The Empire: As was time of Noah and Lot-1

AS WAS THE TIME OF NOAH: AS WAS THE TIME OF LOT

As Was the Time of Noah: Violence

One-third of the Bible’s message is prophetic. History records the fulfillment of all biblical prophecies except those pertaining to the Tribulation. The “Great Tribulation” occurs within a seven-year time frame (Dan. 9:25-27). It culminates at the battle of Armageddon, which draws the world’s armies together in war, which ends with the cataclysmic description of the darkened sun, falling stars and the powers of the heavens shaken (Matt. 24:29).

This prompts the second coming of Jesus Christ, who joins the conflict with His heavenly battalion and marks the end of civilization. Daniel 8:23 confirms that the Tribulation begins when society degenerates to such a great degree that God judges the earth. God’s purpose is to end sin, fulfill prophecy, and create a new world ruled by Christ.

During Israel’s history God utilized the prophets to forecast calamity and judgment on Israeli kings and on the nation for turning against God and following other gods and pagan practices. In some instances, if the king or nation repented, God changed his mind and replaced blessings for judgment. Prior to the Babylonian invasion of Israel the prophet Jeremiah spent his life warning the kings of Israel and the Israelites of the coming Babylonian captivity. In looking at the kingdom period we see that sin progressed from idolatry and worshiping pagan gods to sacrificing children to them. The Israelites torturously murdered their children by burning

them in fire to the god Molech. Israel’s habitual sin resulted in the Babylonian captivity and the destruction of Solomon’s Temple. When God judged Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone and Noah’s civilization with the flood, he rescued Noah and Lot’s family and warned

each of them of the coming judgment. During the Tribulation God shakes the world with his power and sends his spokespersons. While a few look to Him, the greater number of mankind curses God rather than turn to Him. Today we have God’s warning written in the Bible, which contains the books of the Prophets and details the events of the Great Tribulation, which occur during a seven year period of time. Evangelicals believe that just as God spared Noah and Lot’s family, he will take believers out of the world in the Rapture just prior to the start of the Tribulation. (Matt.24:30-36, 40-41)

The book of Daniel announces 70 weeks of specific prophetic events which will affect the nation Israel. A Biblical week equals seven secular years. Seventy Biblical weeks total 490 years, which encompass three decrees affecting Jerusalem. Two of these have already happened: from the edict to rebuild Jerusalem under Cyrus, down to the cutting off of the Messiah, was 483 years. The remaining seven years await fulfillment (Dan. 9:24).

During Jesus’ ministry, people questioned him about the end of the world. They wanted to know when the end will happen. Jesus provided several signs which include, wars and rumors of wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes, false prophets, and lawlessness, and all nations will have heard the Gospel. Christ exhorted believers to “watch” for the signs of the times (Mark 13:37). Jesus compared the events leading to His second coming to the labor pains of childbirth (Matt. 24:8, Mark 13:8). These occur closer together, increasing in severity, until the moment of birth.

Events on the international scene, and the escalating rates of violence and natural disasters, happen today at an ever-quickening pace. Hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes break records in their frequency, and strike localities once untouched by the forces of nature. The term tsunami came into our vocabularies after one struck in 2004. According to National Geographic News, the tsunami that stuck the Indian Ocean in 2004 became the deadliest tsunami in history. The US Geological Survey estimated that

it released the energy of 23,000 Hiroshima-type atomic bombs. After the Haiti earthquake in 2010, Time Magazine recorded the “Top 10 Deadliest

Earthquakes” in history and three of them occurred within the last six years;

the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, the earthquake that struck Kashmir Pakistan in 2005 and the quake in Sichuan Province in China in 2008.[1]

In this past decade, the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons were so devastating they made it into Wikipedia’s “Timeline of US History.” In 2004 it records the hurricanes “had numerous unusual occurrences impacting US properties.” The 2005 hurricane season is recorded as taking its toll in the Southeast, “most notably, Hurricane Katrina became the costliest hurricane of all time.”[2]

The shock waves that rippled through political events and weather patterns hit the global financial markets in late 2007. The financial crash occurred in 2008 after the recession began. The same unpredictable patterns felt in the weather now hit the financial markets, first striking the US and then rippling through the global markets. High level financial managers sat baffled as predictable strategies became unreliable as markets reacted by going in unforeseen directions they had never before moved in history. So great was its impact that the major financial newspapers reported that the world economy came to a literal stop. [3]

Back in 1989, the Berlin Wall collapsed, marking the end of the Cold War and the beginning of the New World Order. The rise of Islamic fundamentalism and the Middle East conflict presented the superpowers with a new focus. In the same period, major American cities experienced in one year’s time the doubling of their murder rates. The growth of violent gangs proliferated and killing of rival gang members and innocent victims turned city streets into battlefields. Worldwide crime statistics mounted. National and ethnic conflicts took place in so many nations that civil wars and border disputes became a trend in the New World Order.

Christ, commenting on the end times, foretold in Matthew 24:12: “lawlessness will abound.” In two of the Gospels, He compares the days before His coming to the era of Noah and Lot (Matt. 24:37, Luke 17:26). As in the days of Noah, violence becomes an epidemic (Gen. 6:11-12). Wickedness permeates society, and yet people live life as usual. This describes our generation. With prisons filled to capacity, city streets likened to battle grounds, and killings occurring at a record pace, violence has become a social crisis. As a result of the crimes committed by teenagers and grade school children, inner city schools conduct “bullet drills,” use metal detectors to scan for weapons, and hire armed security guards.[4] The Economist commented that “it is not condoms that they should be giving out in New York City schools; it is bullet proof vests.”[5] In the later years of his life, political commentator and author William F. Buckley remarked that “after two or three more disarmament conferences with the Soviet Union et al., the largest standing army in the world is likely to be New York City school children.”[6] Children kill their parents, murder each other, and are basically out of control.

In civil wars, the acts committed on civilian populations by militants surpass the realm of brutality and are nothing short of savage. This past century recorded more mass murder than any other time in history. This does not even include abortions, which, when totaled worldwide in the last two decades, exceed the present US population in number.[7] Yet, violence and lawlessness are only part of the social picture described by Christ in the last days.

As Was the Time of Lot: Sexual Immorality

God destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by raining fire and brimstone on them. These cities were renowned for open homosexuality. Young boys accompanied men and engaged in homosexual and violent activities. Sodomites apprehended and raped strange men, and dealt violently with anyone who tried to stop them (Gen. 19:19). These peoples had a distorted sense of right and wrong. Christ compared the days before the Tribulation to the days of Lot, who lived in these cities. Therefore violence, lawlessness, homosexuality, and sexual deviancy (e.g., sex with children) will characterize the end times.

According to Donald E. Wildmon, who wrote The Case Against Pornography, “Child pornography has become a $2–3 billion annual business in the US alone.” Mr. Wildmon concluded with Charles H. Keating, Jr., of Citizens for Decency that there exists “a nationwide campaign to normalize sex between adults and young children—to promote incest.”[8]

Incidents of men raping men and boys have increased, judging by the number of offenders currently serving time in US prisons. In New York

City, a rapist abducted an 11-year old male walking home from school and sodomized him.[9] Grade school children now experiment with sex, and acts of rape occur among them. These incidents will continue to increase as society becomes the civilization God said He would have to judge. Joel 3:3 declares: “They have cast lots for My people; Have given a boy in exchange for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.” During the Tribulation, soldiers sell children for sexual purposes, for as little as a bottle of wine. Men will use boys as prostitutes. These acts mirror crimes committed against children today. We have arrived at the end times that Christ foretold in the Gospels.

The rock musician formerly known as Prince toured in the late 1980’s with his release of “Signs of The Times.” On the CD cover, the peace symbol of the 1960’s replaces the “o” in the word “of.” In the 1980s, it became the “Cross of Nero.” The upside-down cross with the broken cross members signifies the defeat of Christianity among the occultists. Christians view the immorality of the day as signs leading to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, while Satanists see today’s perils as the defeat of Christianity.[10]

False Prophets: The Rise of Cults and the Occult

During the Tribulation, false Christs and prophets perform signs and wonders so great that, if it were possible, they will deceive the very elect (Matthew 24:24). In the present day, weeping and bleeding statues—of Mary and Jesus, and even of Elvis—border on the bizarre, and gain followings. The United States has seen a tremendous rise in cult and sect activities in the past quarter century. Among them, cults that act out murder and mayhem have risen. From Charles Manson, and lesser known criminals who claim to be deities and murder for the cause of their religion, to Jim Jones, who in 1978, incited 918 of his followers to commit mass suicide by drinking poison in Kool Aid. In 1995, the Japanese cult Aleph, released sarin nerve gas into the Tokyo subway system killing twelve people, severely injuring fifty and causing temporary vision problems for nearly a thousand others. They conducted an earlier attack in 1994, that killed seven and injured 500 others in an attempt to hasten the apocalypse. In 1997, there was also the Heaven’s Gate UFO cult whose 39 members committed suicide in unison at the appearance of the Comet Hale-Bopp. [11]

In addition to cults Satanism is also on the rise in America. Since 1969, The Satanic Bible by Anton Szandor LaVey has gone through 21 printings. The Satanists believe in the coming Antichrist, the son of Satan himself, who will have power and defeat Christianity. Even they hold that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and prospective members must renounce Him. Satanists know that to get to God, one must go through His Son.[12]

Jesus foretold of false Christs and prophets who will perform great miracles. Falun Gong, founded in the early 1990’s by Li Hongzhi in China, provides a prime example of the cult leaders Jesus forecasted will come claiming His deity and able to perform miracles. Li Hongzhi equates himself with a god and claims to have supernatural powers. A Chinese national recalled witnessing a video where Li performed levitation. According to the New World Encyclopedia, Li stated, “If I cannot save you, nobody else can do it. Wikipedia records Falun Gong as having 70 million practitioners in China and over 100 million Falun Dafa in 114 countries and regions around the world. [13] According to Jesus we will see more false Christs like Li Hongzhi as the end approaches.

In The Last Days Perilous Times Will Come

Violence and sexual perversion mark this decade. Our society is laden with social maladies, and thus has become a replica of Noah’s and Lot’s. Reports of horrific crimes committed both by children and against them fill our airwaves. In part, the breakdown of the family—evidenced by the rising divorce rate—is to blame for the unruly children who shoot up their schools, and kill their parents and peers. Our homes are in upheaval; people cannot manage to live or work together. Not only must we be aware of the criminals who rob us on the street or invade our homes, but we must also be conscious of the many scams perpetrated by wealthy corporate leaders who rob their employees and investors. It is as if every person is out for themselves. In 2 Timothy 3:1-4, the Bible summarizes the self-centered state of man in the last days:

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:

For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self control, brutal,despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

We are, no doubt, at that place of narcissism and lawlessness described in the Scriptures. It is only logical that if events on the social scene point to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, in the international arena they must come the same distance.

Historical events now happen at such rapid speed that more occurs in a few years than would normally take place over decades. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Director of the Harvard Center for International Affairs noted that: “The world has changed more rapidly in the past two years than at any time since 1945.” Mr. Nye suggested that when George Bush launched his New World Order, he never “thought through what it meant by the concept he launched.”[14] Politicians grappled with its meaning. Christians recognize the New World Order as the final world order leading up to the Tribulation. This order signifies global government and the launching of the Antichrist as a world leader. To understand how the events of the last few years fit into the prophetic picture, we must first look to what the Bible tells us about the Tribulation period.

NOTES

1“The Deadliest Tsunami in History?, ”National Geographic News, January 7, 2005, http://news.nationalgeographic.com /news/, Dan Fletcher, “Top Ten Deadliest Earthquakes,” Time in partnership with CNN, January 13, 2010,http://www.time.com

/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1953425_1953424,00.html,

1. 1. Avi Zenilman, “Eight Days That Shook The World,” The New Yorker, September 14, 2009 http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2009/09/eight-days-that-shook-the-world.html, see also Andrew Leonard, “The Day the Economy Almost Stopped,” How The World Works, February 10, 2009, http://search.salon.com/salonsearch.php?breadth=salon&search=the+day++the+world+economy+almost+stopped

1. 1. Seth Mydans, “Bullets and Crayons: Children Learn Lessons for 90s,” New York Times, 16 June 1991.

1. 1. American Survey, “Guns and Children in Schools Protection Racket,” Economist, 30 November 1991.

1. 1. William F. Buckley, “Guns and Children,” National Review, 21 October 1991.

1. 1. This figure was based on the numbers recorded in the following articles: Kerstin Witt, “Abortion in the Soviet Union,” World Press, August 1989. See also Susan Greenhalgh, “Socialism and Fertility in China,” The Annals: World Population Approaching the Year 2000, July 1990.

1. 1. Donald E. Wilmon, The Case Against Pornography, Wheaton: Victor Books, 1986, p. 13.

1. 1. Sara Rimer, “Crime Visits New York’s Children and Dread Haunts Many Parents,” New York Times, 19 January 1992.

1. 1. Thomas W. Wedge, Satan Hunter, Canton: Daring Books, 1988, p. 196.]]

1. 1. Ibid. pp. 13, 24-5, 63.

1. Joseph S. Nye, “What New World Order,” Foreign Affairs, vol. 71, no. 2, Spring 1992.

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