Well–well, if you believed in God your case would not be hopeless. But some men–a few out of the many wanderers–find God out here in these wilds.”
–Zane Grey (Wanderer of the Wasteland)
“But the wicked will be blinded. They will have no escape. Their only hope is death.”
–Job 11:20 (NLT)
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I sense that the world is full of turmoil and hatred. Things are happening faster and faster. There is a trembling in and on the earth. The inhabitants of the world are being primed for the rise of the ugliness and power and reign of evil. People mock God, people mock the Christ of the Cross, people mock the working of the Holy Spirit, and people mock the way of the Christian. Two Scriptures keep coming to my mind:
“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.”
–Galatians 6:7 (NKJV)
“But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”
–Matthew 24:37 (NKJV)
Now I may be old, but ol’ brother Noah and I weren’t on speaking terms. He was some before my time, however, the days must have been terribly evil, for the people of that time brought the wrath of the Lord to the earth. There is a day such as that, minus the water, that is upon the horizon.
The days ahead may take you into a wilderness that you have not faced before. This may be one in the physical, mental, or spiritual but I believe it will be a combination of the three. One of the definitions of “wilderness” is the following:
“Something characterized by bewildering vastness, perilousness, or unchecked profusion.”
You may be enjoying life now and suddenly, without warning may find yourself in the midst of a perilous situation. The wilderness is a place of trial, for Christ will return for His Bride that is without spot or wrinkle. “The wilderness is definitely a place of suffering and of bruising, whether it be the sole of your foot or the heart of your soul.” (Trails in the Wilderness) Don’t scoff, don’t scorn or mock for you might come “upon the sun-bleached bones (whether physical or spiritual) and all you can do is shake your head in pity.” (Trails in the Wilderness)
Do not become deceived, or beguiled. The time is coming, and to an extent is already upon us, of confusion and chaos. Remember who the author of confusion is, the father of lies, and the great deceiver. He is at work in the midst of the world. Do not be like the Israelites when they were finally free from the bondage of evil, and upon finding themselves in the wilderness and the terrors it held cried, “Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians?’ For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.” (Exodus 14:12, NKJV)
This “Echo” is not to cause alarm but to touch in a manner as to get your attention. We are not without hope. I fully believe in the “blessed Hope” of the Church; the return of the Lord Jesus Christ is what is called the “Rapture.” I believe that His people will not face the wrath of the Antichrist, however, with that being said, there may be tribulation, toils, and trials as the devil will begin to do his work of destruction, deceit, and death.