|
HOUSMAIL HM065 14
October 2000 THE END OF THE
WORLD IN MELBOURNE Earlier
this week, one of our main Melbourne Newspapers published the results of a street
survey which asked the question: "What
would you do if an asteroid was heading to earth, and you knew you only had 24
hours to live?" In the
20-40 age range, the universal response was that they would get drunk! Some also
said that attendance at a really big party would be a part of the process of getting
drunk. One
lone 61-year-old said that it wouldn't change much for him, except that he would
probably take the day off work to spend with his family! Does
that perhaps sound just a little bit familiar? Remember what Jesus said about
the state of the world just prior to his coming? Drunken
parties fit very easily into His description of that time ..... like the days
just before Noah's flood ..... or just before the fire began to fall on Sodom.
(Luke 17:26-30) Jesus
also told us to expect little remaining trace of REAL Christianity! (Luke 18:8) And we note in passing
- that doesn't sound much like those huge "revivals" some people keep
trying to tell us about, does it? Fearful
thought!! What if THAT was the reason why there
was no Christian response reported in the Melbourne survey? Of course,
the Newspaper didn't mention whether they had any unpublished responses from Christians
..... but we don't need the newspapers to tell us what THEY are going to do, do
we? Jesus has already told us what to expect from Christians. There
will be THREE different types of reaction, when the news of His impending arrival
is broadcast.
In this latter case the use of the word "buy", by
Jesus is very significant. Most
professing Christians are content to put their trust in a form of "Cheap
Grace" which does not exist! They "PURCHASE" their Christianity
"second hand", by PAYING "servants" to do the serious work
of Bible Study and Gospel Witness on their behalf. They put enormous sums of money in Church collections.
They give to numberless para-Church organisations and charities. They pay to attend
countless seminars led by famous teachers, "Ever learning, and never able
to come to the knowledge of the truth." (2
Timothy 3:7) They have made the Christian Publishing Industry
so financially attractive that much of it is now owned by unbelievers! And we
can expect that many will still be running around in the same ever diminishing
circles (Credit cards at the ready!) when Jesus really does return. Of course,
for those people who responded to the Newspaper Survey, the prospect of an Asteroid
collision was only hypothetical ..... pretty much in the same category as the
second coming also now is for the average man in the street. (2 Peter 3:3) Despite
what some scientists are now saying, the prospect of a collision with an asteroid
is still nothing more than hypothetical ..... and even if one is ever detected,
the world still does not have the technology to deal with it. BUT THE SECOND COMING IS NOT HYPOTHETICAL! IT IS AN ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY!!! For
most of the world, it is going to bring calamity on a scale never before seen
..... far greater than the damage done by the largest asteroids in known history.
The destructive forces unleashed at that time can be expected to be as great as
those of Noah's flood. And, just as today no one even knows exactly where Sodom
was, so in the same way will the fire completely destroy this present world system
and erase all memory of the wicked who inhabit it. (2 Peter 3:10-12) The
BAD NEWS for most of this world is that, if we had to depend only on the best
that Science and Technology has to offer, there are no answers at all for the
calamities associated with either a hypothetical asteroid, or for the absolute
certainty of the Second Coming. "Men fainting with fear and foreboding of
what is coming on the world". (Luke 21:26 RSV) THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT JESUS HAS PRACTICAL ANSWERS FOR BOTH! Allon |