Introduction.
First I must explain the concept of the door of mercy being closed. This is a two-sided concept. The common understanding is that when Jesus leaves the heavenly temple, He will return to earth to take His faithful, both living and dead. Then life on this planet as we know it today will cease. We can call this the collective door of mercy. When Jesus leaves the temple in heaven, the fate of all people is determined by the choices we have made, and then Jesus says what is written in Revelation 22:11: He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. This means that those who are saved and cleansed in the blood of Jesus are sealed with the seal of the living God, and the wicked have taken the mark of the beast.
The second meaning of the door of mercy is the individual door of mercy. It closes the moment we die. Then it is too late to turn to God and ask for forgiveness, because as it says in Ecclesiastes 9:10, there is no activity in the realm of the dead: Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do [it] with thy might; for [there is] no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.
We do not know when the collective door of mercy or the individual door of mercy will close, we only know that it will happen sometime in the near future. Therefore, we must always live as if it were our last hour on earth.
I will not try to set a specific date for Jesus’ return. To do so would be a mistaken and incoherent assumption, and according to the Bible it is impossible. Theoretically, Jesus’ return could be any time from today to a day in the future. In any case, we cannot know the day of His second coming. However, we have been given many prophecies about what will happen as we begin to approach that great day, which we may call general signs, and we have been given many specific signs that tell us that this day is near, very near.
The most important source of information is found in Matthew chapter 24 where Jesus gives us both general signs and specific signs that can help us understand whether there is a long or short time left before the door of mercy closes. Most of these signs have already been fulfilled. There are also many other references to Jesus’ return in the Bible, but there is not room for them all. I will make a small selection, including 2 Timothy 3:1-5; Revelation 6:12-17; Revelation 13:11-19. The Lord’s end-time prophet, Ellen G. White, also has some statements about this that we see being fulfilled before our own eyes.
Let’s look at the relevant texts and see what they tell us.
All Bible texts are taken from the Bible, God’s Word 1988, unless otherwise stated.
The situation in the world in Old Testament times. Our type.
In this chapter we find both general signs and special signs. The general signs can be seen throughout history, but there is an exponential increase in all of these signs, and this is especially true in recent decades. The special signs are signs that herald the transition from prophetic times to the end times and also contain the final warning that tells us that Jesus has left the heavenly sanctuary and is on his way back to earth.
General end-time signs, verses 4 to 14.
Here Jesus tells us that many false christs and prophets will come who will try to deceive many people, and God’s faithful remnant will also be exposed to them. This is something we have seen since Jesus was here the first time, but in recent years, this has simply exploded, and we constantly hear about false christs and prophets who receive great attention in the media. (See also verses 11 and 24.)
He further says that we will hear of wars and rumours of wars and nations will rise against nations. This is also something that has followed people throughout history, but what makes this really bad is that there has been a marked increase in wars and rumours of wars after the turn of the millennium. In 2020 there were about 80 armed conflicts in the world, in 2025 it had increased to over 200. For comparison, it can be mentioned that according to Wikipedia there were 11 armed conflicts going on in 1980.
There will be famine. This is also an ongoing fulfilment. In the last ten years there have been several major famines in the world due to what globalists call man-made global warming. In East Africa around 2020 there were both drought, flooding and enormous locust swarms that destroyed almost everything that was cultivated. The result was that many millions of people starved to death, and livestock died from lack of water. There are now large, powerful cartels that control large parts of the trade in artificial fertilizers, which makes purchasing artificial fertilizers expensive. This will affect the food shortage in the world in the years to come.
It is no surprise that plagues, or infectious diseases, have ravaged, are ravaging and will continue to ravage people all over the world. A couple of decades ago, the WHO was so very pleased that medical science had largely managed to eradicate several dangerous diseases that could be fatal. Today, many of the so-called eradicated diseases are back with full force, in addition, research is also being done on infectious viruses that are genetically engineered in laboratories. It is enough to see what happened in 2020 and Covid19.
Earthquakes are a chapter in themselves. There were no earthquakes before the Flood. This is something that has arisen because of the enormous destruction caused by the water during the Flood. When it comes to earthquakes, we also see an exponential increase, and in particular we see a tremendous increase in the number of earthquakes just in the last 20 to 30 years.
In the 20th century from 1901 to 2000, 2,400 earthquakes with a magnitude of more than 5.0 were recorded, of which 292 were stronger than 7.2, which is the measure of strong earthquakes. During the first 20 years of the 21st century, between 2001 and 2020, 35,380 earthquakes with a magnitude of 5.0 or more were recorded, of which 308 were stronger than 7.2. This means that there have been almost 15 times as many earthquakes in the first 20 years of the 21st century as there were in the entire 20th century, which means 15 times as many earthquakes in 20 percent of the time. In addition, it can be mentioned that in the period between 2000 and 2009 there were a total of 108,996 earthquakes with magnitudes between 4.0 and 4.9, and that in 2022 3,241 earthquakes were recorded in the Canary Islands alone.
This fits in well with what Isaiah prophesied about 2,800 years ago: Lift up your eyes to the heavens and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished, (Isaiah 51:6).
Tribulation, offense, and hatred describe three sides of the same coin. Because Christians were so different from the people of the world, people took offense at them. This eventually led to Christians being hated, which in turn was the catalyst for the persecution and murder of Christians, and there has been a tribulation for Christians ever since the days of the early church. Now, it is true that tribulations have come in waves throughout history, and there have been periods when there was relatively little persecution. Tribulation is mentioned several times in both Matthew and the Bible in general, and we will come back to this.
We have seen a frightening development over time in terms of how people have related to God’s law. When it says that wickedness prevails (American Standard Version 1901 says iniquity, while the Darby Bible 1884/1890 says lawlessness), it means that most churches in the world are increasingly setting God’s Ten Commandments aside. In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church was the only church until 1517, and this church did everything in its power to keep the Bible away from the people.
The explanations for keeping the Bible hidden from the people were that only the clergy could understand and explain the text, and that it was in Latin, a language that the common people did not understand. The real reason for keeping the Bible away from the common people was so that they would not discover all the lies and false doctrines the Catholic Church had brought into the church.
This has unfortunately developed after the Reformations and in our time the Reformed churches are liberalizing the Bible in every conceivable way, and it does not seem to stop.
When it is said that love grows cold, this is about how society has become in our time. Now there are many who wholeheartedly help others, while the majority are indifferent to people suffering from wars, natural disasters, hunger or oppression. The majority only care about themselves and fight a hard fight to make a living with both hands, even if it is at the expense of others. They literally walk over corpses to enrich themselves.
Jesus says that He will not return until the gospel of the kingdom has been preached in all the world, as a witness to all nations. Here there are two words that we need to look at more closely, world and nations.
The world is translated from the Greek oikûme’nê which, in addition to world, can be translated as earth, in the sense of everywhere where there are houses. This means that it is not enough to preach, for example, in Brasilia, which is the capital of Brazil, but also in all the villages and places where people live in the vast Amazon jungle. This is possible to do in our time thanks to computer technology, because even in the most remote places it is now possible to set up solar panels and generate power for mobile phones, and through the mobile phones one can hear the preaching of the gospel. But the question is whether this is sufficient. We probably need to visit every nook and cranny of this planet to physically preach the gospel to every person.
Nations is translated from e’thnos which, in addition to people, can be translated as people, foreigner, gentile. It can also be broken down into occupational groups, and then it means that all bakers in the whole world, or any other occupational group for that matter, must hear the preaching of the kingdom of God before Jesus returns.
After this verse we come to a prophecy that has two fulfilments, one in Jesus’ contemporary and one in the absolute end times. The most interesting thing is that we will see that it is the iron kingdom in Daniel 2, the indescribable beast of Daniel 7 that changes character, and the little horn of Daniel 8 who is behind the tribulations that the next verses tell about.
The Great Tribulation, verses 15-28.
Here it is told of a greater tribulation that will first affect the Jewish Christians who lived in Jerusalem and Judea, and this tribulation was the Roman Empire that was behind, the military Rome. Later, the Christians will be subjected to the same form of tribulation, and this tribulation is also Rome that is behind it, now the religious Rome in the form of the Catholic Church. This happened during the period when the papacy ruled the world with an iron fist, and where all who did not submit to the many inventions of the Catholic Church were persecuted and killed. Some say as many as 50 million, while others say 100 million. Regardless of how many were killed, 50 million or 100 million is an incredibly high number. This happened over a period of 1260 years, between 538 and 1798.
Also in this section, deceptions are mentioned, thus emphasizing the importance of knowing the Bible well. One of the great deceptions will be over the return of Jesus, which the Bible says will be both visible (Matthew 24:27) and audible (1 Thessalonians 4:15; Matthew 24:31), but which the deceived say will happen in secret. That is why Jesus says in Matthew 24:25: See, I have told you ahead of time.
Special end-time signs, verses 29-31.
These signs are special end-time signs, and the first three coincide with the period when we move from prophetic times to the end-time in an expanded sense, and the last sign coincides with the return of Jesus.
The sun will be darkened. This happened on May 19, 1780, and was a supernatural event. Many dismiss this as an ordinary solar eclipse, but it could not possibly have been a solar eclipse that day, because there was a full moon the following night and that means the sun and moon were on opposite sides of the earth. At 10 a.m. it became so dark that the birds stopped singing and the livestock came home. It was so dark in the middle of the day that one had to light a candle to be able to see.
The moon shall not give her light. The following night, the night of May 20, 1780, the moon turned red as blood. Skeptics would also have this be an ordinary lunar eclipse, but there is no evidence that there was a lunar eclipse that night.
The stars shall fall from heaven. On November 13, 1833, a spectacular sight was experienced in the night sky. What happened has been explained as a meteorite storm, but this one was something completely out of the ordinary. Usually, meteorites come from one point in the sky, for example from the west and go east. This was not the case this night. They did come from one place, but they spread out across the sky like the slats of an umbrella. Another unusual thing about this meteorite storm was the number. There were so many that the night became as bright as broad daylight, and one did not need lamps to be able to read a book. This continued the following day and was fully visible in daylight.
These three events are all supernatural events and are described in the Bible by John when he was a prisoner on Patmos in the years 95-95 AD. about 1700 years before they occurred.
The powers of the heavens shall be shaken. This sign is the last one that will be given before we see Jesus return in all his glory with all His holy angels. We do not know what is involved in the shaking of the powers of heaven, but Revelation 6:14 says that the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together. Some say that being rolled together can also mean being split in two.
What will happen when the heavens are rolled together? Let’s look at the most prominent constellation of stars: Orion. There we find one of the largest stars, Betelgeuse. This star is now shining brighter than usual. This has made scientists scratching their heads. Not only has Betelgeuse’s brightness increased, but the gas giant has begun to pulsate even faster than before. Scientists have long believed that the intensity of the star’s light varies between bright and dim at intervals of 400 days. Now this has been almost halved to around 200, according to Andrea Dupree, an astrophysicist at the Harvard & Smithsonian Center in the United States. So there is something happening with the constellation Orion and with the giant star Betelgeuse. Betelgeuse is mentioned three times in the Bible, and we find this in the book of Job and in Amos.
Job 9:9: Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.
Job 38:31: Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?
Amos 5:8: [Seek him] that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD [is] his name.
The most spectacular verse is Job 38:31 where the Lord speaks to Job and asks the following question: Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?
Before we move on with Orion, I would like to include some warnings from spiritualism. From spiritualist media, which Satan is behind, the message is now coming more and more often that Orion wants to destroy what Satan’s occult ideology aims for. New Age, and other spiritualist sources, say that Orion is evil and wants to rule the universe. We know that the occult, of which spiritualism is a significant part, calls good evil and evil good. They turn things upside down to lead thoughts away from God, the second coming of Christ and the judgment. Those who lead the New Age movement and the spiritualist organizations tell their followers that there is a small group of people who work for what Orion represents. We want to warn you against them, because they are not like us, and similar statements come from them.
Who are these that the occultists warn against? It must be those who stand at the opposite end of the religious scale, they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus, (Revelation 14:12), those who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ, (Revelation 12:17), and the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, (Revelation 19:10). Because it is only these who stand against the occult societies, and who dare to stand up against New Age and their paganism.
They, (the Seventh-day Adventists), must be seen for what they are, say the spiritualist leaders, they are enemies and negative elements of unrest, who will soon be exterminated. These warnings should not surprise anyone who understands a little of the cosmic conflict which is the battle between good and evil. Satan, of course, has various people, systems and ideologies in the palm of his hand and uses all methods to oppose the God of heaven and those who choose to speak for him. It would not be inconceivable that the devil, who was once cast out of heaven, and who knows the way there very well, knows that Jesus and all his angels must come from Orion when the saved are to be brought home.
Back to Orion. Also in the case of Orion, something strange has been found with this constellation. Orion is called the most prominent and visible of all constellations and can be observed from all over the world. I would just like to add that Jesus himself says that everyone will see Him when He returns! That is certainly worth noting! The stars in this formation are an eye-catcher because of their sparkling clarity. It really looks as if God deliberately wants to attract our attention. When we look up at the sky, towards Orion and the great Horse Nebula in the Orion Nebula, it appears as a kind of a burning bush! in the sky. Perhaps God wants us to think of the burning bush that Moses saw when he had his first close encounter with the Creator of heaven and earth.
One of the most exciting observations in Orion is the large empty area in the north of the Orion Nebula, which in astronomy has been given the name M42. This “celestial cave” is so gigantic that our brains can hardly comprehend it. It is also so incredibly beautiful that words cannot describe it. No one who has seen color photographs of M42 forgets this formation. The sword in Orion is like a flaming cluster of stars that form the opening to a larger cave. All astronomers agree that the opening is probably more than 26.785 billion kilometers in diameter, or about 90,000 times larger than the circumference of the Earth. Some astronomers have called it; a corridor fit for a king!
Could it be that this celestial cave is the gate from which the heavenly Jerusalem will emerge? It is only recently that astronomers have discovered what is unusual about Orion, and it is therefore extra special that the oldest (?) book in the Bible, the book of Job, mentions Orion, and asks the questions it does.
About Orion, Ellen G. White says the following: Dark, heavy clouds came up and clashed against each other. The atmosphere parted and rolled back; then we could look up through the open space in Orion, whence came the voice of God. The Holy City will come down through that open space. I saw that the powers of earth are now being shaken and that events come in order. War, and rumors of war, sword, famine, and pestilence are first to shake the powers of earth, then the voice of God will shake the sun, moon, and stars, and this earth also, (Early Writings 41.2).
In Matthew 24:29 Jesus says: Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.
In 2 Peter 3:10 the apostle says this: But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
In Revelation 6:14 Jesus says this: And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
Consider carefully what was written in the book of Job about 3,500 years ago and see what the writer of the book of Job wrote about Orion. How could the writer of the book of Job know this? From where did this knowledge come from 3,500 years ago? It is only recently, with the enormous telescopes that are placed out in space, that astronomers have discovered something extraordinary about Orion. And what they have discovered confirms what is written in the book of Job.
When this sign has been seen by people, the grand finale will come. The sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. This sign is described as a cloud, the size of a fist. God’s little remnant knows what this is while all the wicked do not know what this is about. This cloud gradually grows larger and finally all people on earth will see that it is the King of the universe who is returning in all his glory together with the angels of heaven. Then they will seek God, but then it is too late because the door of mercy is closed.
The Bible is a wonderful book. It is built around a principle we call typology, where an event in ancient times, which we call the type, refers to a similar event sometime in the future, which we call the antitype. We are waiting for our God and Savior to return to earth to judge the living and the dead, and then we must find one or more similar actions. I will highlight two examples that both are the type of what will happen sometime in the near future.
The first story is found in Genesis chapter 6, and we go into verses 4-7: There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare [children] to them, the same [became] mighty men which [were] of old, men of renown.
And God saw that the wickedness of man [was] great in the earth, and [that] every imagination of the thoughts of his heart [was] only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
The word giantswith the sons of God and the daughters of men has given rise to several imaginative explanations. Many choose to interpret it so that it was the angels of God who had children with the daughters of men. This falls on its own unreasonableness, because angels do not have the ability to reproduce themselves. When giants are used, it is probably correct, and according to the spirit of prophecy, people could grow up to 7 meters tall before the flood. This can be verified by looking at animals in our time that live long, such as some tortoises that eat only vegetarian food. I have seen a Galapagos tortoise, also called an elephant tortoise, which is almost as big as a VW Beetle, and weighs almost 500 kilograms.
When the sons of God and the daughters of men are used, this has a fairly simple explanation. Shortly after Cain killed his brother Abel, people were divided into two groups; 1) those who follow God’s commandments, and 2) those who do as they please. The sons of God belong to group 1, while the daughters of men belong to group 2.
Humans were created to live forever, but when Adam and Eve sinned, they were expelled from the Garden of Eden and degeneration began. The first generations therefore lived incredibly long compared to us, and they accumulated all the knowledge they had been handed down and developed, and group 2 distanced themselves more and more from God. That is why God says that he “repented” that he had created man. Here again there is a mistranslation of a word. The Hebrew word is atsab, and this word is translated as to worry, pain or anger, to displease, to grieve, or to hurt, to cause, to regret, to make troublesome, to worship, to pervert. It can be translated as to regret, but then the perfect God is made imperfect, and then it is not true that what He had created was very good, (see Genesis 1:31).
In the English New International Version, atsab is translated as grieved. Here is the English text: The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. This is certainly the correct translation.
We understand from the Bible that humans developed a wickedness so great that God had no choice (see Genesis 6:5). Noah was born in the year 1056 after creation and was 480 years old when God told him to build the ark. It was finished 120 years later in 1656 after creation. Some lived almost 1000 years, and they only thought about doing evil. But in the midst of all the misery there was a bright spot. It says in Genesis 6:8 that … Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and in verse 9 it says that Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and most importantly Noah walked with God.
Then we come to these verses in Genesis chapter 6:11-14: The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.
When this ark was finished, and all living people had heard the gospel of salvation and the judgment that was to come, the time came to implement the judgment. The flood that was to destroy all who did not enter the ark began according to the Bible on the 17th day of the second month, which corresponds to the end of October in our calendar. That is why Halloween, or rather the Day of the Dead, is celebrated on October 31.
We see that God had a prophet who preached salvation and judgment, and God executed judgment when everyone had heard the message Noah preached.
The second story is also found in the Book of Genesis. In chapter 18 from verse 16 we read about Sodom, Gomorrah and their sister cities. The story tells that the Lord and two angels visit Abraham, and the Lord tells that He will destroy the cities that were at the plain by the Dead Sea because He had heard a loud cry and because their sin was very great, (Genesis 18:20). Abraham intercedes for the righteous, but only his nephew Lot was righteous in the eyes of the Lord. He and his wife and two daughters were taken out of Sodom before judgment fell on the cities of the plain.
We see from both stories that God warned the people on earth through the proclamation of salvation and judgment that was imminent. First through Noah who was a living testimony for all people and later through Abraham who was also a living testimony. Through these two stories we also see that even for the God of grace and love there comes a point where the Almighty says: Enough is enough!
We may wonder why God says enough is enough, because there is no doubt that God loves all people unconditionally. It is now that we must accept something that the liberal part of Christendom and the world in general will not and cannot accept, and that is that God has a special people. When we humans put God to the test, He will always prioritize His faithful people, that strange little remnant that the dragon goes to war against, and who are called the remnant of her seed. These are those who keep all of God’s ten commandments as they came from the hand of the Lord, those who have the faith of Jesus and the testimony of Jesus Christ, which is the spirit of prophecy, (see Revelation 12:17, 14:12 and 19:10).
In Noah’s time, the small remnant was truly small, consisting of only eight people. These were the ones who entered the ark. Once they were inside the ark, God closed the door of the ark, which symbolizes the door of mercy. When it, the door of mercy, was closed, all other people had sealed their own fates by not following Noah’s call to enter salvation.
In Lot’s time, there were only four people who made up God’s small remnant in the cities on the plain of the Dead Sea. These were the ones who left everything they had in Sodom. When the two angels visited Lot, it was to test his loyalty to God, and soon Lot, his wife, and two daughters were taken out of Sodom. This also corresponds to the closing of the door of mercy, because no one else cared what Lot’s family did. They continued to live their wicked lives, and they also sealed their own fates.
When those who were righteous before the Lord were brought to safety, judgment fell upon the wicked, and only those whom God had saved survived. This is our type. What is the situation in our time?
The situation in the world in our time. Our antitype.
If we dare to open our window to the world and look out, what do we see? Is it a peaceful world where everyone lives in peace and harmony with each other? Has humanity moved away from the violent rebellion that humans made in ancient times? Or what do we see?
The truth is that humans have not changed a bit compared to how the situation was in the time before the flood and compared to how humans lived in Sodom and her sister cities before those cities were destroyed. Quite the opposite. Even though we no longer live a thousand years, we still manage to accumulate all evil in at least as good a way. We can thank modern inventions for this. Inventions that can be used for good, but which Satan turns against humanity.
Let’s start with what is most new, and which can destroy humans completely. Today, anyone with a hint of knowledge can use artificial intelligence (AI) to destroy humans in the most degrading way. All they need is a video that is less than a minute long of a person walking and talking. With the help of this video and AI, they can create a video of that person that portrays that person in a false light and attributes that person to doing and saying things that they never did or said. This can completely destroy that person and perhaps get them convicted in a criminal case even if they were not even near the place where the crime was committed.
For example, you can take a church leader and make a video about this person that is posted on the internet and preferably on every conceivable social platform, where that person is in an environment that he would never set foot in, and where he engages in sexual perversions and drug use. Even if that person can prove his innocence, that person is still damaged and marked for life. This is one of the technical innovations that many church leaders, including several in my own church, praise and hold close to their chest. Using modern technology in such a way that it harms others is simply evil staged by Satan.
I cannot help but highlight what Daniel heard from God and which we find in Daniel 12:4 where it says: But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, [even] to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increase.
This is just one of the latest inventions. Another modern invention is the mobile phone. It has also been praised by state and church leaders, because church leaders say that Christians can download the Bible onto their mobile phones. That is true. But Satan knows how to exploit mobile phones to the fullest, and hundreds of millions, if not billions, of people have become addicted to their mobile phones. It is unthinkable to move from the armchair to the sofa two meters away without bringing your mobile phone with you. On the streets and in shops and on public transport, mobile phones are used extensively, and it seems as if this little thing has taken root and grown firmly in their hands.
A pastor who gave a sermon in my church called the mobile phone the holy gadget. It is so wrong that it can be because there is nothing holy about the mobile phone. It is because Satan has made the mobile phone A DIABOLIC GADGET. The reason I say this is because Satan uses everything in his power to make us spend our time on things other than God. When, for example, the mobile phone gets in the way of God then it destroys our relationship with our Creator and God. Even during church services the mobile phone is used diligently by many also in my own church.
The computer was also highly praised when it was launched in the middle of the last century. Little was known at that time about the possibilities this opened up for Satan. Today children down to primary school age have almost free access to some form of computer where they can surf all conceivable and unimaginable websites and can visit places that they should never visit. Even babies in strollers have their phones shoved into their hands to calm them down when they start crying. Is it surprising that the rising generation is confused?
Yes, I have both a computer and a cell phone, but I only use my cell phone to make calls and occasionally send a text message. I always turn off the sound before I leave home when I go to church, and I don’t look at it until after I’ve left the church after the service, meetings, study groups or prayer groups. I’m not on social media. Just think about the term social media, is it really social to sit in a room ‘talking’ to ‘friends’, who are sitting in another room in another city in another country, on one of the so-called social media. That’s a mystery to me.
When I was still working, my employer required me to use Facebook, but after I retired over ten years ago, I have not used any social media. I simply do not have time for this because I want to spend all my time studying the Bible, establishing and leading Bible study groups and prayer groups, and actively participating in the leadership and development of the church.
The great deceiver fills the internet with everything that is destructive. The internet is flooded with violent games where you get points for ‘killing’ an opponent, and the more you ‘kill’ the higher your score. You can also play against others online, and then there is also status to be won if you win such games. Sometimes when I travel on public transport in Oslo, I can suddenly hear young people screaming and shouting in excitement over what they have achieved in such violent games. The same young people also surf porn sites, and often violent porn, where rapes and worse are committed. It has been one of Satan’s most successful deceptions in our time to make such things entertainment for people, and Satan knows that what we fill our time with will be reflected in the way we live.
When the authorities are surprised that there is more and more violence and brutality among young people, and that we constantly read about young boys and girls being killed in cold blood – even in Norway I am put out. If you ask the question whether they do not see the connection between what they learn on the internet and how young people interact, you usually get answers like this: No, wait a minute, it is not so dangerous that the young boy or girl surfs the internet because everyone does it!
Wouldn’t it be better for young people to learn that there is a God who loves them and who wants them to stay away from all forms of extramarital sex and all the violence they are taught on the internet? Parents don’t really care what their children fill their minds with, and the old serpent is happy about that because then he has them in the palm of his hand. Both adults and young people are no better than they were in the time of Noah and in the time of Abraham.
When it comes to what happened in ancient times, which is a picture of what is happening in our time, it is even sadder, if possible. If we look at what Jesus said in Matthew 24:38, we read this; For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and in Jude 1:7 we find this: Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. These two verses clearly show how people lived at that time. In Noah’s time, people lived a carefree life in a continuous eating, drinking and sex orgy, which is described as eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, while in Sodom and her sister cities there was a developed sexual immorality, which has given us two words; sodomy and sodomite. In these cities, there were no limits to the perversions that were carried out.
The big question is whether there is anything better these days or whether we have perhaps an even lower moral. If we look at what is permitted today, we see that some have married their pets, and it was said that a person in the USA has married a tree! In more and more countries, the age of sexual maturity is being lowered to 14, and same-sex marriages are being permitted, even marriages between three or more people of all sexes! – yes, all sexes – are being permitted in more and more countries, because it has been politically agreed that it is no longer enough to be a he and a she, and now we will also refer to certain people as hen. It has also been agreed that one can change sex, and some people change sex more often than others change socks. This is how far perversity has come in the so-called ‘civilized’ world.
Humanity has come to the same place it was in the time of Noah and in Sodom, Gomorrah and their sister cities. Then God intervened and judged the sinful people. This tells me that God will soon intervene again and judge sinful people. This is done through the investigative judgment, and when it is finished, the door of mercy will close.
Other end-time prophecies that foretell that the door of mercy will soon be closed.
The spirit of prophecy tells us that in the absolute end time there will be great fires in many places, and the sea will overflow its banks, and there will be floods in many places. Here are some amazing quotes from God’s end-time prophet Ellen G. White:
How frequently we hear of earthquakes and tornadoes, of destruction by fire and flood, with great loss of life and property! Apparently, these calamities are capricious outbreaks of disorganized, unregulated forces of nature, wholly beyond the control of man, but in them all God’s purpose may be read. They are among the agencies by which He seeks to arouse men and women to a sense of their danger. (Prophets and Kings, 277.x).
In the last scenes of this earth’s history war will rage. There will be pestilence, plague and famine. The waters of the deep will overflow their boundaries. Property and life will be destroyed by fire and flood. We should be preparing for the mansions that Christ has gone to prepare for them that love Him. Maranatha, 174 (1897).
In the visions of the night a very impressive scene passed before me. I saw an immense ball of fire fall among some beautiful mansions, causing their instant destruction, (Testimonies for the Church volume 9; 28.1).
What mean the awful calamities by sea—vessels hurled into eternity without a moment’s warning? What mean the accidents by land—fire consuming the riches that men have hoarded, much of which has been accumulated by oppression of the poor? The Lord will not interfere to protect the property of those who transgress His law, break His covenant, and trample upon His Sabbath, accepting in its place a spurious rest day. Last Days Event 27.4
The plagues of God are already falling upon the earth, sweeping away the most costly structures as if by a breath of fire from heaven. Will not these judgments bring professing Christians to their senses? God permits them to come that the world may take heed, that sinners may be afraid and tremble before Him. (Last Days Events 28.1).
Last Friday morning, just before I awoke, a very impressive scene was presented before me. I seemed to awake from sleep but was not in my home. From the windows I could behold a terrible conflagration. Great balls of fire were falling upon houses, and from these balls fiery arrows were flying in every direction. It was impossible to check the fires that were kindled, and many places were being destroyed. The terror of the people was indescribable. After a time I awoke and found myself at home, (Last Days Events 24.3).
Let’s first look at the big fire in Los Angeles in January 2025. The helicopter pilot Tim Thomas, who helped fight the fire, says he has never experienced anything like it in his entire life. There were several fires that started simultaneously in two separate areas on January 7. Entire streets were engulfed in flames, and it seemed as if the flames were jumping from house to house.
This fire was summarized by Adresseavisen (Norwegian newspaper) on January 10, 2025, as follows: The fires have affected the wealthy neighborhoods of Pacific Palisades and Malibu, as well as Hollywood Hills and Altadena north of the city. Since the first fire broke out on Tuesday, ten people have been confirmed dead, of which five of the deaths are in Altadena. On Friday, fires were burning in five different locations in Los Angeles County. Strong winds and dry terrain are making firefighting very difficult. There have also been reports of water shortages. About 180,000 people have been evacuated. Many residents have fled on foot as the evacuation has caused traffic chaos. More than 10,000 buildings have been destroyed or burned, and the number is likely to rise. The fires have burned an area of about 140 square kilometers in three days. Up to $150 billion in assets could be lost, according to the company AccuWeather.
In addition to this fire, there have been several hundred fires along the west coast of the United States and Canada in the past two or three years alone. In South America, there were major forest fires in Chile and Argentina in 2026, burning more than 24,000 hectares in Chile in January, and 30,000 hectares in Argentina in February. The following is taken from Wikipedia: A series of forest fires that significantly affected several South American countries, including Argentina, Chile, and Venezuela, in 2025. Based on satellite images from the Global Wildfire Information System, approximately 18,491 forest fires damaged or destroyed 6,029,035 hectares (14,898,070 acres). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_South_American_wildfires
If we look at the phenomenon of flooding, we find a similar picture. The hurricane Katrina was an extremely powerful and catastrophic tropical cyclone that killed 1,392 people and caused an estimated $125 billion in damage, particularly in and around the city of New Orleans, in late August 2005. According to the White House, the hurricane affected an area of 234,000 km² – an area equivalent to that of Great Britain. This happened in 2005.
We are also seeing that floods are occurring all over the world, causing destruction and loss of life more and more frequently, and they are becoming more and more severe. Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas have been hit hard by floods and inundations in recent years.
In my home country, Norway, we have had floods for the last two winters. This has never happened before. Even grass, heather and forest fires are becoming common in winter in Norway. You just have to follow the news, and you are bombarded with news about fires, hurricanes, cyclones and floods caused by rain. The global elite, those who are politically correct, say that this is due to human activity, and I have to give them credit for that, but not in the sense that climate alarmists are setting guidelines. They believe that we can influence the climate with our actions. It would be a bit like trying to stop the earth from revolving around the sun.
Humans are actually to blame for what is happening in our time, but only indirectly, and it all started in the Garden of Eden on the day when the first two humans ate the fruit of the forbidden tree. Then Satan gained access to our planet in a way that he should not have. Ever since that fateful day, a spiritual war has been going on, which in our time is about to end. Satan has accused God of being random and cruel to people. To justify himself, God has allowed Satan the time he needs to show that the regime he wanted to establish is not a good regime. Now the father of lies has revealed himself, and all wars and all accidents, be they individual accidents or disasters resulting from hurricanes, fires, and the like, are Satan’s fingerprints on the world he thought he could rule better than God.
In this way, humans are indirectly responsible for what happens in nature. Satan was the angel who was closest to divinity in rank, and he still has the power and authority he had as an angel of God before he fell into sin. He uses this power and authority to harm and destroy both people, animals and nature. Just look at the story of Job. Satan was given free rein by God to harm Job, just not to kill him. This story shows us the cosmic conflict where Satan does everything he can to destroy Job and to make him turn away from God. Job does not submit to Satan and therefore he suffers a tremendous loss. He had 10 children and was perhaps the richest man in the world at his time. Satan took all of this from Job, but Job remained faithful to God, and the end of the story was a greater blessing than the loss he suffered. He had 10 new children and a wealth that was twice as great as what Satan took from him.
When these events described in this blog occur, we know for sure that Jesus’ return is closer than most people think. Are you ready for the greatest event in history? Are you ready to meet Jesus? If not, there is still some time for you to turn to God, ask for forgiveness for all your sins, and accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and King.
Don’t wait, because we don’t know tomorrow, so today is the day of your salvation. Just look at what Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 6:2: … behold, now [is] the accepted time; behold, now [is] the day of salvation. Tomorrow may be too late. Tomorrow the door of grace may be closed, and then it will be too late to seek God. Then God has said: Enough is enough.