INTRODUCTION

          Imagine being an adult citizen of Germany at the time of Hitler.  You get up each morning and drive off to  your job to earn your wages to support your family.  In other words you simply go on with your life regardless of the surrounding political climate.  Through the state run media your mind is at ease.  You are daily reminded that the war is going well and that every German must do his part in order for the 1000 Year Reich to prosper.  You are told that God, if He even exists, is on our side and that our leaders are infallible.  With all that you hear you are confident that victory on all fronts is inevitable.  After a long day at work and a pleasureable evening with your family you bid each of them a good night and head for your warm bed.  You get your night's rest and by morning you are ready to do your routine all over again.

          But unknown to you the country's real situation is very grave and is becoming worse with each passing day.  The army is losing ground in the East, Italy has switched sides, and the Allies have landed on a distant beach called Normandy. 

          Less than a year after D-Day the once thought unstoppable Nazi Germany was utterly defeated.  The once great nation that was so rich in cultural history and advanced academic achievement now lays in ruins.  Not since the days of the Black Plague has your country witnessed so much death and misery.  To make matters worse you are not only told but shown pictures of people being crammed into boxcars like cattle where they were taken to their deaths. Their only "crime" was that they were Jewish.

          You ask yourself, "What about all of the promises of a bright future for every German that the state run media promised us?  How could a disaster like this come to a country that has given the world so many composers, poets, and accompished scientists?"

          For Nazi Germany, God's justice did not sleep forever.  War criminals were put on trial.  German infrastructure was ruined.  Families were left homeless.  But the worst consequence was that the eastern third of the country was brought under Stalinist communism.  It wouldn't be until 1990 ( 45 years after VE Day) that East and West Germany were allowed to be both free and re-united. 

          

          Like Nazi Germany our present world is on a collision course with God's awful hand of judgment.  Zephaniah 3:8 declares: 

          "...My determination is to gather the nations... to pour on them My indignation,  All my fierce anger; All the Earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy."

          Does this mean that every nation will feel God's wrath?  Yes.  But does this also mean that every last person will feel that wrath?  No.  Those people be they American, German, Russian, Israeli, or whichever nationality who are genuinely saved by the grace of God through His Son Jesus will not experience the coming wrath.  Why?  Because God has not appointed His elect to wrath.  Jesus experienced God's wrath for His elect on the cross.

          Sodom was a wicked city that was ripe for judgment.  Sodom was destroyed by fire and brimstone but Lot and those with him were saved.

          Ninevah was another example.  Ninevah was the proud capital of the hated Assyrian Empire.  It was known as the "robber city'.  Jonah was dispatched by God to warn the Ninevahites of God's coming judgment.  The Ninevahites repented of their sins and God graciously granted the city forgiveness and a new lease on life.  But in only a few generations later, at about  the time of Nahum, (612 BC) Ninevah was destroyed by the invading Babylonians thanks largely to a storm and a flood that helped the enemy breach the city's once thought impregnable wall.  Ninevah's destruction was so complete that some archeologists weren't even sure if the city real ever existed.  It wasn't until 1842 that archeologists found physical proof that the "robber city' was a part of history.

          At this point I want to ask this question - how do you view God?  Is He a distant deity who created man but doesn't care to interact with us?  Is He a Santa Claus who will only hear from us when we put together our "wish lists"?  Is He an angry Being who is distant but needs to be appeased?  Is He like a sweet grandfather who loves to give gifts and see us happy but who really doesn't care how we live?  Or does He even exist at all? 

          Yes God does offer His creations love, grace, compassion, and mercy.  But God also  hates. He hates the sin that is ruining our lives, relationships, and nations. He hates bitterness, corrupt morals, and times when we allow non-eternal things to become our idols.  In short God hates sin and since all of us are natural born sinners we are all deserving of His horrible wrath.

          But God made a way of escape.  He sent His only Son Jesus to experience the wrath of God on a Roman cross for our behalf.  Jesus also rose from the dead to prove to the whole world that He is the only Man to have power over death.  Those of us who become one with Him will have a pardon and experience that same power over death. But the clock is ticking.  We have a choice but time is running out.  King Ahab had a choice.  When King Ahab went to war with Syria, he choose to listen to all the false prophets who promised him a victory.  What was the outcome?  Instead of success a stray arrow came out of nowhere and struck the king dead.  At that moment King Ahab's eternal destiny was sealed.

          All of us are like King Ahab.  All of us are guilty of sin and all of us have a choice.  We can listen to the world's false teachers such as the liberal media pundits or the cults that promise joy and salvation but deliver neither or the highminded liberal university professors who believe that faith in the Bible is only for Appalachian simpletons.  Or, I pray, we choose to listen to God and His perfect Word.

          Yes I realize that my book will be controversial.  And why not?  Jesus was controversial.  To the Jews He was either their promised Messiah or a fraud.  What we do know about Him is that He always spoke the truth to His friends and His enemies.  Some people accepted His truth while others couldn't handle His truth; which is the truth.

          This is what I want to do with this book.  I want it to be truthful, that is faithful to the Word of God.  There is no room for sugarcoated nice sounding words, doomsday hype, date setting, or political correctness.  And yes I believe that conservatives as well as liberals might find my book to be a tad bit uncomfortable.  Yes I believe that many old time pastors might not agree with everything I say but what I say I feel needs to be said.  Afterall truth should always trump tradition. 

          All idealistic writers want to write a book that will change the world.  I am no exception.  I wanted to write a book that would be a blessing to all readers be they novices or learned Ivy League professors and seminary grads.  I don't want my book to be a waste of anyone's time.

  

          As you read please keep two things in mind:  Judgment day is coming and it is OUR responsibility to be ready.   

"...how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation..."    

(Hebrews 2:3)

          The time is at hand.  As Thomas Jefferson has said, "His justice cannot sleep forever."