So far, we have laid down some indisputable proofs of God’s existence. And one of them is His words which are written in the Bible. Aside from that are the pronouncements and prophecies, which our Lord Jesus Christ uttered some 2000 years ago, and how they are coming to pass right now in our time, specifically, the signs of His coming. These were mentioned in Matthew 24:1 onward, when His Apostles asked Him when the “end of the world” would be, and what would be the signs of His coming. Our Lord Jesus told them—
“And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying; tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”
In this particular verse, the disciples were asking Him of things which are yet to come, and these were still very far from their generation. In Matthew 24:4, our Lord Jesus answered—
“… take heed that no man deceive you.”
The statement “take heed” is tantamount to a warning to an impending danger. Apparently, there would be dangers that will befall mankind, and one of which is deceit. There will be deceivers. That was the reason why our Lord Jesus advised His disciples, especially the Apostles, and those who would come after them to “take heed” for them not to be deceived, like what is written in Matthew 24:5—
“For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.”
Our Lord Jesus said that, before His coming, many false prophets and false apostles shall come, using His name. If we are going to analyze this prophecy, and we would look around us, we could already see proofs of its realization. In fact, if you would check the records of the Securities and Exchange Commission, you will find out that, there are already thousands of registered religious corporations in the country today. This only proves how the prophecy of our Lord Jesus 2000 years ago are coming to pass now.
“Many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.”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.Those prophecies are of divine origin. They happen as exactly as the Lord Jesus had prophesied them. Mere human beings, even the most notable psychics like Nostradamus, cannot foresee the things yet to come as precisely and as exactly as our Lord Jesus did. No matter how famous Nostradamus had been, the fact remains that many of his predictions were false. He made a lot of miscalculations. For example, he once predicted that there would be a world war in 1993. But it did not come to pass. And if you are going to compare his prophecies from the prophecies of our Lord Jesus Christ, we could attest that the words of God in the Bible are 100 percent accurate than the pronouncements of a man. And as we witness how His words come to pass, we can conclude that they came from an Authority who knows even the future, and that is none other than our Almighty God. He has spoken the truths before they come to pass. He has revealed to us in detail thousands of years ago the things that will happen in the future. That is the God of the Scriptures.
We do not care about the other gods that other people believe in. We do not care how other people serve their gods. What we believe in is the God of the Scriptures. And that God is the God that we are introducing to our fellowmen. He is our Creator. We believe that the majority of mankind believes in God. Although we are not discounting the fact that there are also atheists, or the non-believers of God, but they comprise only a very small fraction of the population.
Now, we are trying to introduce the God in the Bible to others. Who is this God? He really exists. There is no doubt about that. We have cited pieces of evidence that prove His existence. He created everything. But there are other matters that we have to know about Him. If there is a God, how many are they? That is a very vital question because there are religions who believe in the plurality of God. They believe in many gods. Egypt, for instance, has many gods. The Hindus likewise believe in many gods. The ancient or primitive religions in this country believe in the plurality of god, they believe in so many gods. But if you are going to consider the God of the Bible, how many are they? Is He alone? Are they two, or three, or more? What is His name? What is the relevance of His name to His person? And if there really is a God, where is He? Is He everywhere?
These are vital questions that we need to consider if we want to know the truth. According to some so-called Christians, God is everywhere. Actually, translations of the Bible have been influenced by the belief that God is everywhere, although that is not in the original manuscripts that were used in writing the word of God. There are now translations of the Scriptures that tell us that God is everywhere. And this is very misleading because if we are to go back to the prayer that our Lord Jesus Christ Himself taught--
“Our Father which art in heaven.”
According to Jesus Christ, there is really a Father, and He is in heaven. He is not everywhere. In fact, when our Lord Jesus Christ prayed to the Father, He even looked up in the heavens. Where is God? Is He alone? Is Jesus Christ a man or a God? You see, there is a religious organization which believes that Jesus Christ is a man. They do not believe in Christ’s divinity. And if there is a God, what is the Holy Spirit? Is He also a God? If there is a God, how must we serve Him? Does He want anything from us? Or, do we need anything from Him? What are the commandments of God? Is it the Ten Commandments?
No comments:
Post a Comment