Will the end come in 2023?

 

“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.”

Matthew 24:36

A new year tends to bring hope and expectation for many. Promises are made, optimism fills the air and then, usually a week or so later, we realise that nothing has really changed, and we have already reneged on the resolutions.

The last few years have been incredibly difficult. We have had a worldwide plague, there is a continuing war in Ukraine causing global recession, and a worrying increase in climatic changes. All of this has caused an acute insecurity, leaving people extremely vulnerable and susceptible to the messages preached by doomsday cults.

Coming Soon

The doomsday cults will always seek to take advantage of fear and insecurity in society. For them tribulation and turmoil are clear and obvious signs that the end is nigh. For such groups, a new year brings about a sense of hope and an expectation that this may be the year when all their long-held beliefs could finally happen.

When will this hope be fulfilled?

Soon! How can we be sure? The Bible foretold events that would signal that God’s Kingdom is about to begin its rule over the earth. (Luke 21:10, 11) Present world conditions match what the Bible foretold.

(A Real Hope for a Better Tomorrow – JW.org)

The Jehovah’s Witnesses will no doubt hope that 2023 might deliver the long-awaited Armageddon when, they believe, Jehovah God will bring judgement, wiping out all but their ‘worthy’ members. Sadly, during such tough times amongst the nations, their message of impending doom will capture the hearts and minds of many seeking to make sense of the world around them.

Any Port in a Storm

The saying 'any port in a storm' proposes that, when in difficulty you need not to seek the perfect solution; any solution will suffice. I have heard many say that they have joined groups because of a knock at their door. The anxious householder, looking for answers, may well listen to those who offer convincing reasons for the problems they see around them. Then, the suggestion of a study to understand things further will sound extremely attractive; and the group now have a new adherent. Who the ‘group’ is, is dependent upon who got to knock on the door first. If it was Mormon Missionaries, the householder may have joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If it was a couple of publishers from the Watchtower Society, the householder may have become a Jehovah’s Witnesses and if it had been a Christian from the local church… well you get the idea, any port in a storm.

Sadly though, if you find your ‘port’ on the doorstep, you are far more likely to end up in a cultic group than in a Christian church.

Is your ‘port’ safe?

I recently saw an article which listed all the so-called famous people who left us in 2022. There is always at least one name on the list that surprises you because you did not hear of their demise. One such person for me was the actress, Kirstie Alley. She passed away aged seventy-one from colon cancer. I was saddened to hear this news, not because I was a Kirstie Alley fan, but because I knew she lived and died as a Scientologist. Her ‘port’ was not safe, and she is now lost for eternity.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6

If Jesus words are true, and they are, then any port in a storm will not do.

The Apostle Paul knew that he could not just leave people in any port:

To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

1 Corinthians 9:20-23

Paul was not content to allow people the luxury of choosing any port in a storm. He believed that there was only one port that truly offered safety – the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Therefore, he preached the gospel to anyone he believed to be outside of Christ.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Romans 1:16-17

We at Reachout Trust are convinced that if Paul were alive today, he would agree with us that the ‘any port in a storm’ mentality that pervades much of our society, and even the church, offers no safety. Paul was no religious pluralist. He would have been collaborating with us in sharing the gospel of grace with the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Mormons, the Roman Catholics, and many other false belief systems.

The End in 2023?

The end may come in 2023. Jesus may return or we may take our least breath this year. Therefore, the ‘port’ in which people find themselves is of vital importance. 

Will you stand with us at Reachout Trust in 2023 as we continue to sound the alarm, as we persist in calling out falsehood, as we maintain our stance that there is no salvation to be found outside of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ .Will you help us proclaim that He alone is a ‘port’ of safety during the storms of life.

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12 

Why not invite us to your church in 2023.