Article | - 11:09 am
The Warning Is Being Issued! Given Everything That Is Happening in the World, There Is No Time to Waste
Nations attacking nations, famine in different places, contagious diseases, earthquakes, and hurricanes are part of today’s news. However, the announcement that they would occur was made about two thousand years ago by the Lord Jesus, who left us the following warning in Matthew 24:25, “Behold, I have told you in advance.” What has been said has been happening, and with increasing intensity, over the last 124 years. Wars in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, tensions on all continents, and rumors of the outbreak of World War III are not mere rumors. We have recently emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, and threats of new pandemics caused by other viruses are emerging, in addition to catastrophes caused by fires and floods, the likes of which we have never seen before.
But why would Jesus warn us about these events in advance? Could it be that His concern was that we just adequately prepare ourselves to go through these situations and create ways to avoid them? The answer to these questions is No. The Lord Jesus was giving us clear signs of what would happen when this world was coming to an end and—most importantly—when His return would be. By warning us with these signs, He calls us to the only attitude and action necessary for anyone who wants to be saved: repentance.
But you may be wondering, “Repentance for what?” For everything you have done, that contradicts the Word of God. It may be that all the mistakes and choices that you should really repent from come to mind. But you may be part of the group of people who proudly say they don’t regret anything in life, not even the mistakes they made. What these people don’t know is if they continue saying they have nothing to repent from, very soon, this will be their biggest regret.
There is, however, another group of people who blame themselves for so many things that they say that if regret could kill, they would already be dead. They carry the burden of bad choices as if they don’t know what to do with it. They don’t forgive themselves or feel forgiven, but what they feel is remorse. On the other hand, repentance leads to a new life, not just while we are in this world, but after death and for all eternity.
The call is clear: it is time to repent and trust in the Word of God. This is not a “believer’s talk” but also a commandment from the Lord Jesus, who, when He began to preach in His ministry, said, as described in Matthew 4:17: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
The same was said before by John the Baptist when he preached in the desert (read in Matthew 3:2). However, it is necessary to understand that the repentance that leads to the Salvation of the soul comes, above all, from the awareness that one is lost and that one needs a Savior, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ. “This means that if there is no recognition of sin, there will be no repentance. God does not accept a superficial change, but rather a sincere conversion in the depths of each person,” explains Bishop Edir Macedo.
Therefore, repentance differs from remorse, as the Bishop explains, “True repentance consists of abandoning sin and feeling deep sadness for having committed it. It is different from remorse, which is nothing more than a mere feeling of restlessness in the conscience and which, when it passes, quickly causes the person to commit the same sins again. Repentance, in turn, comes from a conscious mind determined to change.”
But the commandment is not just to repent, but to produce fruits worthy of it (see Matthew 3:8). These fruits, as explained by Bishop Macedo, are the result of a new character: “The person who abandoned sin and turned to God with sincerity begins to have a completely different behavior than they had previously. This change highlights the fruits of true repentance. So, if the person stole, they stop stealing; if they lied, they stop lying; if they commit adultery, they stop committing adultery; if they were fornicating (sex without being married), they stop fornicating (…); they now live a life contrary to the one they lived before in sin: a righteous, dignified life,” he highlights. Check out more examples with the stories below.
“What am I doing with my life? Where am I going to end up like this?” These were the questions that motorcycle courier Adenilton Moura, now 31 years old, had every time he returned to reality after the alcoholic drink wore off. The reflection was accompanied by remorse for all the wrong choices he had made in an attempt to fill the emptiness he felt.
Casual relationships, parties, drinks, and friendships were the means Adenilton used to escape the loneliness he felt since he was seventeen. But it wasn’t just that: inconsequential acts were also a reflection of his lack of perspective in life, as he reports: “I felt alone and incapable. I thought I would never achieve anything. As I didn’t have a reference in my parents’ marriage, I thought my life would be the same way. So, I didn’t look for a perspective. And since I wasn’t happy within, I tried to be happy on the outside. I had to have a friend or relationship to feel happy. But none of that resolved it.”
Adenilton says that he was aware of the mistakes he was making and that God, for him, was a distant figure despite him having some religious habits. “I said my repetitive religious prayers and thought I had faith, but when I faced a difficult situation, I didn’t know what to do,” he reveals. One night, after going out with friends, drinking a lot, and trying synthetic drugs, Adenilton had an overdose and, faced with death, cried out to God and asked Him for another chance at life. “I said that if He gave me back my breath of life, I would stop the wrong life I was leading,” he declares.
Adenilton survived, and a while later, he received an invitation to participate in a meeting at The Universal Church. He says that on the first day entering the church, he felt peace: “God spoke to me like this: ‘Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.’ I was tired of suffering, that emptiness, wrong relationships, and bad friendships. So, I wanted to start a new life with God.”
As he attended meetings, he understood the need for sincere repentance, God’s forgiveness, and the Salvation of his soul. He began to practice the Word of God, as he explains: “The most difficult to do was leaving the friendships that I knew would lead me to displease God.” In doing so, on the same day he was baptized in water, he also received the baptism with the Holy Spirit—a moment that he assures was unforgettable.
Today, married, all the expectations of a happy life he didn’t have before are part of his daily life. “The Word of God was fulfilled in my life in that first meeting I attended in which He said “Come to Me,” because He would take away my burden, bitterness, and emptiness. He took all of that away and filled me with peace and joy. I know how to value myself, and I don’t need drinks or casual relationships because I already have the most important, which is His Presence within me. Problems arise almost every day, but I have a clear conscience; nothing accuses me, and that is priceless,” he concludes.
If repentance is difficult for those who have never experienced life with God, imagine for those who were once in His Presence and left Him. Guilt and shame become chains that keep a person trapped in a life of error. Guardianship counselor Nailá Cristina Arlindo de Souza, 44, first came into contact with faith when she was 22. But, at the age of 29, when her husband left home and left her with two young children, she stopped trusting God and started looking only at her condition as a single mother. “Today, I see that it was not the relationship that made me lose faith, but the lack of humility in recognizing that I was not well and needed help,” she says.
She shares some of her experiences from that time. She continued attending church meetings on Sundays. However, after leaving one of the Sunday services, she received a job offer from a former dance instructor, and, as she needed to work, she accepted. The job consisted of parading in Marquês de Sapucaí in Rio de Janeiro during Carnaval. After the parade, she started to do shows on the samba school courts. “I no longer had anything of the Nailá that I once was,” she reveals.
Afterward, she was invited to work at a concert hall. Upon visiting the place, she understood that it was a prostitution house. “There, I was not called by my name but recognized by my room number, and that day, I was treated worse than rubbish. But I didn’t have the strength to say no,” she says. To stay in that place, she consumed alcoholic beverages. “I questioned why I did those things. But the more I had thoughts that I wouldn’t do them anymore or that I would ask for help, the more opportunities for more money arose. I even tried to pray, but the devil convinced me that God no longer heard me,” she says.
During a shower, after being forced to have sexual relations with clients, she begged God to have mercy on her, forgive her, and take her out of that place. Then, on her way home, on the same day she said the prayer, she reencountered a friend who invited her to go to The Universal Church. “I thought there was no turning back for me, that God would not forgive me and that His mercy for me had already come to an end. But God was just waiting for me to come back. God was giving me the chance I had been waiting for all along. I didn’t think about anything, and not even the threats made by the people at the prostitution house made me give up. I left that place and never went back. I surrendered myself on the Altar and just asked God to forgive me. Being back was as if He had said, ‘What took you so long? Why did you have to suffer so much?’”
On the same day, Nailá decided to be baptized in water and start her life over again. The Lord Jesus became her priority. Today, to stay on this path, Nailá says she seeks to please God in every detail and live in obedience to His Word. “I live a life according to His Will, even with the problems and difficulties that life imposes on us, but, with Him, I always have victory. I am happy because I am sure that He forgave me, accepted me, and cleansed me. He gave me the opportunity to serve Him again, changed me on the inside, and met all my needs, and today, my soul is light. I’m sure I’ll be ready when He calls me,” she explains.
She takes the opportunity to send a message to those facing similar situations to hers, “Just as God changed my life, He can change yours too.”
The end of times is near. Soon, the Lord Jesus will return, and everyone, regardless of whether they believe or not, will stand before Him to give an account of their works, both good and bad. Those who have previously repented of their evil ways and chosen Him as their Lord will have a ‘clean slate’ before God, as described in Acts 3:19-20: “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things, about which God spoke by the mouths of His holy prophets from ancient times.”
So don’t postpone this decision any longer. Always stay alert because, in addition to the world heading towards the end, there is the fact that we don’t know when we will die. The right time for us to decide whether we will be eternally condemned or absolved before God is now, in the present.
Contributors:
Núbia Onara (Translated and Adapted From Original)
