We are living in
momentous times! The past ten years have seen significant changes in the way
nations react to one another and factions within nations are soon pushed beyond
the demonstration mode, to take up arms to fight one another. The Middle East
is a hotspot for trouble to erupt into warfare. Since Saddam Hussein boasted about Iraq’s
‘Mother of all wars’ there has been the on-going
warfare in Afghanistan, the nuclear threat of Iran against Israel, military
action in Egypt, recent shelling and bombings in Lebanon. These are disturbing facts that constantly affect our troubled world. Western nations are
presently awaiting United Nations weapon-inspectors findings to discover what chemical weapons have been used in Syria, and what military response
they will take if Assad is found guilty. The questions that need answering are,
which chemicals were used, what was the means of their delivery and
who is responsible for this violation against civilians?
Wikipedia comments, "
The Syrian civil war, also known as Syrian uprising or
Syrian crisis is an ongoing armed conflict in Syria between forces
loyal to the Ba'ath government and
those seeking to oust it. The conflict began on 15 March 2011, with popular
demonstrations that grew nationwide by April 2011. These demonstrations were
part of the wider Middle Eastern protest movement known as the Arab Spring.
Protesters demanded the resignation of President Bashar
al-Assad, whose family has held the presidency in Syria since 1971, as well
as the end of Ba'ath Party rule, which
began in 1963.
In April 2011, the Syrian Army was deployed to quell the uprising, and
soldiers fired on demonstrators across the country. After months of military
sieges, the protests evolved into an armed rebellion. Opposition forces, mainly
composed of defected soldiers and civilian volunteers, remain without central
leadership. The conflict is asymmetrical, with clashes taking place in many
towns and cities across the country. Late 2011 marked growing influence of the
Islamist group Jabhat al-Nusra within the opposition forces, and
in 2013 Hezbollah
entered the war in support of the Syrian army. The Syrian government is further
upheld by military support from Russia and Iran, while Qatar and Saudi Arabia transfer weapons to the rebels." These are alarming facts!
The Apostle Paul recognized that there was a war taking
place in his own life, he said, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,)
dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that
which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil
which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I
that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would
do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the
inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my
mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O
wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I
thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve
the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.” (Romans 7;18-25). Every Christian knows this daily battle going on in their life, the old nature
that we get from Adam versus the new nature we get from Christ when we are born
again. An unbeliever does not have this problem, he steals, swears and
commits adultery and lies without giving it a thought, it is his nature to do
that, but a Christian does not do these things, so while we are in this body of
flesh we shall have this conflict.
Matthew
recorded the words of Christ concerning the prelude to His coming Kingdom, “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? And
Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many
shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of
wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass,
but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom
against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes,
in divers places. All these are the
beginning of sorrows.” (Matthew 24:3-8).
The disciples asked three relevant questions, they
wanted to know WHEN the Lord would come to reign on earth. They wanted to know
WHAT would be the sign of His coming and also the END of the AGE (the Greek
word is aion which means age, not cosmos which means world). Matthew 24
gives details of the answers to these questions, and the matter of wars and
rumours of wars, which we clearly see, are but the beginning of sorrows. The
Great Tribulation is ushered in by these happenings and the worst is yet to be
before the Lord returns to earth. Before He comes to earth He is going to come
to the atmospheric heavens to call away the Church from the earth and take the
millions of believers to the third Heaven, God’s dwelling place. Are you ready
for His coming for the Church? Are you saved? If not, do not delay; receive
Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour today.
God bless.
Written by a Guest Blogger
