Unfolding before our very own eyes

[OakWood]

As we near the end times, the lovers of God and the truth are being marginalised, mocked or persecuted.  There is an attempt to eradicate Christianity and Christian values. Christianity is seen by many as a disease, a false doctrine or an unnecessary, outdated nuisance.

In non-Christian nations, believers are being murdered and enslaved on a daily basis. In what are supposed to be Christian nations, believers are becoming increasingly alienated in their own lands.

At the same time, Wickedness is the new religion, Godlessness is the new scripture and lies are the new truths.

Sins are no longer considered sinful but have been redefined as acceptable, normal, alternative, or in the worst cases, they are promoted as being beautiful or superior.

What was considered ungodly has now been reinvented as ‘fashionable’. That which is decadent is often promoted as being beneficial to mankind.

 

Remind ourselves of the following verses. Do they describe what is happening now before our very eyes?                                                                                                                                                                                        

 

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil

Who put darkness for light and light for darkness

Who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight

 

Isaiah 5:20-21

 

Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me

 

Matthew 24:9

 

All men will hate you because of me

 

Luke 21:17

 

People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God –

 

2^nd Timothy 3:2-3

 

For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to tell them what their itching hears want to hear.

 

2^nd Timothy 4:3

 

Look around you. Does this remind you of today, in a way that it did not thirty, twenty, ten or even five years ago?

Do you think that these things will not be even more evident in six months, one year or two years’ time? If you haven’t noticed these things yet, then you soon will.

 

Let us remind ourselves that things will not be getting any easier for us.  Expect to be insulted and ridiculed, ignored, side-lined and maybe even bullied, terrorised or threatened. Take heart though and be reminded that God knew that this would happen and gave us words of comfort:

 

But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

 

 1^st Peter 4:13-14

 

Don’t forget that we can all get through this together. We always have each other - and nobody is ever alone when he has the Holy Spirit and carries the armour of God.

[JDavis]

I see a shift in things, but I do not see anything that is truly different than other times in history. 

 

I think the biggest change is here in the US.  It is my belief that God used the US to spread His word to the world in ways that no other nation could have.  While we are not a "chosen people" like Israel, we were a tool used by God to spread the Gospel message.  

 

But while Christianity may be on the decline in the US it is thriving around the world, even against the things you speak of.  

[missmuffet]

WillowWood, I do see our world becoming more and more wicked all the time.I see the separation of our world more than ever in the nonbelievers and believers.With some unbelievers it is rather aggressive and evil the feelings that they have towards us.Our time is short here on this Earth.I feel it.†

[MorningGlory]

 

I see a shift in things, but I do not see anything that is truly different than other times in history. 

 

I think the biggest change is here in the US.  It is my belief that God used the US to spread His word to the world in ways that no other nation could have.  While we are not a "chosen people" like Israel, we were a tool used by God to spread the Gospel message.  

 

But while Christianity may be on the decline in the US it is thriving around the world, even against the things you speak of.  

 

How can whatever "message" America spreads be taken seriously by others who see a country who is the number one purveyor of pornography, supports infanticide, endorses gay marriage and is fiscally irresponsible?

 

 

I think you're a little overly critical of your own country, Cobalt.  Visit Europe and have your eyes opened.  Things are WAY worse in other countries than here.....speaking on a Christian level.  That's not to say we don't have a lot of problems; we do.  But let's put it in perspective.  Most other western countries consider us prudish Bible thumpers. 

[JDavis]

 

I see a shift in things, but I do not see anything that is truly different than other times in history. 

 

I think the biggest change is here in the US.  It is my belief that God used the US to spread His word to the world in ways that no other nation could have.  While we are not a "chosen people" like Israel, we were a tool used by God to spread the Gospel message.  

 

But while Christianity may be on the decline in the US it is thriving around the world, even against the things you speak of.  

 

How can whatever "message" America spreads be taken seriously by others who see a country who is the number one purveyor of pornography, supports infanticide, endorses gay marriage and is fiscally irresponsible?

 

 

I agree this is a problem, which I think God no longer is using the US the way he did in the past.

 

But in my opinion it goes much deeper than this, I think the "church" in our country has become complaisant and lukewarm at best.  I it my experience that over the last decade the focus of the church has shifted from saving souls to an inward focus on the flock and what we can do to make the flock happy.  Mission trips are down and those that do go often do not have spreading the gospel as a priority.

We as a church in this country have become too focused on ourselves and on fighting battles in the court of law instead of trying to win new souls to Christ.  Jesus and the early church was not about pretty buildings or laws trying to force people to act like Christians, they were focused on changing the world one soul at a time.   When we lost this, we lost the blessing of God.

[missmuffet]

Their will be a time of judgment like no one has ever seen.God is eventually going to say "ENOUGH!".

[John S]

People should worry about their own relationship with Jesus Christ and stop worrying about other people or nations.

[JDavis]

 

We as a church in this country have become too focused on ourselves and on fighting battles in the court of law instead of trying to win new souls to Christ.  Jesus and the early church was not about pretty buildings or laws trying to force people to act like Christians, they were focused on changing the world one soul at a time.   When we lost this, we lost the blessing of God.

 

 

Sorry, the board software is new and I am having difficulties with the quote function so i had to split this into two replies.

 

Some of these battles need to be fought, even if we cannot win them because people need to know where you stand.  I would always fight against homosexuality and abortion even if I knew as fact I could never win, because it needs to be done to send a message.  They can keep performing abortions.  That won't make it right.  They can make civil unions and/or marriages for homosexuals legal, but they cannot remove the sin from it.  If I were the Pastor of a church, and gay marriages were legal, there is no way i would marry a gay couple in my church, but they will ask for that, and that is a clear violation of the 1st amendment, because the church has the same protection that the gay community says they want, but wish to violate when it comes to matters of faith.  And they do not have that right. 

 

 

First I agree that a pastor of a church should never preform a same sex marriage.  if the pastor of a church were I attended did, I would leave that church.

 

Part of my problem with the battles is the methods we have chosen, they are not showing the Love of God, they are down right hateful.   One of the routes I used to run took me past the local Planned Parenthood building.  A couple of times there were people out front "protesting", when I ran by one way they tried to get me to stop and join in.  I said no thanks and kept running.  The following week I ran by and one of the people remembered me and told me that if I was not helping them protest that I was responsible for killing babies.    Here I was a guy that is an anti-abortion as they come, one that spends his time volunteering at a Crisis Pregnancy center, and they are attacking me.

 

Look at the signs that people were holding out side of the Supreme Court building, they are awful and while they do not represent us all, we give information to the media by having people out there with the signs.    We cannot fight the world using their tactics, we must do what we do in love, always.    If people do not like Christians, they will never come to Christ.

[JDavis]

 

 

First I agree that a pastor of a church should never preform a same sex marriage.  if the pastor of a church were I attended did, I would leave that church.

 

Part of my problem with the battles is the methods we have chosen, they are not showing the Love of God, they are down right hateful.   One of the routes I used to run took me past the local Planned Parenthood building.  A couple of times there were people out front "protesting", when I ran by one way they tried to get me to stop and join in.  I said no thanks and kept running.  The following week I ran by and one of the people remembered me and told me that if I was not helping them protest that I was responsible for killing babies.    Here I was a guy that is an anti-abortion as they come, one that spends his time volunteering at a Crisis Pregnancy center, and they are attacking me.

 

Look at the signs that people were holding out side of the Supreme Court building, they are awful and while they do not represent us all, we give information to the media by having people out there with the signs.    We cannot fight the world using their tactics, we must do what we do in love, always.    If people do not like Christians, they will never come to Christ.

 

 

Agreed, but you cannot paint the entire Christian community with a broad brush because of the actions of a few over-zealous and poorly-grounded people within it.  You have people leaning far too far that way, and then you have another group, swinging way over the other saying that these things are perfectly acceptable.  And both of them are wrong.  But secular society, especially liberals, paint the entire Christian community as whack-job zealots and then use scripture to try and condemn their behavior, from a book they don't even believe in.  And both the hateful zealots, and the "liberal" Christians preaching that homosexuality and abortion are OK don't believe in that book either, or they would not be advocating hate, on the one hand, or sin, on the other hand.

 

Pointing out that abortion or homosexuality is wrong is not "hate."  But people in support of those things constantly try to paint people who simply say those things are wrong as hateful, and that is false.

 

Had it been me, i would have stopped and had a very frank talk with anyone who attempted to accuse me of something if I didn't choose to join them in whatever protest they were involved in, and I am fairly sure they would not have bothered me again, since I am extremely direct.

 

 

pointing out that abortion or homosexuality is wrong may not be hate, but it can sure be done in a hateful way.

[CAP73]

 

pointing out that abortion or homosexuality is wrong may not be hate, but it can sure be done in a hateful way.

 

Amen to that.  Look at Westboro Baptist Church.