 The “mark of the beast” made it way into the news this week. Three Square Market, a Wisconsin firm that deals in cafeteria kiosks brought in a tattoo artist who helped them put microchips underneath the skin of 40 employees who volunteered to receive them. This event led to a front page article in USA Today on August 4th.
The article was aimed at dispelling fears that these individuals had received the mark of the beast - mentioned in Revelation 13. For this reason it was a valuable article because certain things have to be true for someone to be receiving the mark of the beast. First, let us look at some biblical facts about this time in future prophetic history. The person called, “the beast” has to have been revealed to the world. As of yet, this has not happened. There is not yet a world leader who is galvanizing the entire planet under his evil leadership. Neither is there a world leader who has been horribly injured in the head and has miraculously recovered. There is not this world leader who has the whole earth following him and worshipping him. Nor is there a second beast that has come to be a spokesman for the first one - performing great signs and wonders - even having fire fall from heaven. This second beast has yet to call the world to make an image of the first beast who had the wound in the head from which he recovered. And finally, this second spokesman, whom Bible scholars call the false prophet, has not made a worldwide cashless system of finance - a system that doesn’t allow anyone who does not have the “mark of the beast” to buy and sell anything. All these things are in plain sight for anyone who desires to read Revelation 13. So, since these things have not happened - and since this mark is voluntary - this is not it. There is a comment made in this USA Today article from a Wheaton College professor of New Testament, Chris Vlaschos, that is very instructive for us. “I think this is more of a fulfillment of end times novels and movies than the Book of Revelation itself.” That is instructive for us in that is reminds us to be fixed on the Scriptures rather than a really cool movie or novel. One of the things that saddens me is how the whole area of Bible Prophecy has been coopted by the novel and movie writers. Their focus is too often given to the fantastic and the attention getting minutia that surrounds what is actually written in Scripture - rather than the Scriptures themselves. Take for instance the recent hysteria over “blood moons” - and now currently the same kind of religious “freaking out” about the way the stars of the heavens will be configured on September 23rd of this year. For years I’ve read and watched one claim after another made that “this is the date” because of something that has rarely ever happened. Such things make for great book and video sales - but honestly - have had little if anything to do with what is actually given to us in the Word of God. As we can see from a basic reading of Revelation 13 - these events in Wisconsin are not the beginning of the rule and reign of the beast - or of the mark of the beast which will come in that time. If we are to get anything from this story it is that there are now technologies that can insert something as small as a grain of rice under our skin which can then be used to interact with computers and other devices. This device is called an RFID - which stands for Radio Frequency Identification. This is the use of radio waves to read and capture information stored on a tag attached to an object. Even Vlaschos says that though this may not be the opening volley of the apocalypse, it may be a slippery slope. Such technology had great opposition when it first came out - but now - as seen from the 40 who receive it voluntarily - it is becoming more and more accepted by our culture. Another comment made in the article caught my attention. Three Square Market, the company involved in the story, sees these RFID chips as a way for greater convenience - and then added - “ . . . would like to see payments go cashless.” Of all the statements in the article, this was the one that grabbed me. There will be a cashless society in those last days - one in which a device maybe very similar to this will be used to restrict all buying and selling. So what do we learn from all this? First of all - I would hope that we would learn the biblical exhortation to, “ . . . not go beyond what is written.” If I want to know whether something is a sign of the coming apocalypse, I’ll check it against what is written in the Bible. To blindly accept things simply because some “end-times guru” has written another book or made another movie - is to fall into the trap of which we are warned in 2 Thessalonians. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12 NASB (emphasis mine) This is a vital lesson! We are warned again and again in the Scriptures that these last days will feature many who come with statements that are not based in the truth. The ONLY WAY we will know the difference is to “receive the love of the truth.” The other admonition given to us is that we should test the spirits to make sure that they are from God. It might also be a good reminder that the book is called, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ.” When people talk about it - their focus should be on Him being revealed. When the topic is some cockamamie theory that requires page after page of exegetical gymnastics (and honestly they usually have little to no exegetical content at all), we should simply turn our gaze onto the Word of God - and - the One we should be awaiting - our Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
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This morning I was studying in Isaiah chapter 2 and was confronted by God in the passage. That is not a strange thing because in Isaiah 2 God is confronting His people. He was confronting them because they were no longer “walking in the light of the LORD.” When we read this we should understand that this means walking with God as the One lighting our path. The Psalmist put it best when God inspired him to write the words, “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105) Walking in the light of the LORD means that we are surrendering ourselves to Him and to His Word daily. We are turning to Him daily to teach and to lead us in the right way. He is the One influencing us more than anything else in life. When this is not the case, we are walking in very dangerous paths.
God confronted Israel because He was no longer the dominant influence in their lives. A creeping worldliness had come into their lives and was bringing with it dire consequences. Here is a list of what they were slowly succumbing to in their lives.
God’s answer to a culture and a people who no longer valued His influence was to reveal “the terror of the Lord and the splendor of His majesty.” The way to deal with proud, arrogant, self-sufficient men is to humble them – and to humble them hard. God was going to humble the proud arrogant look of men who disdained Him. He was going to deal with the loftiness of men who ignored Him. He speaks of a “day or reckoning” which will affect the entire earth. So great will be the horror of those days that men will retreat into caves and holes in the ground, throwing their idols to the moles and bats. Every exalted thing of man will be abased so that the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. Now such language and such situations are not mentioned much any longer in our day. The God of the American 21st century is a God who loves – and whose love is seen only in good things. Just listen to the preaching of our day. No one is out there writing down the sin of the nation with an iron stylus. The prophets of the 21st century are prophesying only good, favor, pleasing words, and nice things. No one weeps any longer over the wound of the church – which is infected and foul – not pressed out – not treated – not bandaged. It is a day when they say to the prophet of God, “Shut up and quit speaking of judgment and wrath! Speak to us only pleasant things and ‘good prophecies!’” All the while the land mourns the sins that run rampant – often with the approval, or at least the unwillingness to confront them that continue to infect the church itself. We no longer speak against the practices of heterosexual and homosexual immorality. That is cultural suicide! We cannot speak of the exclusivity of Jesus as the only way of salvation – that is bigoted and anti-multicultural! Thus the church sits silently by fiddling her cool, new praise songs as Rome (the church in this scenario) burns. God alone will be exalted in that day! That is the instruction God offers to us. That is His confrontation of this self-drunken age. When God comes in the terror of the Lord and the splendor of His majesty – men will hide themselves and humble themselves. His word thunders through Isaiah His prophet, “Stop regarding man, whose breath of life is in his nostrils! Why should he be esteemed?” So the question to us is simple. Who or what is most influential in our lives? What is the influence that is dominating our thinking and our living today? If it is not God Himself and His Word – we are making a monumental – no an eternal mistake! I do not know how this humbling will come. Currently it may come through Russia or through a horrific terrorist attack. I recently heard of swarms of small earthquakes around the area of Old Faithful in Yosemite National Park – an area where some fear a super volcanic eruption might occur. A North Korean EMP attack could send our economy and culture back to the 1700-1800’s with untold disaster following. How will it come? I honestly have no idea. Will it come? I honestly have little to no doubts. We have left our God – we have been filled with influences that are absolutely contrary to His. Our pride and arrogance has risen to levels never known before in our nation. And . . . our pulpits and prayer altars are sadly and strangely quiet. May God have mercy on us – for that is our only hope.  Over the years that I’ve studied Bible prophecy, especially that of the last days, there has been a nagging question in my head about what I would read. That question was always, “Where is the high levels of technology?” For all the fantastic interpretations of the beasts and locusts that turn them into helicopters and other things - I just did not see the prevalence of technology that I thought I would see in an end times scenario. Sure, the mark of the beast may be some sort of microchip, and the ability for every eye to see Jesus or the two witnesses in Jerusalem might be the ability of events to be televised globally. Also we might be dealing with someone in the first century seeing things that would honestly blow anyone’s mind who was seeing 21st century technology with a first century understanding of life. But lately, I’ve been looking at information that would help make sense of a world pushed back from its technological moorings.
Most of this has been revisited because of the current problems we are having with North Korea - and the threats that nation has been making against ours. One of the things that is fascinating is the ongoing scenarios where either a nuclear weapon is detonated in the United States - or just an EMP blast took place at a higher altitude. The affects of a nuclear blast are fairly well known - although we would be talking about a nuclear explosion at least 10 times the size of those that happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But the prospect of an EMP blast high above our nation is something I’m not sure any of us could truly grasp. If such a detonation were to take place it would pretty much cripple the electrical grid almost everywhere in the United States. The aftermath of such an attack would be truly disastrous. Some who work in the Homeland Security Department believe that the fatalities from such an attack could run in the millions - even up to 10 million or more. This is not because of any fallout or any explosive event - but rather due to the crippling of our infrastructure. There would be a nationwide blackout, as well as the destruction of all of our electronic infrastructure that is not protected by some sort of shield that filters out the EMP pulse from the explosion. Dr. Peter Vincent Pry, a former Congressional EMP Commission member, paints a very powerful picture of what such an attack would bring on our nation. A significant EMP attack carried out high above the skies of the United States would take town the nation’s electronic infrastructure. Electronic systems of all kinds - computers, networks, and communication systems would all be down for at least months if not years. Currently all the systems that provide fuel, food, banking, medical, and transportation in our nation would be destroyed. All our electronic shipping and banking systems would be gone in a flash. Pray stated, “It would be, literally, a new stone age. In recent days the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong Un, has threatened to destroy America, warning of “nuclear thunderbolts” that would bring judgment to us. But what should deeply concern us is that we are not just talking about transcontinental ballistic missiles fitted with nuclear warheads, there have been two satellites that are in orbit that could carry out the attack as well. Pry explained in an interview recently that North Korea launched two satellites into strange orbits around the earth. Their orbits have them approach our country from the southern regions of the globe, where we do not have adequate early warning systems in place. There are also no missiles in place that could intercept an attack from these satellites. Pry, who is not the executive director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security, and direct of the U.S. Nuclear Strategy Forum, has made his thoughts known alone with a field of experts in this field. “All of us,” Pry states, have written that we think that the threat, the possibility of a super-EMP warhead is so great, the United States should take North Korea’s satellites down. We ought not tolerate them orbiting, because nobody knows for sure what’s on the satellites.” Pry went on to add that such an attack would render the United States, “blind and defenseless.” Jim Oberg, an American scientist and retired Space Shuttle Mission Control Specialist is also concerned about these satellites. Oberg was on of a few American scientists who visited North Korea’s Sohae space launch site. In a Space Review article Oberg said the following” ”There have been fears expressed that North Korea might use a satellite to carry a small nuclear warhead into orbit and then detonate it over the United States for an EMP strike.” Oberg went on to say, "These concerns seem extreme and require an astronomical scale of irrationality on the part of the regime. The most frightening aspect, I've come to realize," he said, "is that exactly such a scale of insanity is now evident in the rest of this ‘space program.” There was an enormous amount of money put into this program - and the observers like Oberg were not convinced at all that the program was not military in nature. Oberg’s concerns seem far more warranted now that a report from just over a year ago confirmed that North Korea's satellites are fully capable of performing a surprise EMP attack at an altitude and trajectory that evade U.S. National Missile Defenses. When I read these reports recently things began to make a little more sense. A world where we go from a technological giant into a stone age culture would be disastrous beyond imagination. The rampant spread of disease, starvation, and subsequent war (because we would be pretty much blind and defenseless) seem to fit the onset of the seal judgments of Revelation 6. In that chapter events happen where we see war, famine, pestilence, wild beast attacks, and massive persecution against believers take place. Are we in that time period now? I am not making a prediction that we are - but I am saying that we are in the midst of times that could easily come about due to the current world crises. If this is the case, what should we do? I will save those comments for my next article. In the meantime - watch, pray, and make sure that you are ready for His return.  My guess is that you did not know that every year on June 30th there is an event called, “Asteroid Day.” Most consider the thought that a situation like the one portrayed in the movie, “Armageddon” is highly unlikely. Although a strike the size of the one depicted in that movie is very unlikely, one that is devastating in its effect is not. The very date of Asteroid Day reminds us of this fact.
Asteroid Day is celebrated on June 30th because on that date Tunguska, Siberia had an asteroid strike from an object less than 100 feet in diameter (imagine about an 7 to 8 story building as wide as it is high). This happened in 1908. One would think a strike like that would create damage - but when one looks at the extent of the damage, it is astounding what happened on that day. The Tunguska asteroid exploded before it actually hit the earth - at an altitude equal to that of commercial airliner (about 15,000 to 20,000 feet). The explosion severely damaged an area around 800 square miles and flattened tens of millions of trees across the region. The explosion was equal to that of a medium-sized hydrogen bomb - or several hundred times more powerful than the atomic explosion that hit Hiroshima. The reports from this event listed no human casualties that we know - but several hundred reindeer were burned to little more than charred carcasses. A more recent asteroid strike (much smaller than the Tunguska asteroid) hit the city of Chelyabinsk in Russia in 2013. This event shattered windows for miles around the area and injured a thousand people or more. The reason all this information becomes important is because the Bible prophesies about two events that happen during the great tribulation. In Revelation chapter 8 we read the following prophesy: Revelation 8:8-11 (NASB) 8 The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood, 9 and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed. 10 The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waters. 11 The name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter. These two events eerily sound like - and look like possible asteroid events. Because of their close proximity to one another - some think that they could be two asteroid strikes that happen close to each other. Both speak of astounding devastation brought to the earth - one involving the sea - and the other involving rivers and springs on the land. Both involve descriptions of either a mountain or a star falling from the heavens - and are said to be burning with fire or like a torch. These both follow the pattern that we know about what asteroids look like as they enter earth’s atmosphere. For those of us who believe the Bible to be God’s inerrant revelation of Himself with a perfect record of prophetic fulfillment - these are not idle predictions. They are eventual facts concerning what WILL happen. What is fascinating right now, though, is the current things being done to avoid such a scenario. Recently both NASA and FEMA had what they called a Planetary Protection Exercise that sought to simulate the earth being hit by a 330 foot asteroid hitting earth. The exercise sought to simulate what would be needed if an asteroid strike happened in the Los Angeles area in the year 2020. The exercise involved a simulation of a mass evacuation of the Los Angeles areas as well as dealing with casualties in the tens of thousands. After the exercise Paul Chodas, the manager of NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., made it clear in an email that there was no significant chance of an asteroid of this size hitting earth in the next century. The center does however, list 659 asteroids that have some probability of striking the planet. “Nevertheless,” Chodas added, “we must continue searching for asteroids in case there is one that is heading our way.”. Although those in the Asteroid searching role state that there is little chance of a large asteroid hiding earth, some other interesting plans seem to be in motion now. “Sentinel,” a proposed new space based B612 telescope, has been proposed. It is intended to find asteroids about 450 feet wide, although it will also find many that are smaller. The mission would cost $450 million — $250 million to build the spacecraft and $200 million to operate it for a decade. In another development NASA engineers and scientists detailed plans for a rocket that would seek to intercept harmful asteroids. The rocket would be tipped with a B83 warhead that is about 75 times as powerful as the one that hit Hiroshima. Other scientific studies suggest that a large rocket could be build to deflect off a smaller asteroid with the intended effect of causing the asteroid to veer into a different course that misses earth. All these things were merely fanciful science fiction thoughts until recently. It seems the scientific and engineering communities are becoming more concerned with stopping such a situation. One can only surmise what kind of scenarios and what kind of remedies will be added to those already suggested to protect our planet. But if the Scriptures are true - which those of us who study the Bible believe they are - then there is a certainty that such days ARE coming in the future. The only major difference between the scientists and engineers and Bible believing Christians is this. Those who hold to the Bible know that there is nothing that can or will be done that will prevent Revelation 8:8-11 from happening just as God prophesies it will. All we can do is be ready because WHEN that day comes - no one - not even Bruce Willis and all of Hollywood will be able to stop it.  One of the interesting things that is often overlooked by those studying the decline of the true Church and the Word of God in a society is how persecution begins and grows. The persecution that follows is often carried out by the apostate church that aligns itself with society rather than with God’s Word. One of the things I will predict (and it is kind of unfair for me to call it a prediction - because it is more like a re-visit to what has already happened in history) is that when persecution breaks out against the true Church in the United States, it will often be carried out by the apostate church that aligns itself with our immoral culture.
A quick visit to Biblical history may be informative. Once Israel was delivered from Egypt, the majority of the problems and difficulties for Moses and those representing the true work of God came from the religious sector of Israel. The group led by Dathan and Abiram wanted a religion which morphed with what they did in Egypt. They were very uncomfortable with the radical laws and ways being given by Jehovah God. David’s problems stemmed as much from Saul who did not follow God fully than they did the ungodly nations that surrounded them. The people who killed the prophets were the apostate Jews who had perverted the worship of Jehovah with the customs of the nations. And who was it that eventually turned Jesus over to the Roman authorities to carry out their murderous designs - oh, that’s right, it was the Jewish religious authorities. In Acts 22:4 Paul remembered that he had “persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prison.” Where did Paul get the authority to do this? He got it from the Jewish religious leaders. It is a consistent thing that the ones who hold to a form of religion, but lose it’s power and the truth of the Scriptures - will be primary persecutors of those who hold fast to these things. Those who believe the gospel to be the power of God and the only way of salvation will soon be seen to be narrow minded. Those who hold to the righteousness of God shown to us in the Word of God will be seen this way as well. Cultural Christianity will reject God’s Way (the gospel) and they will also reject God’s righteousness and embrace the way culture leads them in regard to morals. This will eventually manifest itself in a hatred of the true Church and the way they interpret Scripture. The cultural church will be far more fond of those who see Scripture more broadly. They will align themselves with those who favor a cultural interpretation of Christianity, rather than a Bible that instructs culture on moral issues. They do not want God’s righteousness or God’s way and those who hold to it will become seen as strange and different. They look down on them as ignorant and intolerant. They call them backward - and whatever “ist" is in style at the moment - racist, sexist, or maybe homophobic or sexually repressed. Whatever makes those who hold to biblical righteousness look bad. There is a principle behind this. It is revealed to us in the book of Galatians. Paul says this about those in the Spirit versus those in the flesh. “But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also.’ Galatians 4:29 (NASB) As it was between Issac and Ishmael - it will also be between those born according to the flesh and those born according to the Spirit. The “cultural church,” which is not born again, will continue to make decisions to ape the culture as the pressure of the culture pushes the false church to adopt ungodly views. The true Church, which consists only of those born according to the Spirit, will not be willing to make unbiblical compromises. As animosity grows toward the true Church for its unpopular stands for righteousness that animosity will be held especially by those who have suppressed the truth by their unrighteousness. Persecution - even violent persecution will follow after this rejection of the truth. Let me give you an example of what we are seeing now - which will grow in the months and years to come. When someone posts that they have openly identified with homosexuality the reactions and posts that follow are almost always positive. They are congratulated for their new identification of themselves in this way. They are often even told or affirmed that God has made them this way. If someone has the audacity to respond otherwise, the bashing will begin - and often it will be unmerciful. If the person identifies as a Christian and states the Bible as the place where they got their views - it will not go well for that person. We’ve watched as it has become clear that CEO’s, sports figures, spokespersons, Chiefs of fire departments, and even down to bakers and pizza makers are going to be punished if they espouse and desire to hold such views. Currently this is primarily cultural pressure in the form of protest and boycotts. But in time it will wind up being codified into law - and the price for being a Biblical Christian will become much higher. So what do we DO? Saints, we have no other option than to continue to hold fast the Word of God as our standard. We don’t do this with a hateful and vindictive attitude. But we do speak the truth in love - which means we use wisdom as to when we speak, but if necessary, we speak. It is my opinion that Biblical Christianity is incompatible with sin. Whenever someone or some group seeks to align certain lifestyles and choices of sin as being OK with God, it will become abundantly clear that God no longer aligns with them. I am not saying that culturally they will decline. They may expand on the cultural level. But you will not find the Spirit or the presence of God among those who call what God calls sin - and acceptable lifestyle. We watched a generation in the 1960’s tout “free love” which is honestly nothing more than bondage to heterosexual immorality outside marriage. In time what the Bible calls fornication was renamed living together. As more time passed culture embraced this - although God never has (and never will). Culture continued to push its agenda - which meant having to deal with all the pregnancies that resulted from the cost of this so-called free love. From that came the culture of abortion on demand. A baby no longer was the result of sexual activity which called for responsibility to be taken by the man and woman who fornicated and now had a baby. They were not called to be responsible for their choice to be sexual immorality. Once again there was a choice to recast this situation into a more socially acceptable mold. No longer a baby - now it was a blob of tissue that belonged to the woman. It was now a part of a woman’s body, and she could do with it whatever she wanted. She could be rid of it in the first trimester - then the second - and eventually up to the moment the “whatever it was now” was to be born - at which point if the mother wanted it - it was a baby. The Bible warns that a society that rejects God - will reject God’s morality. This would begin in heterosexual immorality that rejects marriage as a prerequisite to sex. But in time things would move from heterosexual immorality toward homosexual acts. (All this is written for us in Romans 1:18-32) The Word of God says that all homosexual acts are sinful. God intended for a man and a woman to be married before they engaged in sexual activity. When it comes to two men or two women - God called all homosexual acts sinful. But as culture pushed back eventually, as we are seeing today, the culturally accepted church began to call acceptable what God can never call acceptable. Now there are growing numbers of people - and even theologians and Christian writers who say that God can bless homosexual marriage. The true Church cannot go with this - because God’s Word does not. In time the rhetoric toward those who continue to hold to Biblical righteousness will grow more and more strident. That will one day give way to the cultural church persecuting the true Church. They will do this first with words (which is already happening) and eventually with culturally accepted legal acts (because the laws will eventually call the Biblical standard espoused and taught to be hate speech). From there it is only a matter of time until violence against the “haters” will be acceptable. What is fascinating is that if we think the issue is sexual activity we are behind the times. The best way to blur all sexual morality is to deny that gender itself is nothing more than a personal choice. You are not assigned a sex at birth by God - either male or female. Your sexual activity is not governed by what biological sex you are. You have the right to such radical autonomy that you can choose whatever sex you want to be - and change it as often as it suits you. The next Supreme Court overstep will be to abolish biological gender to the ash heap of societal rejection. This is going to be fought over what bathroom (and eventually locker rooms too) you choose to use. Those who stand in the way will be called intolerant, gender lords who want to impose a gender on you rather than allow you to embrace your inner gender based on - well - based on whatever you want to it to be at the moment. Complete autonomy is the goal. Whatever a person declares to be right is right. That is unless someone declares the Word of God to be right where it defines things like gender and sexuality. THAT VIEW IS JUST WRONG! This is how the persecution of the real Church by the cultural church will happen - and actually is happening today. We are watching the fact that Biblical Christianity is untenable to those who celebrate the sexual revolution (and by the way the revolt is against God and what He says is sexually moral). Watch as this will be the path upon which persecution will travel with increasing speed. And saints - in pains me to say that we will also watch - as generations have before us have - that the willing accomplices in that persecution will often be the culturally accepted church which rejects the clear teaching of Scripture. I don’t want to hasten it. I don’t enjoy it - nor do I even want to see it. Yet, my precious brothers and sisters in Christ, it is coming. We just need to make sure that our response is one of The Truth spoken in love. We will also need to remember that God’s kingdom will not be advanced in this hour by violent, angry, armed force. May God give us grace to respond by holding fast to the Word of God. May we respond, if necessary, with the proof of our very blood if that is what faithfulness to Christ requires. And may God have mercy upon us so that our testimony would be like that of the faithful fathers who have gone before us.  November 8th is approaching quickly - what to do - what to do!? That is the scenario that most of us face as we watch the time when we will step into a voting booth and express our right and responsibility to be patriots. The problem we also face is how to be both a patriot in the United States and also be a Christian in our conscience. To be perfectly honest with you - I am also in the throes of such a decision. I continue to pray about it - read to become better informed - and maybe - just maybe fret about it a little more than I should (Told you I was going to be honest).
First of all, I need to be candid. I will not under any circumstances vote for the Democrat Party or their standard bearer Hillary Clinton. The Bible teaches us that the life in the womb does have rights. It may not have rights in the eyes of the Democrat party or in the eyes of their presidential candidate - but God’s authority is infinitely higher than theirs - and He says that the precious baby in the womb is His masterpiece. God forbid that I would do anything to strengthen the hands of those who add innocent blood through abortion to the massive amount we’ve already spilt advancing erotic freedom without responsibility. I also cannot vote for this agenda because I am not in agreement with giving the LGBT community a carte blanche to rewrite the first amendment to the Constitution so that religious freedom is stamped out via the revisionist decisions made by the Supreme Court. There are a host of other reasons that would take too long to list here, but suffice it to say that until the agenda in the Democrat party changes - I will be casting no votes for any of their candidates. Now to the much harder part of the coming election. Can I vote for a man like Donald Trump - who if he said and acted toward my wife or daughters in the manner in which he has - I wouldn’t want him to be in charge of anything - other than his own reformation of character? If I can do this - what would I be sacrificing as a believer and as someone who holds to a biblical definition of character? (all the time knowing that I don’t even measure up in some areas myself - thank God for His grace and gift of righteousness through Jesus Christ!) That is where I am having such a difficult time - even today. These are matters that I will have to continue to wrestle with for a few more weeks. Eventually I will go into a booth and vote my conscience - and hopefully support someone who will lead our country, albeit haltingly, in a somewhat better direction that it is currently being led. Each time I consider that - I am no more excited than I was before. If you began reading this hoping I would come up with some magic formula to make this easier - I’m sorry that you will be disappointed. God has begun taking me in another direction - even as I continue in the quandary over how to cast a vote that will in some way honor Him. It has always been a comfort to me to remember God’s sovereignty in this world. That sovereignty can both change the direction of a nation toward righteousness - or allow a nation that turns from Him to descend into ruin. Both are seen clearly in Scripture - especially when it refers to His people. God began putting the question into my heart, “What are we going to be doing on November 9th?” If Trump is elected, and that is a big “if” will all our problems be solved? I am so glad to see so many prayer meetings and special times of prayer being called. It is an encouraging thing to watch God’s people pray. But can I ask if we will be praying after the election? Will we have the same passion to pray - when maybe, and it is a big “maybe” Hillary Clinton may be elected president of the United States? Are our hopes so set on electing one candidate over the other that we are blind to the spiritually desolate condition of the church in the United States of America? Are we so set on protecting our Constitutional rights that we are deaf to God’s call for bus to lay down all our rights for the sake of His gospel and His kingdom? Will we be so depressed that Christians were so divided over - and let’s be honest about this - such a divisive candidate that we don’t see our need to come together over a greater need of loving one another and living to glorify God and advance His gospel - no matter what form or perversion of our government that will exists after this election? Will the upward call of God in Christ Jesus be enough to motivate us to pray as passionately after the election as the political call to win an election over the ungodly agenda of the Democrat party? I hope and pray the answer to such questions is that we will pursue God with greater passion - knowing that no government has ever been able to extinguish the glorious light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The early church and the persecuted church have shown us that regardless of those who reign in the realms of men - God still reigns over the hearts of His people. They had no political standing and yet turned the world upside down. They advanced the gospel through their willingness to lay down the lives for Jesus Christ. They advanced the work of God with no favor in the courts - no favor with the emperor - and often with great persecution from others within their society. Yet God prevailed. The one thing God is graciously allowing me to begin to see is that when it comes to His gospel and His plan and purpose - neither Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton will prevail over it. God is sovereign - and His eternal purpose WILL PREVAIL. I hope you will forgive me for quoting such a long section of Scripture as I close this article - and engage in a little exegesis as well - but here we go. Paul wrote something we need to grasp - prior to a call for prayer. We might need to see it again - in light of our current circumstances. To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; 10 so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. 11 This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him. Paul makes it clear that our purpose is to “preach the unfathomable riches of Christ” which is the riches made available to us in His gospel. This glorious message has been being presented to our world since it began. It truly began to mean something to us at the Fall - when our sin meant separation from God - and the prospect of eternal punishment for such a foolish rebellion. This message is called the “manifold wisdom of God” which is supposed to be being made known to all “through the church.” This plan and purpose - that the gospel be proclaimed through the church is in accordance with God’s eternal purpose. LET ME PUT THIS IN ALL CAPS - NOT BECAUSE I’M MAD - BUT BECAUSE IT IS IMPORTANT. GOD’S ETERNAL PURPOSE IS THAT THE CHURCH LIVE AND PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE WORLD. According to Paul it is through the relationship we have with Christ Jesus our Lord - that we have boldness and a confident access to God - so that we might carry out this purpose! 13 Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory. Paul also states. in one small sentence, the reality of his life as he lives to accomplish God’s eternal purpose of preaching the gospel to the world. He is facing tribulations - troubles - trials - hardships - beatings - all because he chooses to embrace God’s eternal purpose. He tells them, “not to lose heart” at the tribulations he is facing. Instead he says that those tribulation are for your glory! What?! Yes - it is our glory to see that living for and preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ will involve tribulations. In fact Jesus Himself told us that we would be treated just like He was if we embraced true discipleship. So where does this lead us? Paul had to preach the gospel in a hostile environment - without political support - facing persecution and difficulty. Yet he spoke of boldness and confidence in the midst of it. HOW!? 14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. 20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. - Ephesians 3:8-21 Paul knew the true battle was not for a political win over society - but over the manifestation of Christ dwelling in the hearts of His people. He knew the true battle was that we all would be rooted and grounded in love for God and one another. He knew the true battle would be to know the breadth, length, height, and depth of the love for Christ. This is a love for the Father. This is a love for one another. This is a love for the lost. It is even a love for those who hate us, persecute us, and speak evil falsely of us on account of our embrace of Jesus as Lord. And this battle was so that we might be filled up to all the fullness of God Himself - as His Holy Spirit works in and through us to preach the gospel, speaking the truth in love. Paul also promised that this battle was going to be won on our knees as we trusted in the one who as able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or imagine - according to the power with which God will work in us and through us. This battle was to see God glorified in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever! Dearest precious saints of God - on November 9th our calling will be the same as it was prior to the election. It will be to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. It will be to love one another as Christ has loved us. It will be to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth for the glory of God. It will be to see the glory of God shine ever brighter THROUGH His church! So - regardless of whether Trump or Clinton become president - our purpose remains an eternal one. And just as Paul has indicated through the Spirit in Ephesians - HOW MUCH MORE DOES THAT CAUSE CALL US TO PASSIONATE PRAYER! Oh pray, dear saints - pray prior to this election. But please, I beg you, please don’t think all is lost if it does not turn out as you hope and pray. Regardless of who is our president - our Lord still reigns supreme! So, therefore, let us be bold, be loving, be prayerful, and always be abounding with hope that our work in the Lord is NOT in vain! And may that work always be to take the gospel of Jesus Christ everywhere for the glory of God!  For the past several days I’ve been reading through the book of Jeremiah. The prophet Jeremiah lived in a day much like our own. It was a day when the nation of Israel was turning from the Lord and was beginning to experience more and more problems as God’s discipline rose in its intensity. I hope that you realize that for the past several decades (actually more like the past 50-60 years) we’ve been turning from the Lord as a nation. The result of that has been a steady diet of God’s discipline as He seeks to bring us back to Himself. I could go into detail on what that discipline looks like – but instead want to give a perspective from Jeremiah on what the religious world looks like in a time of decline. That is what chapter 23 of Jeremiah details for us. If you want to stop at this point in the article and read Jeremiah 23 feel free to do so – it might help in giving you a better context for this article.
One of the things that happens in a nation in decline is that the men of God meant to preach and declare God’s Word – stop doing that task. It is not a pleasant task to be those who help act as the conscience of a nation – yet without them, that nation will find itself plunging into ruin as sin abounds. What had happened in Judah was that their prophets and priests had decided to turn to a “more positive message” than that of declaring that the nation had sinned and needed to repent. Look at these passages from Jeremiah 23. "Moreover, among the prophets of Samaria I saw an offensive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray. Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: The committing of adultery and walking in falsehood; and they strengthen the hands of evildoers, So that no one has turned back from his wickedness. All of them have become to Me like Sodom, and her inhabitants like Gomorrah.” Jeremiah 23:13-14 (NASB) Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; they speak a vision of their own imagination, not from the mouth of the LORD. They keep saying to those who despise Me, 'The LORD has said, "You will have peace"'; and as for everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart, they say, 'Calamity will not come upon you. But who has stood in the council of the LORD, that he should see and hear His word? Who has given heed to His word and listened? Jeremiah 23:16-18 (NASB) "I did not send these prophets, but they ran. I did not speak to them, but they prophesied. But if they had stood in My council, then they would have announced My words to My people, and would have turned them back from their evil way and from the evil of their deeds. Jeremiah 23:21-22 (NASB) "I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy falsely in My name, saying, 'I had a dream, I had a dream!’ How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart, who intend to make My people forget My name by their dreams which they relate to one another, just as their fathers forgot My name because of Baal? The prophet who has a dream may relate his dream, but let him who has a My word speak My word in truth. Jeremiah 23:25-28 (NASB) "Behold, I am against the prophets," declares the LORD, "who use their tongues and declare, 'The Lord declares.' Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams," declares the LORD, "and related them and led My people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting; yet I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit," declares the LORD. Jeremiah 23:31-32 (NASB) To summarize – the spiritual leaders of God’s people had first let their own morals and character decline. As a result of their own sin – they were less likely to speak on sin – and therefore strengthened people in the same sins that were rampant in their own lives. The second passage related how, having grieved the Holy Spirit, they no longer had the Spirit leading them. What is a prophet to do when he has no prophecy from God’s Spirit? Why that’s easy – he prophesies from his own spirit instead. That is what they were doing – prophesying on their own – telling people what they wanted to hear – preaching peace where there was no peace – and helping people sin and think God was going to do anything about it. God even asks if any of them had stood in His counsel and received His Word. The answer to that was a resounding – NO! They spoke dreams and visions of their own making – or they stole stuff from other prophets who were popular among the people. God said that these “so-called” prophetic words, dreams, and declarations were not helping people at all. God’s Word would have declared to them their sin – and presented God’s remedy for it. They didn’t want that because that meant speaking of sin and repentance to the people. What is truly dangerous about all this is that in the end – the people love the new prophets! They are not “negative” and don’t speak of things like sin and repentance. They have a God who never judges – except against those who are judgmental! There is a haunting end to all this according to God – who speaks to Jeremiah. "Thus will each of you say to his neighbor and to his brother, 'What has the LORD answered?' or, 'What has the LORD spoken?' For you will no longer remember the oracle of the LORD, because every man's own word will become the oracle, and you have perverted the words of the living God, the LORD of hosts, our God. Jeremiah 23:35-36 (NASB) The end of all this is a complete loss of the Word of God among a nation – or at least a perverting of it. The men of God, who should be waiting on God for His Word, are no longer doing so. Instead they prophesy from their own inspiration and share their own “more positive” message. Before long – everyone can “learn” to prophesy – and they start to do so, which results in just about everyone thinking that they have, “a word from the Lord.” But what has actually happened is that the “Word from the Lord” has actually been lost. This is because as God says here through Jeremiah, “every man’s own word will become the oracle.” What happens is that everyone’s word is considered the Word of the Lord – because to say otherwise is to be judgmental and sectarian. The religious world looks very similar to the time of Judges when “every man did what was right in his own eyes.” The only difference is that in this situation – every prophet’s word becomes God’s message in his own life. God sent Jeremiah into the midst of this mess to declare His Word in the midst of it. It was a word of righteousness calling the people to repentance and return to God and the Word He gave in Scripture. It was a word that sounded harsh to that generation – because they no longer thought God to be a righteous God – who had absolute moral truth – and a godliness to be followed. It was also a word that warned that God WAS about to bring judgment to the world – and severe discipline to His people for their abandonment of Him. When they asked Jeremiah what the Word of the Lord was – he simply answered, “I will abandon you.” That is a difficult word to hear – especially for any generation like ours. But an even more terrifying word was coming to those men who were posing as prophets, priests, and men of God. To the ones who prophesied out of their own spirit – who turned from being God’s prophet – to being one who only seeks profit from being a prophet – God had an even harsher (yet perfectly righteous and just word). "Therefore behold, I will surely forget you and cast you away from My presence, along with the city which I gave you and your fathers. I will put an everlasting reproach on you and an everlasting humiliation which will not be forgotten." Jeremiah 23:39-40 (NASB) In the end – these posers faced not only their own demise – but also the demise of the entire nation whom they had led astray. They would be cast from God’s presence – along with the city (or maybe in our generation we can read “audience”) where they prophesied. They would receive an everlasting reproach and humiliation from God Himself for their wickedness. Saints of God – I don’t particularly enjoy having to write such things. But the fact of the matter is that we are living in Jeremiah’s day again in our nation. As we plunge head first into whole new depths of wickedness, sin, and depravity – the false prophets and dreamers are continuing to tell people that what they lack is health, wealth, and prosperity. You can turn on the religious TV stations and hear it again and again – with an appeal at the end for more of your money to help fund their wicked empires (and to get them a new jet which they say is a necessity for their ministry). Their preaching draws huge crowds and their “self-styled” and “self-inspired” words from God are providing absolutely no profit to the people – even as they do provide plenty of profit for the false prophet. In the end – both they and their hearers will be abandoned and given over to judgment. Oh that there were men of God who would wait in the presence of the Lord to declare the Word of the Lord to His people. Oh that God would raise up true prophets who would declare the sin of this nation to its people – so that there would be a benefit from their words. Oh dear God – where are the Jeremiah’s of God for this current generation!?  Recently, I found myself in a situation where I was frustrated over the horrible circumstances we now are experiencing together as a nation. I struggled because I wanted to make points in contradiction to what I thought were statements that were trying to paint me as a racist. After the incident was over - and it was not all that pleasant - I saw the problem we all face as we hear varying accounts - hear varying news reports (usually from one extreme or the other) - and face the battle over how we will think of things and respond to them.
When I got home that evening, I fired up my computer and decided to reread "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I wanted to read it because I knew it was addressed primarily to the religious clergy of the Birmingham area. As I read this wonderful letter again, I was reminded of the terrible plight of blacks in America - even after a Civil Was that supposed gave them their freedom from slavery - even after legislation was passed that sought to undo the unjust segregation and injustice that was still rampant 100 years after the Civil War. Particularly painful was rereading sections of Dr. King Jr's letter where he described the "degenerating sense of nobodiness" that began to cloud the mind of his 5 year old daughter - and that settled in like a infectious fog on the generations of black men and women who lived through the injustices of many generations. Please read these words that I am about to quote - because I think it may be helpful to those of us who have not had to deal with systemic prejudice and racism. "I guess it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say wait. But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick, brutalize, and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an air-tight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her little eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see the depressing clouds of inferiority begin to form in her little mental sky, and see her begin to distort her little personality by unconsciously developing a bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five year-old son asking in agonizing pathos: “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?”; when you take a cross country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading “white” men and “colored”; when your first name becomes “nigger” and your middle name becomes “boy” (however old you are) and your last name becomes “John,” and when your wife and mother are never given the respected title “Mrs.”; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tip-toe stance never quite knowing what to expect next, and plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness”;—then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over and men are no longer willing to be plunged into an abyss of injustice where they experience the bleakness of corroding despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience." (King, Dr. Martin Luther, "Letter from Birmingham Jail") Re-reading this letter was so helpful for me - in trying to begin to get a handle on just how difficult it has been - and in many ways still is - to battle injustice and feel like an entire system is against you. I have to admit that I don't know this - although there is a very real time when any Christian who believes and sets their standards by the Scriptures in regard to morality will face this kind of situation in our nation. I also must admit that neither do I fully grasp what it is like to be a police officer seeking to do the right thing - and facing a growing distrust and opposition. Guess you would like for me to get to the point of all this. Honestly, I am not sure yet of my point, except to say that I need to spend more time understanding others and hearing what they have to say. I need to not have my own knee-jerk reactions to things that frustrate me. Dr. King Jr. spoke of how the non-violence leadership he gave required those involved to do engage in a four-part preparation. I quote Dr. King Jr. again, "In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: (1) collection of the facts to determine whether injustices are alive; (2) negotiation; (3) self-purification; and (4) direct action." (King, Dr. Martin Luther, "Letter from Birmingham Jail") When I read this, I had to admit that I've not gone through these wise steps as I've encountered the difficult days which we've faced over the past couple of years. I realize that I need to do a better job of collecting facts about things - and not just reading one short article or listening/watching my favorite version of the news. I need to be better at negotiating - which I've come to realize means "listening" to those who are different than me. I need to do a much better job of "self-purification" so that my heart is brought into agreement with the heart of God and with the Prince of peace, Jesus Christ - rather than just quickly reacting to what I don't like about what I am hearing. And then finally - I need to do a far better job of hearing God about where I need to engage in direct action in seeking to be a peace-maker in a world that is increasingly being set on fire by words spoken too quickly and too harshly. The point I do want to make is this - too often I - and I hope I can say we without sounding too sanctimonious - have spoken in terms of "us vs. them" in what I've said in response to situations, laws, and court decisions over the past decade. It is still my desire to speak the truth in love (and by truth I refer to God's Word and a Biblical worldview). It is still my desire to keep the main thing the main thing (which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how it speaks to the ultimate issue of mankind's sin against God - a problem that affects every person alive on earth). But I would like to remember one last statement of Dr. King Jr. as I do these things. "Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all of their scintillating beauty." (King, Dr. Martin Luther, "Letter from Birmingham Jail") May God give us both wisdom and grace as we pursue such things and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which promises to make both sides in every issue into one new man in Christ Jesus - the only real hope against racism in ours or any other society.  I recently read an article on facebook that God used greatly in my life to bring about an awakening of sorts. The article is entitled, “Enjoy your transgender bathrooms. We just lost America.” Below is a link to the article. (I do need to warn you that the author uses one curse word in a description of our elected leaders – so please be aware of this in advance)
http://newbostonpost.com/blogs/enjoy-your-transgender-bathrooms-we-just-lost-america/ The author of this article does a good job and is very eloquent at identifying some of the problems in our nation. There is only one thing I noticed as I finished the article. I didn’t really see a whole lot of answers being offered – except to shut off the TV and the myriad of screens in our homes and enjoy the innocence of the writer’s little child. These are good things – but not enough to honestly see any change in the things that the author was seeing in our nation. In all candor, there honestly will be no real unity in our country until we realize just what we are "unifying" under in the area of our worldview. The division comes because we (and I include myself) are selfish, self-centered, and sinful. That will NOT change until the hearts of men and women are confronted by the Gospel for the purpose of being changed by that same Gospel. Then the gospel will facilitate and empower us to turn from self to God. Then God will change our hearts so that we will live for the glory of God and not the glory of our own self-love. HOW DO WE GET THAT TO HAPPEN!? It begins when I repent of MY sin - MY selfishness - MY self-centered living - MY lack of love for God - MY coldness and indifference to the glory and honor of God and to the fact that I am not living FOR HIM! It continues as I am broken - I return to Him with all my heart and all my soul - and then expend all my strength for His purposes once again. It grows as I then get right with MY wife - MY children - MY brothers and sisters in Christ - MY neighbors - and even with MY enemies (whom I should be loving and praying for - more than protesting against and being infuriated with for their practices, politics, and public ungodliness). This is not so that I can just sit and let society degrade and dissolve - but so that I can be in a position to actually DO something about the plight of our society and world. Real change will begin first and foremost with me being right with God, right with my family, and right with my brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ! The church has not been salt to preserve our world - or light to illumine it of its need of God (and by the way – we are the only real hope of either of those two things happening). The emptiness of our spiritual lives is what is killing our nation. It is not the emptiness of the wicked - but the emptiness that I MYSELF have and am promoting. I am promoting it by not being filled with the Holy Spirit. I am promoting it by lacking an impassioned love for my Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. I am promoting it by not loving God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength – and evidencing that love by being obedience to God. I am promoting it by not having my chief desire to be seeing Him honored and glorified by the proclamation of the gospel that will bring people into a right relationship with Him. This gospel is the ONLY thing that can truly alter people’s hearts and turn them to a pursuit of godliness out of a fear and love for God. Here is what I see - and it lets me know that things may not change very soon (but oh how I hope they do by the working and power of God). I personally pastor a small to medium church. Our prayer meetings - especially the one set on Wednesday night that is most convenient for people to attend - are empty for the most part. There is no great concern being poured out by the saints who should be the most concerned about these things. The other prayer times - most of which are in the mornings at 6 a.m. are for the most part empty as well. That speaks volumes to me - and to God as well. We may be concerned enough to post an article on facebook - or even comment or press LIKE when reading that article - but we are, as of yet, not moved enough by our circumstances to seek out a unity in prayer with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are not moved enough yet to cry out to God for His work of revival in our own hearts and in the church (which I truly believe is the only hope for us in our nation). I am not lifting myself up in this - because I've been delinquent in making the choice to go to bed early enough to make the early morning prayer meetings for about 2 weeks now (and for that I am currently ashamed of the coldness and hardness of my heart evidenced by my lack of commitment to pray together with a few brothers). I truly intend to change that immediately and ask for your prayers that my cold, indifferent heart would be revived and changed so that, as a pastor and supposed spiritual leader, I won’t continue to be part of the problem. The state of the church leads me to make the following prediction, which I believe to be in accord with what we see in Scripture. God will continue to allow things to fall apart further and with greater consequence until we are moved by how bad it gets - to finally turn to Him in personal - and then corporate prayer. He said in Matthew 5:13 that if the salt has lost its savor/flavor - it is good for nothing except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. Historically that has meant that the government of the nation in which the church finds itself will become more and more totalitarian and anti-Christian so that persecution will motivate us to turn to Him and seek Him once again. Please forgive me for sounding too adamant about all this. If you will grant me mercy, which I need desperately, I need to be the first one to read what I've written. I need to repent - and lead the way by example once again, and to do so by crying out to God for a personal revival, a revival among the men in our church, and then a revival in the whole church. And maybe, if God is merciful to the extreme, maybe a spiritual awakening in our land. But . . . even if He does not choose to do that in our nation, there should be no lack of revival in my own heart as I return to Him in repentance and a passionate pursuit of knowing, loving, and serving Him with all my heart. I am committed to doing this immediately. For you see – the falling of America is not due to a bathroom issue – a marriage issue – or a “ungodliness among the masses” issue. The fall of America has been due to a spiritually impotent church. The spiritual impotence of the church has been due to cold and hardened hearts among her pastors and leaders. Unless these things are FIRST addressed – there is little hope for our nation. May God have mercy on me - and on the United States of America.  Just musing on the future . . .
I am a pastor - and one who holds ultimate value in the Word of God and the Lordship of Jesus Christ in my life. As such I cannot compromise how I teach God's Word to fit how my culture views what God calls sin. I also cannot adopt how many in the church are altering the message of the Gospel to fit our culture's sexual revolution. (Just a note - that revolution began in the 60's when heterosexual immorality was embraced - not just in the 2000's with the most recent downward step into homosexual marriage and its legalization last summer by the courts). This places me squarely in the sites of those who at one time said all they wanted was tolerance - but who now have made it clear that they will not tolerate God's revelation on these matters. I am writing this now because the day will come when such things cannot be spoken or written without censure, severe fines, and eventually arrest. That is where our culture is going - that is where our nation is going - and that is what I am viewing at present in my mind's eye. I am neither a prophet nor a son of a prophet. But I am a student of history - both secular and biblical. Therefore here is what I see as I muse on the future. We are already living in a day when they will not put up with sound doctrine - but will gather to themselves teachers according to their own lusts. This will grow steadily worse - to the point where sexual immorality (especially "living together" and homosexuality) will rarely be mentioned. It will all be about love and tolerance and acceptance. There will be little mention of sin and how God points out exactly what sin is - and how He responds to it. Judgment will be a dirty word. In many ways the apostate church will be a tool in the hand of the enemy to attack the remnant on these matters. The statement will be something like this. "We need reasonable churches - not ones that dogmatically judge everyone according to 'their interpretation' of what the Bible means." This will be a rallying cry to shut down free speech not only in the public sector - but even within the walls of church itself. There will be a growing list of laws that hem in Biblical believers so that they cannot express their views in public. Those that do will find themselves facing the wrath of a legal system that no longer protects religious freedom when it comes to holding Biblical beliefs dealing with sin. There will be fines, re-education, and for those who continue to resist arrests. Businesses will be forced to conform to a "way of doing business" that is inclusive, except for how they treat biblical believers. Churches will be facing several changes that will soon be coming to us via the courts. There will be challenges to freedom of religion as the state forces itself into situations where the need for "thought conformity" is necessary. This will lead to first the church being told it can only preach within its walls - that internet access can be denied on the basis of hate speech (i.e. saying heterosexual and homosexual sin is wrong, gender is something assigned by God at birth). The air waves will slowly be shut down to churches as well, based on these same things. There will also be challenges to the tax exempt status of churches and gifts to them. Eventually tax exempt status and tax deductions for gifts will be either restricted (to government accepted churches) or done away with all together. The state will hold title to all benevolent giving - which will be based on their accepted guidelines (which will be politically motivated and doled out as reward for conformity to the state agenda). Eventually the psychiatric community will join the state in condemning outright those who hold to sexual immorality being sin. This will be seen as a mental disorder - making the way for some to be institutionalized for their beliefs. Pastor's sermons will become subject to law suits - if they are deemed by the state courts to contain the new definitions of hate speech. This will lead to bankruptcy for some churches - while others will accept court rulings to either fire their pastor or face serious fines and government backlash. Pastors who preach such things will be sent off to prison for "speech violations" or for re-education in some sort of internment camp. Many godly men will be detained, arrested, and will disappear in these situations. The true church will go underground in America. Facing these things - facing the loss of their leader(s) - facing the loss of their facilities - and facing the specter of losing their freedom - many will show their true colors and become apostate. They will either flock to government sanctioned churches - or will leave the things of God altogether. The church will shrink back to a size that matches those who are truly born again. It will seem sad and discouraging - but it will be a much godlier church - given to intercessory prayer - and willing to suffer for Christ any cost. There will be a brokenness that will prevail with the true remnant - and will lead to churches underground who glorify God in all they do. Many will risk gave danger to witness to others of the gospel - but oh what a glorious church it will be! Some may think I've lost my mind saying such things. Others may criticize for this sounding so defeatist. But I would only remind them that what I've described here is what has happened in the communist countries of the Soviet Union (now Russia), China, countries behind the former Iron and Bamboo curtain, and now is happening slowly in Europe and Canada. These countries are further down the road to Socialism than we are presently - but we seem to be gaining steam (Ominously so with the candidacy and success of Bernie Sanders at present). This actually is not any kind of prophecy - it is a history lesson. It is one that is NOT being taught to our children, because we've forgotten what sacrifices were made on our behalf to fight Communism and Socialism. As far as "negativism" or "defeatist" rhetoric - I can only answer that any true rallying cry needs to first swallow a cup full of realism first. I am about to issue a rallying cry - but it is one that will most likely be rejected - as it was throughout history - both biblical and secular. Church awake! These are not days in which we should falter or get lost in the midst of what is going on around us. These are days much like those Paul spoke of when he said this in Romans 13:11-14, "And this do, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts." (NASB77) Repent and return to Jesus Christ precious saints. The day is late - very late in our nation. The stakes are enormously high in an hour in which we must prepare our hearts to be "strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might." This should not shock us that the world hates us - because it hated Him and still does. It is a day to remember the height from which we have fallen, repent, and do the first works again. Works of seeking God's face - confession of sin - submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ - humbling ourselves and praying - and seeing our first love restored so that there is nothing - ABSOLUTELY NOTHING more precious to us than the Lord Jesus Christ. We are to remember that our battle is not against flesh and blood so violence is to be repudiated in our cause. We are to return to a white hot love for Jesus - a white hot love for one another in the church. We are to return to holiness, mortification of sin (our own), and a selfless, self-giving, gospel-centered, gospel-proclaiming life lived for the glory of God in all things. Saints - I am in the same place as all of you. Such things shake me and cause me to tremble. May it be that we tremble in fear of God and not in fear of man. May it be that our trembling and fear bring us back to Him - back to seeking, loving, and knowing Him as the greatest of all things in our lives. I dearly love all of you and only hope to be found, along with you, faithful to Him in this hour. May God have mercy on the church in the United States. - PJ - |
 What is the Prophecy/News Update?At Calvary Chapel of Jonesboro, we believe that history is moving toward fulfilling God's plans and purposes. In an effort to help us be prepared for His appearing - and also to chronicle news items you just won't see in the national media - this page is devoted to sharing those items and their possible significance to 
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