My wife Teresa’s cancer battle reached a new level this week when on Monday morning she attempted to comb her hair and large amounts of it fell out. While the doctors told her unequivocally that it would happen and logically she knew it would happen, when it actually did happen she was devastated. She came into my office hysterically crying.
I hugged her and tried my utmost to comfort her and eventually the hysteria changed to gentle sobbing. Once she calmed down I told her not to worry that soon enough it would grow back and this was just another battle in the war. She nodded her head between sobs as I gently rubbed her back and finally calmness returned.
She had known for several weeks that she would lose her hair, but the shock of seeing it actually occur seemed to bring a stark reality to it that went far beyond mere words. The poison being pumped into her body was taking its toll.
So yesterday afternoon she went to her hairdresser to get it all cut off. I wanted to tag along for moral support in case she had another episode, but she said that her friend would be there with her and she’d be fine. So I anxiously waited at home for her. I feared the worst and dreaded seeing her come home crying her heart out, but to my surprise and delight she came in with a big smile on her face and seemed to have taken it all in stride. She told me that she was much more comfortable with it now and she felt good about it.
She asked me how it looked and I told her she looked like a cone head. She just laughed and another cancer battle drama ended.
I was thinking about Teresa’s battle and how intellectually she knew what was going to happen, but it did not hit home until the devastation actually began. I talk to folks all of the time about the danger of getting all caught up in the world and its materialistic allure and ignoring Christ until it’s too late and devastation hits with a vengeance.
Many things will happen prior to the end of our world as we know it. 2 Timothy 3 goes into great detail: “In the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power.”
Sound familiar?
Now intellectually we can look around our world on the news, Internet, and general observations and see that just as the Bible predicted demonic poison is spreading all over the world with wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, famine and disease, as well as the disintegration of morality within our culture that is described above. And yet many go about their lives as they did in the days of Noah right before the flood.
Check out these verses in Luke 17: “And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all . . . And the days of Lot were similar right before the destruction of the thriving city of Sodom, “It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all . . .
We know from reading the Bible what is going to happen and in fact it has already begun. God told us more in Matthew 24: For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. “But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.
Just objectively take a look around the world today and it is hard to deny that the water has broken and the birth pangs have begun. Intellectually we know what lies ahead, but are we prepared?
The Bible states in 2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.
I urge you brothers and sisters to prepare for what lies ahead. The demonic poison is already being administered to the world and many will fall victim to it, but those of us who remain faithful through it all will be with our Savior forever.
I don’t run around like my hair is on fire crying, “Woe is me”; logically I see these things happening and it is like watching the Bible come alive before my very eyes; yes like a Living Bible sharper than any two edged sword. I try to do as the Bible instructs:
1 Peter 5:7 – Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. To Him be dominion forever and ever.
Does all this fire and brimstone stuff worry you? There can be nothing to fear when we know the war has already been won. Put your anxiety on the Lord and go to the last chapter in the Bible and read all about it . . .
Rev. 22:17
“The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost . . . “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen.
Come, Lord Jesus.
June 3, 2015 – Click here to listen