Recent Articles | About Authors | About the Syndicate | Archives

To receive a plain text copy of this article by email, see info at the bottom of this page.

Real Answers™
tf33
Copyright: © 2006 Tom Flannery
685 words

"FRITZ AND JESUS SAID IT WOULD BE LIKE THIS"

By: Tom Flannery

"Fritz said it would be like this!" That was the promotional campaign that was started some years back for popular Southern California weatherman Fritz Coleman. 

The catch phrase was used in TV commercials by different people in various settings who were pleasantly prepared for any sudden turn in the weather.  For instance, someone would be walking down the street and then conveniently produce a handy umbrella from out of the camera shot just as the first drops of rain began to fall.  And that's when they'd always deliver the same line—"Fritz said it would be like this.” 

Well, some 2,000 years ago, Jesus foretold that one of the major signs of His imminent return would be worldwide spiritual deception.  He warned that many false Christs and false prophets "will rise up and deceive many" (Matt. 24:5, 11). 

That's exactly what we see happening in the world today, whether it's the Episcopal Church rejecting historic biblical Christianity lock, stock and barrel;  the phenomenal success of anti-Christian screeds like Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" (and the blockbuster film version);  the popularization and mass marketing of the occult through the "Harry Potter" books and movies;  and so much more. 

To be sure, Jesus said it would be like this.  And now we're watching it unfold before our very eyes. 

Moreover, He called the endtime signs of Matt. 24 the "beginning of sorrows" (vs. 8), a term used to describe a woman's pregnancy.  In other words, He was saying that just as a woman's birth pangs increase in their frequency and intensity as she gets closer to giving birth, so too would these signs continue intensifying as the end of the age approached. 

The apostle Paul wrote by inspiration of God that "evil men and seducers will grow worse and worse [over time], deceiving and being deceived" (II Tim. 3:13), while all who strived to live for Christ would suffer persecution (vs. 12). 

Scripture tells us it will get so bad, before everything is said and done, that Jesus questioned at one point if He would even find genuine faith on the earth when He returns.  Consequently, the Bible teaches that many in the latter times, or last days, would forsake truth in favor of ear-tickling fables. 

Paul writes in I Tim. 4:1-2:  "Now the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own consciences seared with a hot iron."  And in II Tim. 4:3-4:  "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;  and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables." 

So what is the Christian's duty in this age of delusion?  Well, quite simply, we are to be salt and light to a hurt, lost and dying world.  Salt, a preservative, keeps the culture from corroding completely, while light eradicates the darkness and exposes evil. 

Yet we have too many Christians today who are thrilled that their children are reading the "Harry Potter" books, because at least they're reading. 

Other Christians seem capable only of complaining in a "woe is me" type manner whenever a show like "The Book of Daniel" pops up on the TV schedule, so beaten down by the relentless string of attacks upon their faith that they can do little more than whine about the latest example. 

But neither of these are biblical responses.  Paul charged his protege Timothy:  "Preach the word!  Be ready in season and out of season.  Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching" (II Tim. 4:2). 

We are certainly not to hide in the closet, quake in fear or spiral down into depression over the spiritual decepion we see all around us, nor are we to ever succumb to it, but to fight the good fight as we've been commanded. After all, Jesus said it would be like this.

"Real Answers™" furnished courtesy of The Amy Foundation Internet Syndicate. To contact the author or The Amy Foundation, write or E-mail to: P. O. Box 16091, Lansing, MI 48901-6091; amyfoundtn@aol.com

Request this article:
To instantly receive a plain text copy of this article by email, enter your publication title, city and state, and email address, then retype the article number (shown in bold below). Then click the "Send It" button once.
Fields marked (*) are required

back to top