Signs of the End Times - Mathew 24:12 - Iniquity

By Odon Bulamba

We are going to continue with our study from Mathew 24 and today is verse 12. This is the Word of God which is telling us that because inequity will grow in our lives around us, the love of many will wax cold.

What is inequity?  It means going away from the law, pushing the law far away from yourself.  This Word has been practiced in many societies and you may wonder how come human beings who are loved by God so much that He has given His son for us, how come we give inequity first place in our live and our love continues to wax cold.

This was one of the signs.  Be careful because when you see people’s loves becoming cold, there is a danger coming, it’s a sign that Jesus is coming back. 

Inequity is also in institutions around the world.  For example, in our schools they used to read the Word of God, pray and have religious studies but today in several countries, religious study is not part of school anymore and schools are going far from God.

Many families don’t have time anymore, not even to read Word of God or praying before going to bed or before to eat.  We are pushing God aside.  I had a parent told me to stop me talking to their son about the Word of God.  We can see how the Word of God and it’s the law has been fought by individuals, countries and institutions.

For example don’t kill but the law will allow the death penalty.  The government will know the Word of God but they continue to give those penalties.  In some countries, they bless homosexual marriage while the Word of God states that women and men should marry.  By doing so this means inequity.  We know the Law and what God wants but we put it aside to satisfy our own needs or the needs of those around us.  When this takes off, the love for God and the Word of God will start to become cold.

People who used to be proud of being Christians yesterday, will today feel ashamed to talk about Jesus in front of others.  Those who used to be proud to love Jesus now fear what others will say.  This lets Jesus down whom we are calling their Lord and Master.  Who is ashamed to talk about their boss or job or parents?  No matter how old or ugly or what they look like, I will be proud of my parents and talk to others about them.

For example, Anna meets with her friends and instead of introducing her mum, she says this is my aunty and my mum is the beautiful lady over there.  How will the mother feel?  You will feel humiliated and you will feel that you are being let down.  For God, it is the same because He loves us and is our Father and when we promote other things and people instead of God, He feels that we are letting Him down.

All over the world you see people promoting their pastor or their church but it’s almost impossible to hear them talking proudly about their Jesus.  Remember your first love, that is what revelations tells us.  That message was given to Laodicea.  Once you remember your first love, it will be hard to do inequity.  If you remember that Jesus died for you and His grace is sufficient, you won’t need anything else.

However, we most of the time we prefer to please our bodies rather than our souls.  We want our bodies to look and smell good but we don’t think at all about our souls and we forget out it.  If you don’t love your soul but love everything around the world, you will perish.

We know that this body will die and our soul will go somewhere to live for eternity.  God didn’t hide it from us.  Take care of your souls because it will live forever but because we love inequity, we take care of our bodies first.

I tell my children to take care of themselves.  For the child, they will think only about their bodies.  Why can’t I tell them to take care of their souls because satan may come at any stage to visit your soul so don’t lose it, it is the most precious thing that God recognises. 

I love to buy things.  This morning I was thinking about the amount of money I have spent to buy things for myself.  It was a shock.  Buying food and other stuff for my body.  When I try to please my body, it will always tell me that it is not satisfied.  I don’t know how many pairs of shoes I have?  I have a big shelf of shoes.  I don’t know how many shirts I have.  I have briefcases of clothes. 

I may spend 45 minutes just deciding what to wear.  I bought a lot and now it puts me in trouble because I waste my time. If I only had two pairs of shoes, it would be easier.  I even forget now what clothes I have.  I still have a shirt that I bought 10 years ago but I have never worn it.  I should be ashamed of myself to see how much I care for my body compared to my soul.

When I spend $100 to buy a pair of shoes and it’s impossible to give $100 offering to church.  I must think twice about offering to church and I must choose a small bank note for God and the rest is mine.  I can spend $100 on Nando’s or KFC but when it’s time to read one verse from Bible to feed my soul, it is impossible to spend 45 minutes reading but I can spend 2 hours with my children eating at Nando’s and walking around the park.

We can’t enjoy like when we are doing inequity because it will bring your love for God cold.  Christian priorities are not for God anymore but their priority is to see what they want and what they want do.  I travelled in China in a train that goes extremely fast and before to leave New Zealand it was on my agenda to experience it.  It was like an arrow.  Less than five minutes, over 100 kilometres gone.  I can’t see anything.  Oh lord, my heart desired so much to travel in this train, what next.  What did I gain?  Why can’t my heart desire to spend at least one second with Jesus.

When I’m talking about the Holy Spirit, why can’t I desire the Holy Spirit to take me somewhere for the glory of God but I prefer to get on a train.  You see people coming to New Zealand from other countries and they go to visit the bubbling mud in Rotorua.  They pay for the flight to see mud and people take photos of mud.  People think this is a big thing to show back home, to show others that they are travelling around New Zealand. 

In 2001, Michelle took me to a bridge in Rotorua and I started to smell rotten eggs.  I wondered is this normal, what is happening here and the smell was growing stronger.  People leave their countries to experience the smell.  How much money and time you have wasted to smell it?  They will take their testimony back home that others should go to Rotorua, “you will be amazed”.  It’s all natural.  People pay for that.  This is inequity and makes you to close your Bible and leave aside important things, “I won’t go to church on Sunday I have to go see the boiling mud”.

Many people will go to the beaches, travel around and do things the way they want and sacrifice their love for Jesus.  Because Jesus is God, He has been telling us that we have three big things in life; love, faith and hope.  The biggest is love.  Don’t stick on hope, I hope God will give me the capacity to pray tomorrow or go to church tomorrow.  God wants love first.  I have faith in God, in the Word of God but that is not enough, what you must fight for is love first.  But we leave our love aside and accept it to go cold and hope that hope and faith will replace love.

That is why patience doesn’t exist anymore, people are not kind as they used to be.  When we read the Word of God, we know what is good and bad but today people don’t know the difference between right and wrong because we don’t read the Word of God.  In churches, they will say come and join us for bbq.  I have received that invitation from pastors and the day of the bbq, you will see a big crowd.  Churches become like clubs promoting inequity and pushing aside the love of God.

Is your love becoming cold for God?  How much do you love yourself?  I give myself 10/10 because when something goes wrong against me, I feel that I must look after myself.  We take care of ourselves and forget that we not only have the body and spirit but also the soul that needs taking care of.  We should not forget our souls. 

When you see the mud boiling in Rotorua, you don’t think about what is causing the bubbling mud.  I don’t have time to ask what is this phenomenon.  By coming close to those that know science you might know.  Do you ask why do you live while others are dying?  Do you ask why you can eat while others can’t?  Do you ask yourself if you are better than those who are eating with tubes?  What did you pay to God to have what you have? 

For that reason, God is inviting us to not let our love to grow cold.  The only secret is to define inequity, what is pushing you to stray from the Word of God.  What is wrong with you?  When I have headache, I ask what is wrong and I take Panadol.  I will look after myself.  I will see my doctor when I am sick.

Take care of your soul.  Ask your God what is wrong with you. Nothing can separate us from the love of God so why should I allow myself to be separated from God.  “I don’t want God anymore, today is Saturday, I want a break, tonight I am having a party, I want a break”.

One time I had a nightmare that I was angry in my dream that God took my father.  I told God, I don’t care about you, what you give to me, you take back, you are not kind.  God responded in my dream, “For 4 mins, I will stop you from breathing,” and in my dream, I couldn’t breath and I was fighting for life and then I woke up.  How precious is our breathing?  If someone blocks your nose for two seconds, your body will fight for breathing and you won’t care about your house or shoes or other material things.

What is important for you, life or material things?  Is it to visit trees or people rather than coming close to God.  Come back to Jesus, Himself is love.  You can’t find a shop that sells love.  We need to come close to Jesus and tell Him, my love is growing cold, I want you to remind me about my first love and how happy I was when I first met you.