We’ve nearly completed this long look into the future of God’s world. In our last installment we began to sum up – looking for meaning in all the events of the day. PART XXXVI made two key points. 1) JESUS CHRIST IS LIKELY GOING TO RETURN IN THIS GENERATION!!! 2) WE ARE RESPONSIBLE TO KNOW THE TIME OF OUR VISITAITON. So that’s our jumping off point for this week’s offering.
A DAY OF JUDGMENT IS COMING !!!
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.” (Hosea 4:6)
Those words are stark and powerful for the nation that rejects God and His laws. “Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you…. Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children”. That day of judgment is appointed for the land that sees fit to ignore God’s word. And so we have done. Some will say, ‘It can’t happen in America. We’re too powerful, too self-reliant, – too modern.’ To some, the notion of divine punishment is even beyond consideration. Yet the Israelites were God’s people. And God turned from them, and allowed the surrounding lands to execute His judgment whenever they strayed from Him into spiritual adultery. What’s that? Whenever they put other gods before Him. We too live in a nation and a culture that has rejected God. We have replaced Truth with preference, -and Divine Law with tolerance for the ungodly.
Let’s just look at a few examples. According to polls, over half of those claiming to be evangelical born-again Christians believe that Jesus is NOT the only way to the Father. (That’s a contradiction of Christ’s own words.) According to surveys a significant proportion of clergy from mainline Protestant denominations, – Lutherans, Methodists, Episcopalians, Baptists, and the like, – reject the main tenets of the Christian Faith. They do not believe that Jesus was God, – that He rose from the dead, was born of a virgin, provided atonement for our sins. Tell me what is the purpose of Christianity if these things are not true.
Then there are the over 50 million legal abortions performed since Roe v Wade. Add to that the fact that the American Roman Catholic bishops said that Jews don’t really need Jesus to be saved. Other whole denominations have changed, – or set aside, – God’s word on homosexuality. They are marrying same-sex couples and have ‘gay’ clergy, and even a sodomite bishop. All in the name of tolerance! [And as I write this the Supreme Court is poised to make gay marriage the law of the land; overturning thousands of years of sound societal organization.] Our political leaders are no better. Shortly after 9/11, born-again President George Bush told us that the Allah worshiped by the Muslims is the same as the God of the Bible. Not to be outdone, then Senator Barack Obama informed us that good Jews and good Muslims will all get to heaven. Yet he claims to be a good Christian. Yet John 3:18-19 reads: “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” Condemnation, – because men loved darkness.
Now because we know the signs and because can expect the imminent return of Christ and because we know that we are responsible to know the time of our visitation: We can know A DAY IS COMING WHEN EVERYTHING WILL CHANGE! Biblically we can know that we are on the edge of something that the Scripture calls Jacob’s Trouble. We live in the prelude to the Last Days, – the time of birth pangs. In fact, we can set aside Scripture for a moment and realize just by looking at the world situation that we live in a time of extreme danger. First we must understand that we can find historical parallels for the times in which we live. There is an interlocking systemic inevitability about the geopolitical situation today, that rehearses the days that led up to the First World War. Barbara Tuchman’s Guns of August, reveals how no one really wanted that war. Yet it came, driven by alliance and folly on the part of the world’s statesmen. Millions died and our world order was forever changed. The conditions that led to the Second World War showcase another parallel reality that we are living today. Let’s flesh it out.
During the 1930’s we had Germany driving the world toward world war. Today, it is Islamo-Fascism that is playing that role, whether in the form of the terror networks like al-Qaeda, – or in hegemony-seeking Islamic states such as Iran. Both are religious / messianic in nature. Hitler was a messiah figure, putting on pagan spectacles such as the Nuremburg rallies, where torchlight and hate drove and channeled the German nation to a frenzy. Der Fuhrer promised a 1,000 year reign, for his Nazi state which in the course of things, managed to transform even that nation’s Christianity into an altered paganized shell of its former self. As for Islam, they are expecting the Mahdi, or Islamic Messiah to emerge out of chaos to assume control, – in Jerusalem, – of a worldwide caliphate. It will vanquish and slaughter Christians and Jews, – setting up, – that’s right, – a 1,000 year reign. While Hitler fueled his socialist revolution with anti-Semitism and hate, – Islam is anti-Israel and thrives on a culture of death. It is a religious duty to war and slaughter in the name of Islam. [Christ even warned of this as recorded in John 16:2: “…the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service”.] Now the pursuit of an Islamic caliphate by the monsters of ISIS has given expression to that very thought with their persecution, beheadings and wanton slaughter of all who oppose them. Nazism and radical Islam both use religious motivation to animate their followers to pursue empire. In both cases, they are for the most part, opposed only by a decadent, pleasure-seeking West, – devoid of the will to even maintain its’ cultural heritage in the face of these religiously motivated zealots. In the 30’s, there was only the voice of Winston Churchill to cry out in the wilderness against the gathering storm. Today, there are a few watchmen sounding the alarm; – and only few are taking heed.
Even as I write this, forces are falling into place that are stoking the fires of inevitable conflict. Crises abound: In the Middle East, Israel, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, North Korea and on and on. Terrorism rears its ugly head. Russia is flexing its muscles in Europe and the Caribbean. Iran wants to go nuclear and a feckless Obama-lead US is offering to strike a deal that will let them achieve their goal. An EMP attack could take out a large portion of the power grid. The leaders of Iran say they want to create the chaos that will allow the Mahdi, the Islamic messiah, (an Antichrist figure) – to come to power. Terror cells in this country are in place and are set to wreak havoc against the American infrastructure as best as they can. Our borders are open to infiltration by ISIS and al-Qaeda and Hezbollah. A war with Israel could quickly bring in much of the world. It would create opportunities for Russia and North Korea to make trouble, – and even for the Chinese to take American ally Taiwan. Once the US faced a major terrorist attack, freight, transport and borders would immediately be shut down. Stocks of basic supplies would be gone within days. As food became scarce, there would be rioting and marauding bands would appear. But not to fear! American troops have been training to deal with that through the imposition of martial law. In response to any such crisis, civil liberties would be suspended. Martial Law would be invoked. Even General Tommy Franks, who led the initial successful stage of the Iraqi War, warned that the Constitution would not likely survive the next major terror strike. This is not play. We are facing a very real time, when our world will change. The real question is: Just how will we deal with it? What can we do? Where do we turn? What does God’s word say about His provision in these times?
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