Special Warnings for the End-Time Church
by Gene Easley
Will the end-time church be allowed to live in ease and comfort and, when the time comes, simply drift off into the heavenlies at the sound of the last trumpet? No cares or troubles to distract us from our comforts? It hardly sounds that way in Scripture. Various warnings throughout the Word of God seem directed especially to the church of the last days.
In Luke’s Gospel, Christ warned: “And take heed to yourselves, lest at
any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and
cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.
For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of
the whole earth” (Luke 21:34-35).
Speaking of end-time events, Christ indicates that this day will come upon
some Christians unawares. It
will come like a snare, trapping the inhabitants of the planet in a
dreadful time of great tribulation, a trap from which they cannot escape.
Christians of all ages have benefited from these warnings, but the
Lord gave special attention to end-time Christians.
He said that it would be a time when men’s hearts are overcharged with
surfeiting or overindulgence. They
would be indulging in the world and drained of God’s Spirit--wrapped up
in the cares of life. The
financial, material and social aspects of this earthly life will smother
us, and we won’t be spiritually attuned to His coming.
The deception--having things too good--will cause some to fall into
an inescapable trap.
What admonition did Christ give to the end-time church as the answer to
all this? “Watch ye
therefore, and pray always.” The
end-time church is being called to a life of constant prayer.
In Luke 18, Christ gave a parable teaching that men faint if they
don’t pray. He ended the
parable with a question, “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find
faith on the earth” (Luke 18:8)? In
other words, He was asking, will there still be people who have not
fainted? Will there still be
praying saints when Jesus comes?
Paul said that we of the last days who know the truth must not be found asleep, “…but let us watch and be sober” (1 Thessalonians. 5:6). In 1 Timothy 4:1, we are warned to expect a great apostasy in these days. In 2 Timothy 3:1, Paul again admonishes the end-time church that its days shall be perilous. And he gave a long list in that same chapter of last-day behavior. It is an amazing likeness of our day. Again, all Christians have needed these warnings, but it seems that those who live in the last hours before His return are being especially warned of the intensity of the spiritual battles to be encountered.
The Lord issued yet another warning to get and keep oil in our lamps,
“Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the
Son of man cometh” (Matthew 25:13).
God has always wanted us to be full of His Spirit, but this
last-day church is singled out for a special admonition.
The world in which we live is being entertained by violence and
immorality, while a holy God watches.
So it was in the days of Noah.
The end-time clock ticks on toward the midnight hour.
The tragedy is that much of the church is asleep without oil in its
lamp.
A last look at this subject takes us back to the Old Testament where we
find a positive admonition and a definite assignment for this hour.
Zechariah 10:1 says, “Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the
latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers
of rain, to every one grass in the field.”
End-time Christians must be praying Christians asking for the rain, the
outpouring of His Spirit. Why
should we want it? We should
desire the rain not just so we will be blessed, though that is important.
But the rain comes that the earth might bring forth its fruit.
Without the rain, there would be no harvest.
But with the coming of the rain of His Spirit, we know souls will
be brought in.
Along with the warning to awaken us in this hour, Christ also gave the solemn responsibility for the harvest. May God help us to be ready for His coming and not to fail in His great commission!
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