This car will be driverless when the end comes

Religion Views, by David Kepler

Yes, my car will be driverless when the end comes. But in the meantime, my life is definitely not driverless. The Holy Spirit of the Living God and The Lord Jesus Christ are in control. Now and then I make a mistake and take control, but they always save the situation for us.

So with their guidance let me make a few comments on the "end time," a subject I have studied over and over again for many years.

I came to the conclusion that I was just as, if not more, confused after all the conflicting and detailed comparisons of the book of Daniel and the book of Revelation. If I, being of average intelligence, cannot grasp what is being taught and convey it to others in a comprehensive manner, and understand it well enough to refute any arguments against what I was trying to convey, then something is definitely wrong.

So I went to the one who knows the most on the subject. No one knows more about anything and desires more for us to know also than does the Lord Jesus.

So I asked Him what I should teach to dullards like myself, to the average man who is not a Bible scholar but because of current world conditions is beginning to take notice. We are simple people, and Jesus lived with and taught people just like us so His answer has to be in His teachings. Not a scholarly treatise nor a book-length novel, but a brief and to the point statement.

Read all of Matthew 24th chapter, but here are some key points. Jesus' response to his disciples when they asked the same thing as we do.

Matthew 24:3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"

And part of his answer that suits our discussion is, Matthew 24:27 - 31 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

Wherever there is a carcass. there the vultures will gather.

We Alaskans know that when the ravens and magpies gather on the road, there is a moose kill and when we know what signs to look for the coming of Christ will be just as obvious to us.

"Immediately after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.'" At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn.

They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.

And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

No mention here of neatly folded clothes, but a quaint idea probably taken from John 20:6. "Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, John 20:7 as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head.

"The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen."

If it is done that way it will certainly emphasize the point that the departures and a well organized plan by a supernatural power.

Those dashboard stickers have been around for more than 20 years, and I make an analogy to the instruction to turn off the key and steer -- what modern car can be steered if the key is turned off?

And, once the rapture has taken place, there is no guidance left for the remaining.

The Holy Spirit and the Lord Jesus Christ will no longer be here to guide them.

Their course is set.

David Kepler is an elder with Farm Loop Christian Center.