Saturday Rambling

Good morning and happy Saturday.  May God bless you with a great day as you seek to live this day for Him.

The other day I saw a fascinating headline.  It asked this intriguing question, “Who is responsible for stopping Armageddon?”  Most of you reading this are familiar with the term.  You have read about it in the book of Revelation, and you have heard it referenced in sermon, lessons and movies.  It is now used to refer to any type of calamity.  I found the following which provided a good reminder:

The word Armageddon is used generically today to refer to any type of catastrophic conflict, especially if it’s seen as likely to result in widespread destruction or the annihilation of human life. In the Bible, Armageddon refers to a climactic future battle between God and the forces of evil, as recorded in the book of Revelation. The word ultimately comes from the Hebrew word Har-Magedone, which means “Mount Megiddo,” the predicted location of the battle.  (GotQuestions.org)

Ok, back to the question, “Who is responsible for stopping Armageddon?”  The quick answer is that mankind is not and further, will not be able to stop it from happening.  The article I mentioned is about mankind’s latest adventure to launch a rocket into space to nudge an asteroid off its course so that it doesn’t lead to the annihilation of the human race.  Yes, it sounds like a movie, but it is a real thing.  They are also experimenting with being able to shoot them to pieces so they don’t pose a harm to planet earth.  I can’t picture anything going wrong with either of those scenarios. 

I find it a bit interesting that there are a myriad of issues going on that has got people thinking about the inevitable.  Of course, there are wars and rumors of war, famine, disease, etc.  These are a precursor to the period of time when absolute chaos, suffering and destruction will occur.  As the saying goes, all hell will break out.  Although it may be more accurate to say that all heaven is going to break out.  The though occurred to me that we live in a time when mankind does seem to rally together on certain things to try and stop things that just might be out of their control.  I am not saying we shouldn’t work together because there are issues that effect all of us.  But what if we are working toward another tower of Babel moment?  What if we are working really hard and spending incredible sums of money and resources to slow down or thwart the plan of God?  Because of sin, due to mankind’s continual rebellion against God, there will be consequences.  There is judgement.  His Word tells us so.  The primary way to help mankind in their plight is to slow down the spread of sin.  To have a wholesale change in the hearts of man where they repent of their sins against a holy God and trust Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  

Obviously, I am not a scientist, but it seems to me that throughout the annals of time, the environment has been changing.  The world has now joined forces to somehow stop this from happening.  Collectively, mankind will spend trillions of dollars to try to fix something that might not be fixable.  I recognize that we are called to be caretaker of the planet that God allowed us to enjoy, and we have not done a good job of that.  We actually need to do better at taking care of the things God entrusts to us. However, the industrial revolution didn’t cause the previous ice age to end or the dinosaurs to go extinct.  There are so-called dead stars and planets out there.  What happened to them?  Some people like Elon Musk and others recognize that our planet may be in peril so they what to eventually populate mars.  We can ask the cows to stop burping, farting, and passing methane gas.  We can try to plug up the volcanoes.  We can recycle every aluminum can.  Maybe, it might have a negligible impact on global temperatures.  However, when it comes time for God to judge mankind, it won’t matter how extraordinary your efforts may be.  The people of the world are fixated on trying to save the planet and thus save mankind.  What they refuse to recognize is that there is a Savior, and His name is Jesus.  And one day, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess Jesus as Lord to the glory of God the Father.  Amen and amen. 

Revelation 16

¹Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.”

² The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly, festering sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.

³ The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died.

⁴ The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. ⁵ Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say:

“You are just in these judgments, O Holy One,
you who are and who were;
⁶ for they have shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets,
    and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.”

⁷ And I heard the altar respond:

“Yes, Lord God Almighty,
    true and just are your judgments.”

⁸ The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was allowed to scorch people with fire. ⁹ They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him.

¹⁰ The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in agony ¹¹ and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done.

¹² The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East. ¹³ Then I saw three impure spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. ¹⁴ They are demonic spirits that perform signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.

¹⁵ “Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.”

¹⁶ Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

¹⁷ The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, “It is done!” ¹⁸ Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. ¹⁹ The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. ²⁰ Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found. ²¹ From the sky huge hailstones, each weighing about a hundred pounds, fell on people. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible.

Revelation 19:11-21

¹¹ I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. ¹² His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. ¹³ He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. ¹⁴ The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. ¹⁵ Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. ¹⁶ On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: king of kings and lord of lords. ¹⁷ And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, ¹⁸ so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small.” ¹⁹ Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. ²⁰ But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. ²¹ The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.

From our neighborhoods to the nations,

Pastor Larry