JESUS IS COMING SOON!
James 5:3b You have hoarded wealth in the last days.
Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen, who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.
Last night on the national news we heard about how a major medical manufacturer Mylans, had raised the cost of the EpiPen from $60 to $400 in ten years. The medicine in these pens are used for emergencies to help people with allergic reactions. Caterpillar made 12.7 billion dollars in profit in 2015 and they are laying people off. But corporate greed is not any more uncommon than that of the management. Heather Bresch’s compensation as CEO for the EpiPen maker of Mylan went up 671% in 8 years. Google has said that currently the richest 1% in the United States holds about 38% of all privately held wealth in the United States, while the bottom 90% hold 73% of all debt. According to the New York Times, the richest 1% now owns more wealth than the bottom 90%. In a way this is hard for me to grasp. How could this happen? The answer is simply it is not an accident. It is all part of the New World Order that was publicly announced by President George H.W. Bush in 1991. It is the preparation for the antichrist and false prophet that will come to light in the last seven years before the return of Jesus.
The reason I am bringing all this up is to show us that God’s prophecies are coming to pass, and just like with the first coming of Jesus they can be overlooked. This is why we need to be watchful just as Jesus told us to in Matthew 24. As Jesus listed some of the many things that will be taking place it is easy to see that many are not uncommon to creation with the exception that like with childbirth pains they start off small and become more intense. In some ways we become so accustomed to what is going on that we fail to realize how much greater things are changing. It is like the prophecy that in the last days knowledge will greatly increase. We see this prophecy in Daniel 12:4. What we daily take for granted now was unthinkable just twenty years ago. If I want a scripture verse or some background on the Bible I just Google it and it pops up on my computer in seconds. Information is updated on the internet at an alarming rate. Information that the very few only knew is now available to anyone with internet capabilities. Even the invention of the bar code has implications for the cashless society that the antichrist will use for his advantage.
Times are certainly changing and for the most part it is already out of control for the average person. Many of the wealthy that I referred to earlier are trying to store away or hide their wealth in overseas banks and holding, but even that is not the real answer. It is said that what the world doesn’t give the world can’t take away. This is certainly true in many ways certainly regarding Jesus. There have been many very wealthy people down through time. Maybe one of the very most wealthy was King Solomon. It is said in the Bible that he had so much wealth that silver and gold was as common as rocks. He was the most wealthy man of his day, yet he was not happy. As we see in Ecclesiastes, King Solomon sums up his life and wealth as, “Meaningless! Meaningless! Utterly Meaningless! Why have the wealth and all that goes with it if when you die someone else gets it?
It didn’t have to be this way for King Solomon or even the multi-billionaires in today's society. Instead of letting greed horde it in fear that someone or something else will get it, it can be used for glorifying the Lord. When King Solomon died his son said that if the common people thought that his father was hard on them, he will beat them with thorns. How sad that so often the wealth of few come at the expense of the many. It was true in Solomon’s day and is still true today, but that still doesn’t make it right. God sees this greed as sin and will hold these people accountable. Just as easy people today could use prosperity for the good of others and still have enough, but as with King Solomon and his son they don’t. With each dollar their grip grows tighter on their efforts to keep others from getting it.
So am I being judgmental or resentful or what? I am warning all who read this that Jesus’ return is getting closer with each passing day! We may not be able to change the world, but we can live a life that will glorify Jesus. We can trust in him and encourage others to do the same through our Christ-likeness. Jesus is coming soon. Will you be ready?
Prayer: Lord, you have given us prophecy so that we might not be caught unaware and found lacking or deceived. Please help us to be ever watchful for you and not be ashamed. We ask this in your holy name.
