“For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.” (Matthew 24:21-22)
Now while we live at a time when Man is determining how to set up an existence without the presence….or at least ….outside the presence of God, we can know that that there was a time when all of Western culture was all wrapped up in finding out just Who god Is – and knowing just how to worship Him and understand Him and relate to Him and Commune with Him.We are living in a time of transition. We are on the edge of seeing things the world has not seen before. The society, the culture, the morality – and the politics of the world we’ve known is being turned on its head. The West – including Europe, and the United States and the offshoots of both American and British imperialism are in the process of transitioning to a post-Christian society. Think of the implications of that! In fact, we are speeding past secularism to the thresholds of cultural paganism. So we see the writhing, sexually explicit occult ceremonies played out for us at music awards ceremonies and major athletic events. And we witness the display of the face of Kali, the Hindu god of destruction on the Empire State Building. It is all part of the preparation for the entrance of Antichrist into the world. As a society we’ve become lost in the struggles for nationality and gender identity and religious pluralism and an ever-changing morality, that not only winks at, that not only tolerates – but now celebrates and approves behaviors that not so very long ago were considered ‘beyond the pale’ of a moral culture. And it may become easy as we wander this wilderness to lose God in all of this; when so much is cycling out of control. But it is not[i] excusable. Man has been looking for this connection with God for millennia, ever since the Garden. And God has provided a way. Jeremiah 29:13 tells us: “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” Deuteronomy 4:29 goes even farther. “But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.”
PART I: IN SEARCH OF THE GOD CONNECTION
Talk about times of transition! 2017 marks the 500th anniversary of the start of the Protestant Reformation. It is said that it started when Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses to the Door of All Saints Church in Wittenberg, challenging her doctrines of the Catholic Church especially when it came to indulgences and purgatory. Now indulgences were big mark-up item for the Roman Church, so that didn’t sit well with the Vatican authorities and what followed was a massive struggle for the souls of believers throughout Europe.
Look at it this way. The world was going along just fine. People were really enjoying the Dark Ages, you know, with all the pillaging and raping and the bad hygiene and serfdom and plagues and all. I mean, what was not to like? (It was kind of a low-pressure time to be alive. You never really had to be at your best.) And then along comes this smart aleck named Martin Luther, and the whole world gets turned on its head. All of a sudden the finer points of theology are trending. And concepts like ‘Justification by faith alone’ and ‘Sola Scriptura’ are being debated by nobles and peasants and priests. Then wars start breaking out. Everybody’s mad at everybody else and there’s hardly any place safe in all of Europe. And the danger is very real. If you join the wrong side – and things don’t go well for your team in your area – you face torture and stake burning and the wrack. That was a time of transition. It was a time of Cultural Revolution unequalled in history since maybe the formative years of the Church when a small Christian minority religion stood the Roman Empire on its head and created the foundational architecture of a civilization. So what drove this? What was its impetus? People were all about finding God. What’s the right way? How do we stay in God’s will? Can I be free to follow my conscience in religious matters? Though they perceived different answers, knowingly or not, they were acting on the command of God. They were seeking Him with “all their heart!”
That was 500 years ago. Now let’s go back another 500 to 600 years from there to the northern reaches of the British Isles. There is an old tradition among the Celtic monks, a pilgrim tradition, that in the flesh is about as scary and foolish as can be. To the modern mind, this would border on insanity. But it was a very real phenomenon and practice. About 10 centuries or so ago, these pilgrim monks, wanting to seek God, wanting to please Him, to do His will, would get into a small roundish boat made of wood and leather. After praying for Divine guidance, they would hoist the sail and launch into the ocean, the North Sea. But there was one thing I didn’t mention. These boats were rudderless. They had no means of steering. They were PURPOSEY rudderless. It was all about trusting God to lead the journey. They believed God, trusted Him – that He would take them wherever He wanted them to go. They wouldn’t let fear drive them. It was reminiscent of God’s charge to Abraham. “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1)
So they braved storms and they wouldn’t necessarily know the language, or whether they would encounter friendlies or people who wanted to kill them. They were just that eager to share the Gospel. They were seeking first the Kingdom of God. That was their call; a journey with God to find God! One group told King Alfred of Wessex: “We stole away because we wanted for the love of God to be on pilgrimage, we cared not where.”[ii] They had gotten to the place where they were seeking God with all their heart; a mark, I fear we so often miss. We have OUR plans…..and can complain when God doesn’t’ do everything according to our wishes. But what’s our instruction? To “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” rather than our wants and perceived needs. That instruction comes with a promise. “All these things,” [all that we really need] “shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33) The blessing to these pilgrim monks came because they had made Christ the center of their existence. Psalm 37:4 puts it thusly: “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (ESV) They had. And we need do so too. Today we talked about the search for the God Connection. Next time we’ll be talking about finding that communion.
[i] Image: https://www.google.com/search?q=face+of+kali+empire+state+building&espv=2&biw=1024&bih=662&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiysZCsw-rRAhWIZCYKHe34A6oQsAQIIQ#imgdii=1V3XuO9PEtz-dM%3A%3B1V3XuO9PEtz-dM%3A%3B7v1guleC4SU54M%3A&imgrc=1V3XuO9PEtz-dM%3A
[ii] The Name Coracle, Inthecoracle.org, viewed January 30, 2017
Elaine Geiger says
Hi Rob,
Have you read “The Last Jubilee” by Goodwin? It is very good and I think you will find it fascinating!
Elaine Geiger says
oops… the title is “The Final Jubilee”
I hope all is well with you and your family.