We focus on prophecy each week for about five-minutes.
The New Testament tells you and I repeatedly that we are living in the last days before the coming of Jesus Christ. Not only are we told that, but there is evidence to back it up. There are signs that we’re living in the last days:
The explosion of knowledge (Dan.12:4).
Global communication (Rev. 11:4).
The rise of Europe as a superpower and the move towards a one world government. (Revelation 13).
The move towards a one world cashless society (Revelation 13).
The birth of the Israel as a nation (Isa.66:8).
The alignment of hostile nations against Israel (Ezekiel 38).
International conflict over Israel (Zech.12:3).
The movement of Israel to rebuild their temple (Matt.24:15).
The Bible describes a yet future period of seven years during which the entire planet will experience tribulation like never before. One prominent feature of that Great Tribulation is the world ruler we know best as the Antichrist. At one point in the middle of the Tribulation, he will exercise complete control over his citizens. No one will be able to buy or sell anything without first having sworn total allegiance to him. It will be the ultimate totalitarian state.
His ability to control every aspect of a person’s life isn’t going to happen overnight. Things must already be in place for him when he seizes power.
You’d therefore expect a trend towards the loss of personal freedom due to invasive technology.
Someone who sees this trend is the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. Tracing their roots back to the 9th century, there are currently 85million members of the Russian Orthodox Church.
In an interview shown on state TV, Patriarch Kirill said the data-gathering capacity of devices such as smartphones risks bringing humanity closer to the arrival of the Antichrist.
He said the church does not oppose technological progress but is concerned that “someone can know exactly where you are, know exactly what you are interested in, know exactly what you are afraid of,” and that such information could be used for centralized control of the world.
“Control from one point is a foreshadowing of the coming of Antichrist… Antichrist is the person who will be at the head of the world wide web that controls the entire human race,” he said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/russian-church-head-smartphones-could-precede-antichrist/2019/01/08/0321d546-133a-11e9-ab79-30cd4f7926f2_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.4fe4f94ef647
Read the Bible and this is the kind of Last Days trend you’d expect.
As believers, we expect that Jesus could return at any moment.
Jesus promised He’d return to rapture His church – which entails the resurrection of the dead in Christ of the Church Age, then the translation from earth to Heaven of all living believers.
It is presented in the Bible as an imminent (any-moment) event.
Are you ready for the rapture? If not, get ready, stay ready, and keep looking up. Ready or not, Jesus is coming!