When is man going to quit teaching false doctrine about knowing when the world will come to an end? (1 Peter 2:1-3).
The word of God has made it perfectly clear that the end will come in the same way that a robber burglarizes a house. It will be unexpected! The day and hour is known by no one! (Matthew 24:35-51; Mark 13:31-37; Luke 21:33-36; 2 Pet. 3:7-12; Luke 12:35-48; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-9). Preachers cannot calculate or talk about clues leading up to the end because there aren’t any! The scriptures taken out of context by preachers are Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21. These three chapters are speaking of an invasion which was to come on Jerusalem and lay it waste (Luke 19:41-44). According to secular history that did occur around A.D. 70, and the signs leading up to that invasion are what the Lord was talking about. These preachers today, take those verses out of the context of a past war and paste it into things happening today and claim that such is the prophesying of current events. But, that is wrong. And it is more wrong to claim that world is ending as we saw last week, and I’m sure we will hear this again. When the courts don’t do what they are supposed to with criminals, the evil acts will continue because of the lack of suitable punishment (Ecclesiastes 8:11).
Why should a thug quit robbing and killing when he knows that he won’t get much jail time or be put to death for his murders? So rather than fear the law, criminals will become bold by the lack spine from the courts. It shouldn’t be that way! The justice system is ordained by God and placed on earth to protect the law-abiding and punish the evil doers (Romans 13:1-5; 1 Peter 2:13-14). Man needs to get back to having things the way God has taught. The law must start being the law and quit being soft with criminals. If men want crime to cease, the law must show wicked men that there is a penalty for violations (Galatians 6:7). So if one doesn’t want to feel the wrath of the law, don’t do the crime (Proverbs 26:3). You can know that it is bad when a murderer can slaughter people, then argue in court that he shouldn’t be executed in a certain way or even at all because of the pain he will suffer (Proverbs 26:27, 13:15, 11:6; Genesis 9:5-6; Acts 25:11). “Dear God.
I am young and don’t understand what it is like to be a parent, but it must be hard. I pray you will help Mom and Dad to be good parents, strong in the ways you want them to be. I want to look up to them with admiration and feel confident that their instruction is right. Help me, dear Lord, to understand my parents. Remind me that when I don’t get my way, it is because they love me and not because they want to be mean or deprive me of a good time. When I become stubborn and refuse to listen, help me, God to accept the fact that they have wisdom and experience since they were once teenagers themselves; whereas I have never been a parent. Put in my heart the respect and consideration they deserve for their years of hard work and sacrifice. They raised me as best they could. Let me not repay them with grief or shame. Rather, help me to give them obedience, respect, forgiveness, and love. Most of all, God, while I still have my parents here on earth, help me to appreciate them and let them know I do. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.” Proverbs 10:1. ~The Salina Journal, adapted Jesus Christ, the Son of God said it best, “the poor will be here always and when you wish, you may help them” (Mark 14:7).
The needs of men will never be eliminated from the earth and all of us should be doing something to help deserving souls (Galatians 6:10). Hurricane Harvey left a lot of damage in the South, and now is a good time to reach out to the people down there. However, a con person doesn’t deserve help. He is simply trying to take advantage of people’s generosity, and he doesn’t deserve to eat (2 Thessalonians 3:10). But, you don’t have to go to Texas to give help to deserving persons because we have plenty of cases right here in Philadelphia. So yes, Houston has a problem, but so do we all if we don’t learn that everything is temporary, and tomorrow anyone can be needing help. |