The Lord Says, The Time Of Trouble Has Come, The Time Of Trouble Is Here! By: Dr. Shuffel P. Hepburn

The Lord said "The time has come the time of trouble is here." That's our message the text is taken from Matthew 24. The speaker has asked the Lord's forgiveness for not dealing with this message more expeditiously. For a month he had been resisting preparation because the word is so grave and so frightening. He does not claim to be a prophet nor worthy just an evangelist with a passion for winning souls to the kingdom, but the Lord gave him this word and will hold him responsible for the blood of his children. And so the speaker is compelled to deliver the Lord's message. He therefore declares it with urgency and humility. Here is the word the Lord said to the speaker in the wee hours of the morning of March 20th 2025 "The time of trouble has come the time of trouble is here. Weep for my children, weep for my children." And so the speaker lay in his bed for quite a while and wept and he wept until he had no more tears to weep and then he got up and went to his writing table. As he sat there in the stillness of the dark hours of the new day, he thought about the end time prophecies that the word of God has spoken about. He thought about the terrible day of the Lord that is coming and his heart was greatly troubled he thought about the death and destruction that shall come upon many who will be alive on the earth during that season of catastrophic global events. How terrible a time it will be for all who will be living on earth in those days of God's wrath. Father we give you thanks and praise for your love and mercy and for this word that you may send it far and wide that it may fall in the hands of all your faithful all who love you. Father we pray in the holy and the wonderful name of Jesus Christ and give them a good understanding and an urgent desire Lord to be prepared for that glorious and wonderful time when Jesus Christ shall return. So what should you do if this great trouble has indeed come? My friend get your house in order, stop looking at and stop chasing the things of the world and look to Jesus Christ the author and finisher of your faith. Repent before God with a broken and contrite heart. Cry out to him that he may forgive you your sins and stop sinning then run tell someone to get the house in order. Tell as many as you can that the day of God's wrath has come. It is here, pray for your unsaved children pray for your spouse pray for your family members pray for your friends and your co-workers and most of all pray for the peace of Jerusalem. This March 2025 word came seven years after the speaker was first told by the Lord "Great trouble is coming to the earth." It was 15 minutes before midnight on January 21st 2019 when the Lord told him "Preach the gospel trouble is coming to the earth." On that great and fateful morning seven years ago this warning was repeated more times than the speaker was able to count it was a 2 hour and 45 minute visitation by the Lord during which time the only thing spoken to the speaker was "Preach the gospel trouble is coming to the earth, preach the gospel great trouble is coming to the earth." In that year Hurricane Dorian the most devastating hurricane the Bahamas has ever experienced visited the shores of the northern Bahamas washing an unknown number of souls into the frothing ocean never to be seen again. Later that year the world was visited by the great COVID pandemic. If any of those could come back from the dead what would they say to us of course they would warn us to get our house in order and to live right they would tell us to stop sinning they would tell us to pray for the unsaved in our family and among our friends perhaps and they would tell us to be holy as our God is holy and they would tell us to make our election and calling sure. As he sat at his writing table on March 20th the speaker thought about the way in which many believers in Christ seem oblivious to the warnings in the Holy Scriptures about this time that has come upon us. All of a sudden if the people of God were fully aware of the seriousness of the times more believers would be out there drawing sinners to salvation. And as he prepared this message the writer thought about how he and his evangelism teams over the years for 26 years have preached the gospel of Jesus Christ in the central downtown area of the island of Grand Bahama. And during those many years, apart from those spreading error, namely a few Jehovah Witnesses and at various times a few black Hebrew Israelites, there has not been many consistent evangelism teams from the many Christian churches bearing the truth of God's word in that area, and in other areas. Yet when you consider that a 10-year-old report says that there were as many as 131 Christian churches on the island of Grand Bahama 10 years ago there should be many more going out and so the streets of the island should be flooded by believers sharing the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ every day and the time has come for the church and for believers in Christ to have an urgency for saving souls. Let us look at the problems that are suddenly here if you do not believe the word that the Lord has spoken to the speaker of this message about the turbulent years ahead. Look around you and look at reports from around the world to see with your own eyes and to hear with your own ears what is happening and prepare your family for tougher times just in case more of the same is coming. Be wise my friend, can you not see that it is no longer business as usual in the world today, does one need to be a prophet to prophesy about things that he can see with his own eyes. Overnight we appear to have walked into an uncertain season unawares it is a season of foreboding, doom and gloom and whether you believe the word of God or not about the terrible times prophesied to unfold ahead of us. It is difficult to deny the harsh realities of the frightening things that are happening right before our very eyes in the US our next door neighbor and in the world at large. Today global conditions have taken an even more drastic turn in just the last three months, according to a 2023 survey by a reliable US journal. Layoffs worldwide had steadily increased after the pandemic then there was a more significant increase in late 2022 with the US and India leading the way in job losses. However in 2023 there was a lull in joblessness as recovery began to take hold in the US especially now suddenly world economies are headed south again. Difficult economic times with higher prices all over the world and shortages of goods are here once again. America has been the place almost all peoples of the world have wanted to run to for more than a hundred years but a recent Harris poll suggests and says that an alarming 42% of Americans now say that they are considering moving abroad this is mind blowing undoubtedly this will speed up the decline in tourism that had recently begun and the reliability of this poll is bolstered by another report that says layoffs in America is on the rise and even though new jobs are still being added every month the report says that job losses are outpacing the growth of new jobs at an alarming rate. This is expected to become even worse in the months ahead, another telling sign is the puzzling fact that America the land of the free and the home of the brave seemed to have abandoned its role as leader of the free world and turned in the opposite direction. And so I asked the question, is America no longer the land of the free nor the home of the brave? It is so puzzling that the number one nation in the world has turned to saving itself from drowning in spite of reports that say the economy was nowhere near being underwater. Reliable reports now say it was not drowning after all in fact reports indicate that as of the end of 2024 it had been doing better than ever since the pandemic. But in spite of these reports that said the economy was strong the country seemed now to have begun turning against itself. Persecution of any in or outside the nation who refuse to tow the hard line of its authoritarian president is now the order of the day and reports say that the nation is now despised by some of its closest friends and neighbors and even by its historically strong alliances with European nations. Why is this happening? What is equally alarming, the two largest economies in the world the US and China are suddenly engaged in a vicious throat grabbing trade war with neither country willing to back down and there's a real possibility that this trade war could erupt into a more serious conflict even though the US president appears to be about to capitulate to China. But can he be trusted? Reports also say international tourism to the US is declining rapidly and projected downward by at least 10% for 2025 and this means that 6.7 million fewer visitors will travel to the United States this year if this trend continues this is bound to hurt many and not only those in the US either but many countries like ours that depend on a robust US economy for our own survival in the tourism business which is the main stay of the Caribbean island economies. But here's the kicker, not only is tourism in decline not only are the people of the world no longer favoring the US over almost any other country in the world but many Americans themselves have opted to leave America and move abroad and China the arch enemy of the US is rising. China is fast becoming the undisputed tech leader and newly crowned champion of AI in the world and as a result of these alarming trends of tariffs a volatile stock market are tanking US dollars. Fears of a worldwide recession are looming meanwhile Israel is engaged in conflicts with at least five of its Islamic neighbors. Anti-semitism in the entire world has skyrocketed especially because of what has been widely declared to be ethnic cleansing of Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli Palestinian conflict is thousands of years old and they cannot eradicate all the Palestinians because their neighbors will keep sending reinforcements from their Muslim nations and so hate for Jews is skyrocketing. Pray for the peace of Israel my friend for we are commanded to do this. Most baffling of all is the fact that Russia has been given a powerful voice on the world stage again by the US president while at the same time large protests against this president and his government are being held in the various US states every weekend. According to reports one telltale sign is that almost a million fewer Canadians traveled to the US in March of this year which is traditionally a busy month for travel from Canada. These are the unmistakably harsh realities of today's world. The question is what can we do? One day Jesus Christ sat on the Mount of Olives after he had prophesied that the Jewish temple built by King Herod would be thrown down and there would not be one stone left standing upon another. His disciples then asked him for a sign of the end of the world and he told them of all the things that would occur before the end of the age. He said to them "False Christs and false prophets would come and deceive many." He said "There would be wars and rumors of wars and that nations will rise against nations and kingdoms against kingdoms and there will be famines pestilences which are plagues and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows." He said. He prophesied that iniquity and sin in the world would abound and be widespread and the people would be cold-hearted and without true love. However He said those who would endure and persevere to the end shall be saved. Persevere my friend, endure these hard times. This will be the formula for all believers on earth in this season. Endure hardness as good soldiers for we are instructed to do this because we are more than conquerors and this is God's word for us today. Persevere, endure, do not give up, do not give in, God will help you I promise you. On that day the Lord also told his disciples "The gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations and then the end will come." Matthew 24:14 many believers in God's word have been observing to see whether the gospel has been preached in all the earth yet so that they can determine whether we are at the end of the age. The answer is no it is not complete, the gospel has gone far around the world according to many reports but it has not reached to all the people in the world. There are still people, groups and regions where the word of God has not been fully proclaimed to all. However the writer believes that because of Revelation 146 and 7 this may not be the way that we should be looking at this final marker for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. According to this scripture the final push of the gospel to all the earth will not be left solely in the hands of the believers in Christ for God will help us reach the finish line. He appears to have taken it upon Himself according to this text, to complete this job that many believers have been laboring tirelessly over for almost 2,000 years. The writer of Revelation 14 went on to say "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth. And to every nation and kindred and tongue and people saying with a loud voice Fear God and give glory to Him for the hour of His judgment is come. And worship Him that made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountains of waters." And there followed another angel saying "Babylon is fallen babylon that great city because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." My friend when this great mysterious city called Babylon falls it will all be over we do not know at which point this angel will come but we know that he will come in time for those who never heard the gospel, that they may hear before Christ comes. As the message comes to a close here is a repeat of the instructions about what we should all be doing now. My friend get your house in order, stop looking at and chasing the things of the world more than you look at and chase after Jesus Christ and look to Jesus Christ the author and finisher of your faith. Repent before God with a broken and contrite heart. Cry out to Him that He may forgive you your sins and stop sinning. Then run tell somebody to get their house in order. Tell as many as you can that the day of God's wrath has come, it is here. Pray for your unsaved children, pray for your family members, pray for your friends and co-workers, pray for the peace of Jerusalem. The title of the sequel to this message is the time of trouble has come to America Israel Ukraine and the world. Look for this message next week. God bless and keep you in the mighty name of his son Jesus Christ. Now we give you an opportunity as we usually do to come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior if you do not know him please engage your heart and even if you are in a back slidden condition it is time to come back to the Lord. Please say this prayer after me, Father I am a sinner, I am sorry for all my sins, I desperately crave your forgiveness. Please forgive my disobedience, I am grateful to you for your patience with me, for Your longsuffering. Thank you Father. Today I invite Jesus Christ into my heart. Dear Lord Jesus welcome, please make my heart your home and today I give you the key to my heart because I now belong to you forever. Please keep me from falling and give me the Holy Spirit to lead me into all truth. I crave truth. Lord thank you for saving my soul, Amen. Welcome friend to the body of believers in Christ. In these last hours there are so many of us here awaiting the return of the good master. In the meantime we encourage you to become water baptized as quickly as possible, let your pastor know that you've given your heart to the Lord and you want to be baptized the way Jesus Christ was baptized. Begin reading the word of God every day. Begin in the book of John then go to Matthew Mark and Luke. Pray daily, attend at your local church and one glad morning the Savior will come and receive us all unto himself and we shall indeed forever be with the Lord. God bless and keep you in the mighty and Holy name of His Son Jesus Christ amen