We are living in historic times. The passing of Queen Elizabeth on 8 September 2022 was a sad event that has affected most people around the world. For most of us, including myself, she was the only Queen we have ever known and it is very likely that we shall never see another like her. As a child, I lived when King George sat on the throne. A new monarch now sits on the throne, King Charles iii.
This may be one good reason to believe that we are living in unprecedented times.
Despite personal opinions about the monarchy, or the influence of the British Empire, we should consider what a monarchy represents. It is the closest representation we may have of the ultimate and perfect monarchy—a theocracy, or a kingdom ruled by God.
The Queen’s passing was therefore an historic occasion. We have entered into a new era that may be likened to that of a changing of the guard. This is perfectly scriptural as we can see in places like 1 Corinthians 15:46 that there is a progressive order of things—first the natural then the spiritual. Paul was speaking there of the resurrection and the return of Jesus Christ.
We believe that there are certain principles involved when such changes happen.
They happened often in scripture when the baton was passed on from leaders like Moses to Joshua; Elijah to Elisha; David to Solomon and Jesus to his foundational disciples and from them to our present generation.
Jesus stated quite clearly that He was building His Church that is in accord with a precise Divine pattern that we are to follow.
When God commanded Moses to build the Tabernacle, he was instructed to build it according to that pattern.
We affirm that God does not change and that His word does not change. If so, then the pattern for His Church remains unaltered.
The problem is that we have changed, hence the many differences in what is called “Christianity”.
Perhaps this “Changing of the guard” is an example of what He is doing and such things are the basis of our ministry. Jesus stated that He will return, so in our own little way, we hope that we are helping God’s people to be prepared for that wonderful event, hence our ministry motto of “Preparing the way”, as you shall see during your visit.
World events are rapidly changing. Covid, the war in Ukraine, political instability, the financial crisis, food and power shortages, the state of morality and other issues indicate we have entered a totally new era.
Israel is at war.
We are not suggesting that these are end times as per biblical prophecy, but there are however certain indicators to look for. Matthew chapter twenty-four is often mentioned, but often misunderstood.
To determine accuracy, we should factor in who God is talking to and about; the timing; the location and the circumstances.
God speaks to three different classes of peoples—Jews; The Church and others. We err when we think He is referring to the Church, whist He is actually speaking about Israel or vice-versa. Jews have covenants that still exist and The Church has a different covenant.
We ask you to conduct your own research and in the process look at three core elements. Jesus spoke of all kinds of things like wars adding that they were not the actual signs. He was answering questions that the disciples asked Him, using words like ye, you, them or they etcetera. His first definitive sign was a warning about deception.
He then spoke of the fig tree and this is a symbol of the rebirth of the nation of Israel that happened in 1948.
The third major indicator was the gospel itself when He said that “The Gospel of the kingdom” (no any other message) would be preached in every nation. That word nation is ethnos that refers to ethnic groups of peoples and this is happening today.
Our approach is to share biblical truth and ask others to discern the times and seasons for themselves. 1 Chronicles 12:32 and Acts 17:11 are prime examples.