ENDTIME BLUES...IF YA DON'T KNOW JESUS

Greetings O Ye Lovers In A Dangerous Time.

"Don't the hours grow shorter as the days go by...You never get to stop and open your eyes...One day you're waiting for the SKY TO FALL...and next your dazzled by the beauty of it all...When you're lovers in a dangerous time...lovers in a dangerous time." (Lovers In A Dangerous Time by Bruce Cockburn)

I have been blessed to record some songs that I wrote many years ago... and collected as a CD collection called RUMINATOR UNPLUGGED. These were songs that were birthed during a time called "The Jesus Movement". One recurring theme in the 70's was the RETURN OF JESUS....END TIMES. Book's like THE LATE GREAT PLANET EARTH by Hal Lindsay were all the rage... while preachers like Jack Van Impe outlined the endtimes in minute detail. For years people have been setting dates and times on the return of Jesus...using twisted Scriptures to prove their point. Cults even point out that Jesus returned already and we missed it because it was an invisible return. They even gave multiple times and dates after it didn't happen before the settled on the invisible return theory. On the Ruminator Unplugged there is a song that I wrote called END TIME BLUES (If You Don't Know Jesus). I guess the thought process was to "scare the hell out of you...and...scare the heaven into you." The song was a driving rocker...that compared what I was reading in the newspaper...and what I was reading in the Bible...and they looked amazingly similar.

People are living these days in HIGH ANXIETY...as talk of the EVE OF DESTRUCTION persists. Fear, despair, and a sense of hopelessness permeates society...OR...people are in denial...and just continue to live life as status quo.

END TIME BLUES (If You Don't Know Jesus)

I was reading the paper the other day
Man, it really was strange
I thought I was readin' my Bible
My comprehension was way out of range
I couldn't believe some of the things I read
It was enough to make you think
Of how it could be the end of time
And we're sittin' right on the brink

Now let me tell you just what I read
And you sit back and digest it in your head


There were earthquakes, famines, wars and rumours of war, pestilence and violence and murders by the score...Now that was what the paper had to say...now let me read from the Bible written yesterday

It was talkin' about Jesus coming again
He was comin' to get the saints that were freed from their sin
And He told of some signs that could let you know it could be soon
So you listen for the trumpet and you will hear that Holy Tune

There were earthquakes, famines, wars and rumours of war, pestilence and violence and murders by the score
But no man knows the hour or the day
But you can tell the signs of the season this way
He's coming back..He's coming back...will you be ready...He's coming ba..

NOTE: Originally in the band Hosanna...the song had a harmonica part...and the ending was an Elvis like finish..."I said He's coming back...coming back..for me and you." On the CD...Shane Atkinson who produced it...cut off the last word...as if He came back. I still get chills when I listen to it.

Well...that song was a true reflection of the "signs of the times" then...and even more now.

It appears that things are increasing with an intensity. Some who try to downplay the COMING OF THE LORD would say...that these things have always been happening...and the advent of the Internet and 24/7 news merely makes it "appear" like there are more of these signs. I remember my Uncle Neal tell me the same thing back in 1970 when I was witnessing to him...as he used that as an excuse for not accepting Jesus.

Of course there is nothing new under the sun...(unless you are under the Son...then you are a new creation in Christ).

After Jesus had been crucified, died, buried and raised from the dead (aka D.B.R...Death, Burial, Resurrection... nothing more...nothing less)...He was meeting with the disciples and giving them the B.I.B.L.E. (Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth). After He had finished...He left.

"And after He had said these things, He was LIFTED UP while they were looking on...and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said...Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, WILL COME IN JUST THE SAME WAY AS YOU HAVE WATCHED HIM GO INTO HEAVEN." (Acts 1:9-11)

Jesus spoke of the end times...in Matthew 24-25 when followers came to Him privately, saying..."Tell us...WHEN will THESE THINGS (see Matthew (23)...HAPPEN...and WHAT WILL BE THE SIGN OF YOUR COMING...AND THE END OF THE AGE? (Matthew 24:3)

Just a few of the SIGNS includes:

1. Misleaders coming and saying "I am the Christ"
2. You will hear of wars and rumours of war (don't be frightened, these things must take place..
but that is NOT the end).
3. Nation will rise up against nation
4. Kingdom will rise up against Kingdom
5. In various/different/divers places there will be famines
6. In various/different/divers places there will be earthquakes

NOTE: All these things are merely the BEGINNING OF BIRTH PANGS

7. They will deliver you to tribulation
8. They will kill you
9. You will be hated by all nations...because of the name of Jesus
10.Many will fall away, betray one another, and hate one another
11.Many false prophets will arise and mislead many
12.People's love will grow cold because of lawlessness

NOTE: Violating God's law

13.The one who endures to the END will be saved
14. This gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in the WHOLE WORLD as a testimony to
ALL NATIONS...and THEN...the END WILL COME

These are just a few of the signs of His coming and the end.

Jesus then begins to tell them what happens AFTER all of these things comes to an end.

"But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the SIGN OF THE SON OF MAN...will appear in the SKY..and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and THEY WILL SEE THE SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY WITH POWER AND GREAT GLORY. And He will send forth His angels with a great TRUMPET and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the SKY to the other." (Matthew 24:29-31)

Jesus then goes into PARABLE MODE...to illustrate what He just spoke of and the need to BE READY. (Matthew 24:32-Matthew 25:46)

"Therefore BE ON THE ALERT for you DO NOT KNOW WHICH DAY YOUR LORD IS COMING..." (Matthew 24:42)

Paul underscored the return...in I Thessalonians 4:13-18 and I Thessalonians 5:1-11. Of course the Bible is filled with many other words on the end times.

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY

I don't know when He is going to return...but it sure looks close. NOTE: I have a few copies left of RUMINATOR UNPLUGGED. Let me know if you would like a copy...then you can hear END TIME BLUES (If You Don't Know Jesus)

Love and End Time Kisses
Rodney "Be Ready" Boyd