“There will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.” (Matthew 24:21–22, NIV 1984).
My Musings – “The biggest joke on mankind is that computers have started asking humans to prove that they are not robots.” (Casual Christian Comedy 2).
I remember reading 1984 in high school and 2001, A Space Odyssey, when it premiered in 1968. They seemed outlandish then and they seemed so far away. So, we were not too alarmed. Then 1984 and 2001 came and went and we laughed at their premises. Well, we’re not laughing now.
But “do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.” (Mark 13:7, NIV 1984). Well, maybe not these exact (1984 and 2001) things. But if you read all of Matthew 24 and Mark 13 (strongly encouraged), it is hard to imagine not being alarmed. We’re alarmed now and we’ve only seen the “beginning of birth pains.” But we need not be alarmed, even though these things must happen. Why? Because God is still Sovereign. And “for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.“
My Advice – President Franklin Roosevelt said, “we have nothing to fear but fear itself.” A better quote, in the context of Matthew 24 and Mark 14 would be, “we have nothing to be alarmed about but not being one of the elect.” And who are the elect? Those who have accepted Jesus Christ as Savior. Once you’ve done that, no computer will ever ask you to prove you’re one of the elect.
Not sure what it means to accept Jesus Christ as Savior? Read my “The Born Again Experience” musings. Don’t let the term “Born Again” throw you off. Modern culture has done their best to malign and ridicule this terminology. But it was Jesus who coined it. And He said we must be. Born again, that is.
The Brew Is A Musing 