May 31, 2016 @ 9:30 AM
Aware that most folks today prefer their theology in bumper sticker quips, I've little hope that this post will prove very popular. It will, I'm sure, serve as another proof of God's call upon my life. I, as a voice crying in the wilderness, will once again cry out largely unheard in a world hurrying helter-skelter to its own destruction with its fingers in its ears. Still, I feel compelled to offer a take on today that will prove weighty, as well as most unwelcome.
For years evangelicals have preached that the end of time has come. We've pointed to the signs of the times and warned everyone everywhere of the urgency of preparing to meet God. Yet, now that our redemption is obviously at the door, we've backed off from our previous preaching, even denouncing it as defeatist and detrimental to evangelism in our current politically correct culture. Furthermore, we've seemingly substituted political activism, within which we are willing to compromise our faith in a desperate effort to save our country, for the preaching of an uncompromised Gospel, which is not only what Christ has commissioned us to do, but also our fellow countrymen's only hope of salvation.
The explanation for the contemporary church's slipping into end-time apostasy is its exalted sense of self-importance. For instance, it really believes, contrary to Scripture, that men's immortal souls are saved by the power of its own persuasion rather than by the power of God. Therefore, it concludes that a better sales pitch, not the intolerable truths of the Gospel, and some successful Madison Avenue marketing techniques, not the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, is all that is needed to win the world to Christ. Astonishingly, ever since the contemporary church adopted this apostasy—the superiority of its persuasive power over God's saving power in the salvation of men's souls—its ever-waning influence in our world has gone undetected.
Not only is our ever-waning influence in the world going undetected by today's evangelicals, but also the absolute futility of our political activism. Despite decades of political activism, our country has unabatedly gone to hell in a hand basket, so much so that we've now passed a point of no return with God. Yet, today's evangelicals, thanks to their exalted sense of self-importance, still believe that America can be rescued from sinking in the whirlpool of its own cesspool by a Christian voter pool.
What today's evangelicals either don't understand or won't face up to is that we're caught up in something much bigger than ourselves. Our world is in its downward spiral into biblically predicted end-time depravity. There is no stopping the spiritual forces involved, all of which are being masterfully used by God Almighty to bring to pass His preordained, foretold and immutable plans and purposes. Human presidents, prime minsters and parliaments are all just pawns in the hands of the real power brokers of our age. These powers are spiritual, but all subject to the dictates of the Divine Sovereign, who is perfectly orchestrating them to fulfill the divine will.
Like Saul of Tarsus, who attempted to prevent the progress of the divine program, there is no sense in us kicking against the goads of God's predetermined plans and purposes. We shouldn't focus on the visible, physical and temporal, but on the invisible, spiritual and eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18). Contrary to popular opinion, we're not wrestling "against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Ephesians 6:12). As a result, we shouldn't fight with carnal weapons, like Madison Avenue marketing techniques and punched ballots, but with the mighty spiritual weapons God has put at our disposal, like preaching the Gospel and persevering in prayer (2 Corinthians 10:4).
All of this should not discourage us, but encourage us. It confirms the truthfulness of God's Word and the generousness of our faith, both of which should make our preaching of an uncompromised Gospel more effectual. Far from shying away from it and its accompanying signs of the times, we should be emboldened to proclaim it to our country and world, which are both running out of time. Instead, of discouraging us and causing us to look down, all of this should encourage us and cause us to look up, because, as Jesus taught us in Luke 21:28, our "redemption draweth neigh"!