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Four Signs That The End Of The World Is Near
By Rev (Dr) Timothy Tow
(Preached at Kelapa Sawit BPC, 51st Anniversary Service, Apr 13
2003)
Text: Matt 24:3-14
"And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the
disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these
things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end
of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that
no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am
Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and
rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things
must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise
against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be
famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All
these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up
to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all
nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and
shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false
prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity
shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall
endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the
kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all
nations; and then shall the end come."
From this familiar passage of Scripture we can
count there will be four breakdowns of Ecologic, Economic,
Ecclesiastic and Diplomatic spheres of life, consummating with the
acceleration of the Gospel, and then shall the end come. For our
meditation today I should like to concentrate on the breakdown of
the ecologic and diplomatic spheres that deal with pestilence and
war.
What is pestilence? A pestilence is something
evil or destructive. Synonymous to pestilence is plague, epidemic,
scourge, and blight. For example England had an outbreak of the mad
cow disease two years ago and 100 deaths of the English people
occurred. As a result half a million cows had to be destroyed. I
happened to be in London to preach the Easter message to the New
Life B-P Church there and I was invited to beef steak lunch. I was
not infected, thank God.
But now we have a pestilence called SARS and 9
have died in Singapore. The scare of SARS has now spread to Canada,
scaring also the Americans. Such pestilence has awakened us that the
end of the world is near. AIDS that invaded the world since 1980 is
another sign not to be forgotten.
The other pertinent sign I’m bringing up is the
Iraq war. "And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars… For nation
shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there
shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers
places" (Matt 24:6-7). The First World War was fought 1914-18. The
Second World War was fought 1939-45. Fifty-eight years after 1945
has now broken out a war against Iraq despite that which occurred in
August 1990-1. Will this war eventually lead to WWIII? This strife
between nations, Jesus says, also signifies the world is coming to
its end.
It is in these hopeless circumstances that the
Church is called to action, to accelerated action. Our Lord
declares, "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all
the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end
come" (Matt 24:14).
Kelapa Sawit was founded in 1952 by Dr Andrew
Gih of Evangelise China Fellowship with help from Miss Leona Wu of
Chin Lien Bible Seminary. When Dr Gih gave up his share of support
in 1954 Life Church took over. As time went on your Church became
independent under the leadership of Rev John Ling, a graduate of Far
Eastern Bible College. Under his leadership Kelapa Sawit expanded to
Bukit Batu and Air Bemban, less than 10 miles to the north. Then
when John Ling left to labour on the East Coast of Malaysia he
founded the B-P church in Kemaman, Trengganu State and with Life
Church’s help, Kuantan Kindergarten. Through his contact Life Church
built Resort Lautan Biru at Mersing.
God’s worker dies, but God raises another,
brother Tee Chung Seng of Air Bemban. Chung Seng felt God’s call,
went for training at FEBC, and now has substituted for John Ling at
Kelapa Sawit. Zealous to extend God’s Kingdom he is now answering
the accelerated missions call. He is leading a team to start a work
on the East Coast at Jemaluang, 13 miles south of Mersing. This is
in the right step even as Elijah was called to a little village,
Zarephath, where he raised up the son of the widow who fed him
during the famine.
Whether we extend the Gospel to a big town or
small village God wants us to be faithful and earnest in our witness
for Him, before the end of the world. As I am moved on this
Anniversary Day after 49 years of association with Kelapa Sawit
Church, I am speaking also to members of Life Church to double up
our efforts for missions. You can join the teams that venture to
Malaysia, e.g. the English S.S. School opened at Kota Tinggi.
If you cannot go out, you can support missions
with your love gifts. Do you know that except for Laos we have
outreaches to almost all 9 Asean countries? We support Ho HS to
Saipan, June Tan, Chan Pui Meng, Mok and Carol to Kenya, and the
Baraka Church and Conference Centre in the Holy Land; about 25
missionaries in all look to Jesus who will come even in our
lifetime. For he says it again, "And this gospel of the kingdom
shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations;
and then shall the end come" (Matt 24:14).
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