Update: Signs Of The Times - March 2025 Series

UPDATE: SIGNS OF THE TIMES - MARCH 2025

WHY DO WE BOTHER TO CONSIDER THE AFFAIRS OF THE WORLD?

[A]. INTRODUCTION

It is not beneficial to be weighed down by the bad things in the world, and some get depressed by such things. Like most aspects of life we need to be balanced and sober. It is very possible for Christians to be unhinged and then thinking gets distorted. It is a danger we must avoid. Note these verses -

{{1 Thessalonians 5:6-8 “so then let us not sleep as others do, but LET US BE ALERT AND SOBER for those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night, but since we are of the day, LET US BE SOBER, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.”}}

However Jesus upbraided some in His time for being asleep and inattentive, and not alert. They knew all about this and that, but were ignorant of the signs of the times when they should have been paying attention. {{Matthew 16:2-3 but He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather for the sky is red,’ and in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today for the sky is red and threatening.’ DO YOU KNOW HOW TO DISCERN THE APPEARANCE OF THE SKY BUT CANNOT DISCERN THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES?”}}

I make no excuse for examining what is happening on the world scene when it has significance for Christians and for the fulfilment of prophecy. The fulfilment of prophecy includes the things not yet fulfilled, but which are falling into place. I wish to draw attention to some of that. Others might do it better but we all see it in different perspectives.

[B]. THE HUGE SIGNIFICANCE OF J D VANCE’S SPEECH IN EUROPE

United States Vice-President J.D. Vance spoke during the 61st Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, on 14th February 2025. It is one of the best speeches I have heard in a long while, and there are a couple of things I want to draw attention to. Those who know their bibles will know that in the last days of this Church age, before the Lord comes to rapture His Church, difficult times will come (“perilous times” AV). Christians will face more and more rejection and persecution. The world itself will become more chaotic. If you don’t know this passage check it out – 2 Timothy 3.

I have a series of quotes direct from Vance’s speech:-

[NUMBER 1]. DEMOCRATIC FREEDOMS

[[QUOTE: “Everything from our Ukraine policy to digital censorship is billed as a DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACY, but when we see European courts canceling elections and senior officials threatening to cancel others, we ought to ask whether we’re holding ourselves to an appropriately high standard. And I say “ourselves” because I fundamentally believe that we are on the same team. We must do more than talk about democratic values. WE MUST LIVE THEM.”]]

Christians believe in democratic freedoms and values as many of those were anchored in the Christian teaching in the bible, but these are fast becoming eroded in our western societies, and only in our lifetimes at that. It is particularly pertinent that the loss of freedoms is applying more so to Christian expression, to values and living. Vance touched on those, but we continue.

[NUMBER 2]. HATEFUL CONTENT

[[QUOTE: “I look to Brussels, where EU commissars warn citizens that they intend to shut down social media during times of civil unrest the moment they spot what they’ve judged to be, quote, “HATEFUL CONTENT.” Or to this very country, where police have carried out raids against citizens suspected of posting anti-feminist comments online as part of, quote, “combating misogyny on the internet, a day of action.”]]

This “hateful content” reason/excuse is levelled at Christians for their positions on a number of things so they are silenced. I see it in the matter of homosexuality, abortion, the right to express the gospel in public and so much more. These “anti-feminist” contents include opposition to the biblical fact that a woman can only ever be a woman and not some distorted mess of genders.

[NUMBER 3]. RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

[[QUOTE: “I look to Sweden, where, two weeks ago, the government CONVICTED A CHRISTIAN ACTIVIST for participating in Quran burnings that resulted in his friend’s murder. And as the judge in his case chillingly noted, Sweden’s laws to supposedly protect free expression do not, in fact, grant - and I’m quoting - “A FREE PASS TO DO OR SAY ANYTHING WITHOUT RISKING OFFENDING THE GROUP THAT HOLDS THAT BELIEF.”]]

(Me – However that does not seem to apply when Christians are attacked or offended. I am utterly offended at the world’s largest perverted Madi Gras in Sydney, through Sydney streets, yet I am silenced if I protest that I am offended.)