HOUSMAIL HM#065 - THE END OF THE WORLD IN MELBOURNE   14 October 2000
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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?
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Of course the Newspaper didn't mention whether they had any unpublished responses from Christians .....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.

1. There will be those in whose hearts fear has been replaced by love, waiting quietly and patiently,
     in humble expectation. (1 John 4:17-20)
2. There will be those whose hearts deceive them, and whose confidence is misplaced.
    (Matt 7:21-23; Rev 3:17)
3. And there will be those who KNOW they are not ready! They will be found running around in
    FRANTIC circles, trying to find "dealers" from whom they can BUY a top up for their depleted
    stock of "oil". (Matt 25:8-9)

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 Tim 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.
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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 Pet 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.

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 Pet 3:10-12)
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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)

Allon
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