The Thirst for Freedom

I recently posted an article by Chuck Colson on my facebook page:

“There are reports of rioting and looting across the country. But this is no time for such behavior. This crisis will be settled; central bank executives are meeting in Brussels even as I speak.

“I have alerted the Armed Services and issued a provisional order of martial law. This is not without precedent. President Lincoln took similar steps during the Civil War. I want to assure the American people that your safety and the just order of our society is my first priority.”

The President continued, “We must show the world that Americans are law-abiding, peace-loving citizens. So if you see military personnel in your area, obey them. The areas that have given us particular difficulty today have been largely secured. Fires that were wantonly set in Newark are being brought under control.”  [Read More]

One of my facebook friends responded with this comment:

“It makes me want to be an ostrich. I feel helpless.”

I can hardly blame her. For the past decades the Church as a whole has tended to blame all of the worlds problems on the fact that “this is the end of the world.”

How then do we as Christians warn each other and the world of the very real consequences of ditching God and his ways and the consequences of making up our own destructive “answers” to the problems in the world? How do we do sound the alarm of what really could happen while maintaining hope and even assurance of what God is going to do in the Earth?

Here is my response on facebook:

Read Daniel 2:31-45. The Iron in the Statue was the Roman Empire. The Feet made of Iron and Clay are the remnants of the Roman empire. A Kingdom was promised to come in those days (The days of ancient Rome when Jesus came!) that would shatter all of the Kingdoms of This World and replace them with the Kingdom of God filling the whole earth.

It is inevitable. God has decreed it. There is always hope. In fact, there is more than hope, there is assurance.

Read Habakkuk 2:14. (Happens to be quoted on the left side of my facebook profile). The earth WILL be filled with the Knowledge of the Glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea! God has said it and He will do it!

Read Matthew 28:18-20. Jesus tells us to preach the gospel to all nations because All Authority in Heaven AND ON EARTH has been given to Him! Also because of this authority we should teach the world to obey everything that He commanded. (Remember that Jesus also wrote the Old Testament!)

God has given us dominion. Matthew 5:5 says that the “Meek will Inherit the Earth.” That should be us.

We cannot lose. Our job is to preach and teach and live out the ways of God in every area of life and society. God will turn that into Global Victory for Ever!

Perhaps this is one of the reasons why Jesus said things like “Do not Be Afraid.”

As God once said to Joshua “Shout, for I have given you the city!”

Charles Colson’s article is a great example of a dilemma that we have as Christians. How do we warn each other and the world of the inevitable consequences of sin and anti-Christian worldviews while still building hope and giving the instruction and strength to conquer?

Sin (including sinful ideas) produces consequences. The Power of God and the Gospel will triumph. The key is to see that this is true even when it looks like the whole world is “going to hell in a handbasket.”

It is times like that where we find out what we really believe.

Hopefully you will find that discussion encouraging.

“The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it.” Psalms 24:1

That includes all human beings. That includes our bodies. That includes our sexuality.

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27 (Context – Genesis 1:26-28)

God made mankind, consisting of males and females.

“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.” Genesis 2:24 (Context – Genesis 2:22-25)

God appointed marriage in the very beginning, before evil entered the world.

This is the way God made things. Fighting against it is futile.

In Exodus 34:6-7 God establishes His Character. He tells us what He is like. We can see that He is good. He is Gracious, Compassionate, Patient, Loving, Faithful, Forgiving, and Just.

Without a doubt, only God is qualified in both power and character to rule the universe that He has created. If He tells us something about ourselves, it is the truth and it is in our best interest to believe Him!

• We are all made in His Image
• We are each either male or female
• We are designed to be united with one member of the opposite gender in a life long commitment of marriage. The purpose of this marriage is for procreation of the human race. The resulting family is the institution that God has given with the primary responsibility of creating, rearing, and teaching the next generation of human beings the ways of God.

Some in the world are raging against these realities. There is a scream of anger and control asserting “we will not accept your definitions God! We will not accept the roles and responsibilities that you have created for us.”

This is the height of folly. When the good, loving, kind and just Creator and Ruler of everything explains to us our design, wouldn’t it make more sense to joyfully accept these things?

To reject the two genders, to reject marriage as the union of a man and a woman, to reject our gender roles in the midst of these things – This is insanity.

A part of being reconciled to God is acknowledging Him as the Rightful Lord of both the Universe and Oneself. A part of accepting Him as Lord is deciding to trust that He knows what is best for us.

As the Creator it is God’s right to make us as He sees fit.

He made us to need oxygen. We will die without it!

He made us to need food. We will die without it!

He made the laws of physics. To defy them can lead to great pain and death.

Trying to define things as other than what they really are as appointed and created by God is arrogant and foolish!

There is no love in telling someone who has become confused about these things that they can define their own gender, their own sexuality, their own idea of marriage.

Yet it is possible that the American Psychiatric Association is going to do just that.

Susan Wright, spokeswoman with the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom, said her organization is eager to see changes made [in American Psychiatric Association diagnostic standards] concerning sexual issues such as cross-dressing and fetishes.

“We know it’s not a mental illness; it’s just a different way to have sex,” she said. “As long as it’s consensual and as long as you’re not harming someone, it should be perfectly fine.”  [Read More]

Human beings in their blindness have made up a new standard for sexuality: “as long as it’s consensual and … not harming someone.”

The irony is, it is impossible to desert God’s design without harming someone! When Wright speaks of something being “consensual” yet “not harming” she doesn’t appear to recognize this.

As mentioned earlier, in the same way that defying design in the area of physics will bring great harm, so will defying design in the area of morality and social order.

There is a great cry amongst some Christians to deal with these issues in a more compassionate way.

I agree that Believers in Jesus Christ should feel and act in compassion towards those who are confused and deceived about these things. I agree that Christians should remember their own stories before bludgeoning those who are still trapped in evil and darkness.

However we choose to manifest compassion and love to those who remain lost, it cannot include lying and encouraging people to live contrary to God’s design and purpose for them. This is neither compassion nor love – it is actually a harsh cruelty.

The world wants to Rewrite God’s World. A part of “Preaching the Gospel” in such a world is to tell the good news about God’s design for men and women, gender, sexuality, and family.

To speak and teach God’s Reality is love and compassion. Compromise is not.

Let me know if you want to go with us!

Read more about it here: http://conference.americanvision.org/Home.html