And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh."
(Luke 21:25-28)

I believe we're living in the last days. The Word of God has much to say about the end times and what will happen in them.

Sometimes we get into the Book of Daniel or the Book of Revelation and try to figure things out, and about the time we get it figured out and we put our interpretation on it, something else happens, and we see that our interpretation was wrong.

But there's one thing you can be sure of—what I call "Foolproof Scriptures." These are the things Jesus said, and James, Peter, Paul, and the other New Testament writers, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote about the last days.

You'll notice in that last verse of our text, Luke said, "…for your redemption draweth nigh." Some may ask, "Well, I thought we already were redeemed." We are as far as our spirits are concerned, but there also is going to be the redemption of our body when Jesus comes again.

Now turn to Romans 8 and notice verse 23: "And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit…." We have the "firstfruits" of the Spirit. You see, we have the Holy Spirit in the New Birth, and we have the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit.

This verse continues, "…even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." This is talking about signs of the times—things that shall come to pass in the last days, when our redemption shall be consummated and our body shall be redeemed.

Another example is this passage of Scripture from James:

Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

Notice he's talking about "the last days."

Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.

You can see that James identifies heaped-up treasure as one of the signs of the last days. At the time James wrote his Epistle, they didn't have the New Testament in the form we have it today. They just had letters that were written to the Church.

James, not knowing what Paul wrote, spoke of something which would happen in the last days—heaped-up treasure. Paul, not knowing what James wrote, also talked about the "last days."

Notice what Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:1-2; Keep in mind that Paul was not talking about the Church and what would happen in it; he was talking about what would happen in the world "in the last days."

2 Timothy 3:1-5

1. This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy
3. Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4. Traitors heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5. Having a form godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

I never have been able to understand some people in charismatic circles. They get born again, filled with the Holy Spirit, healed by the power of God—and go back to some old dead church.

These churches—right here in the United States—tell them that speaking with tongues and that healing business are of the devil! They only have "a form of godliness...denying the power thereof," and the Scripture plainly says, "…from such turn away." It doesn't say, "Go join up with them"; it says, "Turn away!"

Furthermore, it's beyond my comprehension that Spirit-filled people will put their money into a church like that. I know people who do. They say, "Well, momma and grandma were members of this church."

Thank God, momma and grandma walked in all the light they had and God blessed them. And probably back when momma and grandma were members of that church, they had a certain amount of the move of the Spirit.

I remember Grandpa telling me about church services in the little country church down the hill from the family farm. They called it Friendship Baptist Church. It was a Southern Baptist church, but it was the only church in the community, so people from many denominations attended.

After I was healed and raised up from the bed of sickness, I was out there on the farm for a number of days—my uncle lived there—and I went down the hill to attend one of their church services.

Dr. J. Ben Snyder was preaching. Those were Depression days, so he just came out twice a month.

This was 1934, and I'd just been healed. In fact, I hadn't been up for more than two or three months, and the devil was still fighting me. I had nobody to stand with me in faith or power.

I remember walking down the hill, and I remember the old gentleman who preached that service. He was about 70 years of age, and he preached on prayer.

He mentioned that he received word one day that a young woman in the church had given birth to a child, but something had happened, and she had been given up to die by medical science.

Babies were born in the homes in those days, so Dr. Snyder went to visit her. She said to him, "Brother pastor, I'm not afraid to die—I'm saved—but my baby needs me. I have a three-year-old child, I'm just 28 years old, and my husband needs me."

And I never will forget it, I heard that old Baptist preacher say, "I told her, 'You don't have to die. Not at 28. When I get home, I'm going to go out in the smokehouse and get alone with God and pray.'" (In the old days, a smokehouse was the place where they smoked their meat and hung meat up to cure.)

So he said, "I prayed for her there, but when I got back to my house, I went immediately out to the smokehouse, and I pled her case. I said, 'Lord, she's only 28 years old. I know the doctors have done what they could, and they said she has to die. But You're the Great Physician.'"

And he said, "I refused to give up." One hour went by, and two hours went by, and three hours went by, and four hours went by, and five hours went by. He said, "I had it. I knew I had it!" (He meant he knew in his spirit, on the inside of him, that he had the answer.) And he said, "That woman lived and didn't die."

When that service was over, I don't even remember climbing back up that hill. I think I flew back up it!

Grandpa told me that in days gone by, when he and Granny had lived out there on the farm, they only had part-time preaching that country church, but they always had Saturday night services, whether they had a preacher or not. One of the deacons, Sunday School teachers, or somebody else would conduct the service.

Grandpa said, "In those days in the Baptist church, we always had a testimony meeting. People would stand and testify about what God had done for them, and how He had heard and answered prayer. We were the only church in the community, so everybody came."

And he said, "I'll tell you, the power of God would fall, and people would shout up and down the aisles. And when the service was over and we were walking home—some came in wagons—we could hear people shouting and praising God two miles away."

Now, these weren't Pentecostals, Full Gospel people, or charismatics. These were Baptists, Methodist, Disciples of Christ, and Christian church members.

They knew something about the power of God and the move of the Spirit. But in this day and age if somebody got up to shout in some of those churches, they'd throw them out, saying, "We've got a form we go by, and we don't allow things like that."

So many churches have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof; from such turn away. "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come," Paul said.

We're living in that time.

Source: Signs of the Times by Kenneth E. Hagin
Excerpt permission granted by Faith Library Publications