Signs of The Times?

Matthew 16:4 “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.”

Dear CBC Family,

I am coming to you early this week as I wanted to make you aware that we will be having a very special message this weekend. Due to the unprecedented flood of questions I am receiving about the war in Iran, and whether it is prophetically significant, I decided that I must address this issue.

I have been a Christian for a very long time and have seen this kind of sensationalized nonsense often. All it does is destroy faith. If you remember the Russian invasion of Afghanistan on Christmas Eve in 1979 it was widely presented by pastors as the fulfillment of the Gog and Magog invasion of Israel. There were many claiming the end was near but nothing ever came of it. The same is true of the US fighting in Iraq, the Harrold Camping fiasco of predicting the end on May 21, 2011, or any of the hundreds of false predictions and interpretations given over the years. We are now being exposed to it again with false teachers telling us that what we are seeing in the world today is the fulfillment of Jeremiah 49:33-39 where God judges Elam (who is supposed to be modern day Iran). This is a gross twisting of scripture. The prophesy ends with hope: “Yet I will restore the fortunes of Elam in days to come,’ declares the Lord” (V39). What is this all about?

One of the ways in which Elam found grace and was restored is found in Acts chapter 2. On the Day of Pentecost, the apostles were speaking of “the wonders of God” (V11), and people from all over the Roman Empire heard the praise of God in their own languages: “Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia” all heard the gospel that day including the people from Elam. We need to learn to handle the word of God properly and understand that “apocalyptic language” is ALWAYS figurative and never literal.

Going back to Gog and Magog you can see in the text that Gog’s army is on horseback and carries swords and shields (Ez 38:15) so, again, this is an event long before mechanized armor covered vehicles and bombers. This is also a war against the Jews who were in covenant with God at that time. That covenant, we know has long ago passed away so hardly able to be a future event.

It isn’t just the prophetic end of things we need to be careful about but also the crazy conspiracy theories that plague the church. Every time I see a vapor trail off an airplane I am reminded of the many people who say a vapor trail is the government "seeding the clouds with poison to kill us off." Really? That is ridiculous. If they killed us off, who could they tax? ? The truth is these "smoke" trails, known as contrails (condensation trails), are caused when hot, humid jet engine exhaust mixes with extremely cold, high-altitude air. The water vapor instantly condenses and freezes into ice crystals, creating a visible, cloud-like trail. They are not harmful smoke, but temporary, man-made clouds.

Join us for a sane, biblical, in context understanding of what is taking place today. You will be glad you did. Bring a friend who is stuck in the circus of crazy end-times prophesy and see if they can find some stability from the truth of God’s word.

Blessings,

Pastor Scott