Troubled Times

      Troubled times are upon us. Matthew 24:6-8 "And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that that you are not alarmed, for this must must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of the birth pains." All these things must occur before the second coming of Jesus Christ.
     Many men and women are becoming more disobedient to God and are not following his teachings. Matthew 24:12 "And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold." The people who are not obeying God are acting without any restraint like the people in 2 Timothy 3:1-5 "But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people." Because of their disobedience to God their love will grow cold and their heart will become hardened. These people will become more violent and bring war and death into our world.
     We can still have hope in these trouble times by keeping our faith in God and believing in his words and promises. A day will come when our Lord and Savior will return and bring a lasting peace to our world. Isaiah 2:4 "He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore." Matthew 16:27 "For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done." Revelation 21:3,4 "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."