Walvoord, of Dallas Theological Seminary, stated that, "many indications exist that human history is reaching a climax in end time events." There are signs in the world around us that this world is running out of time!

stop watch

Do you know what an exponential curve is ?

Lilies in a Pond
exponential curve Under ideal conditions the lilies will double every day. On the 30th day, if the pond is totally covered, then it was only half covered on the 29th day. That's an exponential curve.

Bacteria in a Jar
One bacterium placed in a jar at 11:00 am doubles itself every minute.
If the jar is full at 12:00pm it was half full at 11:59 am.

Folding a Piece of Paper
2 folds = 4 thicknesses and although it is physically impossible to fold a piece of paper 60 times, if you could the height would reach from the earth to the moon. At the 59th fold the thickness would only be half way to the moon.

An exponential curve is happening in many ways in our world today. It is signaling that suddenly we have no more time. Our world is coming to a climactic moment.

The Amazing Increase in the Speed of Travel
The Lord said to Daniel 2,500 years ago, "but thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased."
There is an end coming to the time in which we live.

space shuttle "Many shall run to and fro" when we come to the time of the end, the speed of travel will be greatly increased. In Daniel's day a camel traveled at about 8 mph. By the 1880s locomotives reached the speed of 100 mph. It took the human race about 6,000 years to reach that speed. In just 60 more years an aircraft reached the speed of 400 mph and in just 20 more year's military aircraft were traveling at speeds up to 4,000 mph. In only 10 more years men were orbiting the earth at 24,000 mph. Notice the increase in speed and the decrease in time. That's exponential growth! We are living in the last days and running out of time.

Many Shall Run To and Fro
In the 40 year time period between 1950 and 1990 the number of US Air passengers increased from 2 million to 200 million per year.

Today at any given time of the day 5 to 10 million people are in the world's air space traveling at high speeds. Daniel's prophecies have been fulfilled. Time is running out. We are living in the last days.

airplane

All of the exponential curves in our world would not fit in the space available here. Let me just list a few.

Exponential Increase in Knowledge "In the time of the end knowledge shall be increased." Daniel 12:4

Is that true today? After almost 6,000 years, by the 1800's, the sum total of man's knowledge had doubled once. By the 1990's it is estimated that man's total knowledge doubled every 18 months. In addition to this, through the internet man's knowledge is increasingly more widespread. We are living in the time of the end.

Exponential Growth in Military Power
weapons of mass destruction In early times one man could kill one man with a sword. Today one man can kill millions with a nuclear weapon. Matthew 24:22 says, "Except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved". Time is running out for this age!

Exponential Changes in Medicine and Science
90% of all the scientists who ever lived are alive today. 90% of all drugs and medications used today were unknown 10 years ago.

Exponential Multiplication of Diseases
40 to 50 years ago there were numerous medical breakthroughs. It seemed science would control disease. Today strange new viruses are springing up around the world.

There are 5,000 viruses documented. 96% of them we know little or nothing about Exponential Population Growth During the days of the Roman Empire there were approximately 250 million people in the world.

  • By 1800 1 billion people
  • By 1950 2 billion people
  • By 1975 3 billion people

In the decade of the 1990's the population increased by 1 billion. Today it is climbing to 7 billion.

Exponential New Construction
From 1970 to 2000 there was more construction than in the previous 5,000 years. Exponential Proliferation of Evil Through TV, Videos and Internet, evil has increased in an unimaginable way.

Technology - doubles every 9 to 10 months.

Energy Consumption - China will soon need all of the worlds oil supply to drive her expanded economy.

Potable Water - 40% of Asia will soon be out of water.

Dr. Larry Spargimino states, "according to the exponential curve of mathematics, mankind will suddenly find time has run out."

The Spider in the Cornfield

There once was a spider that lived in a cornfield. He was a big spider and spun his web between two stalks of corn. He got fat eating all the bugs that got caught in his web. He liked his home in the cornfield and planned to spend the rest of his life there.

One day the spider caught a little bug in his web, and just as the spider was about to eat him, the little bug said "If you let me go I will tell you something very important that will save your live."

The spider listened for a moment because he was amused. "You had better get out of this cornfield, the little bug said. "The harvest is coming." The spider smiled and said, "What is this harvest you are talking about? I think you are just telling me a story."

"Oh No!" said the little bug, "It's true, the owner of this cornfield is coming soon to harvest it."

"All the stalks will be knocked down , the corn will be gathered up and you will be killed by a giant machine if you stay here."

The spider said, "I don't believe in harvests and giant machines that knock down corn stalks. How can you prove this?" The bug said "Just look at the corn stalks and see how they are planted in rows. This proves the field was created by an intelligent designer".

The spider laughed and said, "This field just evolved and it has nothing to do with an intelligent designer - corn just grows that way." "Oh No", said the little bug, "This field belongs to the owner who planted it, and the harvest is coming soon".

The spider grinned and said "I don't believe you", and he ate the little bug for lunch.

spiderA few days later the spider was laughing about the story the little bug told him, he thought to himself "a harvest, what a silly idea, I have lived in this cornfield all my life and nothing has ever disturbed me. I have been here since those stalks were just a foot off the ground. I'll be here the rest of my life, because nothing is ever going to change this field. Life is good and I have it made."

The next day was a beautiful day in the corn field. That afternoon as the spider was about to take his nap, he noticed some thick dust in the distance. He could hear the roar of a great engine. Just before he took his last nap he said, "I wonder what that could be?"

At the Present Time the exponential curve is operative and the world system has not collapsed. Civilization is doing fairly well despite some problems on the horizon. Remember the bacterium in the jar at 11:59 am. The jar was only half full and things didn't seem to be desperate. Matthew 25:13 says "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh."

300 times in the New Testament we are told of His coming.

Don't be like the spider in the cornfield.

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The Birth Pains Timeline

Jesus said we will not know the exact time He will come for the Church. Since we are barred from knowing the timing of the rapture, any date speculation is folly.

Although we are restricted from knowing the day and hour, we are encouraged by the Lord Jesus to understand the general time frame of His return. Jesus foretold of conditions that will be in place just before His second coming.

In Matthew 24:8 we are told the last days will be the tail end of an exponential curve of activity. Jesus mentioned a great variety of signs - spiritual, natural, societal, and world political - and then He said these signs will be like "birth pains".

As the birth of a baby approaches, the birth pains increase two ways. They increase in frequency and in intensity. Thus, Jesus was saying that the closer we get to the time of His return, the more frequent and intense the signs will become. There will be more earthquakes and more intense ones. Likewise, things like famine, pestilence and war will increase in frequency and intensity.

Over the past several decades, I have noticed an increase in calamities; however, the past few years have been particularly interesting. The dawn of the new millennium is the beginning of what we believe to be major birth pains. These are events which stand out:

  • Sep 2001 - Suicide bombings proliferate like never before
  • Sep 2001 - the 9/11 attacks occurred in the US
  • Mar 2003 - the second war in Iraq began
  • Mar 2004 - Ten terrorist bombs exploded in Madrid, Spain, killing 202.
  • Dec 2004 - A magnitude 9.0 earthquake spawned a tsunami that killed 250,000 people.
  • Jul 2005 - Four explosions rocked London.
  • Aug 2005 - Hurricane Katrina inflicted $200 billion damage.
  • Oct 2005 - Hurricane Wilma was the most intense hurricane recorded in the Atlantic basin.
  • Oct 2005 - An earthquake in Kashmir, Pakistan, killed 55,000 people.
  • Mar 2006 - Cyclone Larry, the strongest storm since 1974, struck Australia.
  • Jul 2006 - Typhoon Saomai was the strongest storm to hit China since 1956.
  • Jul 2006 - Israel launched a 34-day war with Hezbollah.
  • Oct 2006 - North Korea exploded an atomic bomb.
  • Nov 2006 - Japan was hit by the strongest tornado in that nation's recorded history.
  • Nov 2006 - Australia sweltered under the worst drought in 1,000 years.

In the last two decades we have seen

  • 9 of the 10 costliest insurance events in the US History
  • 6 of the 7 costliest hurricanes in US History
  • 3 of the 4 largest tornado outbreaks in US History
  • 9 of the top 10 natural disasters in US History, ranked by FEMA
  • the 2 largest terrorism events in US History

There is no way one can say these are just common events. We are at the point that an end time watcher has the luxury of sighting occurrences that come with labels such as "historic", "worst" or "record".

I have noticed that people seem to have a problem keeping these calamities in an end-time perspective. They have become so common, we lose track of their significance.

It will be very interesting to see if 2007 follows the pattern of exponential end-time activity.

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Get Ready, Jesus is Coming

You don't have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing. In the Book of Luke Jesus used a weather analogy to highlight how people failed to realize that they were about to witness the revelation of the Messiah. Their error resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Today, people are making an even bigger mistake by not comprehending that this is the generation that will see the fulfillment of the end times.

"And he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, there cometh a shower; and so it is. And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, there will be heat; and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?" (Luke 12:54-56)

Dr. Bill McGuire who has a PHD in Volcanology and is a Professor of Geohazards at University College, London, England, makes the following statement: "The greatest fear of Hazard Scientists and Disaster Managers is that we will shortly be faced with Global natural catastrophe of unprecedented size! The threat of an Asteroid or Comet impact is now understood, but few appreciate that we are overdue for a Volcanic Super-Eruption big enough to freeze the planet. Other tectonic threats include earthquake "storms" powerful enough to devastate a Continent, and giant Tsunami (huge sea waves, normally generated by earthquakes) - capable of obliterating entire cities around the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans."

Scientists, Doctors and the Media, are warning of scenarios the Bible describes for the end times!

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Repentance

Repentance, if it is genuine, arises from a deep and profound conviction by Christ's Spirit that we are indeed wrongdoers who in sinister sin against Him have become alienated from him. In His wondrous grace, generosity, and love He extends to us His mercy, forgiveness, and acceptance on the basis of His own magnanimous self-sacrifice. He demands that we for our part turn from our wicked ways, repent of our wrongs, seek His companionship, and claim His amazing justification through total forgiveness.

Is the Bible God's Word?

There are 333 prophecies in the Old Testament concerning the first coming of Christ. All fulfilled in exacting detail. These perfectly fulfilled Messianic prophecies prove beyond any possibility of doubt that God is the Sovereign Lord of the Universe, Who knows the end from the beginning and that the Bible is His infallible Word. Fulfilled prophecy is found in the Bible and in the Bible alone.

Faith in Christ is not a leap in the dark. It is not mysticism or superstition. It is faith in the proven facts God has given us.

God reveals Himself and proves Himself and then says trust Me and obey Me and I will bless you.

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In the News
2000 Years Ago

Signs of the Coming day of the Lord

When asked about the signs of His return to Earth, and the End of the age, Jesus gave a number of signs that would signal the nearness of His coming. The signs in Matthew 24:7 are called, in verse 8, the Beginning Signs:

First Sign: "Famines"

The UN reports that 6 million children will die this year of hunger

Second Sign: "Pestilence"

(Disease of epidemic proportions) We are now being threatened with a pandemic of Avian Flu which we are told could kill up to 800 million people.

Third Sign: "Earthquakes"

The greatest disaster in Pakistan's history was the recent earthquake that devastated the country. Add to that , the earthquake which caused the Tsunami which took nearly a quarter of a million lives.

Quotations:

"Only the Bible foretells centuries and even thousands of years in advance major events in world history. These numerous prophecies identify beyond question the one true God and the Bible as His unique revelation to mankind"
» Dave Hunt, Rapture Ready

"We are living in the last days of the last days"
» Elwood McQuaid, Friends of Israel

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Are you good enough to go to Heaven?

Of all the questions you will ask yourself in this life, this is probably the most important. Check yourself against just a few of God's requirements:

  • "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" Has God always had first place in your life?
  • Have you ever told a lie? Be honest.
  • Have you ever taken anything that doesn't belong to you? That would make you a thief.
  • Have you ever felt hate toward anyone? Jesus said that is equal to murder.
  • Have you ever looked with lust? Jesus said that is equal to adultery.
  • Have you ever coveted, desired something that belongs to another?

These are just a sampling of God's requirements to get into heaven. Who among us can say we have kept God's law. Paul said if you have broken one commandment, you are guilty of breaking all.

Listen to the seriousness of breaking the law. "But the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers, and whore mongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."

Man! That's Bad News! What should you do?

Simply recognize your sin, see it as God sees it and repent, turn away from it and put your faith and trust in Christ who shed His blood and died to redeem you from sin.

See John 1:12 and John 3:18 You cannot produce change in your own life, but true salvation will result in change. See 2 Corinthians 5:17

by Art Sadlier


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Art Sadlier 1199 Southampton Road Amherst, NS B4H 3Y4 Canada

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