Westside Story Newspaper – Online The News of The Empire – Sharing the Quest for Excellence
By Lou Yeboah
(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK—ENN)— The Bible says Christ will come like a thief in the night, when you least expect him. It will happen in the twinkling of an eye, with the sound of a trumpet… Continuing things as you have. What willful ignorance! You must be ready at all times. Listen, Isaiah the prophet was sent to King Hezekiah with an alarming message. “Set thine house in order for thou shalt die and not live.” I tell you, the same warning is for us today, “Set thine house in order for thou shalt die and not live.” Life is short; death is sure and God’s judgment is coming [Hebrews 9:2]. As Paul constantly cried, “Wake up! It is past midnight, and the Lord’s coming has drawn near. Stir yourself and don’t be slothful. “Knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light” [Romans 13:11-12]. Jesus announces, “Behold, I come quickly..” [Revelation 22:7].
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow… — yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Don’t dismiss the warnings. “A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.” [Proverbs 22:3]. “Wake up and weep, you drunkards!” “For the Day of the Lord is coming; surely it is near.” [Joel 1:5, 2:1]. “…. Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God; and remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.” [Revelation 3: 1-3].
I tell you the signpost reads, “Stop! Look! Listen! Danger ahead!” The Spirit of God, your conscience and your better judgment all join to warn, “Detour! Change! You’re on the wrong road!” God is waving the red flag. His patience is coming to an end. Do not take God’s patience for granted or think lightly of it. Christ demands an immediate and unquestioning response. “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” [Isaiah 55:6-7]
The demand of Jesus to repent goes to all the nations. It comes to us, whoever we are and wherever we are, and lays claim on us. This is the demand of Jesus to every soul: The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near, Repent and believe in the good news! [Mark 1:15]
“I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:” [Deuteronomy 30:19]
