continuation...
And you will notice that most of them bear the name of Jesus and Christ. For example, “Jesus Miracle Crusade,” “Jesus is Lord Fellowship,” “Jesus: the Name Above Every Name,” “Jesus is our Shield” and a lot more. And this proliferation of different organizations of faith happens in the entire world. Many of them originated from Germany, United States, England, and other European countries. All of them are saying things about Christ, but in truth, they are mere deceivers.
These are some of the prophecies that our Lord Jesus told the Apostles—
“For many shall come in my name saying that I am Christ and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, …”
All these things must come to pass despite the fact that men have established organizations that aim to prevent wars. The United Nations was established in the 20th century. There is also the Association of South East Asian Nations, whose ultimate goal is to promote peace and cooperation among the people of the world. But these attempts proved to be futile because there are still wars up to this time. Ironically, some of the members of the United Nations, who signed in a peace agreement, are also the very same nations who are involved in wars. Very clearly, we could see how the prophecies of our Lord Jesus are being realized.
The first is the proliferation of deceivers in the religious world, and the second is the occurrence of wars, and rumors of wars. Aside from that, there will be famines. Can you imagine how famine would take place despite the fact that, now man has successfully intervened with nature to produce varieties of rice or the Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO), which allowed man to harvest more produce. But how come, there are still millions of people, especially in Africa and in some third world countries, who experience hunger? If you are going to consider the vast resources of the earth, it is imaginable that people would still starve to death. Millions of people are dying of hunger, and that is a fulfillment of what Jesus Christ, our Lord, said.
The next one is pestilences. If you are going to turn back the pages of the Bible, we are being told of one nation that had experienced pestilences. God sent about ten pestilences in the land of Egypt when the Pharaoh refused to let go the people of Israel. God, in his anger, sent at least ten pestilences in the land of Egypt. But in our time, although medical science has understood the different causes of diseases that afflict mankind, despite the wonder drugs, like vaccines, that have been invented, we could still hear pestilences from different parts of the globe. Actually, some of these pestilences were already here on earth even during the time of the creation. And we must realize that whatever God has created are here to stay until the end. It is recorded in Ecclesiastes 15:1—
“I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever, nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.”
Everything that God had done shall be here forever. Nothing could be added to it, nor anything can be taken from it. One example is the strains of viruses and bacteria being discovered in these times. While it is only now that these viruses have taken toll to human existence, but these are already here from the time of the creation. Why? It is because, now, the immune system of man is no longer as strong as it was before. In fact, there is a kind of pestilence now that afflicts mankind, and that is AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome). AIDS means that the immune system is made non-functional; hence, the body no longer has the ability to produce anti-bodies that produce defenses for itself. And this proves that our Lord Jesus Christ was very exact when He said that before His coming, man would experience pestilence. And this is being fulfilled in spite of the advancement that we have in science and technology.
Aside from pestilences is the occurrence of earthquakes of high magnitude in diverse places. These earthquakes are not like the earthquakes before because these would be stronger and they would affect the entire world. As written in Luke 21:11—
“And great earthquakes shall be in diverse places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.”
There shall be great earthquakes in diverse places. There shall be famines, pestilences, and there shall be fearful sights from heaven. We are waiting for the complete fulfillment of all these, but parts of this prophecy are already being realized now – famines, pestilences, and earthquakes of great intensity. Earthquakes occur more frequently now than it did 50 years ago. Based on statistics, one major earthquake occurs in every ten years before 1931. But after 1931, there occurred ten major earthquakes every year. Did you notice the ratio of the occurrence of earthquake? There was a marked increase in the numbers of earthquakes that the world experiences. That is a fulfillment of the prophecies of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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