| Whatsoever
Things Are True
by Dan Coburn Pastor, Emmanuel Baptist Church pastordan@mtida.net God is no respecter of persons. Some struggle with that as it is an affront to their self worth. Nugget: Your self worth is an affront to God. Usually I endeavor to relate an experience to get folks attention, then we turn the Spiritual Switch. Well today, this whole column is the Spiritual Switch, so fasten your pewbelts. Some points to ponder: The USA, as much as I love it, is not in the Bible. We've already outlasted most historical "superpowers". A (the) Great Revival we all long for and pray for isn't likely, Scripturally. The end times, (which almost all the people I visit with believe are imminent) will be ushered in not by revival, but by an apostasy or Great Falling Away from God. I have witnessed this in my lifetime. Things that weren't even spoken of in my childhood, are celebrated today -Romans 1:32. In fact, If you have a Godly perspective at all (Phil. 2:5), You can't deny that the USA is worthy of God's judgment. On a personal note (I both apologize and hate the fact that I have to address this at all), many of my friends on the other side of the political spectrum sincerely ask me how I as a Christian can support a man who is an obvious womanizer. I could spend a week describing the lesser of two evils concept, but I won't. I'd sooner discuss recent history. When I was a kid, folks had what was called a platform; a term encapsulating the political and moral beliefs a candidate felt passionate about. Said candidate sought election (the means) to espouse and implement his/her platform (the end). More recently, the reciprocal is (has become) true. A candidate today, by N large, will mold or declare their platform to be whatever is popular (the means) in order to be elected to power (the end). I don't aspire to speak for anyone but myself, but this is so obvious to me. President Trump never stood on a platform of sin crying out - "Vote for me, and you can have all the prostitutes you want". While his opponents on the other side stand on a platform of sin saying: "Vote for me, and you can kill all the babies you want. We'll even help you pay for it. (sin) We'll give you taxpayer funded sex change operations (sin)". Thus endeth the rant. I'd love to talk about Jesus as Judge (John 5), God's intrinsic Holy nature requiring Him to deal with sin, how the Old and New Test. are replete with references to "the day of The Lord". These things are no longer popular in the watered down gospel espoused today which begins with "felt needs" and ends with Jesus as the genie who will fulfill them. We were a Godly nation once, but we have devolved to the point where in a recent Barna poll, less than half of professing Christians believe in a literal hell. Nugget: Jesus talked about hell seven times more than heaven. Yet, "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men...." 2nd Cor. 5:11 Here's what I want to leave you with. You can in these times live with the fruit of the Spirit - Love, Joy and Peace. If you are lacking these, even today, you need to check the object of your hope. We at Emmanuel Baptist would love to share the "Blessed Hope" with you. We can influence these current affairs little, but we must remember job one for us is to share the Gospel which has been saving man from his situation or circumstance for two millennium. Remember, from God's perspective, things are not falling apart, they are falling into place. God bless . |
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