We Are Living in Exciting Times
-Bill Petite September 24 2015
As we survey the world around us each day, one might get the impression or idea that the whole world is going crazy and we are all doomed. Others might be thinking that things are finally going their way. Looking around at our own country, the US, we can see what has taken place in the recent years and see the advancement of gay rights in the military and the opinion, which is now law, of the US Supreme Court concerning gay marriage. Why do some Christians seem so surprised by this? If we know what the Bible teaches us concerning the end times, we know that these type of things are going to happen. Consider Israel before their exile; Israel had moved far away from God and His direction for them, they exchanged the truths of God for the worship of idols and false gods and were practicing detestable rituals such as offering their children up as sacrifices. The false god Molech was worshipped by these Israelites as they offered their children to him as a burnt offering. What that means is the children were burned alive in this sacrificial offering. Some have described this idol as the image of a man with crossed arms in a way which one would hold a baby. A fire would burn inside this idol and the children would be placed in his arms and thus the sacrifice was completed and the children burned alive in the arms of this idol. This is unbelievable! How gross and disturbing, right?! So, how much more disturbing is this practice from that of aborting and killing live babies in the wombs of their mothers? Is it any less disturbing when we consider abortion today? How about the treatment of body parts of these babies we have heard so much about in recent months? Is our society any more advanced than that of the pre-exiled Jews of ancient Israel? But, it is all cleansed by the phrase, "Women's Health." Does that make easier to hear? It shouldn't and most Christians do understand what is going on and do resist this nonsense and are outspoken concerning it. If you read through the books of 1-2 Kings, 1-2 Chronicles, Jerimiah, Ezekiel and the minor prophets of the old testament, you we see a lot of resemblance concerning Israel of that time and what we see going on in this country today. Of course, I am speaking how that is all in relationship to God and this country's opinion of Him.
Consider how the morals and values of this country have plummeted in just recent years. If you are over 40 years old, can you think of a television program, when you were a kid, which portrayed gays and their lifestyle? Today, it is an every day thing in the media; TV, movies, internet; it is flaunted and thrown in the face of us whether we agree or not. We witness the intolerance of tolerance. In other words, we are asked to be tolerant of the gay lifestyle but if we simply say we disagree with it, we are labeled a bigot and a homophobe! Oh yes, that is tolerance, right? But, should the followers of Jesus attack these people? Should Christians be mean and harshly critical of those trapped in the gay lifestyle? Should we act like Westover Baptist Church and hurl obscene words and gestures at them? The answer to these questions is no. We have to remember that people are people. We, before we were saved, all had our hang-ups and problems. Is the gay any different than the adulterer? Or the pedophile? Or the everyday unsaved sinner? No! We are all in need of the savoir, Jesus Christ, and only through Him can we be saved from our sin and sure destruction. The Apostle Paul tells us this in Romans,
I have said a lot in this post but at the heart of it's intent is the fact that we are living in exciting times. When we look around at the world and it's threats, the wars and conflicts, Islamic radicals believing in a demonic religious movement killing Christians daily and the sad state of parts of the Church where gay marriage is practiced and gays in ministry is the norm. We must be able to identify we are in the last of the last days. This is not meant to sound like some end times prophecy stuff, it is simply a call to know and be aware of the time we live in today, right now! Jesus can return at any time; we have been watching and witnessing the paving of the way for the anti-Christ. But, we should not live in fear but in hope because Jesus is coming soon and He will settle things once and for all.
As we survey the world around us each day, one might get the impression or idea that the whole world is going crazy and we are all doomed. Others might be thinking that things are finally going their way. Looking around at our own country, the US, we can see what has taken place in the recent years and see the advancement of gay rights in the military and the opinion, which is now law, of the US Supreme Court concerning gay marriage. Why do some Christians seem so surprised by this? If we know what the Bible teaches us concerning the end times, we know that these type of things are going to happen. Consider Israel before their exile; Israel had moved far away from God and His direction for them, they exchanged the truths of God for the worship of idols and false gods and were practicing detestable rituals such as offering their children up as sacrifices. The false god Molech was worshipped by these Israelites as they offered their children to him as a burnt offering. What that means is the children were burned alive in this sacrificial offering. Some have described this idol as the image of a man with crossed arms in a way which one would hold a baby. A fire would burn inside this idol and the children would be placed in his arms and thus the sacrifice was completed and the children burned alive in the arms of this idol. This is unbelievable! How gross and disturbing, right?! So, how much more disturbing is this practice from that of aborting and killing live babies in the wombs of their mothers? Is it any less disturbing when we consider abortion today? How about the treatment of body parts of these babies we have heard so much about in recent months? Is our society any more advanced than that of the pre-exiled Jews of ancient Israel? But, it is all cleansed by the phrase, "Women's Health." Does that make easier to hear? It shouldn't and most Christians do understand what is going on and do resist this nonsense and are outspoken concerning it. If you read through the books of 1-2 Kings, 1-2 Chronicles, Jerimiah, Ezekiel and the minor prophets of the old testament, you we see a lot of resemblance concerning Israel of that time and what we see going on in this country today. Of course, I am speaking how that is all in relationship to God and this country's opinion of Him.
Consider how the morals and values of this country have plummeted in just recent years. If you are over 40 years old, can you think of a television program, when you were a kid, which portrayed gays and their lifestyle? Today, it is an every day thing in the media; TV, movies, internet; it is flaunted and thrown in the face of us whether we agree or not. We witness the intolerance of tolerance. In other words, we are asked to be tolerant of the gay lifestyle but if we simply say we disagree with it, we are labeled a bigot and a homophobe! Oh yes, that is tolerance, right? But, should the followers of Jesus attack these people? Should Christians be mean and harshly critical of those trapped in the gay lifestyle? Should we act like Westover Baptist Church and hurl obscene words and gestures at them? The answer to these questions is no. We have to remember that people are people. We, before we were saved, all had our hang-ups and problems. Is the gay any different than the adulterer? Or the pedophile? Or the everyday unsaved sinner? No! We are all in need of the savoir, Jesus Christ, and only through Him can we be saved from our sin and sure destruction. The Apostle Paul tells us this in Romans,
As the Scriptures say,The world we live in is very immoral and anti-God. Just read any post or article which has anything to do with the Church, Christianity or God. Unless it is on some extremely conservative Christian site, the comments following the article will be anti-God and even border on some blasphemous remarks. Comments such as, "God doesn't exist, God is a fairy tale, God is a character fictionalized by radical religious nuts, there is no creator, God, if he exists, is a murderer, ect." Wow, and some Christians read these type of comments and feel defeated! Defeated? Why? What did Jesus tell His disciples and us in the gospels writings?“No one is righteous—
not even one.
No one is truly wise;
no one is seeking God.
All have turned away;
all have become useless.
No one does good,
not a single one.” Rom 3:10-12
“If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. JN 15:18-19If you are a Christian and you haven't figured out yet what the world's opinion of the Church is, you must get out more often. Satan is in charge of the world and all that goes on in the world. Those people who are not saved, the biggest part of them, don't believe that Satan exists and he loves that. When those who are in the world don't believe in the devil, he has them right where he wants them. He can manipulate them in any way he chooses. The people of this world who are not Christians live for one thing, self. They don't need anyone telling them how to live their lives or even the consequences of living it a certain way. The people who are totally involved in the schemes and lifestyles of this world will, as Jesus stated, hate Christians. Atheists groups are always looking for a way to disrupt the work of God. They look for any type of Christian display or item even close to a government facility and scream at the top of their lungs how wrong and against the law it is. The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) is always a leading organization in these activities. Atheists have taken over the religious structure of our military. Christian Chaplains cannot use Biblical type counsel when speaking to anyone in a private session. The use of Jesus' name in this counsel is taboo. There is a movement in the military to drive Christian Chaplains out of the service. Atheists have been demanding their own military chaplains. I'm not sure what those services would consist of but I know Jesus would not be a part of it.
I have said a lot in this post but at the heart of it's intent is the fact that we are living in exciting times. When we look around at the world and it's threats, the wars and conflicts, Islamic radicals believing in a demonic religious movement killing Christians daily and the sad state of parts of the Church where gay marriage is practiced and gays in ministry is the norm. We must be able to identify we are in the last of the last days. This is not meant to sound like some end times prophecy stuff, it is simply a call to know and be aware of the time we live in today, right now! Jesus can return at any time; we have been watching and witnessing the paving of the way for the anti-Christ. But, we should not live in fear but in hope because Jesus is coming soon and He will settle things once and for all.
posted by Bill @ 7:55 AM
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