"It Is the Last Time"
C. F. B
The fullness of time is at hand, this we find recorded in Rev. 10:16 "That there should be time no longer."
But now that day is still extended for it is now presently according to John 2:18: "Little children, it is the last time;
and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrist; whereby we know that it is the last time."
In considering this exhortation one must consider the love of the Apostle John, who addresses the church in meekness,
he calls them: "Little children" because of his tender heart to the welfare of the church of Christ.
His warning was not untimely for the apostasy within the church had already manifested itself. The antichrist opposing
the teaching of Christ had seduced many from the pure teaching of Christ.
Should this admonishment not concern us as we see the decay presently far more reaching amongst those who once confessed
the Word of God to be the Inspired Word of the Lord? Has not the love of many waxed cold, and the love to carnal desires
become our idol, our God? Does not God's word describe our condition, as we read 2 Tim. 3:4 "Lovers of pleasures more
than lovers of God?" The perilous time has come upon us whereof we are foretold in 2 Tim. 3:2 "For men shall
be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy."
What is our life? Can the present generation know us by our fruit? Are they fruit unto righteousness? Are we not carnal?
Are we reaping the seed we have sown? Have we not grossly failed to warn them from the evil of our day in order to
refrain a frown, rather then to receive the approval of the Lord? Eze. 3:19, Where are the voices of parents, pastors,
elders, and teachers heard today admonishing our generation in love, against the present evil? We see disrespect, the
indifference, the lawlessness in many of our generation. With some exceptions, where do we find the interest of our
generation in searching the word of God, where the interest in their souls welfare? Fun, frolic, sports, and gayety is
uppermost in their minds. Is that the fruit of our doings? Are we not carnal? Are the days not evil whereof we read in
Amos 5:13 "Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time: for it is an evil time." Can we justify
ourselves in keeping silence, and see our generation depart from the ordinances of the Lord, once given to our fathers?
Have we failed, and shall we continue to disobey the commandments of the Lord? Eze. 3:18, 19 "When I say unto
the wicked, thou shalt surely die, and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked
way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his
iniquity; but thou has delivered thy soul." Shall our generation testify against us for failing to do our God given duty?
Is it not indeed "That Last Time"? We see the works of the antichrist so clearly manifested by their fruit.
2 Thess. 2:4 "Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he
as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." They are the subjects of Satan,
"which deceiveth the whole world," Rev. 12:9. And are the enemies of the cross of Christ and His church,
who mind earthly things Phil. 3:18, 19. Their rapid growth can clearly be seen in the dedication, and work for the
destruction of Christianity; to their subtle and deceptive tactics; to their utter disregard for all decency and the
rights of men. Are they not seen within many of our colleges, and are acted upon openly on our streets defying the
laws of God and country? Should not our hearts break when we see that our generation is influenced and are subjective
to their threatenings? The defiance of the antichrist is to "Every religious idea, every idea of God, even every
flirtation with the idea of God, is unutterable vileness." How far has our nation and the nations of the world
been influenced by them, and have been welcomed within their bosom being yoked in their deceitful practices. Are
these not all signs; that "It Is the Last Time?" Promising an "UTOPIA". A world of Peace, while
we have wars and destructions, and bloodshed from the rebellious within.
The degeneration has already taken such a hold upon many of the youth that it seems that all warnings are laughed off with scoff.
But may we remain faithful unto death. For Christ shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the rivers, unto the ends of the earth.
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