The End.

Time, for the most part, has run out.

It's gone.

No, I do not mean that the rapture will be in the next five minutes ( it could be, but that's not for me to
know), but for mankind, this present era is to come to an end. And that end will not be a pleasant one;
the finale for the human race's time of trying to govern itself on this planet will be ended by a seven-year
stretch that will see this blue orb essentially stripped down. The earth will have her foundations exposed,
her waters ruined, her fauna and flora obliterated, and humanity's mark on this world reduced to ashes:

"Behold, the LORD lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants.
And the people will be like the priest, the servant like his master, the maid like her mistress, the buyer
like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor. The earth will be completely
laid waste and completely despoiled, for the LORD has spoken this word. The earth mourns and
withers, the world fades and withers, the exalted of the people of the earth fade away. The earth is also
polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant.
Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty. Therefore, the inhabitants
of the earth are burned, and few men are left." (Isaiah 24:1-6, NASB, emphasis mine)

Not a pretty picture, is it?

With the end of this present era, time will have also run out for the Church as well. With the Rapture,
any chance for a member of the Body to give an unbeliever the Gospel will be lost, as Christ calls His
own home. At that point, all of the body of Christ will be translated into Eternity, and all the tally for the
saved will be counted up by the Lord.

And what of this present generation?

What indeed...

It is reported that pastors in the congregations are reluctant to preach on greed, for fear that they will
offend and drive away those that donate and tithe large sums of money with their message. Any effort to
reach out to those in society that are socially, economically or otherwise "undesirable", save for small
token gestures, are deemed "a social gospel" that will **** those people to hell through a "welfare
mentality":

"My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal
favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and
there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is
wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You
stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and
become judges with evil motives? Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this
world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you
have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court?
Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called? " (James 2:1-7, NASB, emphasis
mine)

"What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?
If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go
in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body,
what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself." (James 2:14-17, NASB,
emphasis mine)

Meanwhile, efforts at any sort of discipleship in church fall through, as the churches become the "only
school where the kindergarteners are thrown in with the 12th graders". Those who are babes in Christ
are left with unanswered questions, while those further along become stifled in their own walks as the
church once again covers basic ground. Many never mature in the faith, because many never gain any
initiative on their own to search the word of God and learn....

...didn't the book of Hebrews say otherwise?

"Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the
elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For
everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.
But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and
evil." (Hebrews 5:11-14, NASB, emphasis mine)

As individual believers, we have a responsibility to learn and to listen to the Lord; as the Body, we have
a responsibility to teach and disciple. Both individually and as a body, are we heeding the Lord's call?
Or have we largely drowned out the Lord in favor of what we think is right? We serve when it is
convenient for us, but is that convenience the time that the lord seeks us to serve Him? Is it our timing or
His that we seek?

When we say "thy will be done", whose will do we mean?

"“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the
will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not
prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’
And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE
LAWLESSNESS.’" (Matthew 7:21-23, NASB, emphasis mine)

We serve when it is convenient for us. And we claim to be His subjects...

We have fractioned ourselves off into varying groups: nationalities, denominations, cliques at church,
neighborhoods, states, you name it. We state "I am an American" or "I am a German" or "I am an
Australian" rather than identifying with the Kingdom of God. In the US, we claim for example that we
are "American Christians", making sure that our nationality comes first. Or we claim that we are
"Baptists" or "Pentecostals" or "conservative" or "Liberal"; "Democrat" or "Republican". We identify as
of this world first, then add in that we claim to belong to His kingdom.

Have we made idols of our flags? Has our patriotism become our "religion"?

Scripture says:

"For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; For how can My name be profaned? And My glory I will
not give to another." (Isaiah 48:11, NASB, emphasis mine)

But what did scripture say?

"“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the
world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world,
because of this the world hates you." (John 15:18-19, NASB, emphasis mine)

"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you
may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect" (Romans 12:2,
NASB, emphasis mine)

If scripture says one thing and we another, who is right?

The witness we give this world in these actions speaks volumes; and those volumes speak of a church
that in the west, has cried out to the lost: "CHEAP GRACE". We think that because Christ died for our
sins before we were born, that we have ipso facto permission to commit them and simply waddle up to
His throne to wipe the plate off before loading a fresh heaping on sins on!!!

Scripture tells us:

"What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not
know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one
whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks
be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of
teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of
righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you
presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so
now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification."

So close to the end of our race here on earth, and this is what we finish with?

Now, I know that those reading this are probably going to be pretty upset by now. And frankly, I
wouldn't blame you. So, in all humility...

...I challenge you.

What the challenge is is this: before replying in this thread, go ahead and look up scripture on what was
said in this OP.

THEN...

BEFORE you answer... ..... bring it before the LORD.

I don't mean just a quick prayer; what I mean is that you honestly, earnestly ask Him about all this, and
wait on an answer. If it takes two hours, that's fine. If it takes 2 weeks or even months, that is fine too.
But honestly, carefully bring it before His throne of grace and ask Lord Jesus Christ about what has been
said in this OP. Ask Him what He thinks, what He considers true.

Then, ask Him how to proceed, and not just with an answer to this topic. Ask Him His will, what He
would have you do to serve Him. Ask Him if any of this applies to you, and ask Him to examine you.

Then, ask what He would have you reply with, in this thread, and go ahead and post.

Time is almost out for us and this planet; this is the "Time of the Signs" and all the signs of the coming
Tribulation are falling into place.

We are so near The End. Yes, God controls it all, but He also allows us to serve Him of our own free
wills.

Tick...Tick... Tick...

YBIC,

-Robert