the end times will come when they are ready

While Peter and John were speaking to the people, they were confronted by the priests, the captain of the Temple guard, and some of the Sadducees. These leaders were very disturbed that Peter and John were teaching the people that through Jesus there is a resurrection of the dead. They arrested them and, since it was already evening, put them in jail until morning. But many of the people who heard their message believed it, so the number of believers now totaled about 5,000 men, not counting women and children. (Acts 4:1-4)

Persecution has been happening to the church since Acts chapter four, not all that long after the church began.

But Americans are running scared that it is the last days. And the reason? Because it is happening to the American church.

Look at the world. all over the world people are dying for Jesus. And they have been dying for Jesus since the church began.

But the American church has always enjoyed a sort of immunity from persecution. Nothing much bad has ever happened to its members. They have floated along in a “Christian nation” and nothing bad has ever happened.

Then came the 1960’s with the questioning of authority. Little by little the favored position the American church enjoyed for a couple of centuries began to erode. The church began to lose ground and when it did, it began to be persecuted.

Of course, the persecution was not the same as the rape squads in the middle east or the gladiators in ancient Rome. But even so, persecution began.

Prayer began to be limited, morality was loosed, the schools began to ignore Christian principles, the church began to be ridiculed by celebrities. And when all this happened, the American church joined the sad fraternity of countries who were not Christian.

The rest of the world had always felt that persecution. But when the American church began to do so, they saw it as the end of time. We are having trouble, therefore the church is having troubles.

The problem was, the American church always saw itself as the favored people of God. When they lost that, they began to see all of the prophecies in the Bible as pointing to them. It became an arrogant Christianity. It was the idea that we are the greatest bunch of Christians that ever came along so when we suffer, the end of the world is near.

Sadly enough, there has been persecution since Acts 4 and after America is gone and the American church is gone, there will still be God and his church. And there will be future persecution for that future church.

God didn’t tell Jesus when he was going to come back.  In Matthew 24:35-36, Jesus said: Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear. However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows.

What does that mean? It means that if you can tell it is the end times by looking at current events and seeing prophecies and all, you are doing more than God would allow Jesus to do. Even Jesus didn’t know when he was coming back.

Prophecies are good, but you cannot see what Jesus could not see no matter how good you are at reading prophecies.

Yes, this is the end times. It has been the end times since the former times ended at the cross.

But because it is the end times does not necessarily mean Jesus is coming again in the next few years. He may or he may not. If he does it will be because God decided and not because somebody read a prophecy right.

In other words, don’t worry about it. 1 Thessalonians 5:4 says

But you aren’t in the dark about these things, dear brothers and sisters, and you won’t be surprised when the day of the Lord comes like a thief. 

2 Peter 3:9-11 says:

But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment. 

Revelation 3:3 says:

Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again. If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief. 

Revelation 16:15

Look, I will come as unexpectedly as a thief! Blessed are all who are watching for me, who keep their clothing ready so they will not have to walk around naked and ashamed.

The Lord, when he comes, will come as a thief with no warning.