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I am using readings from the 49 Week Bible Challenge as the basis for these devotions. I encourage you to join me in this discipline. Today’s readings are Luke 21; 2 Chronicles 15; Isaiah 19; Hosea 9.
Luke 21:10-28
Then Jesus said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11 There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. 12 But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. 13 This will be your opportunity to bear witness. 14 Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, 15 for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. 16 You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. 17 You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your lives.
20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, 22 for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written. 23 Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people. 24 They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
25 “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, 26 people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
Maybe you’ve experienced a bait-and-switch. It was once common in car dealership ads. The ad would show a very nice car with lots of options and in tiny print would be the disclaimer, “As long as inventory lasts.” And it didn’t. Poof! No more luxury car at economy prices. And what about the prices for flights these days? Basic Economy?!? I do know some people who travel that way. But I at least want an assigned seat. Not quite a bait-and-switch, but very similar.
Sadly, some do the same with invitations to the Christian faith. If you believe in Jesus, all will go well with you. You’ll succeed at life, have all your needs met. You will have no financial troubles. Life will be as good as it gets (this side of heaven, of course). Think most televangelists, many cult leaders, and not a few religious hucksters.
If most people knew going in what the LDS church actually teaches, they might quickly check out: a divine couple, spirit children, and the idea of men becoming gods of their own planets. And then there’s the teaching that women must be brought through the veil by their husband to participate in that eternal destiny.
Jesus doesn’t operate that way. His yes is yes, and his no is no. He warns people that they must take up their cross to follow him. He tells some that they must sell all to be in his kingdom. Others he sends with no provision for a mission trip to who-knows-where.
Truly, others he comforts, heals, encourages, and blesses. His is not all gloom and doom. But there is plenty of reality in Jesus’ teachings so that we do not get discouraged when things do not go quite as hoped-for.
In fact the reality he lays out is daunting. Wars and rumors of war. Famine, and pestilences, terrors and persecutions loom in the future. This is no ad campaign. This is Jesus telling the truth about life in this world. And few would argue that it is so.
But Jesus is not only the Lord of Truth. He is the God of Grace as well. And these warnings are just that: warnings intended to prepare us for the challenges we will all face. But more than a warning, Jesus offers true hope. He says, “Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
I need that hope – and so does the world.
David Bahn - Reflections 
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