Heed the Warnings
by Pastor Greg Laurie

“Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along.” 
—2 Peter 3:11–12

I heard about some Christians who were standing by the side of a road, holding up a hand-lettered sign with these words: The End Is Near. Turn around before It’s Too Late.

Someone drove by them, hit the brakes, rolled down his window, and shouted, “You stupid Christians! Why don’t you just leave people alone?”

Then he rolled up his window and hit the accelerator. A couple of moments passed, and they heard a loud splash. One of them turned to the others and said, “Maybe we should just put up a sign that says bridge out instead.”

We can find a lot of signs, a lot of warnings, that are saying one thing: get ready because Jesus Christ is coming back. Just look at our world today. New terms have entered our vocabulary such as pandemic, social distancing, and herd immunity.

Here’s another word that we’re hearing more often: plagues. We’ve heard the Old Testament story of the plagues that came upon Egypt. But we’ve also had plagues throughout history. And the Bible tells us that in the last days, there will be an increase of plagues.

A headline last March in The Jerusalem Post asked, “Why do some Christians believe coronavirus is an apocalyptic prophecy?”

The answer is because the Bible says we would see this sort of thing in the last days. In fact, the Bible tells us to look for a lot of things. It compares end-times events to labor pains that get closer and closer together when a woman is ready to give birth.

The Bible says that when you see these things not only happen, but happen with more intensity, that’s a sign the end is near.

When we’re right with God, we look forward to His return. It keeps us on our toes spiritually. And it causes us to want to live godly lives.

