Living In Frightening Times – Gentle Shepherd Ministries

by Rayola Kelley

Q: We are living in frightening times. According to the news it is obvious that various anti-God and anti-Christian factions are coming together to gain power. I just want your take on what you think is going on in the world.

A: We are indeed living in frightening times, but they are also exciting times. The times we are living in were prophesied in Scripture. They point to the glorious event of Jesus coming back as King, Lord, Judge, and God to set all matters right. Everything will be purged from the influences of wickedness.

However, before we will witness the glorious blessed hope that rightfully belongs to every blood-bought saint, we will witness the travailing birth pains as a one-world government, religious, and economic system rises out of the dark cesspool of death and destruction. Out of this platform, tribulation will engulf the whole world as insanity comes to the forefront while various groups come together to defy the true living God and His people. The common ground for these groups is their hatred towards the immovable, righteous truths of God. Their goal is simple, they want to utterly destroy the mirror that brings contrast to their wicked ways. This mirror has been established by the Judeo-Christian God and His righteousness.

Even though these different groups are flying under various religious and political banners, they are basically doing Satan’s bidding. As you watch these groups, their fruits clearly identify Satan as being their father. Consider Jesus’ words in John 8:44, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of it.”

Let us consider the fruits of these groups. First, they are driven by the lust for power. Even though these groups are coming into agreement, it is for the purpose of using each other to obtain their greedy goals to rule the world. They are like Nimrod in Genesis 10:8-10 and 11:1-9who wanted to establish a world-wide empire.

While these groups are using each other, they are also waiting for the time that they can turn around and destroy the enemy of their enemy. They have no desire to share the tyrannical spotlight with anyone. All they know is hatred and murder. They know nothing but war; therefore, their cries are for revolution to bring about their particular “utopia”. They are all after world-dominance. They hate anyone who dares to oppose them and with a plastic smile planted on their faces they hold a knife behind their back waiting to strike. They are like snakes who will strike when you are not looking, and scorpions who will quickly sting you when you let your guard down.

These people are clearly filled with hatred, and all that their mouths spew forth are either treacherous flattery or endless curses. They flatter you so they can seduce or conquer you and they curse you because they have no means to bless you. Their loyalty is to an ideology or a cause and not to people. In the end, whosoever is not standing on their side will be destroyed.

These people are liars. They believe they have the answers and that their cause is noble, and their lying, deceitful ways clever. Their light is darkness, their words are lies, and their delusion great. They are surely the offspring of Satan.

The question is who, out of all of these groups, is going to outsmart the treachery of the others? After all, everyone in this sick game thinks that they have greater causes that will ultimately stand or are cleverer than the next guy. The truth of the matter is they are all utter fools, but there are those fools that are exceedingly more treacherous and clever. If you were to ask me which fools will fall first, I would say it is the so-called Socialist and Marxist leaders and revolutionists of the United States of America. After all, a bunch of unrealistic, untrustworthy, foolish thugs cannot withstand the passion of the religious extremists or the well established machine of Communism.

If you were to ask me who would remain standing between the Communists and the extreme Islamist groups, I would bet on the Communists. As we can see, the reality of these groups is that they cannot help but destroy each other. They know nothing but the ways of death and destruction. What they cannot persuade they will persecute, what they cannot control they will sacrifice, and what they cannot use for their sick causes will be discarded like rubbish. It is for this reason that Jesus made this statement, “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (Matthew 24:21-24).

Clearly, many innocent people will find themselves in the crosshairs of this insanity of hatred. Others will be used as pawns as they are sacrificed for the sake of a delusion. Many will be trampled under as these different groups brutally race for the prize of world control.

At this point, we must ask ourselves who will come out on top. The truth is none of these groups have the means to survive. They do not know the ways of life. They can only rob, kill, and destroy. Their wicked ways will eventually cave in around them. It is for this reason the Bible tells us that the meek, not the wicked, will inherit the earth.

This brings us to the glorious promise that God will indeed win in the end. He will return and wipe out all remembrance of these wicked people and He will make right what they have so viciously torn down. His Word will be established throughout the land and not the lying flattery, judgments, curses, and claims of the wicked.

The times we are living in are frightening, but they are also exciting because we know our Lord’s return is close at hand. Meanwhile, we must not let the bad tidings cause our minds to faint and our hearts to grow cold. We must know what it means to hide in our place of refuge in God. It is from the high tower of His greatness that we can be assured of victory, and it is from the inner chambers of His formidable fortress of safety that we can know that nothing can touch our life in Christ.