January 2024 | Conversion: Persecutor Turns Promoter

"Look Up... Your Salvation is Near"
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"Look Up... Your Salvation is Near"

Dr. Valson Abraham

Would you like to see heaven on earth?  If so, then you should be waiting, working and watching for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

Every day, we pick up our newspapers and note that the world is in deep trouble.  The trouble seems to be getting worse.  Desperate people want super-wise, super-strong political messiahs to save them.  But no political messiah will do what only God can do through Jesus Christ.

Jesus does not give us the day or hour of His return, but He does give us His definite promise of coming again.  He gives us a sign by which we can tell that His Second Coming is getting near.  In Matthew 24:14, He tells us, “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations [peoples], and then the end shall come.”

So how much progress are we making toward the Second Coming? One measure of this is the degree to which every language group will have the printed Word of God available to them. Without the Bible’s availability, it is difficult to progress in our walk with the Lord.

Wycliffe Bible Translators says that at its present rate of increase, they can have every remaining language in the process of translation by 2025, less than fifteen years from now.

In India as well as other places around the world, the harvest force is rapidly increasing.  Our own harvest force is increasing each year through the ministry of our India Bible College and Seminary and other training schools in different parts of India.  

For centuries, it has been assumed by many that Christianity is a “western religion” because most Christians came from Europe and North America and tended to dominate churches in other lands.  

No longer is this true.  Today, more than 70% of all Christian believers come from outside the western world.  The recent Lausanne Conference in Cape Town, South Africa, the largest gathering of Christian leaders in the world, was dominated by Christian  leaders from Asia, Africa and Latin America.  

This is a great sign that the body of Christ on earth is rapidly spreading beyond Europe and North America.  There are growing signs that people in Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim regions are taking a new look at Jesus Christ, even when it is risky to do so. They pray to Christ and  experience the  resurrection power and  forgiveness for their sins through Jesus Christ 

In the days leading up to Christ’s Second Coming, perilous times will come.  We are already there. Christian suffering is increasing.  Persecution is taking place throughout the world.  Even in the so-called “Christian West,” there is a growing desire on the part of a loud and vocal minority to write Christian roots out of the history books, rid the public forum of all Christian influence and slander people who publicly adhere to a Christian value system.  

At such times, when we are least comfortable with our world, we most productively proclaim the Good News.  Not only do troubling times motivate us to preach, but they move troubled people to listen and respond.  As persecution  increases,  expect more people to come to Christ. One day, Jesus promises us, the task will be complete.  Satan will do all in his power to stop the gospel, but one day, every people will have the gospel. And then Jesus will come.

In the meantime, we hasten His coming by doing what God has put in our power and our heart to do. We find it all summarized in the Great Commission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations [peoples], baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).

Heaven on earth is possible when done God’s way.  Let us join Him in His work and look up, for our Salvation, Redemption and Deliverance is very near.

Father God, these are exciting days in which to live as we see your gospel spreading around the world, hastening your Second Coming.  Show me how to pray and how to work for the day of your appearance.  In Jesus’ Name.

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