“It’s time to take sides, Get off the fence and choose which side you will Choose.” Author and Writer Ronald Nelson

BIBLE MEDITATION: 

“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,” 1 Timothy 4:1 

ENCOURAGING WORD:

This verse that I have chosen to be the Bible Meditation is clearly in full swing. I personally cannot believe what I am seeing taking place here in America. The Bible is very clear as to what is going to take place in the end days, which I believe we are in. Now, I’m not saying specifically when the end will come because nobody knows, but the signs are all around us and the stage is being set and the time is near. Christian persecution is rearing its ugly head here in America along with Antisemitism. We have not yet reached physical persecution here in America, but if we continue in the direction that we are heading, it won’t be too long before we get there.

Only a few decades ago, a Christian identity was so common among Americans that it could almost be taken for granted. As recently as the early 1990s, about 90% of U.S. adults identified as Christians. But today, about two-thirds of adults that are Christians or at least claim to be Christians. The change in America’s withdrawal from true Christianity is largely the result of large numbers of adults switching out of the religion in which they were raised to become religiously unaffiliated. Also, just because they may still belong to and attend a church on a weekly basis does not mean that they are Christians.

This next verse is a warning to those of you that have fallen away from the true doctrine of the Bible and have been taken in by all the false teachings that have permeated in our local churches just like the following verses declare.

Revelation 2:4-5; “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.”

God is saying in the verse above, that there will be those that will fall away from the truth in the end days that they have been brought up on. The decline of the church of today from a deep love for Jesus Christ to a dead orthodoxy is representative of the history of the early churches. Jesus uses the Ephesian church as an example of what will happen in the latter days also. The Ephesian church's love for Jesus Christ had grown cold, leaving only a slavish obedience to rules and doctrines. Jesus' warning needs to be taken seriously today by every church. Sound doctrine and service are important, but they should be grounded in a deep love for Jesus. Jesus called upon the church at Ephesus to remember the love from which it had fallen. Their commitment to truth was a good thing, but unless it is motivated by love, that obedience is not fully pleasing to God. Jesus commanded the church of Ephesus to repent. The Ephesian believers needed to reverse their spiritual decline and serve Him as they did when the church began. A failure to heed Jesus' command would bring swift punishment. The church would not continue to exist as a witness for Jesus. More than a few churches in our modern era have closed their doors because they abandoned their love for Jesus. This is going to continue in the days in which we live just as the Bible teaches. Jesus is calling us once again to repent and turn back to where we were when going to church was a weekly privilege that most people took seriously.  

But unfortunately, we read what Matthew had to say about the days in which we live.

Matthew 24:10-13; “And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”

Once again, Matthew is also giving us a glimpse into the future. The fallen away that Matthew is speaking of has been in a decline for about the last five decades, but now it has turned into an avalanche of evil with no end in sight. Another notable part of this event will be that many who once claimed to be followers of Jesus Christ will no longer do so. Instead, they are doing just the opposite, they are mocking those of us that love Jesus. Their commitment to Christ will be revealed as weak, since they are unwilling to pay the high cost which comes with it. Some will even deceive and turn on former friends, perhaps to escape persecution. Though they may once have seemed to love Christians, such people will act in hate. I can validate this as absolute truth, because most of my friends have turned on me. I can accept this because Jesus told me that that would happen as we read in the following Bible verse.

John 15:18-25; “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.  If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.”

During Jesus’ so-called Olivet Prophecy, He was telling the disciples that there would come a time where many false prophets or teachers will rise up and lead many, not just a few down the path of destruction. The idea of lawbreakers increasing is easy to document around the world today with the rise of violent crimes and so too has the love of many grown cold. A very important point is that many will fall away, and many will arise to lead many astray. This isn’t a small problem but one where many (most?) will be deceived.

This is the price all of those that choose to serve Jesus will have to endure, but the after-life rewards will be more than worth it. Those of us that have chosen to serve Jesus will suffer in this world for a short time, but will live eternally in an environment that is so wonderful that it can’t even be explained. For those that decide to enjoy the pleasures of sin in this life may enjoy it while they are here on earth, but they will spend eternity in the Lake of Burning Fire forever. These are your only two choices and it’s up to you which one you choose.

James 1:12; “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.’

2 Timothy 3:1-5; “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.”

If you call the study of God theology, then you might call the study of man “meology” or “it’s all about me” and satisfying my needs. No wonder that in the last days difficult times will come and in fact, are already here. People love money, self, they are proud and arrogant, and abusive, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable (can’t be satisfied), slanderous, having no self-control, brutal and the list goes on. Just watch the news and you’ll see that these last day are plenty full of difficulty. We used love people and use things but today we love things and use people.

The Apostle Paul describes a time period known as "the last days." Biblically, the "last days" began with the start of the church.

Acts 2:17; “‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.”

Peter also spoke of the "last days" in 2 Peter 3:3; “knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts.”

We also read in; Hebrews 1:2; “has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;

These last days will be difficult. False teachers in Ephesus—like many deceitful teachers today—claimed that faithfulness to God would lead to material blessings. In contrast, Paul clearly taught that godly living would be difficult. The following verses chronicle the sins of evil people found in Paul's time, issues still seen today.

John 16:33; “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” 

I am personally seeing an increase in Christian persecution here in America like never before. I am a victim of verbal and spiritual persecution almost daily. Its not enjoyable, but it is necessary for spiritual growth. This is a topic that the Mega churches and denominational churches do not teach on. They are referred to as seeker sensitive and prosperity churches. Its all about the money and making people feel good. They don’t teach the whole Bible, just the verses that tickle the ears as we read in the following verses.

2 Timothy 4:3-4; “For the time will come when they ( Pastors and Priests) will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will gather up for themselves teachers;  and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.”

Also, in; 1 Timothy 4:1-2; “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,”

I’m going to share a few more verses, but I need to ask a question to all those that may read this message. Do you believe that the Bible is true and inherent which means without error? If you do, then why don’t you take Gods Word seriously and take head of the warnings that God has given us about the end days. If you do not believe that the Bible is 100% accurate and true, then this message means nothing to you, and you might as well stop reading it now because you will only believe the verses that you want to. This is the problem with the churches today and why we have so many different denominations. Its because they do not the teach the Bible, they teach their own made-up doctrines that they have accumulated over the centuries. If every Bible teacher taught only from the Bible and not religious doctrine, we would all be on the same page with one true teaching.

Lets move on to another message about end times.  Daniel 12:4 “But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”

Daniel was told that in the last days many will run to and fro and knowledge will increase. Daniel was told to seal up the book until the end of days, and it is obvious that that is happening today. People are certainly running to and fro via the host of transportation options we have available and the Internet has helped increase knowledge worldwide but not necessarily useful knowledge. But in Daniel’s day, it wasn’t time to reveal the end time events yet and so he was told “seal up the vision, for it concerns the distant future”  We are now living in the days where knowledge is increasing and teaching that was withheld until now is coming out by way of modern-day servants of God. The Holy Spirit is out gathering a bride for Jesus and He is doing it through men of God. This is where if you hold to religious doctrine from way back, you are not understanding the truth of the Bible that was hidden till this time. The Bible refers to these as mysteries that were not revealed in the Old Testament. That is why they were called mysteries. They were hidden until now and now is the time that they are being revealed.

Matthew 24:21-22; “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.”

Returning again to the Olivet Prophecy, Jesus speaks about a time of tribulation unlike anything the world’s experienced before. Those days apparently would have to be cut short (supernaturally by God?), otherwise we’d likely wipe out all humanity off the planet, but it was only for the “sake of the elect [that] those days will be cut short.” The elect are those that made it through the tribulation. All other souls will be sent to Hades for one thousand years at which time Jesus will judge all those that refused to believe in Jesus Christ and receive His gift of eternal life. You will be judged for all the sins that you ever committed, and you will be sentenced accordingly. Nobody at this judgement will enter heaven. Let me add this piece of advice. If you are on the fence and have not really committed one way or the other, you will fall into this category.

2 Peter 3:3-4; “Knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”

In the Apostle Peter’s last letter, he tried to warn the church that people would come and scoff at the ideas of Jesus’ return and say, “all things are continuing as they were from the beginning” and nothing’s going to change but “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” 

WOW, Everybody that is trying the share the Gospel is being scoffed at by those that are unbelievers. They are even being scoffed at by those that call them Christians. I can go as far as to say that true believers are even being scoffed at by the denominational churches. Take a good look at who they are that are being despised, its not people that  go to church every Sunday, its not those that just say that they believe in God, it is those that are out on the streets evangelizing the truth of what the Bible teaches. They are not teaching religion, they are teaching salvation through Grace, which the denominational churches do not.  So, the verses in 2 Peter that we just read apply to those that love Jesus Christ and have committed there life to serving Him.   

Peter warned that false teachers among the Christians would be "scoffers" or "mockers." According to the Bible, Jesus will return in glory to be revealed to all as Lord and to judge the people of the world. Ask yourself this very important question. Are you a scoffer or are you one that is being scoffed at and ridiculed. Once again, if you are on the fence, then you are in the camp of thise doing the scoffing.

John 14:1–3; “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so,I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. False teachers dispute this claim.”

The false teachers seem to be saying, "Jesus promised He would come back, but that was too long ago. The world just keeps going on and on in the same way it always has. So, Jesus must not be coming back." As a result, these deceivers convince others that God's other promises are also not true. If there is no return of Christ, as their argument goes, then there must not be a judgment coming for sin. So, God must not really care about our sin. So, it's acceptable to be "free" and do whatever you feel like doing. This, of course, is both false and very dangerous thinking.

This belief has lead to multiple false teachings. If you get this belief wrong, then most of the New Testament will not make sense, which is definitely the case in most of the churches of today. The only way that you can believe my statement is for you to read the Bible for yourself and let the Holy Spirit guide you through the scriptures as He has done for me.

Jude 1:18-19; “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions. It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.”

Jude also mentions scoffers in the end times just like the Apostle Peter did. He said that in the last times, there will be scoffers who are following their own sinful passions, and they love to cause division and have the absence of God’s Spirit, meaning this is the condition of the lost world and not the church. Jude is simply warning the church to prepare for such a scenario. We, here in America are definitely divided right down the middle. It isn’t only a division; it is shear hatred amungst groups. The party who claims to be for peace and love are the ones that are full of hatred toward those of the other party. The party that is being accused of hatred are the ones that are for love and serving Jesus Christ according to His word. The scoffers that are in reference here are those that do not take the Bible seriously and do not believe the Bible is the true and inherent Word of God.

The last thing might be the most important thing, and it concerns what Jude wrote,

“Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him”

Now, most people just brush off everything that is taking place because they are unaware of what is really taking place in our world.

Luke 21:11; “There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.”

The parallel to this passage is close to that of Matthew 24:7-8; where it’s written, “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.” When Jesus says that there will be “great earthquakes” I don’t think He means the typical earthquakes that occur on the earth every day and every year. The earthquakes that Jesus is referring to are those that cause famine and pestilence because of the widespread destruction and if that weren’t enough, “there will also be terrors and great signs from heaven.”

Yes, we have always had earthquakes and other weather issues, but nothing like we are seeing today. It seems that every day we are hearing about another massive earthquake or a high category tornado.

Since January 1, 2026, the world has recorded 10 major earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 or higher. The strongest global event was a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in the Philippines on June 7, while the deadliest sequence occurred in Venezuela on June 24 (magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5

Major Magnitude 7.0+ Earthquakes (2026)

February 22: Sabah, Malaysia — Magnitude 7.1 (depth ~629 km)

March 24: Vava'u, Tonga — Magnitude 7.5 (depth ~230 km)

March 30: Vanuatu — Magnitude 7.3 (depth ~121 km)

April 1: North Maluku, Indonesia — Magnitude 7.4 (depth ~35 km)

April 20: Iwate, Japan (Sanriku) — Magnitude 7.4 (depth ~25 km)

June 7: Mindanao, Philippines — Magnitude 7.8 (depth ~57 km)

June 24: San Felipe, Venezuela — Magnitude 7.2 (depth ~10 km)

June 24: La Guaira, Venezuela — Magnitude 7.5 (depth ~10 km)

July 17: Chiapas, Mexico — Magnitude 7.3 (depth ~15 km)

August 10: Chocó, Colombia — Magnitude 7.4 (depth ~110 km)

Significant Moderate & Destructive Quakes (Magnitude 6.0–6.9)

April 3: Badakhshan, Afghanistan — Magnitude 5.8 (deadlier impact despite lower magnitude due to localized vulnerability; 12 deaths)

July 28: Kumamoto, Japan — Magnitude 6.8 (39 deaths)

Various other M6+ events registered along the Pacific Ring of Fire and Mid-Atlantic Ridge without major secondary disasters.

Now, back to my original question, are you going to sit on the fence and hope you have time to make up your mind, or are you going to get right with Jesus Christ now so you are ready when He returns for His born-again believers. You may have time, but you may not have another day. If you are willing to wait, then I’m sorry to say, you are a fool!

So, You don’t have to be among the ungodly because God has made it possible to have a relationship with Him through the death of Jesus Christ. There is no more separation as a result of our sins for all who have repented and trusted in Christ. 

I’ll end with this verse.

Romans 1:20; “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,”

According to the previous verses, those who are unrighteous before God do not want to know about Him, so they try to suppress the truth about God. because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.

To some extent, this is true of all human beings, since we all sin; Romans 3:23; “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”  Paul has shown that God has plainly shown what is knowable about Him to everyone Romans 1:18–19; “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, “because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. How has He done that? This verse answers that it is obvious from what He has made.

The LORD will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

Make the right choice, eternity is forever regardless of what you are being told!