God Began to Transform Nations
Millions of scattered sheep were fed and filled! He reached not only to the lowly, but to those in high places, too – wherever He found the meek and mild of heart. “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). All Western culture was touched in one way or another. Every society took note. An army was engaged in changing things for the better!
Politicians ran on Christian platforms. Social clubs took on a clear Christian tone. Even Christian evangelists were in vogue. The whole world became curious about this light that seemed to suddenly show up in our darkness!
Even some of the many stuffy churches smelled the freedom and breathed in the Spirit’s fresh air. Imagine that!
Newly formed Christian schools, colleges, and universities also played a vital role in God’s pursuit of training us in the way that we should go. Loyal believers saw the value in paying a high price to educate millions of our children in His cause – establishing Christian schools to see the next generation lighted by God.
Parachurch ministries far and wide were born, playing vital roles in pointing the world to Jesus!
Once again, God was glorified! Yet His fullness was not yet.
In Comes “Every Wind of Doctrine”
With the spread of Truth and liberty has come a million false lights – men who like “clouds without water” speak “swelling words” without substance (II Peter 2; Jude); those “perilous times” prophesied by the Apostle Paul began to creep in and grow (II Tim. 3).
Today, our “itching ears” are demanding to be scratched, and our fleshly appetites have grown large. To meet the demand, opportunists are ready. They multiply, rising to new heights, skilled to deceive. And there’s never been a shortage of naïve persons either. By now, Satan has had 2,000 years to craft his cunning devices, even disguising his wolves as “angels of light” (II Cor. 11:14).
The majority of the church has settled in close proximity to the world. Rather than contending for the faith, we contend for our position as one of the pillars of the community; like a bank, a hospital, a school, or a government, the church is as well. This pursuit has led us to our inevitable destination – destruction.
In the present age, the loudest voices seem to rule the day. Christianity, already laden with its own ills, is on a high-speed downward spiral, surrendering to social demands. Only God can save the house that we’ve built, but He won’t. He’s going to let it collapse on itself, and He’s going to build from the ground up.
We are bedded down snugly into a thriving hour of compromise with full-blown apostasy right on our heels.
It is this dreadful hour that we were warned about long ago, and since our contentment is a result of our own design, we have no excuse. It is an hour clearly described and repeatedly illustrated by the apostle Paul and others, and even Jesus Christ Himself! Notwithstanding, God is still with us, and He is still being glorified.
Jesus is still building His Church, and His best construction is yet to come!
The “Real Jesus”
During my dad’s passing a couple of years ago, he would sometimes stare straight ahead and whisper to those standing by, “I am walking with the real Jesus!” He had begun to taste that River of Life that will even make the Dead Sea alive again (Ezek. 47). Even today, God flows through salty waters in order to serve us the pure taste of His everlasting life; and when our wine has run completely out, He offers His very best drink!
Paul said he was the strongest when he was weak, and a wise man once said that we can see heaven best when we bow down closest to the earth.
There’s a day of reckoning coming to the churches. I’ve seen it with my eyes for almost thirty years. It is sure to come, and it will be here soon. But Jesus Christ is still walking among His churches, searching hearts and beckoning His own to follow Him wherever He leads them (Rev. 2:1; John 15).
For years, I’ve thought we’d have seen the glorious church formed by now. God is patient. He knows all. We know in part. Surely, soon, we will begin to see droves of His people led by Him into a mass exodus out of the land of Americanized Christianity. They will be searching for the voice of the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ!
Discontented with shallow puddles, they will seek the River of Life wherever He may be found! Some will think this place to be a dry and barren wilderness at first, but eventually they will realize that it is only there that they will get a fresh and thirst-quenching drink from the well that never has fun dry and never will – the “real Jesus!”
No More Salty Saints
What was a minimal measure of salt fifty, forty, and even thirty years ago has become a bland taste not worth saving the world for (Matt. 5:13-14). Almost gone are those salty saints of old who held His light high, shining brightly. We have all too often failed to carry the torch of our forefathers – the Word of God in Truth! How many “Christian leaders” are failing to speak and live the truth today? Who can count them? How derelict we have become in the duty that called us to become like Him – the only way the world will see Him as He really is!
We have become a people who, alongside the world, are overwhelmed by debt, broken homes, and physical disease, the cares of this life, and the lust of the flesh; and pride abounds without end!
As God told Jeremiah before the fall of Judah in his day, He must “root out, pull down, destroy and throw down” in order to build and plant again (Jer. 1:10).
Nothing the Father did not plant will escape being uprooted at some point (Matt. 15:13).
He will do it, and He is doing it right now!
We are witnessing believers everywhere coming out of the woodwork of normal Christianity, and they are looking for and finding each other with jubilant joy! I pray that your church may also escape its form and begin to seek God in Spirit and in Truth.
God is being glorified and will be glorified again! He’s building a glorious church!
A Short Work in Righteousness
As we look for our Lord’s return, let us be prepared for a few more years of developing and growing toward spiritual maturity; and as we draw nearer to becoming like that “perfect man,” we will shine with His glory for only a short time before He comes to catch us away.
As we grow from glory to glory, Jesus said that we will be “hated of all men” for His name’s sake and that some among us will leave the fold (Matt. 24); but also, we should expect to witness miracles abounding (Hos. 6:3; Joel 2:23; Zech. 10:1; James 5:7); and His harvest of new souls will be unprecedented, I believe!
No one can harvest souls like Jesus can, and when He is reflected in us through His fullness, those who love His light as we do will come running (John 3:19-20)!
We are only at the entrance of what I believe will soon become a great tide of His glory in and through us, but we cannot deny the signs of the times! There is much to look forward to as we build each other up in the faith through our gifts and callings. I want to play my role to the full! Do you?
