Understand the Times - Pete Garcia

[Andy C]

And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. Luke 17:26-30



Jan Markell has a saying that many in the prophecy community have frequently echoed: "What did you expect the last days to look like?"



For most people, the last days don't resemble today's reality, at least not the Hollywood version embedded into our collective consciousness. Over the past 120 years, pop culture—through countless books and movies—has conditioned us to expect that if there was an ambitious dictator bent on creating a one-world government, it would be obvious, with clear distinctions between the good guys in white and the bad guys in black.



We’ve been led to believe that the villains would be easily identifiable, fitting the stereotypical mold of any of the evil characters found in a who’s who rogue gallery. With a few exceptions, the world leaders in power today appear more benign businessmen than dreadful despots. However, give them a smidge of power, and they will rain ruin down upon all their citizens. But the truly wicked leaders, those shadowy figures who are directly in league with Satan and his forces, are almost always behind the scenes and likely people we don’t know even exist.



Unfortunately, it often takes a truly "apocalyptic" event on an international scale—like World War II, 9/11, the Indonesian earthquake and tsunami, or COVID-19—for the general public to even begin to wake up and recognize that something is seriously amiss. But those “awakenings” don’t last long before the masses are lulled back into varying stages of complacency. I guess the point I’m attempting to make is that the times are what they are, regardless of whether they fit our preconceived notions of the end or not.



It is hard to step back and look objectively at how fast things are falling apart.

https://www.rev310.net/post/understand-the-times

 

[Margery]

Pete is quite comforting- he doesn't sugar coat things and it's reassuring that those of us seeing the same things are not nuts, but simply still able to see reality.

From the article, further down:

"The widespread unawareness that we are in the final moments of the last days stems from two key factors.

First, the pulpits across America have largely fallen silent on the subject, causing it to fade from most people’s minds. The local church once meant to serve as the "canary in the coal mine" (among other things) for God’s prophetic timeline, has grown disturbingly quiet—not because the threat isn’t real, but because the canary is dead, and many churches are content living in their denial.

Second, we’ve become desensitized to the rampant wickedness around us, living in it day after day. For those of us who are prophetically aware, the discomfort we feel isn’t just self-imposed paranoia; it’s a growing vexation, much like the water heating up from uncomfortable to unbearable."

Which pretty much sums up the discomfort that I'm feeling as I speak with Christians who deny or doubt the Rapture (and where we are on the prophetic time frame)

 

[Andiamo]

it’s a growing vexation, much like the water heating up from uncomfortable to unbearable."

I am to the point lately when I want to get out of here so badly, I think about it many times a day and state it out loud several times a day. I just can hardly stand the deception I see, on top of the suffering and the sin. I wondered if I was going a little nuts until I read this article.
Maranatha.

 

[Batman]

The way I see this and the other corresponding books that cover the subject is that it occurs thru the 7 year trib and even at the end there people unwilling to repent and be saved from the return of the King. The day He is revealed would seem to be that day of His return, right?

 

[Andiamo]

he local church once meant to serve as the "canary in the coal mine" (among other things) for God’s prophetic timeline, has grown disturbingly quiet—not because the threat isn’t real, but because the canary is dead, and many churches are content living in their denial.

This is just sad!!!
The canary died and not only does no one notice or care, but the canary died of its own ignorance and not caring.

 

[mattfivefour]

From the article:

Ironically, in describing the last days, Jesus likened them to the days of Noah and Lot, emphasizing not the wickedness, the violence, or the Nephilim, but the normalcy bias present in both scenarios.

Exactly! I have heard some fanciful interpretations of the "as it was in the days of Noah" and the "as it was in the days of Lot" passages, but I've always believed that Jesus was referring to the normalcy of the last days before the arrival of judgment, not to anything else.

 

[mattfivefour]

I'd like to add that the normalcy is rooted in the fact that men have no concern for God and no concern for the way they live; but live according to their own ideas, scorning God's Word.

 

[Spartan Sprinter]

I'd like to add that the normalcy is rooted in the fact that men have no concern for God and no concern for the way they live; but live according to their own ideas, scorning God's Word.

I agree, i think it refers moreso the attitudes of people when these events are happening.

People always assume things will return to normal whenever a catastrophe occurs except this time it won't

 

[Everlasting Life]

Which pretty much sums up the discomfort that I'm feeling as I speak with Christians who deny or doubt the Rapture (and where we are on the prophetic time frame).

Encountered this myself recently and was saddened.

Keep me in prayer, I have a great opportunity to share about our hope in Jesus and his coming for the church with a ladies Bible study this upcoming fall.

I have the knowledge, I need the Lord's words.

 

[RonJohnSilver]

On a different but similar topic, I watched a show last night where an astronomer (secular) stated that we are at the point where we can really and truly expect to encounter an alien species at any time, the pieces are in place. If that's the case, and I think it is, and if the 'aliens' are demons, which I think they are and, if the rapture will be explained by abductions, which I think it will be, then all of us, Satan included, are expecting the rapture at any time. Of course, we knew that but still, it's sobering/exciting to think we are that close to going home.