The hour moves like a storm front—fast, low, lightning everywhere. You can feel it in the bones of the world. The prophets called them birth pangs (Isaiah 26:17-18); Jesus named them with calm severity: wars and rumors of war, pestilence, famine, lawlessness, love growing cold, and a gospel that refuses to be muzzled (Matthew 24:6-14). The headlines don’t so much inform as confirm. The stage lights are warming; the curtain is already in motion. And yet, the command to the saints has not changed: keep oil in the lamp (Matthew 25:1-13), keep watch (Mark 13:33-37), occupy till He comes (Luke 19:13).
Look with clear eyes at the systems now stitching themselves over the earth. Digital identification schemes knit to central bank architectures promise convenience and safety, then quietly define permission—who may buy, who may sell, and under what terms (Revelation 13:16-17). What once sounded like apocalyptic poetry reads like a product brief. To question it is treated as bad manners; to resist it is labeled a threat. But those who belong to the Lamb are learning—not with paranoia, but with discernment—that convenience is never free. Pharaoh always offers grain that costs you your freedom on the back end (Exodus 1:11-14). The mark in Revelation is not a bar code we stumble into by accident; it is an allegiance we accept on purpose (Revelation 14:9-11). The wise will cultivate the habit now of saying no to golden calves even when they bear the face of progress (Exodus 32:1-8).
Above these rails rides the new priesthood of technocracy. Artificial intelligence promises omniscience without omnibenevolence: pattern recognition without repentance, prediction without wisdom (Proverbs 9:10), power without love (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Images speak with stolen voices; faces confess crimes they never committed; teachers and preachers appear to say what they never said. Truth becomes a suggestion. In such air, deception doesn’t have to outrun truth; it only has to exhaust you (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12). The antidote is not more noise but a tuned ear. The sheep know the Shepherd’s voice (John 10:27). In a world of perfect forgeries, intimacy with Jesus becomes survival, not luxury (Matthew 7:21-23).
Famine does not always arrive with empty shelves; sometimes it comes with price tags that climb like ivy until the poor must choose between heat and bread. Supply chains stutter; harvests suffer; policies meant to steady markets wobble the table instead. The prophets saw this too: a day when a day’s wage buys a measure of grain (Revelation 6:6). We refuse both panic and denial. We store sensibly, we share freely, and we remember that the God who fed Elijah by a brook and a widow’s jar has not retired (1 Kings 17:1-16). Provision in this hour will look like community, humility, and creative obedience.
The nations meanwhile rehearse old grudges with new weapons. Borders bleed. Alliances harden and crumble in the same week. The ground around Israel shakes as if remembering ancient words. You can almost hear the rustle of maps that Ezekiel drew—names we thought were footnotes step back onto the stage (Ezekiel 38-39). We do not pretend to own God’s timeline; we do not staple our charts to Scripture to make ourselves feel certain. We simply admit what honest people see: the river is narrowing toward a confluence the prophets described, and the current has quickened (Daniel 12:4).
Under the pressure, cultures reach for reinventions of the self. Where the Creator’s design once set the boundaries of blessing (Genesis 1:27), we now treat bodies as raw material for desire. The rainbow, once a covenant sign pointing to mercy (Genesis 9:12-17), is drafted as a banner for autonomy. Followers of Jesus will need steel and tears—steel to hold the line of holiness without flinching (1 Peter 1:15-16); tears to remember that behind every slogan is a soul, and behind every identity war is a wound. Holiness divorced from compassion calcifies into pride; compassion severed from truth melts into flattery (Ephesians 4:15). The King wears both crown and towel (John 13:3-5); so must we.
The falling away is not mainly out there; it is an ache inside the house (2 Thessalonians 2:3). Churches bicker over brand, style, and tribe while neglecting the weightier matters—humility, purity, prayer, the fear of the Lord (Matthew 23:23). Celebrity pulpits glow with stage lights while secret lives rot backstage. Wolves learn to preach better than the sheep can listen (Matthew 7:15). Satan does not mind the language of light if it buys him the allegiance of hearts (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). Discernment in this hour is not a hobby; it is a discipline (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Test the message. Test the messenger. Open Bibles, open books, open ledgers. If a ministry cannot survive honest accounting—of money, of doctrine, of conduct—it cannot shepherd your soul. Love your pastors by praying for them (1 Thessalonians 5:25); protect your family by refusing to confuse charisma with character.
Mockery comes as predicted (2 Peter 3:3-4). The world points at the Church and laughs, then yawns, then scrolls. The Rapture is filed under fairy tales by some and used like a lottery ticket by others. But the promise is woven into the apostolic witness as tightly as the cross (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). The Blessed Hope is not escapism; it is a bridal word (Titus 2:13). The same Jesus who ascended will return (Acts 1:11). For many, midnight will be judgment. For the Bride, midnight is wedding. The secular custodians of doom inch their clock toward zero with anxious ceremony—an honest confession that human genius cannot save human nature. Let them keep their clock. We keep a lamp.
So, Pilgrim, are you awake? Not jittery, not neurotic—awake. The wise virgins in the parable were not busy predicting when the shout would come; they were busy preparing to hear it (Matthew 25:1-13). Oil is not bought in a panic at the last minute. It is gathered in ordinary days by ordinary means. Scripture before screen (Psalm 119:105). Prayer that lingers past the first minute of restlessness (Luke 18:1). Fasting that pries our fingers off lesser comforts (Matthew 6:16-18). Repentance as a lifestyle, not an event (2 Corinthians 7:10). Generosity that stings a little and heals a lot (2 Corinthians 9:7). Fellowship in a local, imperfect church where your gifts are known and your sins can’t hide (Hebrews 10:24-25). Work done unto God—whether spreadsheets, surgeries, sermons, or sweeping a floor—with a gentleness that smells like Christ (Colossians 3:23-24).
Expect the Spirit to work, not only around crusade tents but in cubicles, classrooms, patrol cars, hospital wards, barracks, farms, studios, and kitchens (Acts 2:17-18). Expect dreams that drive you back to Scripture, not away from it (Joel 2:28). Expect deliverance that leaves people clothed and in their right mind, not using freedom to advertise the flesh (Mark 5:15, Galatians 5:13). Expect a latter rain that grows wheat and exposes tares—and do not be surprised when the field looks messy in a storm (James 5:7, Matthew 13:24-30).
Guard your allegiance (Joshua 24:15). Some pressures will arrive by the velvet glove—discounts for the compliant, friction for the stubborn, badges that unlock doors today and hearts tomorrow. Settle the matter in prayer now: I belong to Jesus (Romans 14:8). When asked to burn a pinch of incense to the spirit of the age, say no with a quiet joy that confuses your accusers (Daniel 3:16-18). Practice small refusals so that you will be ready for large ones (Luke 16:10). Practice small obediences so that you will be trusted with costly ones (Matthew 25:21).
Refuse the carnival of outrage. You do not have enough oil to waste it yelling at shadows (Matthew 25:8-9). Speak plainly when truth requires it (Ephesians 4:15), but save your breath for blessing, intercession, and proclamation. The gospel is not a comment section; it is an announcement: the King has died for sinners and risen for their justification (Romans 4:25), and He is at the door (Revelation 3:20). Repent and believe (Mark 1:15). Be baptized (Acts 2:38). Be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). Take bread and wine with trembling gratitude (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). Learn to sing in minor keys; the major will come.
Do not idolize rulers or demonize them. Pray for kings and all in authority (1 Timothy 2:1-2). Give thanks for every astonishment of mercy—treaties that cool a battlefield, verdicts that protect the weak, policies that honor the image of God (Genesis 1:27). But never confuse the pen of the magistrate with the scepter of the Messiah. The government rests on His shoulders alone (Isaiah 9:6), and those shoulders carried a cross before they will carry a crown in sight of all (Philippians 2:8-11).
This is not the time for theatrical bravado or bunker piety. It is the time for quiet, rugged faithfulness (Micah 6:8)—the kind that makes neighbors curious and demons nervous. It is the time to lift your head without lifting your nose (Luke 21:28). To wash feet without washing your doctrine down the drain (John 13:14-15). To carry a lamp that is not dramatic, but refuses to go out (Matthew 5:15-16).
Midnight draws near (Romans 13:11-12). For those who call it doomsday but refuse to seek true refuge, it will be a night of reckoning (Matthew 25:31-46); but for the Bride, a night of music, doors, and a Voice we have longed to hear since Eden (Revelation 19:7-9). Keep the dress unspotted (Revelation 19:8, James 1:27). Keep the lamp supplied (Matthew 25:4). Keep the gate of your mind guarded (Philippians 4:7-8) and the doors of your home open (Hebrews 13:2). When the cry rings out—Behold, the Bridegroom! (Matthew 25:6)—let it find you neither idle nor frantic, but found: hands at your work (1 Corinthians 15:58), heart at His feet (Luke 10:39), eyes on the eastern sky (Matthew 24:27).
Recommended Readings
Could “Zero Day” Be Foreshadowing a Potential Global Cyber Threat or Great Reset?
When the Earth Breaks and the Watchmen Sleep: A Prophetic Cry to the Wise Virgins
What are/How do the Illuminati’s 14 Stages of World War III Align with Biblical Prophecy?
When Babel Becomes Beautiful: The Parable of Cultural Blend and the Death of Distinction
The Silence of the Saints: Why the Church No Longer Speaks Against the Powers of the Age
What are the Potential Connections Between Modern Technology Brands and Occult Symbolism?
Birth Pangs and Beast Crowns: Operation Rising Lion and the Luciferian Midwife of World War III?
Further Resources
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Explore Christian Business Services at the Center for Faith and Work (Rwanda)
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