1 Thessalonians 5:11 – Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
The Bible is clear that these “last days”, which we’re currently somewhere in the middle of as we await the Second Coming of Jesus, would be marked by six increased evil and demonic activities:
- An increase in stress, anxiety, and mental illness (2 Timothy 3:1).
- An increase in scoffers who mock the Bible and those who believe it (2 Peter 3:3).
- An increase in mockers of Christian morality who encourage pleasure, especially sexual sin (Jude 18).
- An increasing love for false teachers and corresponding hatred for Bible preachers (2 Timothy 4:1-4).
- An increase in people who are anti-Christ, leading a massive counterfeit “Christian” apostasy, which paves the way for the Antichrist (1 John 2:18-19).
- An increase in wealth, comfort, and a sense that God is not needed for a successful life or concern for eternity (James 5:3).
When Jesus died on a Friday, it seemed like all hope was lost. Then, everything turned around quickly and miraculously when Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday. Like Christ, at a time when it seems like the Christian Church is basically dead, gone, irrelevant, outdated, and defeated, the Lord Jesus Christ will return suddenly and unexpectedly. This will bring about the resurrection of the dead, final judgment, and sentencing to Heaven or Hell for everyone (John 6:39-40, 6:44, 6:54, 11:24, 12:48).
This is the theme and encouragement of Paul’s letter to a local church called 1 Thessalonians and all believers who have also read these words:
1 Thessalonians 5:1–11 – “Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”
Which of these “Satanic Six” have you noticed in our world today?
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