Susan Beckett | Dwelling Place City Church
“I told you so!” We’ve all said it at one time or another. According to Gore Vidal, the four most beautiful words in our language are “I told you so.” But if you check in with A. Waldman, “There’s nothing quite as annoying as the phrase, ‘I told you so.’” So which is it? That probably depends on whether you’re a parent, wagging your finger in your teen’s face after their repeated zooming-around bought them a speeding ticket, or – a more serious issue involving some type of personal calamity.
Consider this: raccoons are cute as the dickens! But, trying to keep one as a pet can be dangerous. At about 24 months, they go through a glandular change and often attack their owners. Since a 30-pound raccoon can be equal to a 100-pound dog in a fight, it’s best not to keep them as pets. One gal mentioned this to her friend who owned a pet raccoon. She listened politely to the warning but chose to ignore it. “It will be different for me,” she said. “Bandit would never hurt me.”
Three months later, this raccoon owner underwent plastic surgery for facial injuries after her raccoon attacked her for no apparent reason. Bandit was later released back into the wild. “I told you so” could have come into play here – but the damage was done – the warning had been ignored.
There’s a terrific little verse in Hebrews 10 which advises us to “encourage each other, all the more as we ‘see the day’ of Christ’s return approaching.” That tiny word “see” there, in the Greek, means to “beware” or “take heed.” The writer is trying to warn us that there are things we should be seeing in the last days that we should pay attention to as signs of the end times.
In 2 Timothy, it was prophesied that in the last days violence would become more widespread – worse than it had ever been – even worse than the events that were occurring in the Roman Empire at the time. Today, Romans are actually remembered in part for their bloodshed and barbarism. But how will history remember our own generation with its love of bloodshed that seems to dominate movies, TV, music, video games and the internet?! Warning: last days?
While Christians debate whether or not we are living in the last days, signs of the times are slowly emerging – one after the other. It’s like boiling the frog – barely noticeable until it’s too late.
Revelation 13 discloses that during the Tribulation, “All people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, are to receive a mark on their right hands or foreheads, so that they cannot buy or sell unless they have the mark.” This was written around 43 A.D. by the way. Truly spot on!
Are you acquainted with todays “microchip?” Many believe these chips are an early version of the Mark of the Beast that will be needed to buy, sell, travel, and make a living. Currently, there are between 30,000 to 50,000 people who have already received chip implants in their hands. It’s “boiling” people to view this as being something completely normal.
The chips are as tiny as a grain of rice and are used today to buy, sell, unlock doors, store medical & banking information, purchase tickets — all with the wave of a hand. As they promote: “Microchips in Humans – Passports for Everything,” one theologian put it this way: “In a not too distant future, law-abiding citizens will only be able to engage in commerce by means of such a chip.” Warning: last days?
There’s a kicky story told about some teens who discovered they could get high by spraying a certain cleaner into a plastic bag and then breathing the fumes. The label on the can clearly warned of death or serious injury if the product was inhaled – but some teens ignored the warning, leading to at least one death.
The company wanted to make the warning label larger but decided to do something more drastic. “What do kids worry about more than death or injury?” they asked themselves. “How they look, of course!” So they wrote the warning to say that sniffing the product could cause hair loss or facial disfigurement. It doesn’t, but it scared the target audience enough so that continued misuse of their product stopped.
Warnings! Ours to heed or ignore! As Jesus predicted in Matthew 16:3 – “You find it easy enough to forecast the weather – why can’t you read the signs of the times?” Warning: End times ahead. Proceed with caution!
Bob and Susan Beckett pastor The Dwelling Place City Church at 27100 Girard Street in Hemet, CA. For more information, you may contact them at DPCitychurch.org
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