As It Was In The Days Of Noah

This day has made me sick; another player, (NBA) comes out of the closet, and our president calls and congratulates him. That's sick. I care less about what goes on in the bedroom of these players.

And then when I look at the deteriorating moral values in our nation -- the divorce rate, abortion, pornography, drug addiction and child abuse, what is transpiring in the homosexual community, the violent crimes, the drive-by shootings and the terrorism that plagues our world -- what is the world coming to? Is the end near?

When Jesus was doing the "Olivet" discourse, his disciples asked Him this very question in Matthew 24:3 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?

We find the answer to these questions in Matthew 24:37-39 (KJV) 37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Genesis 6:5 tells us what was going on in the days of Noah. “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” 

If you look at our world today, and you don't see the parallel—

• the movie industry corrupting our values, 
• television defiling our homes, 
• children’s video games teaching violence,

your head is in the sand!

All these things, and even more, are polluting people’s minds until the thoughts and the imagination of man’s heart is continually evil.

Genesis 6:11 tells us that, “the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.” Pick up the newspaper and you will see the hostility that fills the earth. Ruth Graham once said, “If God doesn’t judge America, He will need to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah!” I don't think for a moment that God is going to apologize.

Luke also records in his Gospel, "And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Luke 21:20-24).

I would say that the world right now is very much like it was in the days of Noah. Jesus pointed out that in Noah’s day, the people were totally oblivious to the coming judgment of God. They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. It was pretty much business as usual. 

Certainly our Lord is not saying that "eating" and "marriage" is wrong. His point is that they rejected so completely God's warning through Noah that they went ahead and had their weddings -- maybe even "church" weddings -- right up to the day that Noah entered into the ark. They lived as though God did not exist. They did not believe that He would judge them and scorned the warning that a flood was imminent. " There was no awareness that the judgment of God was about to fall upon them. They did not realize anything was wrong until Noah went into the ark, "And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be!"

People today seem to have no idea how ripe the world is for judgment. God is trying to shake us from our rituals in worship, and wake us up. We see a worldwide financial crisis, disasters, earthquakes, hurricanes, fires, floods, famines and the AIDS epidemic. But try to suggest to a worldly person that these indicate the beginning of sorrows and God’s judgment, and they will laugh at you. The world may acknowledge their belief in the existence of God, but they live as though God does not exist. There is a total lack of fear of a holy and righteous God.

The Prophet Isaiah said, “Woe unto them who call evil good, and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20). 

The angel proclaims in Revelation 8:13, “Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!” 

You can mark it down; a day of reckoning is coming!

We see prophecies rapidly fulfilled before our very eyes. There is no doubt in my mind that the current economic crisis—and it’s not just a crisis here in America but a worldwide crisis—is going to force a joining together of the nations, a one-world union as prophesied in the Book of Revelation. It’s going to be moving in that direction. And as we look at the situation in Israel, we see their concern about the need to defend themselves against the possibility of a nuclear attack from other nations. Who and what can save us? Increased knowledge can’t save us. The government can’t save us. Neither can science nor Greenpeace save our planet.

The present pope is trying to get all the strays (churches) back into what they call the "mother church." This, too, is a farce, because the Catholic church is not the "mother church." 

So what does America need today? Rather than the homosexual community coming out of the closet, we need godly parents who will go into the closet and pray for their children, for their families, for the school system and the community. We need a spiritual revival to sweep our land. I believe more could be accomplished for good if we gathered together for times of prayer. 

Without a spiritual awakening, let’s face it, our nation is through. We need to realize that the only hope is to pray and to teach morality from a biblical base; that the Bible is the only true basis for morality.

We need men and women in our Congress and Senate who love God and fear Him. We need God’s people to humble themselves and pray, and seek God’s face and turn from their wicked ways. You see—we’re either part of the problem or we’re a solution to the problem!

The only hope for the future is the coming again of Jesus Christ. Only Jesus can save us. This is what Jesus is talking about in Matthew 24, the day of the Lord’s coming, the day of the establishing of the Kingdom of God. He said, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days … they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:29-30).

This will be the day when, according to the Book of Revelation, “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Revelation 21:4). The day when “He [that is, Jesus] shall judge among the nations. … nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Isaiah 2:4).

As we see the deteriorating condition of the world around us, it should be a wake-up call for us to live godly, righteous, holy lives, placing our minds, hearts and priorities on eternal values.

We don’t know what the rest of 2013 may hold for us, nor even 2014—joys, sorrows, victories or defeats. But we do know that the Lord has promised to be with us, and He’s promised to help us. 

So with this reminder, let us commit our ways to Him, knowing that He will bring to pass His perfect will in our lives.