There is something new in the air in the world and in the USA.  It is the spirit of fear. The
coronavirus and the resulting economic consequences have created a spirit of fear. Nations have reacted in some cases by closing borders and shutting schools. Italy has shut down in isolation a whole nation. Investors who want an economic world without surprises have no way of knowing how this virus will impact us. They don’t know how severe it will be or how long the disruptions will last. Fear is that painful emotional reaction to the threat that someone or something will cause pain, a threat that has many sources right now.

The Bible calls fear a spirit in 2 Timothy 1:7, but it says fear is not a spirit from God. 2 Timothy 1:7 states, “for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” Fear in a healthy forms causes us to humble ourselves before God in a spirit of repentance, trust, and obedience as we put our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Fear of God leads to peace. But fear for anything else is debilitating.

We see in this verse all the negative reactions fear creates. Fear makes us feel powerless
against the things, people, circumstances that face us. Fear can make anything we do seem futile. Fear also robs us of the sense we are loved and cared for. Fear makes God seem distant and not interested in intervening in circumstances. Fear isolates us from others and the community of loving support God designed for us in Christ through the church. Fear makes us irrational, and we make poor choices. Fear makes us lose perspective beyond the moment. Fear often turns us to the worst case scenario as being the most likely outcome.

As we look at the current threats to us, there are two extremes we must avoid. One is the spirit of fear and panic that would have us wildly overreacting. One person I heard bought enough food so that he could live for a year on what he bought. Panic-buying is emptying store shelves. Of all the things most feared scarce is toilet paper. Open fights have broken out over the last rolls of toilet paper in stores. Fear can lead us to isolate ourselves from others. Fear in the financial world can lead us to panic-selling that makes the crisis only worse. Fear leads to anger and blame. We must stand against the panic and unwise reactions that fear creates.

The other extreme to avoid is denial. We see some seeking to minimize the threat as if it is a creation of a conspiracy. It’s being called “fake news,” a plot by the media to spread panic. It’s being called a conspiracy somehow forged to keep President Trump from being reelected. But it was not fake news that shut down China, that has led all schools to be closed in South Korea and Japan, has led an entire nation of 90 million, Italy, to shut itself totally down. It is no invented conspiracy that has already taken over 4,700 lives. It is no invented conspiracy that has taken lives in nursing homes in Washington and is rapidly spreading in parts of the USA beyond what we know as we are so late in making tests available. Some say more will die from the flu, but the reality is that this virus is ten times more deadly than the flu according to the Center for Disease Control Director in the USA. To deny this reality and to wink at the danger is not helpful. This is a virus that no one has antibodies to resist. It is highly contagious. Angela Merkel, the German government leader, expects 70% of Germans to have the virus. This is a genuine risk to public health and even life itself, and it requires we take the proper precautions
to limit the spread and treat those infected. What Italy is finding is that there are not enough medical beds and professionals to treat the massive numbers that come. We must not deny the reality and its danger.

As Christians we do not give in to a spirit of fear, but we do need a spirit of wisdom. The Bible tells us in Leviticus 13-15 how to deal with highly contagious diseases. In Leviticus it was skin diseases and mold in houses. People with symptoms were to self isolate and go to a priest to get tested. Priests were trained by the Word of God in how to recognize infectious diseases. People identified with contagious disease were to warn people by dress and words that they were unclean and people were to avoid contact with them. They were isolated from the rest of the camp until they were symptom free and certified by a priest. The Bible also recognized that viruses can be transferred to surfaces people touched. Their clothes were to be washed and if they showed evidence of continued contamination they were to be destroyed. Houses evidencing mold were to be cleaned, removing plaster and impacted stones. If after this houses still showed evidence of mold they were to be torn down and put in a place outside contact. Nowhere were Israelites told to minimize the danger or act as if they could not be infected. They were to act wisely and isolate those with infectious diseases until they were symptom free. The church should lead in supporting the necessary steps that need to be taken to protect as many people as possible from infectious diseases. There is a huge difference between faith and foolish denial of reality.

As Christians we do not give into fear, but do yield to wisdom and to restrict as many people as possible from exposure. We also meet the challenge with bold faith, full of the promise from 2 Timothy 1:7 that God gives us a spirit of power, love, and sound thinking. The Bible knows that faith and fear cannot coexist. The Bible also knows that times of fear in society are times for Christians to demonstrate faith, and to reach out to others with the peace and hope that are offered by God to all who call on Jesus in genuine faith.

Jesus specifically called on His disciples to not live in fear but to live in the peace He gives. In John 14:1-7, Christians are called to not let our hearts be troubled. Jesus begins with our ultimate hope of life in Jesus that is eternal. Jesus says He has gone ahead to prepare a place for us in the New Jerusalem. He has prepared a way to that place by faith in Him, and He is prepared to take us to that place as death comes or He comes for the church to take us all home. The reality is, apart from the return of Jesus for His church, we will all die from something. Every Christian before us has died. But we do not fear death, as we know to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). We know also we will have enabling grace when the moment of death comes, and that grace will be enough (2 Corinthians 12:9). I have been in death’s presence for Christians, and I have seen that triumphant witness. So we do not live in fear because the worst that can happen to our body is that we die, and we know that moment will bring us into the presence of the real treasure in life, the Lord Jesus Christ. For us to live is Christ and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21).

We also do not fear because we know nothing in life can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:37-39). Jesus promised we who are His disciples two kinds of peace. He said as recorded in John 14:26, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” The first kind of peace that Jesus gives is the foundation for all else. The word “leave” is in a verb form that says it is one time peace established in the past. The peace Jesus leaves is peace with God because we have an everlasting righteousness before God through the sufficient sacrifice of Jesus to satisfy the righteous requirement of the law for those who have sinned. We have a righteousness before God that cannot be lost or taken. The blood of Jesus is enough to cleanse us for all time for our sin. In the books kept on each of us in heaven is written the word “righteous”. This peace of the cross is the peace that all other kinds of peace flow from.

Jesus then promises there is a peace He gives. The word “gives” is in the continual present. It is the shepherding care of Jesus for His disciples in this life. The Bible teaches that life is not random, nothing can come into a Christian’s life apart from the permission of God and for everything that comes into a Christian’s life there is a grace that will enable a Christian not only to make it but to do so triumphantly (Romans 8:37-39). Thus we do not fear what life might bring because we know Jesus is with us, and He will shepherd us through it with His life abundant.

While life for a Christian is not random, we know that God’s will for each of us is unique (John 21:22). We know that in other worldwide pandemics or plagues in the past, some Christians have caught the plague and died. Some Christians have caught the disease and recovered. Some were exposed and did not develop the disease. God has purpose in each life. We saw in the Early Church in Acts that when persecution came, God’s will for each was different. James, the brother of John, was the first Apostle martyred. Peter was miraculously delivered from prison at the same time. John, the brother of James, was the only Apostle to die a natural death which he did as an old man. The difference was not the faith of any one of them but that the will of God was unique for each, as it is for us.

We also know as Christians that God is at work in all things in the lives of those who love Him and called according to His purpose. It doesn’t say all things are good, because some terrible things will happen to Christians. We have to understand what God considers to be good. God has only one definition of good, and that is to know Him and His love in Jesus Christ. Since that is the only good, there can only be one thing that could happen that is evil, and that is if there is anything that could separate us from God and His love. The rest of Romans 8 declares that nothing in this life or in the life to come will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

We also know the good God is doing in all things. We know that God is at work bringing us more and more into intimacy in our relationship with Him (Romans 8:28). We know that God is at work making us more like Jesus (Romans 8:29). All the difficulties in life are part of His refining work on our character. We know that in all things God is at work in our lives to be a witness to others (Romans 8:36). Crisis becomes a great time for us to proclaim the reason for the hope we have in Jesus (1 Peter 3:15). We also know that going through times of crisis and finding the help of God in it equips us to share with others how they also can find that comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3-7). We have relevance not because God kept us from all the hard times, but because we have a witness of how God keeps us through all the hard times.

As Christians we also know that this worldwide disease and resulting economic crisis is a sign of the times and that God is bringing all things to their grand climax. Jesus warned us that in the last days there will be times of increasing crisis. Creation is like a woman in the last stages of birth: the closer to the end, the more frequent and intense are the birth pangs (Matthew 24:8). Absolutely everything the Bible described about the last generation are true right now. The key has been the focus on Jerusalem the capital of a reborn Israel. But all the other supporting signs are only increasing. We are not in the final seven years of the Great Tribulation, but we are so close you can feel its coming like thunder of an approaching storm that is getting closer and closer. We know from Revelation 6:7-8 that the fourth horseman of the Apocalypse will bring through sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts will bring death to a fourth of the world population. We are at 7.7 billion right now, which means we will see the death of close to 2 billion people. The world’s woe in their rebellion against Jesus are unfortunately just getting
started.

We also know the futility of any one nation to protect against the virus is leading the opportunity for a world super leader to come in with a plan to bring the nations together. We know the global economy is so interrelated that economies won’t prosper unless a world wide plan is embraced. I expect soon for a surprising world leader to be offered with support by other world leaders and the world’s religious leaders. This is a plan long ago developed just waiting for the right world crisis that will create the opportunity.

For Christians this is a time to stay calm. It is a time to be wise. It is a time to be bold with our hope in Christ. It is a time for compassion and help for those who are suffering. It is a time to be bold in the witness of the hope we have in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus. It is a time to pray. It is a time to look up, for the coming of Jesus is so soon.

I have been on many flights over the Pacific where I am 33,000 feet high and hours from landing. There are times when the engine pitch seems to change, turbulence bumps the plane around, and I wonder if I should be worried or not (not that worry would accomplish anything). I watch the flight attendants. If they treat it as routine, then I know that this is normal and nothing to worry about.

As I look at the extraordinary and cataclysmic events impacting our world right now the question arises: is this normal? We are in such a flood of extraordinary events we tend to not ask the deeper questions as to what it means and how we should respond. It is ironic but true that the closer the church gets to the coming of Jesus for His bride, the church, the less people there are who are interested in the Second Coming (2 Peter 3:1-7).

When Australia is plagued by fires that destroy millions of acres, kill an estimated billion animals, and significantly change the very ecology of the continent, we can say, “This is not normal!”

When a plague of locusts is devouring crops in the Horn of Africa as well as other countries in the Mideast; when China is considering sending 100,000 ducks to Pakistan to combat the locusts and their devastation, we can say, “This is not normal!”

When  Sweden, as an example of many countries, reports a 1,700% increase of girls 13-17 declaring gender dysphoria and seeking hormones and gender change surgery, we can say, “This is not normal!”

As the USA withdraws from the Syria conflict and cedes the region to the dominance of Russia, Iran, and an increasingly aggressive Turkey, we can say, “This is not normal!”

When 900,000 Syrians from the city of Idlib since December are forced into winter rains in flooded fields without clothing, food, or shelter; when they are bombed, children are dying from exposure, and it is called the largest humanitarian crisis in the 21^st Century; when no one responds as Syria, Iran, and Russian forces attack from one side, and Turkish forces push in from the other side, we can say, “This is not normal!”

When whole Christian villages are burned and people slaughtered by the Boko Horan in Nigeria, in an effort of genocide of Christians, and no one rises up to stop it, we can say, “This is not normal!”

When a virus from China shuts down cities of millions, shuts down major cities in South Korea, leads to Japanese children being withheld from school for a month, isolates twelve cities in Northern Italy, causes interruption of a vastly integrated global market, leads to a major stock market fall; when there are major of concerns as to what more is coming, and it is described by some as a ploy by Democrats to somehow defeat Trump, we can say, “This is not normal!”

When Great Britain has suffered unprecedented weather “bombs” that have led to major flooding, we can say, “This is not normal!”

When media-identified “evangelical leaders” gather around President Trump to declare him God’s anointed to make America great, and to stand against the forces of evil, and to pray protection for him; when he then goes to rallies and casually blasphemes in God’s name and reportedly likes it when media describes his rough language as if it defines his image, which it does, we can say, “This is not normal!”

All of this and more is exactly as Jesus prophesied it would be just before His coming for the church and the beginning of the seven years of the Great Tribulation.  He said it will be as if earth was in birth pangs, as the frequency and intensity of cataclysmic events increases (Matthew 24:7-8).  The rising persecution of the church in China, India, Nigeria, and many other places is as Jesus prophesied (Matthew 24:9-13).  The tremendous harvest of souls in the midst of all this is the moving of God to fulfill the promise that the Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached to all nations, and then the end comes (Matthew 24:14).  The tremendous apostasy of the Church in which many have rejected the authority of Scripture, changed the very meaning of the Atonement, and have all but given over to the LGBTQ movement as if that somehow is love.

The call of Jesus to His remnant church is simple.  Declare the Gospel to all nations in a massive harvest, for the night is coming in which the church’s work is done (Matthew 28:18-20, John 9:4-5). We must stand firm for the faith once for all delivered to the saints, unchanging and not to be redefined (Jude 3).  We are to pay attention and preach the Word of God as the only light we have in this dark world (2 Peter 1:19, 2 Timothy 4:1-5). We are to keep our love for Jesus at a fever pitch, even as the love of Jesus of others grows cold, as the love of sin increases (Matthew 24:13).  We are to be willing to stand for Jesus even as it means persecution, imprisonment, death (Revelation 12:11).  We are not to neglect our gathering for church, but are to encourage one another as we see His coming approach (Hebrews 10:23-25).  We are to watch and pray for our own souls and for others that we may be found faithful for Jesus when so many will fade away (Luke 21:36). We are not to give in to anxiety and fear, but are to look up, for the promised coming of Jesus is so soon (Luke 21:28).  We are to continue to love even those who would make us enemies, for our love is commanded and is the power of our witness for Jesus (John 13:34-35).  We are to join with creation, with the saints already in heaven, and with the saints on earth to pray passionately, “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20).

In a country that is increasingly politically divided, there is a group among President Trump’s most loyal supporters who are called by the media ‘evangelicals’. According to this group President Trump has been ‘anointed’ by God to make America great. That he is like a Cyrus, King of Persia, who was raised up by God to allow a group of Jewish people to go from exile to build a Temple for the worship of God in Jerusalem and eventually to allow the walls of Jerusalem to be rebuilt. There was no claim that he was a godly man, just a man ‘anointed’ by God to be King. Similarly President Trump is not offered as a godly man as his moral and spiritual failures are too evident to all. But to this group he deserves our unquestioning support as the ‘anointed’ to make America great.

We know God wants America good by His standards for nations, as He does for all nations, but why would God want America great as opposed to any other nation? As we search the Bible and its prophecies of this age, where do we ever read that God’s purpose is to make one nation great as opposed to others? That answer is none. Even Israel won’t be great until they embrace the Lord Jesus as Messiah, Savior, Lord, and King. And what would a Biblically good nation look like? To the President, greatness is measured solely by wealth and an ability to live in isolation from the rest of the world and its problems. Wealth is the measure of greatness and other nations exist to have trade deals that add to our wealth and for us to have border policies that protect us from those who would come for our wealth.

In this current administration, money is the measure of everything. North Korea is invited to denuclearize because it would bring in an era of financial prosperity for them. The current offer to Israel and Palestinian is called “The Deal of the Century”, not a peace plan, because its offer is to bring financial prosperity to Palestinians. When did peace plans get be changed to deals? Even as some of you are reading this, you are wondering what’s wrong with that? If it pays off financially, isn’t that most important? Yet, if wealth is the measure of everything, why did Jesus say, “one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15)? If wealth is the measure of everything why does the Bible say the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil and its pursuit will lead people to ruin and destruction (1 Timothy 6:9-10)?

The Bible does talk about the pursuit of greatness in our world. The Bible says that the Lord Jesus Christ alone is great and worthy to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing (Revelation 5:12). The church of the Lord Jesus Christ lives to make His name great. No one else is worthy. No one else could ever come into a place to be called the ‘anointed’.

The Bible says the greatness of God is not displayed in any nation. The glory of God is displayed in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. We lift high no leader, no nation, only the cross of the Lord Jesus. As the Apostle Paul wrote by the Holy Spirit in Galatians 6:14, “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” We also learn through the cross that God has a special love and desire for those who the world regards as low and despised, for they are the chosen of God. As the Bible states in 1 Corinthians 1:27-29, “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even the things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.” We
know that no governmental systems nor laws can make a people righteous. Only the Lord Jesus and the cross can change hearts and lead to changed lives. That is why our passion is to proclaim the Gospel and we say with Paul, “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16).

The Bible says the reflection of God’s glory on earth is not any nation, but the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. The church is for the praise of His glory (Ephesians 1:12). The greatness of the church is that it is a spiritual body made up of people from every nation, tribe, people, and language. Jesus has come to tear down the walls of division by nationalism, tribalism, ethnic pride, or prejudice in order to make us one new person – through the Lord Jesus – one with God and one with one another with all the walls of division torn down (Ephesians 2:11-22). Jesus promised that in this world, He is building the church and all gates of hell will not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18).

We also know the Bible teaches us not to put our love on any nation because we are a people pursuing a better city, a better country. We are like Abraham willing to live in this world as sojourners who long for the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem. It is said in Hebrews 11:14-16, “For people who speak thus make it clear they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.” We are patriots of the true Fatherland, the New Jerusalem.

It is true God’s hands directs the establishment of nations. He sets a nation’s boundaries, times, and seasons (Acts 17:26-27). It is true that leaders are established by God, and He causes Kings to rise and Kings to fall (Isaiah 40:22-24). It is true we are to honor our leaders as those who are put into place by God. When the Apostle Paul was writing to honor the King, it was Nero, one of the most evil of the Caesars in his treatment of Christians who was the ruler (Romans 13:1). It is true that those who take up arms as instruments of the State are servants of God. We are grateful for those who have and do put themselves in harm’s way to keep us safe. We are to pay taxes and follow the laws (Romans 13:5-7). We are to pray for rulers, leaders (1 Timothy 2:1-2). The purpose of good government is that we may live a peaceful and godly life, dignified in every way. As this is a representative government, we are to vote and seek God’s wisdom in using our vote. We know that those who uphold the right of the unborn and those who uphold the rights of Israel are important values to govern our choices, but they are not exclusive values.

We also know what would make a government that is good in God’s eyes is a government that upholds righteousness both in laws and in moral and spiritual character (Proverbs 14:34). We know that the Lord Jesus will judge nations in what they did for those who are strangers, hungry, thirsty, naked (Matthew 25:41-46). We know that God blesses those people and nations who use what God entrusts to them to bless others (Genesis 12:1-3).

The key founders of the USA were not seeking to make a great nation. They were seeking a place where the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ could be freely preached. They were seeking a place where people could practice their worship of God free from government interference. They were seeking a place where the government would be representative and the taxes fair. But they were not seeking a King. They were not seeking an ‘anointed’ ruler. In fact, when England insisted that the King ruled by divine right and must be supported and taxes paid no matter how unjust or unfair, they rose in united voice to say, “We have no King but Jesus.” May we join our hearts with them. May the church be devoted to making the name of Jesus great. May the church be united in raising up the cross of Jesus to people of all nations. May the church be united in being the place were all the walls of division are torn down. May we with passion, purpose, time, wealth, abilities live to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to all peoples. And may we make it our longing not for a nation to be great, but for Jesus to come, for only through Him will there be peace on earth and good will to men (Luke 2:11-14, Revelation 22:20).

Living When Prophecy Becomes Current Events

January 20, 2020

Living When Prophecy Becomes Current Events

January 13, 2020

Living When Prophecy Becomes Current Events

January 6, 2020

There was a man snowboarding recently who triggered an avalanche that took his own life. We live in a generation in full rebellion against God that has created a moral and spiritual avalanche that is sweeping many to the destruction of themselves, destruction for eternity in the judgment of God, and bringing destruction to our culture.

We have noted in the Democratic Presidential Debates the two issues that have most united and impassioned the candidates. One is the right of a mother to terminate the life of her unborn child. The other is the absolute embrace of the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) agenda. The growing acceptance – if not total embrace – of this sexual agenda goes far beyond the stance of political candidates. The cable Hallmark Channel showed an ad that featured two lesbians being married who embraced in a passionate kiss. When objections were raised, the ad was pulled. When even more objections were raised, the ad was reinstated. Chick-fil-A, which describes itself as a company with Christian values, stopped contributing to Christian organizations as these organizations stood for Christian sexual values and marriage reserved for a man and a woman. The actions of Chick-fil-A not only had significant financial impact to the ministries, but it also pushed them under the cultural avalanche that LGBTQ has created. Chick-fil-A like so many others is caught and is being swept along by the avalanche of the LGBTQ movement.

A Mother Goose nursery rhyme describes the challenge of standing up for the teaching of the Bible in our day. It goes like this:

“There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile;
He bought a crooked cat which caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together in a crooked little house.”

In the nursery rhyme crooked is normal, and of course anything that is straight would seem strange. In the avalanche of the LGBTQ agenda the use of the word queer is used for the direct purpose of making queer seem normal and straight abnormal. Its goal is to create a queer world.

In the Bible’s teaching on sexuality, it is clear what LGBTQ spells; it spells the open defiance of God’s plan and purpose for mankind and our sexuality. The Bible clearly states in Romans 1 that when the LGBTQ agenda is accepted as right the society is absolutely morally upside down and living in open defiance of God and His right to rule (Romans 1:32). What makes the LGBTQ agenda so defiant is that it directly rejects God’s purpose for our sexuality and the SEXUAL use of our bodies. A LGBTQ lifestyle is not normal. This is never the nature of a person. Romans 1:26 states that it is relations that are “contrary to nature.” The Bible calls the sexual acts shameless leading to God’s judgment.

Desires that are contrary to God’s purpose do not surprise us. We know that as mankind we are sinners, dead spiritually and living under the lies and power of sin and Satan. We know that we are all sinners falling short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We know that our sexuality is a gift of God to the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman. Sex is a powerful and important gift to marriage. Its purpose is to procreate us, but beyond that sex is a gift to marriage to both bring pleasure and to express and maintain intimacy. Our sexual desires once aroused are strong, which is why the Bible calls us to flee sexual desires and to put strong hedges of protection around them. It is sin and Satan that pervert those desires natural to a man and woman in marriage and distorts them in ways that makes sex an idol which must be served.

Since sin is rooted in the lies and pursuits of temporary pleasure, we should expect those lies and desires to pervert our sexuality. That the lies come even in our identity as male or female is an expected way that sin works. The Bible says we are tempted by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. All of those lusts and pride are at work in sexual rebellion. As the avalanche of LGBTQ grows it will capture more and more in the deceptions of sexual identity. We know there is not confusion in our DNA, we are either male or female. There is no fluidity or choice in identity. It is who we are. The absurdity of this was shown in an athletic competition in Wyoming this year as a transgender male running as a female was named “Woman Athlete of the Week.” Males and females are genetically different. Our sexual identity is part of our identity from conception. To pretend it is not is to create a crisis that will destroy us. To do this will damage far more than athletic competition.

What makes the sexual agenda of the LGBTQ proponents so serious is that sexual sin is unlike other sins in that sexual sin is against our very soul. When two or more are engaged in a sexual act it is not just physical. There is a spiritual joining together. The Bible’s teaching from 1 Corinthians 6:16-19 states, “Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, ‘The two will become one flesh.’ But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?” Sexual acts bring a person to a joining of spirits. Sexual immorality is devastating to our souls. Sexual immorality has no life in it, as spiritual life is from God. It is one reason the suicide rate among those in the LBGTQ activity is higher than for others. The suicide rate among transgenders is astronomically high. In the end sex is just sex, it cannot bring life.

One of the Presidential candidates, Pete Buttigieg, is in a same sex marriage with another man, yet he calls himself a practicing Christian. This is just another form of the deception and self lies that are part of the LGBTQ world. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 says no one who continues in a homosexually active life, or other forms of sexual immorality, will be part of the kingdom of God. Jesus addressed this issue when He said in Matthew 15:19 that sexual immorality comes from our darkened hearts and that it spiritually defiles a person. All sexual engagements outside marriage, including homosexuality, are included in the meaning of that word. 1 John 1:6 says, “If we say we have fellowship with him (Jesus) while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” I was recently walking in a city that is unfamiliar to me and I sincerely thought I was going in the right direction to the hotel, but in fact I was on the right road going the opposite direction –- every step took me further away. There is a blindness and self deception in the LGBTQ world that is leading many into an empty darkness and certain judgment.

Yet in the midst of all this, the Bible has an amazing promise and invitation. As to all sinners, Jesus stands with loving arms open calling people to repent, be forgiven, and find freedom in a new spiritual life. Of all the lies of the LGBTQ world, none is more powerful than the lie that says if I have sexual desires, that is who I am — that is the real me. Yet the Bible says the desires are contrary to our nature (Romans 1:26). It is not the real you. Sinful desires are lying to you. Our desires promise us pleasure if we satisfy them, yet they lie to us in ways that make us the slaves of the desires and passion of the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life. The pleasure of sin is temporary, illusive, and leads to deeper slavery to it. But Jesus stands with open arms and calls us to freedom, true freedom. Jesus offers us a new heart and the invitation to live in the new realm of the resurrection life and power of Jesus.

Jesus says the one who sins becomes a slave to sin. He said in John 8:34, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” Jesus also says those who sin are children of the Devil doing his will. He said in John 8:44, “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” But Jesus says He is truth, and in pursuing Him as truth He promises true freedom. Jesus said in John 8:31-32, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Jesus has come to save sinners and to lead them in a life of true freedom and joy. Jesus has come to break the power of sin over us and lead us to a holy, righteous life.

In this new life that Jesus gives for those who daily walk with Him there are still temptations to sin. As we walk with Jesus, the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life still tempt us and demand that their desires be satisfied. As one soft drink advertisement line said, “Obey your thirst.” Our appetites demand obedience. Thus Christians should not be surprised that sexual temptations still seek to mislead us. For some persons who come out of the LGBTQ world, Jesus will forever take away those desires. But for some they will be an everyday temptation. That is the weakness of the so-called conversion therapy. Not all will have their desires change. Each in Christ will have freedom, but for some it will be saying no to sexual desires and choosing to live a celibate life. In my own life there are still daily temptations that I have to turn from as I follow Jesus.

In the battle against temptations and desires the Bible has a great promise. It says in 1 Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” God through His Son the Lord Jesus and by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit will enable us to overcome the temptation. As Christians we know the temptation to sin is not itself sin. Sin still lives in us and in the world, and it still wants to control and destroy us. But in Jesus I always have enough to say no to sin and walk in Jesus’ paths of righteousness.

The church of Jesus is full of people who used to live in all the ways sin can lead us. Just as it says in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 that those who live lives of sexual immorality, or who practice homosexuality, will not inherit the kingdom of God, it also says in 1 Corinthians 6:11, “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” As Christians we face this issue with compassion, love, and hope.

As followers of Jesus we don’t condemn those in a LGBTQ lifestyle we love them and pray for the chance to share the Good News of Jesus and salvation. But they are being lied to about sexual issues, and we can’t love them and not expose the lie, share the truth, and call them to Jesus and true freedom. It is like loving someone in a different form of addiction. I can love and accept them as persons, but how can I truly love them and not call them to the freedom from the addiction. I can love someone who is an alcoholic but I would as lovingly as I can call them to Jesus, forgiveness, and power over the choice of alcohol.

We cannot let the cultural avalanche of the LGBTQ rebellion silence us. We are the loving truth tellers because in the truth of Jesus is true life and freedom. We can’t just be silent and watch as the LGBTQ avalanche sweeps others away to judgment. We cannot be silent. We must try.

Living When Prophecy Becomes Current Events

November 25, 2019

There is an old Mother Goose tale that describes today and the challenges for us who live for Jesus Christ and His Word. It’s a poem about a crooked man.

There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile,

He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile; in

He bought a crooked cat which caught a crooked mouse,

And they all lived together in a little crooked house.

The challenge is that when everything is crooked, straight seems odd, unnatural, and not right. We live in a world morally that has embraced crookedness in almost every moral form. No longer does crooked seem odd and not right; crookedness has become the standard.

I have been thinking of this as I have watched the Democratic candidates for President in debates and forums. While there are a multitude of candidates and opinions, on two issues there is universal agreement and even passion. One is the right of a woman to have her child aborted. The second is a wholesale embrace of the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) agenda. It gives evidence of a society in full rebellion against God. It reflects a society upside down, ‘crooked’ morally, a place where wrong is boldly asserted to be right. As described in Romans 1:32, “Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.”

When it comes to the right of a woman to abort her unborn child, there is great passion. They phrase it as if it is about a woman’s right to have control of her body. Her right to abort is called a civil right that no one has the right to challenge. They generate great fear of those in the other political party who would take away the right of a woman to her body. It is never acknowledged in the discussion that there is another person and life involved. The child developing is a person as well. We were created as a nation with the truth that each person has been endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The right of an unborn child to life is not controlled by a mother. The unborn child is a person with a soul made in the  image of God. The Bible says God actively knits us together in our mother’s womb (Psalm 139:15-16). Life belongs to God alone, and no one has the right to take the life of another.

We gain insight into God’s view on this in Exodus. Exodus 21:22-25 describes what happens if men are fighting and a pregnant woman is struck and prematurely delivers her baby. If the baby is unharmed, the man is fined, but if the baby is harmed, justice must be served. “Life for life…”. The baby is not regarded as an appendage to a woman’s body, but as a person made in the image of God. This is not about “men” telling a woman what she can do with her body; this is government being used as an instrument of God to protect the sacredness of life. It is life at its most innocent and vulnerable. The one place in the world a child should be safe is in her or his mother’s womb, yet in our world this can be a place of ultimate violence, with a woman giving the right to somebody to take the life of her baby.

The statistics on voluntary abortion are staggering.  This year already in the USA over 860,000  unborn babies have been put to death. People note the number of total children aborted is declining, but the reality is that this is just a result of less people becoming pregnant. 18% of children in a given year will be voluntarily aborted in the USA. Almost one in five children conceived are voluntarily put to death. So far in the world this year over 36 million children have been aborted. In Genesis 4, God noted to Cain that the blood of the brother he killed calls out to God for justice. As God’s rising judgment is increasingly being shown, surely a nation that allows its children to be aborted cannot know God’s blessings. To God and those who share His heart, every life is valuable, sacred, and to be protected.

However, the influence of this crooked world is evident even in the Christian community. According to a survey done in May, less than 50% of evangelical Christians consider themselves pro-life. Only 25% believe that abortion is always wrong (except in the case of saving a mother’s life).

God has given to women the unbelievable honor of bearing and nurturing life. It is not a curse from God or from men. Could there any other achievement in life that matches that of bearing life? But with the privilege comes the responsibility and accountability for that life. The most basic role of government is to protect life. To support mothers in their pregnancy and to support them as they nurture young life is a responsibility we all have. For politicians to state that the purpose of government is to protect the right of a woman to have her baby aborted is to disqualify themselves for consideration for support. A political party that passionately advocates for a woman’s right to have her baby’s life taken has turned justice absolutely upside down. It is a crooked party calling us to join them in their rebellion against God.

In a subsequent post I will address the issue of LGBTQ. For now, it is so important that we realize that each unborn child is a person that has the right to live. I had a personal experience of significance one summer. I was the evening speaker at a family camp at Forest Home Conference Center. At the same time there was also a camp for students. One morning as I was studying in a cabin, a small group of students met on the porch outside. They didn’t know I was there, and I didn’t want to interrupt them. The counselor shared her story. When her mother was pregnant with her in Chicago, she decided she didn’t want her. An abortion at a clinic was scheduled, but the night before, a massive snowstorm hit Chicago, and the city was shut down. Because of weather, the clinic was closed, and the appointment was canceled. Her mother never rescheduled. As she shared her story and God’s providential intervention to spare her life, I was so impressed that these issues of unborn children are not just statistics. These are lives in development who have given by God the right to life.

Now, alongside this call of God to protect life, there is also a path given from God for forgiveness, acceptance, and new life for those who have taken life. The Bible says that Jesus took upon Himself the wrath for the guilty judgment of our sin upon the cross. Jesus has paid in full, so that whoever repents and calls on Him for forgiveness and commits to follow Him in His paths of righteousness will be forgiven, accepted, and helped by God. The Bible says in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The Bible promises in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” If you are guilty, turn to God’s Son Jesus in true humble repentance and trust, and He will bless you in the life He has for you from this point on.

In this crooked world we must speak for the unborn and their right to life. We must call those who stand for public office to uphold the inalienable rights of children to life. Those who do not stand for the innocent in the womb will not truly bring justice to the living. Repent, Presidential candidates, repent. America’s hope is God’s favor. He cannot and will not bless the crooked in their crooked ways.

Living When Prophecy Becomes Current Events

November 18, 2019