We are now in our eighth year of presenting a Prophecy Update. This is #399 in that series.
We talk a lot about prophecy because one quarter of the Bible is devoted to it. One in every four verses is either a fulfilled prophecy, or a future one awaiting its fulfillment.
Eighty-percent of the Bible’s prophecies have already come true. Those that have not come true are all concerned with what we commonly call the end times, or the last days. They, too, must be fulfilled to the letter.
What do we mean by “Prophecy Update?” It is our belief that we can identify trends in the world, and news, that would be expected in light of the unfulfilled prophecies.
We’re not saying that the things we report are the fulfillment of prophecies – only that they are what you’d expect to be happening in the light of what we know about the future.
In case you haven’t heard, the US Supreme Court voted 5-4 in favor of same-sex marriage nationwide. The court ruled that states cannot ban same-sex marriages.
Since this is our Prophecy Update segment, let me first point out that this ruling is what you’d expect from reading the Bible. We often talk about the days of Noah, and conditions that will prevail before Jesus returns. The Bible also mentions the days of Lot.
Luk 17:28 Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built;
Luk 17:29 but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.
Luk 17:30 Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
You remember the story: The night before Sodom was destroyed, the men of Sodom came to Lot’s house and made an aggressive attempt to have sexual relations with his two houseguests. They were angels, and defended themselves, and Lot, by striking the men of Sodom with blindness. Even though blinded, they kept trying to get in the house.
They had what we would call an aggressive homosexual agenda.
As it was in the days of Lot, so it is today – as you would expect.
Syndicated conservative columnist Cal Thomas, had been predicting the decision, saying, “If you look at what not only Jesus said, but Paul the Apostle, about what things were going to be like in the End Times, people will be lovers of lies rather than the truth. They will elevate things that are called abominations in Scripture to normality” (http://cnsnews.com/blog/michael-w-chapman/cal-thomas-gay-marriage-all-prophecies-coming-true-end-times-are-right).
We will continue to understand marriage as it is described and defined by God. It is the heterosexual union of one genetic male, and one genetic female, for life, within which sexual behavior is encouraged and celebrated, and outside of which all sexual acts are considered sin.
Same sex marriage is, therefore, sexual sin. So is premarital sex, pornography, adultery, and everything that is outside of the description and definition of marriage in the Bible.
Our very first response ought to be personal repentance for any sexual sin in our own lives.
Next, to believe that the Gospel is the power of God to transform lives. The apostle Paul said,
Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
Interestingly, Paul said that just ahead of the famous passage, often quoted in the last couple of days, that details the deterioration of human society. It reads, in part,
Rom 1:24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,
Rom 1:25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
Rom 1:26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature.
Rom 1:27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.
Rom 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting;
Repent (if necessary); then reach-out (always) with the Gospel, to any and all nonbelievers, with the truth that sex outside of biblical marriage is sin.
While all this was predicted, we don’t expect, or need, to see anything happen, or to be fulfilled, before Jesus can resurrect and rapture the church. It is presented in the Bible as imminent.
Are you ready for the rapture? If not, get ready, stay ready, and keep looking up. Ready or not, Jesus is coming!