Oklahomily - Learning to Discern Signs of the Times

“When you see a cloud rising in the west you say immediately that it is going to rain - and so it does; and when you notice that the wind is blowing from the south, you say that it is going to be hot - and so it is. … You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”

By David Jones

Jesus often used the laws and logic of the natural world (created, of course, by God) to explain or illustrate the spiritual principles He was passing on to His disciples. At times He would be very direct; other times, when many were listening, He would use parables so that the Holy Spirit would convey the meaning to the intended audience, and others, like the scribes and Pharisees, would be left in the dark.

But sometimes the intended audience also missed the meaning, which is why we read of the apostles quizzing the Lord, and Jesus would have to patiently explain again.

We who are alive today who are wondering about interpreting the signs of the times are also best served who repeatedly return to Scripture, especially the Gospels, for guidance and, more importantly, reassurance. And one can hardly start too soon in life.

We were reading the gospel passage about interpreting the present time a few nights ago with our 7^th grade religion students, when one young lad raised his hand and asked, “How can we know about the signs of the times, when we don’t even know anything about nature? I don’t know if it’s going to rain, or be hot, just by looking at the wind.” It got a good laugh, but I acknowledged that he had a good point. “That’s why we need to learn. If you want to farm and raise crops or cattle, you have to learn the signs of nature. If you wish to enter the Kingdom of God, Jesus says you must learn the rules. That’s why you are here.”

After a bit of reflection, perhaps there is a deeper truth revealed in the boy’s response.

Scripture and prophecy both state that in the latter days of history people will no longer know what is right and wrong. They will have strange ideas of what is normal, and not have a handle on the signs of the times, just like

the people in the days of Noah, who were eating and drinking right up to the time the rain began to fall and Noah, his family, and two of every kind of animal locked themselves away in the Ark.

At least in the United States, the vast majority of us no longer work cattle, tends gardens or raise cash crops. We belong to a service society in which we push computer keys, work spreadsheets, make conference calls, flip burgers, stock shelves, drive trucks from city to city, and we do all this in roughly 40 of the 168 hours God has given us for the week. Many of us get paid with a check that is electronically deposited, and we pay our bills with money that we never actually see. We buy our fruits, vegetables and meats at supermarkets where everything is already wrapped and priced. We accept the prices as posted, just as we accept the entire system in which we operate.

Once knowing the signs of the weather was an important life skill, the learning of which you skipped at your peril. No longer. We have relinquished this to interchangeable talking heads on our TVs, or the National Weather Service sites online. Oh, we still talk a good game (about the weather) but we offer second- and third-hand information. And unless the weather promises us a wild day or night, like a blizzard, tornado, flash flood, hurricane or scorching Santa Anna, we’re usually not all that concerned or interested anyway.

Truth be told, we no longer know the signs of nature because we live in a society that has taken the “need to know” away from us. We have surrendered that responsibility with hardly a thought, secure in the belief - and trust - that others will either provide us with the information that we need, when we need it. And the longer we go without thinking about the natural world, the more we begin to forget what a powerful friend, and a deadly enemy, it can be for the unwary.

So too is the ability to read the signs of the times.

The Pharisees and Sadducees came and, to test him, asked him to show them a sign from heaven.

He said to them in reply, "(In the evening you say, 'Tomorrow will be fair, for the sky is red'; and, in the morning, 'Today will be stormy, for the sky is red and threatening.' You know how to judge the appearance of the sky, but you cannot judge the signs of the times.)

“An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah." Then he left them and went away.

And what was the Sign of Jonah? It was two-fold. First, Jonah spent three days given up for dead in the depths of a great fish. Dead to the world; alive to God. Praising and glorifying God. The second part was that Jonah would be spit out of the beast, where he would resume the mission to which God had assigned him, preaching the word of repentance and salvation to the Ninevites (who listened and responded positively).

Jesus would do perfectly as both God and man what Jonah could only do imperfectly (with Divine assistance). Jesus would really die, spend three days in the earth where He would “visit the captives,” the righteous who were sleeping awaiting the Messiah, and announce the good news of their deliverance. Then Jesus would truly rise from the dead, perfect in Spirit and in Body, and announce to His chosen ones the Word of repentance and salvation which they were to spread to the entire world.

Jesus said that the Pharisees and Sadducees would see the sign of Jonah and still not understand. How much are we like the people of Nineveh, and how much are we like those prideful Pharisees and Sadducees? For even the latter were able to tell from the sun, the wind and the clouds what the weather was doing.

We live our lives cocooned in comfort, sheltered from the elements, taking as natural a false sense of security. Too many of us barely pause to remember the events of 9-11, let alone contemplate the fact that just over 75 years ago this nation, indeed the world, was plunged into a Great Depression that tested the resilience and spirit of a generation. The lessons of that time helped shape a people we now refer to as America’s “greatest generation,” and history tells us that it is good that it was so.

Could such a time happen again?

It depends on who you listen to. It is widely taught in history classes, at least in America, that laws and regulations passed during the Great Depression, plus new systems of economic oversight and banking insurance, will prevent a repeat performance. Yet several of those protections have been discarded, such as the Glass-Steagall Act that prevented commercial banks from owning stock brokerages (investment banks) and insurance companies. Passed in 1933, it was repealed in 1999 after an intense lobbying effort from major banking organizations.

Then there are the prophetic voices, such as Therese Neumann (1898-1962), a German stigmatic not unlike Anne Catherine Emmerich in many respects. It was widely reported that Therese told an American soldier in 1946 that America would one day be required to suffer greatly, but not from conquest or bombing. "No, at the end of this century America will be destroyed economically by natural disasters," she is reported to have said.