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End-of-Days Violence – Part 2
By Terry James
Our question in this commentary is: What is the primary characteristic of our day that is like that which was prevalent during the days of Noah and of Lot? As I hope we saw in the last Nearing Midnight article, Jesus recounted those ancient times in prophetic terms, pointing out that times at some future date will be just like those days were when He next catastrophically intervenes in the affairs of mankind.
We looked at how–in my view, at least-Jesus was talking about the time He will come for His church in the Rapture. He was not prophesying about the Second Advent at the time when all flesh will be on the cusp of destruction.
The title of our commentary is, of course, "End-of-Days Violence," so, obviously, "violence" is the characteristic similarity prominent to both those ancient days and to our time, which I want us to examine.
There was much violence in the "days of Lot"–the days of the wicked cities of Sodom and of Gomorrah, to be sure. The violence was reported primarily through the sexual debauchery of that time. Homosexuality, in particular, pervaded society. While the days of those cities seemed almost civilized, the nights were filled with sexual violence and every sort of perversion.
We remember the angels were sought by the homosexuals of Sodom when Heaven's messengers came to Lot's home. But, the reference to violence that I want us to examine here--of the sort given in Jesus' prophecy in Luke 17:26-30 and Matthew 24:32-44, as we looked at in last week's commentary-is found in the book of Genesis: "The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth" (Genesis 6:11-13).
While it can be said that violence–perhaps--hasn't reached the level of Noah's day, before the Flood, our present world can be called anything but non-violent. The murders and woundings of the theater-goers a couple of weeks ago are proof that man is as violent as at any time in human history.
We sometimes gauge everything that happens culturally and societally upon what is happening in America. This is natural, because we have a news and entertainment media that seemingly relishes dwelling on horrors such as the shooting that took place during the showing of the latest Batman movie. It was nonstop punditry and interviews from every possible angle. It even knocked the political back-and-forth media war off the air, as both President Obama and GOP candidate Romney put their campaigns on hold for a time.
The killings were heinous acts, to be certain. But, if this were the only such act of the sort that is called a mass murder, it would hardly constitute violence that warrants me equating our times with those of Noah and Lot. Even if we count all of the recent such mass killings found in that one small area of Colorado, from the Columbine murders to the theater massacre in Aurora, we can't necessarily make of that mayhem the equivalent of worldwide violence of prophetic significance. The literally millions upon millions of victims of war-making just since World War I is far greater evidence for Noah's day-type violence in our time.
But, there is something about such impersonal bloodshed as found in the spree killings that viscerally affect the soul, which grabs and shakes to society's core our foundations of pretend civility. These somehow bring to the surface of our time the sickness that proves to our collective minds that we are nearing the end of days –as secular journalists would term the prophesied end times.
And, despite some pundits in other parts of the world proclaiming that America is alone in this madness because we have such lax gun laws, a quick search of relatively recent history proves the violence is worldwide.
The following is based upon facts presented by Neil Cavuto in his weekday program for Fox News, Your World Cavuto. The history was presented on the program "Gun Violence Isn't Unique to the U.S." Cavuto was exercised over the fact that many on the political left were trying to once again call for more gun control. He made the point that despite nations in Europe and elsewhere having some of the strictest gun laws on the planet, this sort of murderous activity isn't by any means restricted to the United States.I find the facts he presented to be proof that we live in a time as violent as any in history–including Noah's day. Cavuto said he found the accusations of America as being unique in the perpetration of gun violence as totally beyond truth, and unfair.
He said this is:
Because last time I checked, Norway has among the toughest gun laws on the planet, not to mention a reputation for having among the most peaceful citizens on the planet. But that didn't stop Anders Breivik from going on a rampage that left 77 dead--that's right, 77--in 2011. The same year Nordine Amrani murdered seven in Belgium. Or 17-year-old Tim Kretschmer walked into a German elementary school and killed 15 people in 2009. Or a 52-year-old British taxi driver named Derrick Bird butchered 12 and injured 11 others in a four-hour violent spree back in 2010. Barely a year after Ibrahim Shkupolli stabbed and killed his ex-girlfriend, he went on to a shopping mall in Finland to kill four others. The same otherwise "peaceful" Finland, where only about a year earlier, a 22-year old culinary arts student walked into a school and killed 10 people. I could go on.
- the Birmingham, England man who killed three back in 2000.
- the Swiss kid who slaughtered 14 at the parliament in Zug in 2001.
- the 29-year-old who killed 11 and injured 6 in South Africa.
- the Slovakian man who killed 7 in a Netherlands shopping mall in 2011.
- or the 23-year-old Australian surfer named Martin Bryant, who shot dead 35 people at a popular tourist attraction there "just because he felt like it" that day.
My point is not to spread the blame but remind all, this kind of stuff isn't unique to us. It happens everywhere. Among peoples who are peaceful, and those who are not.
In countries with tough gun laws, and those without tough gun laws.
And it's been happening for a long time…
Like back in 1938, when Mutsuo Toi killed 30 in Japan.
Or in 1913, when Ernst August Wagner murdered 14 in Germany…(Neil Cavuto, Your World Cavuto, 7/23/12, http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/your-world-cavuto/2012/07/23/cavuto-gun-violence-isnt-unique-us]
Violence is exploding on a worldwide scale at the personal, one-on-one level to the mass and spree killings, to genocide perpetrated by the Saddam Husseins and Bashar Al Assads of the world. We are a violent race–racing, in fact, toward the Lord's sudden and catastrophic intervention. He will bring judgment because lost mankind is incorrigible without Jesus Christ's intervention.
God's Word calls all to repentance before that great and terrible day of the Lord when God's judgment and wrath must fall. Jesus wants to take all who will accept His grace gift of salvation out of the time of that judgment, which is surely almost at the point of falling upon planet earth. Here's how to avoid being here for that devastating cleansing of this fallen world: "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" (Romans 10:9-10).
--Terry
Original Article
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