King of Tyre Hiram - The Hiram Code

V OLUMES HAVE BEEN written over the last five decades about the signs of the endtimes. Furthermore, strange astronomical events such as blood moons and solar eclipseshappening in rapid sequence have caught the attention of many.

Luke wrote both the Gospel that bears his name and the Book of Acts. In both he referencesthese cosmological signs. Also, Luke gives three distinct passages that relate tothe end times. Two of these passages have been dealt with by many writers.

Luke 17:2037 reveals that the last days will be like the days of Noah before theFlood. We have very little information about the pre-Flood civilization except thatit was wicked and demonically infested worldwide. (See my book Unexplained Mysteriesof Heaven and Earth, chapter 2: Days of Noah.)

Likewise Luke mentions the days of Lot (Luke 17:2832). These were days very similarto our own. Ezekiel 16:4950 describes them this way:

Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride,fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the handof the poor and needy. And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me;therefore I took them away as I saw fit.

NKJV

Notice the sins included pride, abundance, idleness, neglect of the poor, and sexualperversion. Furthermore in Luke 21:2036 the writer lists the very familiar signsof Israels destruction in AD 70 and the scattering of the nation. Other signs includecosmic phenomena; distress; and fearful, unsolvable dilemmas.

Luke includes the fact that these signs herald the rescue and final redemption ofGods people: Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads,because your redemption draws near (Luke 21:28, NKJV).

The church is called to be watchful and is promised an escape from the coming tribulation:Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all thesethings that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man (Luke 21:36, NKJV).

I have given this brief summary of the signs most often dealt with by prophecy teachers.Luke, as well as others, offers some other interesting signs of which we must beaware.

UNFOLDING UNUSUAL SIGNS

Most students of prophecy are aware that the Middle East is boiling with terror,Israel is surrounded by Islamic enemies, Iran and North Korea are in league tryingto build nuclear weapons, and strange weather and climate disasters are increasing.Besides these we are familiar with, there are some others hidden away in Scripture,or completely neglected.

RAPID INCREASE IN KNOWLEDGE AND TRAVEL

Our society has seen remarkable advances in knowledge and communication in the lastthirty years. Having served for thirty-five years at a growing church, I can remembera time with no computers, cell phones, Facebook, Twitter, or any of the other advancesin technology we enjoy today. (I have a veritable library on my iPad!)

Furthermore, one can get on a plane and be on the other side of the world in a matterof hours. Daniel saw this coming and listed it as a sign of the end:

But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end;many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.

DANIEL 12:4, NKJV

Speaking of our cities and roadways, listen to the prophet Nahum:

The chariots rage in the streets, they jostle one another in the broad roads; theyseem like torches, they run like lightning.

NAHUM 2:4, NKJV

ECONOMIC AND JOB WOES

In chapter five (The Latter Rain and Israel) I will discuss this in greater detail,but I want to mention in this list as well the sign no one talks about. It is foundin James 5:14:

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! Yourriches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver arecorroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your fleshlike fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. Indeed the wages of thelaborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the criesof the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.

NKJV

Clearly God is concerned about the proper treatment of workers. Furthermore, noticethe mention of gold and silver and the selling and hoarding of it today as a hedgefor the future. Scripture says there is no final security in wealth.

PUBLIC RIDICULE FOR THE TRUTHS OF GOD

Knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according totheir own lusts.

2 PETER 3:3, NKJV

Here we find the phrase last days. Peter gives us a new sign for the end of theage, a sign that fits our Western culture. Notice that these people are describedas scoffers. The Greek word here is empaiktoi. This word comes from two words thatmean in making fun. It could be an ancient word from which our word imposter isderived. It carries the idea of a teacher making fun of the Second Coming.

Mocking people who embrace the truth is a weapon being used by liberals today. Left-wingentertainers and comedians mock all truth and those who hold to the truth. Also,these scoffers model immoral lifestyles. This sign includes walking after theirown lusts. The word walking is poreomai, which means to journey upward or to thetop. These scoffers have a burning desirea lust to get to the top in the worldsystem.

Here are leaders who will laugh at and treat with sarcasm the things of the Spiritand of doctrine. They allow their human lusts for sex, for power, and for materialthings to drive their lives!

Can you see that our Western culture mocks holy things? God-hating, mocking, immoralvoices are heard across the vast spectrum of politics, business, and entertainment.

DEMONIC INVASION AND PERIL

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be loversof 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 thanlovers of God.

2 TIMOTHY 3:14, NKJV

According to Websters Revised Dictionary, the word perilous means full of, attendedby, involving extreme danger and hazards. A second meaning describes people whoare willing to be daring and reckless in their approach to life.

The Greek word chalepos gives the idea of bringing such terror and danger that itsucks the life and strength out of someone! The root word, chalao, means to lowerinto a void or into a hopeless position.

It comes from the ancient word chasma from which our English word chasm is taken,meaning impassable interval. It is the word used to describe the position of therich man in hell:

And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that thosewho want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.

LUKE 16:26, NKJV

It is interesting that this same word is found in Matthew 8:28 to describe the spiritof the two demonized men of Gadara: