A MESSAGE OF HOPE FROM DR JACK VAN IMPE

We want to continue this week in our study of the past and future of Israel.

Famines, Pestilences, Earthquakes

…and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places (Matt. 24:7).

While living in a land of plenty it is difficult to envision widespread hunger. Yet famine is a way of life for a great part of the world. More than two billion people go to bed hungry every night.

About 10,000 people die daily because of a lack of food and the effects of malnutrition, but this will increase dramatically because of a multiplying world population. Although population growth has slowed in the United States, other parts of the world are increasing so fast that experts are unable to come up with an answer to the problem.

A few prominent people are advocating the “lifeboat” solution. This approach sees the ever-increasing number of people as impossible to feed, and foresees a day when dividing food among so many would mean the death of the entire race. The idea is to keep plenty of food in the productive areas — the lifeboats — and let the rest of the world starve.

The “lifeboat” solution view is held by a few Americans who undoubtedly see our land as one of the lifeboats. But even our food sufficiency hangs by a very thin thread.

What if God should withhold rain from America for even one year? What if storms or plant diseases ruined our bountiful harvests? What if tractors sat idle in the fields because energy could not be bought to run them? Our surplus would then be but memories. As in Pharaoh’s dream, the lean years would soon devour the fat ones. Hunger would stalk the fruited plains. And the “lifeboat” solution would be the farthest option from our minds.

Pestilence frequently accompanies famine. Often it may be the cause of it. The insect world is multiplying at an unbelievable rate. Entomologists estimate the number has now climbed to one quintillion, including five million different species. The weight of all the insects in the world would be twelve times the combined weight of the entire human race. The insect problem is compounded by the ability of many varieties to develop immunities to our most powerful pesticides.

Many top scholars identify the biblical term “pestilence” with cancer. A number of dictionaries, as well as the Amplified New Testament, define it as “malignancy, malignant growths, or cancer.” It is well known that exposure to radiation causes malignancies. Nuclear war may well be the cause of much of the pestilence of the last days.

Experiments in germ warfare or in the development of new life forms may bring pestilence. Safety measures have failed to protect the public on some occasions and many people are concerned about the possibility of a laboratory accident or some freak development in an experiment that could bring a plague of major proportions for which there is no known cure.

Earthquakes are taking place on an unprecedented scale. The United States Geodetic Service reports one million earthquakes annually. Often as many as twenty tremors are in progress simultaneously.

Seismologists inform us that the North Pole is tilted off center. This is expected to bring about the most devastating earthquakes in history. Biblical prophecies are unfailing, and in God’s time an unprecedented earthquake epidemic is certain. The greatest quake is yet to come; it will take place when Christ returns to earth.

And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south (Zech. 14:4).

Sliding Morals

And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold (Matt. 24:12).

A lady once prayed, “Lord forgive me! I do so many things that I used to think were wrong.”

Her prayer could be prayed by millions. The sexual revolution is now history and its bitter effects remain. Fornication, adultery, and even homosexuality have gained respectability. Nevertheless, neither new and more appealing names nor a change in public opinion have altered the seriousness of these practices in the mind of God. “Premarital relationships,” “affairs,” and “gays” may be words designed to take the shame out of old labels, but the wages of sin remain the same.

We are told that media productions reflect the state of public taste and morality. If that is true, the days of Noah are upon us.

Television has been called a vast wasteland. That may be too complimentary. Writers purporting to create realism have made the tube a dumping ground for their pitiful products. Even families who are careful about their language have dropped barriers and allowed television characters to profane their homes. Burlesque shows and striptease acts have moved from night clubs to living rooms. Prostitution and homosexuality are often portrayed favorably before the whole family.

Shades of Sodom! And all to sell merchandise.

Ironically, we are becoming more puritanical about our environment but not about our lives. We say we want clean air, clean water, and clean countryside’s. But what good is a clean environment filled with polluted bodies and minds?

Increased Knowledge

But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased (Dan. 12:4).

For centuries the world seemed to slumber. Thousands of years passed without major changes in most areas of life. Paul and Columbus sailed in similar ships even though their voyages were nearly fifteen hundred years apart. Medical know-how moved at a snail’s pace.

Then came an explosion of knowledge, a rash of life changing discoveries and inventions. People who had traveled in horse-drawn vehicles lived to see the skies filled with jet planes and men walking on the moon. The atom was split, ushering in the nuclear age with its perils and possibilities. Miracle drugs that conquered old killer diseases were discovered and vaccines were developed that eliminated former plague producers.

Now we are in the age of computers. These electronic minds are entering every area of life. Former methods of office procedures have been made obsolete. The fact that records on millions of people are available at the push of the proper buttons is a disturbing thought if wicked men come into power.

Computers seem almost human. They have memories. They solve difficult problems. They even speak. Computers will undoubtedly be employed by the prophesied final world dictator in his move to control people and the economies of the world. These space-age wonders will make it possible to enforce the receiving of a special mark in the hand or forehead that, in a future day, will be required in order to buy or sell merchandise. Starvation and martyrdom will be the lot of any who refuse this beastly identification. (More about this mysterious mark later.)

Each day seems to unveil some invention that baffles most of us.

What does the knowledge explosion mean?

Why did this breakthrough tarry for so long?

Why was it reserved for closing time?

We will answer these and other questions in the coming weeks.

FROM THE HEART OF DR. REXELLA VAN IMPE

A Blaze of Glory

That day is coming, dear one… The day we shall see Christ as He is. At that final moment of earth’s history for us, will He find us blazing bright with His message of love and hope?

I think of the maple trees across the street from our house. One autumn season, what a glorious display of red, yellow, brown and purple we were treated to when those leaves began to turn! When the evening sun came shining through the leaf-covered boughs, each tree seemed to be on fire.

When I was home, I enjoyed looking over at those glorious maples. I was a little sad when the last leaves fell and only skeleton-like arms were left silhouetted against the winter sky.

I waited for spring and new leaves on those trees, but the new buds never sprouted. I was shocked to see my neighbor cutting down the lifeless limbs and dead trunks.

How could trees that had been so beautiful just last fall be dead in spring? Someone explained to me what had happened: the trees sense when they are in their last season, and they pour all their remaining strength into one last spectacular display —

They go out in a blaze of glory!

Like nature, the Bible is full of examples of this final “blaze of glory.” Think of Samson, whose entire existence was reduced to turning a grind stone for the Philistines, in his eternally dark, blind state.

Yet when he was brought into the Philistine coliseum to entertain them, the Bible says:

“And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. And Samson said, ‘Let me die with the Philistines.’ And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life” (Judges 16:29-30).

At the wedding in Cana of Galilee, Jesus turned water into wine when the bridegroom ran out of wine. And his guests declared: “Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now” (John 2:10).

Job had a full, rich life until tragedy struck him. Then he went through some of the most trying times ever endured by a human being, but he stayed true to God, and it was said of him, “So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning” (Job 42:12).

There is a tremendous lesson for all of us in this. Without a doubt, we are living in the last season of this old world. All the prophetic signs tell us time will soon wind down. In the short time left to us, we as Christians should be like the maple tree and prepare to end this final season in a blaze of glory!

Think of it! We’re in the last harvest of souls this world will ever see before Jesus comes. Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest (John 4:35).

Knowing the season, we must expend every resource and every bit of strength at our disposal to light up the world with the reflected glory of our Savior. Let us shine our brightest today… Show our truest colors now. There will not be another season.

Wife and mother, this may be the last month or week… or day you will spend with your family. Pour out your love on your husband and children. Husband and father, this may be your last opportunity to make your home a glorious place to live, full of joy and love and excitement. Do it now!

Dear friend, how can you go out with a blaze of glory? There are simple acts of kindness you can do: a heart-felt compliment, a word of encouragement, a friendly phone call to a lonely acquaintance. They may be little things, but like each individual maple leaf, they can fill your life-tree full!

Dr. Van Impe and I need your continued prayer support as we try to make this season of our ministry the most glorious of all and proclaim to the world: Jesus is coming soon — perhaps today! The Scripture says…

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord … For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night (1 Thessalonians. 4:16-5:2).

Remember to pray for us, even as we pray for you. Ask God to give us so much strength, energy, vision and anointing that, like Job, the end of our lives will be greater than the beginning. As the Scriptures tell and as the signs of the times clearly show, the coming of our Lord is at hand. Let’s rise to meet Him in joy and triumph, going up in a blaze of glory!

CHANGED LIVES-one at a time

I thank you for all your studies and programs. I love your words of encouragement or should I say the Lords words of encouragement. Yes I say Maranatha. I hope to see you and Rexella at the banquet of the Lamb Jesus and yes you are one of those that will be bright as a stars in the firmament. There were many in my past that kept me on the straight path……May God bless both of you always with a double portion……

Yours in Christ

Don G.

I just wanted to let you and your wife know that you both have been doing an awesome job preaching the Word of God to millions around the world, it takes strength and courage for what you both do, there are many times where I have thought to myself man I wish I could of met you guys and tell you myself what a wonderful job you guys have been doing, keep up the good fight, I too am waiting for the day that Jesus comes back to take us home, god bless you both.

Patrick T.

HIGHLIGHTED PRODUCT OFFERS

The Prophetic Voice of Dr. Jack Van Impe

For 70 years, Dr. Jack Van Impes prophetic voice has been warning our world of the apocalypse to come — and the desperate need for every human being to choose new life in Christ before it’s forever too late!

Now all the prophecies Drs. Jack and Rexella have been uncovering are happening rapidly before our eyes … and people still need to know the Truth about the current apostasy, the Rapture, the Tribulation, the return of the Lord, and more!

Do not let your friends and family stumble blindly into these latter days! Use this DVD teaching to help you share the facts about Bible prophecy — and the Gospel with everyone.

Eternity: Who? What? When? Why?

Do you know where you will be eternally?

It’s the most important question you will ever answer!

Bible prophecy experts Drs. Jack and Rexella Van Impe use their vast knowledge of the Scriptures to show you:

• Eternity is real – and every human will spend it in either heaven or hell.
• Jesus Himself talked about hell – this video shows you what He said and what it means for you, your family, and all humanity.
• Preachers who don’t talk about hell are dishonoring God – because Jesus Himself was the first hell-fire preacher.
• The concept of the Trinity is integral to your belief in God – and only faith in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit can save.
• The Rapture is foretold in the Scriptures – and you can see which prophetic signs have already taken place and prove the return of the Lord is at hand.
• And much more!

This teaching is perfect for any believer and great to share with non-Christians who want the truth about eternity, heaven, hell, and the return of Christ!