forecast

‘Red sky at night, sailor’s delight,’ goes the old adage. We are overflowing with the finer things in life. For decades we have delighted in the blessings of the healthiest and wealthiest this world has ever known. I have lived in fine houses with so much room to explore my abilities. I have enjoyed wonderful friends and wise mentors in my American life, never knowing anything but a bountiful table and the cleverest entertainment. I have been occupied with the widest opportunities in education, culture, and career.  All Americans have, and many others all over the world in our day.

But the winds of change were blowing long before we realized it. Now, those winds are beating harder, becoming violent. And the control we thought we had we are finding was but an ever-expanding illusion. The peace we have taken for granted for so long, like the “Greatest Generation” that paid for it, is now passing away. Famine, earthquakes, super-storms, wars and rumors of wars are rapidly increasing upon the earth. Technologies that were created to expand Liberty are being used to manipulate and enslave the masses. Economies are riding the razor’s edge. The hearts of men are failing as stability and safety is dissipating like a vapor before our very eyes.

Indeed, some things that never should have been forgotten are utterly lost. Blind men lead the foolish, trusting their promises of salvation from poverty and ignorance. They recite false histories, embrace false religions, become their own gods attempting to lead humanity into a new age, utopia. The values that have always triumphed over evil have been redefined and recast. And exchanging the truth that was universally known for lies, they hope to do away with those personal and governmental restraints and responsibilities that have always kept them in check. But there is only one hope that will deliver humanity from itself, only one way to salvation. And it begins in a life that relinquishes hope in everything else.

Tempted as every man, but without sin, born of flesh and blood, of man and God, He told the twelve men who followed Him all about these things we are currently watching unfold. When He arrives on the world scene again, there will be no deliberations, no backroom deals, no lying politicians, no conspiracies, no empty promises, no scandals, no bailouts, no failing currency, no symbiotic relationships with organized crime and terrorists, and no tolerance for evil. As the world came into order by His uni verse (spoken word), He will open His mouth and all disorder will be removed. He, Who holds the beginning and end in His hands and the working of His plan in between, Who causes the rise and fall of kings, the Alpha and Omega, the Lord of Heaven and earth is standing at the threshold awaiting the Father’s nod.

At the same time He stands at the threshold of the door of every person’s heart and knocks. It is our choice to ignore or answer that persistent knock that echoes through the ages. We can forecast the weather by observing the sky and nature all around us. But can we discern the sign of the times? Open the door and receive the Prince of Peace, Who is the hope of nations. He will come in to those who open their hearts and trust in Him. He will lay out a meal for us to enjoy with Him, offering the bread of life and the wine of the New Covenant. We do not have to hope in the continuing broken, twisted promises of men. We can hope in the Truth, holding ever more loosely to this fleeting age and strengthening our grip on the One Who is eternal. His name is Jesus.

Red sky at morning, sailors take warning.