BIRTH PANGS
Pastor Eric J. Hanson
September 4, 2005 &
February 24, 2008
BACKGROUND
The Bible has a lot to say about the conditions that will be prevailing on planet Earth as the end of this age approaches. The Earth has been in the Church age, the current age for some 1977 years as of now. Arnold Fruictinbaum is an expert on Roman history, Jewish Law, the Herods, and pinpointing the dates of events. He notes with some certainty, that the birth of Jesus Christ, had to have happened at some point in what we call 3 BC, and His crucifixion took place in what we call the year 30 AD. Taking his work, and that of many other scholars into account, we can calculate that we are a mere 25 years from the 2000 anniversary of the beginning of this age. 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ was a little boy.
Many people predicted that this age would end in 2000 or 2001. They attached great importance to numbers on the calendar. In light of Bible prophecy, this was not, and is not wise.
We have been careful here at Hosanna Church, to not engage in extra-biblical speculations and theories concerning when Jesus Christ will return. We have seen many strange things come and go, such as the best selling book, 88 Reasons why the Rapture Will Occur in 1988. All such books and predictions are not good, because Jesus himself said, regarding the end of the age, “No man knows the day or the hour; not the Angels in Heaven, or even the Son of Man. Only the Father knows.”
Your pastors have been careful to avoid engaging in the type of “almost date setting” that was very widespread in the 1970s and is popular in some Church circles today. It wasn’t always that way for me.
When I was in Bible College in Indiana, speculation about this topic dominated our dorm room conversations. All of us were certain that the Lord would return before the decade was over. We were certain that the Arab Oil embargo of 1973, the Yom Kipper war pitting Israel against six Arab nations, and even the numeric value of the letters of Henry Kissinger’s name, which added up to 666, were proofs that the end was at hand.
In the days of Pastor Frank Jernigan, here at Hosanna Church, those of us who were in his “Jesus People Army” (JPA), who hung out at the Christian Coffee House and witnessed in the streets, all agreed together that this age would never see 1980. The movie A Thief in the Night was shown on 16 Millimeter projectors in every believing church, eventually becoming a movie trilogy due to its vast popularity. The book, The Late Great Planet Earth became the best seller of the decade, with its predictions that Jesus would split the sky at any moment. Of course other books, with competing theories on the timing of the Rapture also came out and sold well. One such book was a warning to store up food and head for the caves and the countryside. Its title: Christians Will Go through the Tribulation. When Keith Green left California to go start Last Days Ministries in Texas, many of us thought that this too was a sign that we were, as Hal Lindsay often said, the “terminal generation”, and that there would not be another generation of Christians. This is what it was like in the 1970s among zealous evangelical believers.
AND NOW…
Having now reviewed all these things, I draw your attention to the time we are now living in. A whole generation has passed since the days of The Terminal Generation. Many today, in Bible believing churches are letting the pendulum of their preaching and teaching swing almost totally away from considering the end times. Some, who are true believers, do this out of embarrassment, because predictions they once made, did not come true. Others seek to avoid controversy and are cautious. Still other preachers have become scoffers, and are not looking forward to the return of Jesus Christ, because they doubt that it will ever happen. That last one friends, is a major blunder. Here is what God has to say about such preaching as that: (Read II Peter 3:3-4)
As for us, it is time to take another look at the coming end of this age. The devastation of our Gulf Coast by hurricane Katrina, along with the Indian Ocean Tsunami of last winter, has many people again wondering if God is giving signs to the Earth regarding the end days. If there is anything to this, we need to be aware of it; all of us, as a church family who are committed to walking together, doing life together.
BIRTH PANGS
I believe that we are in the time Jesus Referred to as “Birth Pangs”. Let’s look into the book and see. Please turn to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 24 and let’s look at verses 1-8. (Read that now.)
EARTHQUAKES, FAMINES, WARS, AND RUMORS OF WARS
1. There are indeed more earthquakes now. Those who monitor such things have taken note of the increase in seismological activity in our lifetimes. The terrible Tsunami last winter was caused by an earthquake below the Indian Ocean.
2. More people have starved to death or died of thirst in our lifetimes, than lived on the planet in the days when Jesus spoke these words. Famine stalks much of the Globe. Many places cannot grow a good food supply. World Vision and other relief groups bring these grim realities home to us.
3. More people have also died in wars in the space of a single lifetime, than lived on the whole planet when Jesus spoke the words of Matthew 24. More than two million have been killed in Sudan alone in the last five years. Sixty million souls perished in World War II. There are several small wars going on at any given time around the World. The international and inter-tribal war toll across the last 100 years alone is well above the 100 million mark. If you throw in the death toll of those who have died at the hands of their own so-called national leaders, such as the 30 million who died in Russia during the Stalin purges, and the whole towns that have been murdered and burned by Muslim mobs in Indonesia since 2000, this figure quickly doubles to more than 200 million who have died by the sword, across these latest 100 years.
4. In addition to this; there is endless speculation about wars that may happen. Rumors of wars keep a good chunk of the Earth’s population in an uneasy state of mind constantly.
THE INCREASE IN CULTS
False Messiahs; false Christs have greatly multiplied in our age. Jim Jones was the vanguard of a whole slew of such figures who have strutted across the World stage over the last 25 years. Some, such as the Daly Lama and Sun Myung Moon are still out there receiving personal worship. Jesus spoke of them for sure. He warned against them, but still multitudes are led astray by them.
Such are the beginnings of “birth pangs” which Jesus spoke of. Now let’s read ahead and see a few more such “pangs”. (Read verses 9-13)
THE KILLING AND HATING OF TRUE BELIEVERS
Faithful Christian believers have always suffered simply because they are loyal to the Lord Jesus Christ, but just as is the case with wars and famines, there has been a huge increase in the number of martyrs across the last 100 years. Earlier I referenced the killing in Sudan and in Indonesia. Most of this is Muslim armed slaughter of believers in Jesus Christ. Additionally, there have been huge numbers of believers murdered in similar ways in Ivory Coast and Nigeria in the past four years.
The enemies of the Cross of Jesus Christ do not realize that the spread of the Gospel of the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ greatly accelerates at such times. God sees what happens, and He will not allow the work of the Gospel to be stopped by murder.
The number of believers killed in the second and third centuries by the emperors of the Roman Empire and their henchmen was indeed a significant number. There were tens of thousands slaughtered brutally.
• Nevertheless, this pales in comparison to what has happened since 1900, as Satan has used global Atheism and false religions to try to destroy the Church world-wide. Untold millions have suffered and died for their testimony, from the Middle East, to China, North Korea, the old Soviet Union, the African and Island nations I mentioned earlier, and many other places too. Truly, most nations hate those who put Jesus first.
• Even in Western nations today, believers are becoming hated, and accused of being hateful when we try to warn people to shun Hell and embrace Heaven! Today it is difficult to be an un-compromised witnessing Christian in Sweden, Holland, and even Canada. The governments of these lands have declared that there is no sin. Anything goes, except for trying to restrain the flood of sexual filth that is destroying Western Society. So, like John the Baptist, we are hated by the powers that be in those lands, for saying that there is eternally fixed right and wrong!
• Even in the United States of America, there are many spheres of authority in business, government, and education where Biblical truth is most unwelcome and believers are losing their jobs for being faithful to God’s standards. An Allstate agent, a good one with many years of a fine reputation with his clients, recently was fired for a blog he wrote at home on his own time, which defended God’s moral code. This case is now going to court, thanks to the American Center for Law and Justice, but the handwriting is on the wall in our land. It is becoming difficult to be faithful to Gods’ word in many parts of American culture. The Devil is trying to drive us into the closet, and intimidate us into silence.
INCREASE IN LAWLESSNESS
The guiding hand of God as embodied in His commandments can bless nations and families alike. This truth was well known to the framers of the Constitution of the United States. That is why the 10 Commandments have the place of prominence on the front of the Supreme Court building in Washington DC. Today, however, the so-called elite in our land, and most other lands, believe that Government, Media, Entertainment, and the Workplace should all be “Religion Free Zones”. This pervasive attitude reflects a great increase in lawlessness in the way people make personal decisions.
• The horrible emergence of large numbers of armed thugs who are raping, murdering, and stealing massive amounts of non-survival related items in New Orleans this week reflects a lawless mindset that is widespread in their culture. Indeed, where there is lawlessness, the dismissing of God’s Laws which were given to humankind as a blessing, the love of most grows cold. The law of the animal world takes over instead. Most people revert to a “me first” approach to life, and young armed men dominate the scene.
• In the hearts of Godless kings and Third World presidents for life, who pillage, imprison, and murder their own people, the love has grown cold because of Lawlessness.
• In the conceit of Secular Humanist Prime Ministers who sell nuclear technology to murderous regimes such as the Mullahs of Iran, the love has grown cold due to Lawlessness.
• In the heart of the rich playboy who uses women as playthings and never thinks about the poor in his city, the love has grown cold due to Lawlessness.
• In the thinking of today’s politicians who insist on the lie that it is unconstitutional to display the Ten Commandments in courthouses, the love has grown cold due to Lawlessness.
• Indeed, Lawlessness in spreading across the globe like a plague!
• In the Hearts of many today, who once embraced the Savior, their love for Him has grown cold due to them embracing the Lawlessness of our age!
It is not everybody however! Jesus said “The one who endures to the end, he shall be saved!”
THE GREATEST SIGN OF ALL
In verse 14 Jesus said “And this gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached IN THE WHOLE WORLD FOR A WITNESS TO ALL THE NATIONS, AND THEN THE END SHALL COME.”
This has not yet been completed. There are many language groups who do not have even the smallest portion of God’s Word in their own language. There are more than 2 Billion souls who have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ even once! THERE’S STILL A GREAT WORK TO BE DONE!
Nevertheless, since the days of William Carey, the father of modern World Missions, the man whose leather globe was totally stained from many tears of intercession on behalf of every nation, something amazing has happened. The rate of the Gospel going forth has massively increased, and it has increased every decade since!
Consider this:
• 3,000 new churches are opening every week worldwide!
• The Church in Africa is increasing by 20,000 souls per day! In 1900, sub-Saharan Africa was 3% believers. Today it is 60% believers!
• In 1900 Korea had no church and was also considered impossible to reach. Today Korea is 35% Christians and Seoul alone has 7,000 churches including the World’s largest.
• In Islamic Indonesia, the % of Christians is now so high that the government won’t print the statistic, which is probably 15% of the population.
• It took from 1430 till 1790 (360 years) for the World population to go from 1% Bible Christians to 2%.
• It then took another 150 years for that to increase to 3% of the World population.
• 4% came about in 20 more years (1960)
• 5% was reached in 10 years (1970)
• 6% was reached in another 10 (1980), during the fastest population growth in world history.
• Suddenly it jumped to 7% as of 1983
• 8% in 1986!
• 9% in 1989!
• 10% in 1993!
• 11% as of 1995!
• As of 1995, 70% of all the conversions to Jesus Christ in history had happened since 1900, 70% of those had been since the end of WWII in 1945, and 70% of those had been since 1988. Therefore, 1/3 of all the church growth in history had taken place in the ten years from 1985 to 1995! This is exponential acceleration, and I believe that it is directly related to Jesus’ words in Matthew 24.
Furthermore, my research clearly shows that signs and wonders, even dead people being raised to life, people blind from birth getting their sight, angels appearing and protecting people from bandits who are traveling to take the Gospel to remote villages, and other astounding things such as these are happening where believers are totally given over to sharing the Gospel and pushing back the darkness. These things are not happening however, where believers are living like other people, putting comfort and reputation ahead of the Gospel.
I also believe that the Devil is currently trying to stop the work of the Lord by means of radical Islam trying to take over the nations. He tried to stop it with Global atheism in the guises of Communism, the Nazi party, and Secular Humanism/Naturalism throughout most of the twentieth century, but that failed. The Devil does not want Jesus to come back to planet Earth! He fears the fulfillment of Matthew 24:13!
He is desperate, but He cannot stop the growth of the Church!
Jesus said “I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH AND THE GATES OF HELL WILL NOT PREVAIL AGAINST IT!”
CONCLUSION
Dear Friends;
We must live our lives with the end in sight. Just yesterday, Sarah and Sven’s beloved little beagle Trot, was struck down and mortally wounded when he escaped from the back porch at our home and darted into the path an oncoming pick-up truck. I scooped him up in my arms and held him as Nancy skillfully drove us to the Norway Veterinary Hospital. All of us were devastated as the doctor there tried valiantly to save his life, but could not do so. He was only a dog, but we all loved him and are feeling great loss and sadness.
How much worse must it be for those thousands who have lost loved ones, and the one million who have lost homes, livelihood, and community along America’s Gulf coast this week. Even worse is the plight of people after death, when they face God without Christ, and they meet Him as the Judge of all the Earth, rather than as eternal Savior.
The end can come in old age as life ebbs away in a hospital bed, or it can come suddenly and violently as it did for many this week. But it does come, for people, for cities, and for this entire age, and ultimately, for the Earth itself.
I ask this question today. As believers in Jesus Christ, as soldiers in His army, as members of His Church, cells connected together in His Body, stones in His living house made of living stones, pieces held together by the matrix of purpose and relationship, are we fully on board with our Lord?
Do we discern the times? Do we see the acceleration of the Gospel of the Kingdom? Do we see the desperate resistance the Devil is putting up all over the World? Do we each understand our part, both as individuals, and as squad members within this Church? Do we see the end of the age approaching at an ever increasing rate of speed? Do we heed the scriptures?
Jesus Said “We must work the works of Him who sent me, as long as it is day. Night is coming when no man can work”. (John 9:4)
Hold that thought, because
It’s also possible that some of you here today have not yet asked Jesus Christ to be your Savior and Lord. You need to do that. John 3:18 warns: “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already; because he has not believed on the name of God’s only Son.”
Only through life changing faith in the Lord Jesus Christ can anyone get into the Kingdom of Heaven. Only through Him, the one who died for the sin of the World, can we escape being judged for our own load of sin. Romans 2:23 warns us: “All have sinned and fall short of (being able to stand in the presence of) the Glory of God.
Give two challenges:
1. Become a believer today. Invite Jesus Christ to be your Savior and Lord. Then follow Him in life.
2. Believers become fully engaged in the important work of the Gospel.
(Give a response opportunity.)
