David Woods is founding pastor and now an elder at Park Chapel Christian Church in Greenfield.
An old song came to mind recently, “Detour.”
The lyrics as I recall are:
“Detour, there’s a muddy road ahead,
Detour…didn’t mind what it said,
Detour…my mind should have read
that Detour sign!”
The remembrance alerted me to the urgency of warnings. We have seen warnings all our lives on bottles of medicines, containers of fuel, at construction sites and on entrances into buildings.
The Bible is strewn with warnings One of those warnings is the one quoted by Peter from the prophet Joel in the Book of Acts following the resurrection of Jesus: “And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below…before the Day of the Lord comes….” (Acts 2: 19, 20).
The apostle John makes this observation in Revelation 13: “… and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast (a symbol of world government). And they worshipped the dragon (a symbol of Satan, the devil).”
Genesis 6:5 offered this insight before the destructive Genesis flood: “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was evil continually.”
One of the danger signs that reflect for me the urgency of our times for repentance (turning to Jesus) is just not the “muddy roads” but the frequency of them. I am convinced that I have observed judgements upon our earth all my life, but in these latter days of my life, the alarming trigger has been the frequency and the intensity of those judgments.
The only conclusion that makes sense to me is that the solar system, the earth and everything in and on it is the work of God as Creator. Nothing exists without a source. Substance must have elements. I have yet to find something made from nothing! No design exists without a designer.
A great percentage of the world does not believe in the Creator God and is not noticing the frequency and intensity of earthly judgments (floods, earthquakes, storms) — the detour signs, of the times.
The earth has experienced one destructive flood that eliminated all but eight souls who were given God’s grace to restart human life, and the forecast is that a final destructive force of fire will bring a final eternal judgment for all the earth, resulting in two eternal outcomes for every soul — Heaven or Hell.
Some of the “signs” in our world are that there is a great turning and returning to faith in Jesus Christ among the nations of the world. That is especially true in some of the nations where the gospel of Jesus is banned and followers of Jesus, when caught, are either imprisoned or executed.
Again, it is another sign to me that the end of the age is nearing, and hopefully those who have not obeyed the Gospel and come to Christ will take seriously the warning signs.
David Woods is founding pastor and now an elder at Park Chapel Christian Church in Greenfield. This weekly column is written by local clergy members.
