Why This, Why Now?
Matthew 24:4
"And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you."
I. Misinterpretations
American Airlines flight 11 – 81 pass. 11 crew – North Tower
United Airlines flight 175 – 56 pass. 9 crew – South Tower
American Airlines flight 77 – 58 pass. 6 crew – Pentagon
United Airlines flight 93 – 38 pass. 7 crew – Pennsylvania
Anytime a major event like this takes place, people begin to look for a prophetic angle.
In 1993, I talked personally with the publisher of a nationwide prophecy magazine. He said to me, regarding the treaty signed on the White House lawn by Israel’s Prime Minister and PLO leader Yasser Arafat: “This treaty signals the beginning of the 7 year period that will end the world.” Obviously, he was mistaken as this is 2001 and the world hasn’t yet ended.
Jesus Said, “…take heed that no man deceive you.”
II. What This Is Not
Matthew 24:5-31
Read these verses slowly and explain that Jesus told us what would take place in the endtimes. Specifically where Jesus said there would be wars and rumors of wars and yet the end is not yet.
III. What This Is
· Is this because we are backers of Israel?
· Is this because we are against the Kyoto environmental accords? (As one San Diego High student opined in a recent interview with National Public Radio)
· Is This The Judgment Of God?
NO. Much like AIDS, drunk drivers being killed and other results of sin, these are consequences not judgment.
Defeat At Ai
Joshua 6 Victory at Jericho
Joshua 7 Defeat at Ai
Joshua 6:27 & 7:1
“So the LORD was with Joshua; and his fame was noised throughout all the country.
But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel.”
God withdrew His hand of miracle and protection
Today there is an unprecedented disregard for the ways and preferences of God.
· The New Television Season (more sex, etc. than ever before)
· The number of churches openly advocating sin
IV. It Almost Happened Before
Slavery was a terrible sin. It almost destroyed our nation. Perhaps God was at the brink of withdrawing His hand of protection and prosperity from us, yet one man led us out of that dilemma and rescued the nation because of what he did.
Quote Abraham Lincoln’s speech of August 12, 1861 (Proclamation of a National Fast-Day)
"Whereas a joint Committee of both Houses of Congress has waited on the President of the United States, and requested him to "recommend a day of public humiliation, prayer and fasting, to be observed by the people of the United States with religious solemnities, and the offering of fervent supplications to Almighty God for the safety and welfare of these States, His blessings on their arms, and a speedy restoration of peace":-
And whereas it is fit and becoming in all people, at all times, to acknowledge and revere the Supreme Government of God; to bow in humble submission to His chastisements; to confess and deplore their sins and transgressions in the full conviction that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and to pray, with all fervency and contrition, for the pardon of their past offences, and for a blessing upon their present and prospective action:
And whereas, when our own beloved country, once, by the blessing of God, united, prosperous and happy, is now afflicted with faction and civil war, it is peculiarly fit for us to recognize the hand of God in this terrible visitation, and in sorrowful remembrance of our own faults and crimes as a nation and as individuals, to humble ourselves before Him and to pray for His mercy, - to pray, that we may be spared farther punishment, though most justly deserved; that our arms may be blessed and made effectual for the reestablishment of law, order and peace, throughout the wide extent of our country; and that the inestimable boon of civil and religious liberty, earned under His guidance and blessing, by the labors and sufferings of our fathers, may be restored in all its original excellence:-
Therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do appoint the last Thursday in Sptember next, as a day of humiliation, prayer and fasting for all the people of the nation. And I do earnestly recommend to all the people, and especially to all ministers and teachers of religion of all denominations, and to all heads of families, to observe and keep that day according to their several creeds and modes of worship, in all humility and with all religious solemnity, to the end that the united prayer of the nation may ascend to the Throne of Grace, and bring down plentiful blessings upon our Country."
