Jesus said to his disciples, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.  If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:18, 19).

Since the foundation of the world, wicked men have hated and sought to kill the righteous.  Cain murdered his brother Able because his own works were evil and his brother’s righteous; thus, we should not marvel that the world hates us today (1 John 3:12, 13).  Joseph’s brothers hated him because of the partiality their father showed him and because of his dreams (Genesis 37:3-8).  When Jehoshaphat refused to believe the counsel of the roughly 400 court prophets who said that Ahab would be successful in battle at Ramothgilead, he asked for a prophet of the Lord (1 Kings 22:6, 7).  Ahab knew of one, Micaiah the son of Imlah, but Ahab hated him because he prophesied evil concerning him (1 Kings 22:8).  Ahab hated Micaiah because he told the truth when others would not.  It was not a defect in Micaiah but rather in Ahab’s character that Ahab was continually setting himself against the Lord’s will.  Similarly, both Ahab and Jezebel hated the prophet Elijah and sought to kill him because he stood for truth (1 Kings 19:2).  When he warned against joining the ranks of sinners, Solomon mentioned those who would lay in wait to kill the innocent (Proverbs 1:10).

The devil seeks to discourage us from living faithful lives.  It is true that all who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12).  We are not alone in suffering.  We must continue to resist being overcome by the evil in the world, knowing our brethren throughout the world suffer tremendous afflictions for the cause of Christ (1 Peter 5:9; cf. Romans 12:21).  So let us not give up the good fight of faith (1 Timothy 6:12).  We must through much tribulation enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22).  Remember when the world hates you that, “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4).

Suffering in itself is not virtuous, but suffering for the cause of Christ is.  There are many who suffer for the crimes they have chosen to commit.  If Christians suffer for following their Lord, then they are blessed.  “But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.  Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf” (1 Peter 4:15, 16).  Jesus said, “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you” (Matthew 5:11, 12).  How difficult it is to follow the example of the apostles and rejoice when we are counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 5:41).  Let us not shrink back from our allegiance to Christ.  Jesus prayed that his disciples would be delivered from the evil of the world (John 17:15).  He taught us to do the same (Luke 11:4).  But whatever happens, let us live in such a way that we can truly say as Paul did, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).

–Mark Day

The end was near. That was what they were saying, that the end was near. News agencies carried headlines to the effect that “Doomsday writer says, based off the Bible and Egyptian pyramids, Planet X will collide with earth on September 23.” Fox News website along with others carried the following:

Doomsday writer says, based off the Bible and Egyptian pyramids, Planet X will collide with earth on September 23. Is the end near? According to Christian writer David Meade, the answer is yes. Meade theorizes a so-called Planet X, AKA Nibiru, will hit the earth on September 23, 2017. Meade believes recent events like the solar eclipse and hurricane Harvey are signs of the coming apocalypse. Through codes in the Bible and a “date marker” in the pyramids of Egypt, Meade was able to pinpoint the date of September 23. NASA has repeatedly said Planet X is a hoax.”

Well guess what…the end didn’t happen on September 23. You are surprised by this fact I am quite sure. What is amazingly amazing is the fact that there are those that will set dates, those that claim there are signs happening now of the end coming, etc. Mr. Meade is not the only person to predict the end of time. The list is long, undistinguished, and unfulfilled, but consider a few of the more popular ones:

William Miller, whose followers were called Millerites, first predicted the Second Coming of Jesus Christ would occur before March 21, 1844. When this date passed a new date was predicted, April 18, 1844. After this failure, the date became known as the Millerites’ Great Disappointment

Jehovah’s Witnesses leader Charles Taze Russell prophesied that Jesus would return and set up His kingdom in 1914. When nothing happened, he decided that the kingdom was set up in Heaven and that Jesus came invisibly. Other failed dates which they predicted as the end: 1918, 1920, 1925, 1941, and 1975.

Harold Camping, a former evangelist, predicted that the world would end on May 21, 2011 with a series of earthquakes After the world was still very much in tact on May 22^nd, Camping changed the date to October 21, 2011. And when the world still wasn’t destroyed then, Camping apologized for his “sinful” statements.

Even David Meade is now saying that September 21^st is just the beginning of the end and October 15^th, “that’s when the action starts”. He then makes references to some doctrines of premillennialism which are found in certain “scholars” imagination but are not founded in the Bible.

So where does that leave us? Oh, make no mistake, the world will end with great noise and fire, 2 Peter 3:10. The Lord Jesus Christ will return (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; 2 Thessalonians 2:7b-10), the material universe will be done away (Hebrews 1:11-12), and eternity will begin (John 5:28-29). This event will be unexpected, Matthew 24:37-39.

It is not a matter of setting dates for the end of time because “of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.” Mark 13:32. What does matter is if the world ended today, is one ready to meet their Maker? Those obedient to Christ will hear “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” and the disobedient will hear “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels”. What a person hears on that day is ultimately most important.

-Jerry D. Sturgill