“…He who ENDURES (hupomenō: to preserve under misfortunes and trials to hold fast to one’ s faith in Christ) to the END (telos: fulfillment) shall be saved.” (Matthew 24:13) When is the END? Jesus said that the generation that SEES ISRAEL BECOME A NATION once again, on May 14th, 1948, “Truly I tell you, THIS GENERATION will certainly NOT PASS AWAY UNTIL ALL THESE THINGS HAVE HAPPENED.” (Matthew 24:34) 75 years ago on this coming May 14th.
Jesus said, “Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, THEY WILL PERSECUTE (diōkō: to be mistreated) YOU also.” (John 15:20) Paul told Timothy, “…everyone who wants to LIVE A GODLY LIFE in Christ Jesus WILL BE PERSECUTED…” (2 Timothy 3:12)
More than 340 million Christians – one in eight – face high levels of persecution and discrimination because of their faith, according to the 2021 World Watch List compiled by the Christian advocacy group Open Doors. It was a 60% increase over the previous year in the number of Christians killed for their faith. More than nine out of 10 of the global total of 4,761 deaths were in Africa. I promise that I’m not trying to be discouraging but we need to be aware of the reality of the devil’s attacks against Christianity. We have faced a Worldwide Covid crisis and many of us just went along with our churches being closed. A new study from the Hartford Institute for Religion Research showed that since 2019, 35 percent of churches saw a decline of 25 percent or more.
So, what Jesus tells us is to, “WATCH therefore, for YOU DO NOT KNOW what hour your Lord is coming. Therefore, you also BE READY, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour YOU DO NOT EXPECT.” (Matthew 24:42, 44)
Jesus strongly instructs us to, “…SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES, FOR YOU BELIEVE THEY GIVE YOU ETERNAL LIFE.” (John 5:39)
Your Personal Pastor -Bill Stockham