Bible Discussion Thread

The wise men of old were diligent to pack up and travel as they did, to see Jesus at his first coming. Contrasting their zeal with Christians today, are we as eager to respond to biblical signs of our Lord's very different second coming event? In his last moments, Jesus pondered this out loud. He asked if he would find faith in anyone: "when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" Lk. 18:8. The question was not meant to provoke a brash response, "Of course, I'll have faith!" No instead, we should humbly ask, why does Jesus sound doubtful; why does he vocalize such a question, whether faith would exist in anyone on earth when he returns?

Does the bible clarify why faith will become difficult? First, the bible warns, major lies will sweep masses of people in wrong directions. We are told, faith in God will become somehow counter-cultural, even splitting up families. The bible's warns of a fundamental global change. Physical money will become useless. Imagine if you cannot buy food for your family. Financial exchange will continue everywhere, but soon only digitally. Maybe a public promotion kicks off virtual cash with a large gift of digital currency to each person who joins the system. "Just take the mark". If your family hasn't eaten in weeks, would you take it? Talk about stress, would another of your family members, to stop the suffering hunger? Read Revelation 14:9, it speaks of eternal torment for everyone who takes the mark of the beast. Pressure against believers will be so intense that many Christians the bible says, will turn and take the damning mark. Their decision will be to their own destruction forever