Page Content (OCR)
4). Like the scoffers in the last days the mother may think, "Where is the promise of the child's coming? . . . all things continue as they were from the beginning of conception." However, when true labor pangs begin, the contractions accelerate in frequency and intensity until the child is birthed. What is fascinating about the idiom of childbirth and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is that they are both preceded by well-known signs given well in advance of the actual event. And yet, an ill prepared mother, like the skeptic, if she chooses to ignore those signs, will be "caught unaware" when the child is born. | “THE QUICKENING” “BIRTH” SECOND COMING CONCEPTION FALSE LABOR «gipTH PANGS” | “THE QUICKENING” t QUIET MOVEMENT FALSE LABOR «gipTH PANGS” REAL LABOR In the subsequent verses of Matthew 24, Jesus continues his discussion of the signs with a warning to the Church. He tells his disciples that if anyone comes claiming to be Christ, do not believe: "Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before" (Matthew 24:21—25). Again we see the theme of deception. The false Christs and false prophets that arise at the end times will perform "great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." In the opinion of most Bible scholars, the elect, in this context, is the Church—those who believe that Jesus Christ i is the Messiah, the Redeemer eon 1 1 an om o4t The point is that the coming deception, as presented by these false prophets and false Christs, will be so powerful, so convincing, that even the very "elect" will be deceived, but only for a time. To deceive a believer in Jesus Christ will take more than another belief system, philosophy, or a new scientific discovery. Every philosophy that could ever be invented exists today as well during the time of Christ. As King Solomon said three-thousand years ago, ". . . there is no new thing under the sun." We believe that deception of the very "elect" will take a convincing display of powerful but lying signs and wonders perpetrated by a group of ultradimensional beings with supernatural powers—beings whose agenda will be to steer the nations and peoples of the world from the transcendent Creator of the universe and his redemptive plan for 1 4 mankind. 108 asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation" (2 Peter 3:3— GREAT SIGNS AND WONDERS of all mankind, and the very Creator of the universe in the flesh!