A Bird's Eye View of the End Times Part 1

We look at the prophetic landscape today and see many pieces of the same puzzle. We are seeing the fulfillment of some prophecies, the partial fulfillment of others, and events are progressing with such unprecedented speed, that by the time we process and understand one thing, three others have already occurred. Before going any further, I need to stress that although we are seeing the fulfillment of end time prophecy, and I discuss it from time to time, our focus must continue to be Jesus, and a relationship with Him. We cannot be so consumed with the prophetic that we miss out on knowing the giver of prophecy; we cannot be so consumed with end time events that we miss out on a relationship with the One who is to return in these end times. We can know the times and the seasons, we can know the what, the when, the where, the how, and the who, but if we don’t know Jesus, all our knowledge amounts to nothing, a handful of dust swept away by a strong breeze.
Some have accused me of not being faithful to end time prophecy, since I don’t talk about my grandfather’s dreams or visions, or even my own too often, and my response to that is that my primary concern is to be faithful to Jesus, not to prophecy. Jesus is more important than prophecy, and prophecy is given to God’s children that they might not be ignorant of the times they are living in, and that they might prepare spiritually for the dark days ahead.
Today we are going to be discussing three major pieces of the end time puzzle. The first piece is the state of prophecy in the end times, both true and false. The second piece of the puzzle we will be discussing is the state of the church during the end times, and the third piece is the state of the world.
1. The state of the prophetic!
For the past few decades, self appointed and self anointed prophets have been attempting to redefine the nature of God. Each time God sends a warning, each time God attempts to awaken His people by sounding the alarm, these men come out of the woodwork, and in soothing voices tell the Church that it wasn’t God that allowed these things, it was mere chance, and happenstance.
“God doesn’t do that anymore!” is the cry of the modern day pseudo-prophets, dismissing the fact that we serve a God who changes not, who is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. Apparently for the past twenty years God has no longer been concerned about holiness, righteousness, sanctification and obedience; His primary focus has been blessing, and prosperity and self-esteem. “Do what you want to do, establish your own level of morality, and as long as you sow a seed into this ministry, God will bless you abundantly, pressed down, shaken together.”
Soothsayers are nothing new among the people of God. They have been around for millennia, and the true servants of Christ, the true followers of God have had to contend with them throughout the centuries.
The reason soothsayers are so successful is because human nature likes to hear good things. We do not like being confronted with our own sins, we do not like being confronted with the righteousness of a righteous God, we like to be told that God understands, God overlooks, God glosses over, and that there is no consequence to sin and disobedience.
We hear a word of coming judgment, and the first thing we do is seek out the contrarian position that tells us God only wants good things for us, and abundantly so. For every one servant that speaks a true message from God, that receives true revelation, there are ten who tell the people what they want to hear, so by sheer numbers alone the true messengers are at a disadvantage from the start.
“But brother so and so said that God’s going to continue blessing us, and we will prosper again, and no judgment will come upon us, why do you still hold to your position?”
Well, because I stand on what God showed me, and on what the Bible says. No matter how good a ‘word’ might sound, if it contradicts the Word, it is not of God. The Word says God punishes sin, the Word says judgment begins in His house!
Jeremiah 5:12-13, “They have lied about the Lord, and said, ‘it is not He. Neither will evil come upon us, nor shall we see sword of famine.’ And the prophets become wind, for the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them.”
God cannot contradict Himself. God cannot overlook sin simply because it is taking place in a nation that has ‘in God we trust’ on its money, although if some people have their way even that may soon be a memory.
Often we allow our sense of patriotism to cloud our reasoning concerning the righteousness of God. Just as some in Israel of old did not believe God would send judgment because they were His people, some today do not believe that God will send judgment because we are a Christian nation. Whether or not we are a Christian nation is debatable, but for the sake of argument let’s say we are; the only thing that would mean, is that God will hold us all the more accountable for our disobedience and sin.
I’ve used this analogy once before in a sermon, but I think it might serve to bring understanding, and shed some light on why the churches in America will not be spared judgment, but rather be the first to experience it.
Imagine being a parent who sees their own child, and a complete stranger’s child doing something truly horrible. They were both doing the exact same thing, whatever the horrible thing might have been, and the question that begs to be asked is which child do you discipline? Do you go to the stranger’s child and proceed to give him a spanking, or do you go to your own child and do likewise?
Those of the church are the children of God. Those of the world are not. God disciplines His own children first and foremost.
Jeremiah 5:30-31, “An astonishing and horrible thing has been committed in the land: The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own power; and My people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end?”
The ‘prophecies’ of a tolerant God, a God who is indifferent to the sin in His own house, the ‘words of knowledge’ heralding a new season of prosperity and a transference of wealth, are only sustainable for a season. Yes, the people love to hear the good words, they love to have their ears tickled, but the question that we must individually ask ourselves, is what will we do in the end? If we trust in the pillow prophets, and the soothsayers rather than the Word of God, if we believe their imaginings over the truth of scripture, what will we do in the end? How will we react to the times and the seasons of which the Word clearly forewarns?
It’s not that God is not speaking, He is! Whether through His word, or His chosen vessels, God is speaking to His people, but a great majority is dismissing and rejecting His words, because they do not line up with their preconceived notions of what the world will be like in the end times.
If we choose to believe a lie, just because it is temporarily soothing to the flesh, and accepting of our fleshly pursuits, we will have no one to blame but ourselves for these times coming upon us, and finding us unprepared.
Jeremiah 6:10, “To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear? Indeed their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot give heed. Behold the word of the Lord is a reproach to them; they have no delight in it. “
We have become addicted to the superficial comfort that words which originate from men’s bellies rather than the throne room of God offer us. We are temporarily encouraged when we hear the words of peace and safety, only to be plunged into hopelessness upon seeing the truth with our own eyes.
We revel in flattering revelation, because such revelation bolsters our flesh, and we mock and belittle those who would speak the truth, who would hold up the mirror of the Word that our true self might be revealed. We hate the truth, and the word of the Lord has become a reproach to us because the truth is uncompromising, unyielding, and it judges without partiality. I know this will offend some, but it must be said, we have to stop believing we are somehow more special than everyone else in the world, just because we are Americans. God does not see nationality, He does not see skin color, He sees the heart, and He weighs the heart and more souls than we would like to admit have been found wanting.
We have marginalized the Word because it is offensive to the sensibilities of sin and transgression. We no longer love people enough to tell them the truth, and so we turn a blind eye to the filth, ruination, and darkness they call home. What’s worse, is that we strengthen the hands of the wicked, by encouraging them to continue in their sin, while at the same time make the hearts of the righteous sad, because we readily label them intolerant, backward, or the big word, fundamentalist.
In this brave new world, God no longer has a standard, sin is no longer sin, hell no longer exists, and disobedience is no longer punished. Welcome to the new paradigm; welcome to the new god that this present generation of deceived souls calling themselves oracles of the one true God have created.
Ezekiel 13:8-9, “Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘because you have spoken nonsense and envisioned lies, therefore I am indeed against you,’ says the Lord God. My hand will be against the prophets who envision futility and who divine lies.”
For the love of God, for the love of all that’s holy, for the love of our very souls, let’s grow up already and stop the foolishness! Rather than chase after gold dust, and rubies, and oily hands, let’s get on our knees in true repentance of the heart, and seek fellowship with the eternal Father; rather than chase after personal words of prophecy, let’s crack open the Bible and do what it says first and foremost, because if a ‘word’ contradicts the Bible, it’s not from God no matter how much you might ‘bear witness’.
We’re looking for shortcuts, when there are no shortcuts to the holy of holies. We’re looking for ways wherein we can skip a few steps, you know just the time consuming stuff like praying, fasting, and reading the Word, and still be all that we can be in Jesus.
The church is to blame for the influx of false teaching, false prophets, and false doctrines that abound therein, because we reject the truth, and embrace the lie. You can read passages from the Word itself, and there will be those within the church today that will say in their hearts ‘that’s not the God I serve! My God wouldn’t do that! My God is love, my God is not judgmental, my God accepts everybody just the way they are!’
‘But it’s in the Word’, you retort. ‘It may be but that’s not the way I see it.’ And that is the theological and doctrinal foundation of today’s nominal Christian. They believe only what they want to believe, they make it up as they go along, and they accept only those parts of the Bible that tells them good things, that do not challenge them, that do not compel them to change, or be born again.
Challenge their flawed beliefs, challenge their superficial faith and they will label you unloving, uncaring, and go to the church with the smiling guy that tells the jokes, and makes them feel good.
By all means, feel good, chase illusions, prophecy good things, profane the name of God for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, and believe that God’s only desire is that you prosper in this life, I can’t stop you, but what will you do in the end?
Whether we believe it or not, whether we accept it or not, it does not change the fact that we are living the end times. How can I be so certain? I can be so sure of the times we are living in because of the state of the church today, and the state of the world that we are currently living in.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea Jr.