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.â€
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.”
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. 🙂