You're going to follow people who hate you, who have an agenda, presenting a case that's not true - deliberately presenting a false narrative, that’s not the news. You've got to see these things - that's the hour we're living in. We have never lived in an hour quite like this one; and it's one of the things that Jesus warned about - End Time deception! You will find that most of these things provide a narrative that is contrary, and contradictory, and hostile to, the values of the kingdom of God. So, you need to know the values of the kingdom of God; and God's order for relationships. If you don't know God's kingdom order, then you'll take it all onboard, and just come into agreement with it. Tolerance soon leads to agreement.
The narrative that is presented in the world, is hostile to the kingdom of God. It has another spirit arising, the spirit of antichrist, rising to oppose the kingdom of God, and eternal values. If you're not aware of that, then you will just draw into it, and then tolerate it, and become part of it. You will build that way, and we've already got a whole generation of families that are destroyed, because they bought into all this stuff. So, build your life on the word of God; not on the social media - or even the news.
Here's the second thing… Jesus warned about the “beginning of sorrows”.
Matthew 24:8 – “All these things are the beginning of sorrows”.
The word ‘beginning’ means the commencement of a series of things happening. The word ‘sorrows’ is a word meaning ‘childbirth’. Literally, to bring a child to birth.
Any woman here understands what that's like! Most men haven't got a clue! Oh, a child's born, yay! But women all understand… Once those pains start, you're on the journey to a child being born. There’s no stopping that journey. You can't say: oh, no, I've decided no. I've changed my mind! I don't want to! No, it's going to happen; and every day, you've got a reminder of it. Every day, your body is showing the fatigue, and then the pains start! The pains come, and they come, and they ask: how far apart are the pains? Oh, quite a long way, quite a long way... Then they start getting closer and closer... How close are the pains now? Ooh, you better get in a car and get to hospital, you are about to have a baby!
That's what He's saying. If you understand about babies being born, then you will understand this is what happens in the End Times. There is a painful situation; then it's followed by another painful situation; then another… then another… then another… getting closer and closer together. Then, what God has decided to do, will suddenly birth into the earth - and surprise everyone!
But it won't surprise you, if you know that it's a spiritual childbirth, and that there's a sequence to look for, that will happen. The beginning of sorrows! The beginning of sorrows is simply this… It's worldwide conflicts! He says: what are the birth pains?
Matthew 24:6 – “You will hear of wars, and rumours of wars; but see that you're not upset or troubled. These things will come to pass, but that's not the end yet. Nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom; and there will be famines and diseases and earthquakes in diverse places”.
So, wars, and natural disasters, are the first sign.
“Kingdom against kingdom” refers to ‘political’ wars. They're wars by one government, against another government, to gain dominion and power; so, World War I & II are political wars. They're wars to expand territory, to take the territory that belongs to someone else; and of course, there's been millions of lives lost.
The second type of war are what you call ‘ethnic’ wars, where it says: “nation against nation”. That word ‘nation’ is the word ‘ethnos’, meaning ‘ethnic’. Ethnic speaks of a certain culture, a certain language often, certain ways of doing things, certain history that they have - that's an ethnic group. The Bible tells us that ethnic groups will rise against ethnic groups.