Posted on 02/28/2016 12:25:03 PM PST by Kaslin
I hear it all the time, and as quickly as I hear it, I reject it.
It is a paralyzing, destructive mentality, and it is unbiblical, plain and simple.
I'm talking about the mindset that says, "Jesus told us everything will get worse, so why bother trying to bring about change?"
Can you imagine what Church history would like if Paul and Peter felt that way in the first century or if Wesley and Wilberforce felt that way in the 18th and 19th centuries?
Why fight against infanticide in the early Church? Jesus said things will only get worse.
Why fight against slavery in Great Britain and America? Jesus said things will only get worse.
Why fight against apartheid in South Africa? Jesus said things will only get worse.
Why even oppose the Nazis? Jesus said things will only get worse.
Do you see how paralyzing this mentality can be?
In response to my video message challenging the Charlotte City Council to vote against an extreme, LGBT activist bill - it was dubbed "the bathroom bill" - someone posted this on my YouTube channel:
"I admire your spirit Dr Brown ... but you know this is fighting the Hand of God. Can you possibly win? Can you possibly even HOPE to win? He said that these days will come. So how is it that you, a man who serves that same God, fights against Him? He says it WILL happen, and you try to STOP it. Is that not fighting against God? No. Instead, praise Him because His Word IS Truth, and preach ENDURANCE and LONG SUFFERING and HOPE. Those are better messages. Trying to stop the Word of God, however, ... is futile."
With all respect to the person who posted the comment, this is absolute rubbish.
Fighting the Hand of God? Fighting against God? Trying to stop the Word of God? Nonsense!
Oh yes, I fully affirm the need to "preach ENDURANCE and LONG SUFFERING and HOPE," and those themes go hand and hand with our actions in Charlotte.
But the idea that we are fighting against the inevitable collapse of society in our day - even fighting against God - is an idea to be resisted and rejected.
If you don't mind my asking, please tell me where Jesus said that from the year 2016 until His return, things will only get worse. Would you be kind enough to provide the chapter and verse?
You might reply, "In Matthew 24, Jesus predicted mass deception and mass apostasy," but it appears you still miss the point.
Aside from asking which portions of Matthew 24 referred more directly to the events leading up to 70 A.D. - in other words, to events that took place almost 2,000 years ago - the obvious question is: How do you know that His words apply to today rather than to 100 years from today? Who gave you the insight that we were in the closing years of the era and that all we could expect was gloom and doom?
If Jonathan Edwards had believed this in the 1700's he never would have called the churches together to pray for awakening.
The same could be said for every revival in history: If the believers in each generation thought that the apostasy and darkness and moral corruption they were witnessing indicated that Jesus was coming any minute and that positive change was impossible, they never would have sought God for revival and the world would be in massively worse shape today.
I came to faith in 1971 when Hal Lindsey's Late Great Planet Earth was all the rage, and we knew that any day now, Jesus was coming back. The signs of the times were all there!
I was 16 at that time. Next month, I turn 61. And Jesus still has not returned.
What makes you so sure that you have figured it all out and that we should simply capitulate and cave in? What makes you so sure that it's time to throw in the towel and let the devil and the world take over? Is this even a remotely biblical mentality?
You might say, "But things have never been as bad as they are today."
I suggest you study history more carefully before coming to that conclusion, but even if you're right, that’s what other generations have said about their days as well, and the Lord moved mightily with great outpouring and harvest.
Who's to say He hasn't saved the best for last?
The fact is that a truly biblical mentality is a victorious, faith-filled, overcoming mentality, a mentality of hope and triumph and expectation.
Jesus is risen and Jesus is Lord!
That's all I need to know.
And Jesus told us that: 1) all authority is heaven and earth is His; 2) in His name and authority, we are to go and make disciples of the nations; and 3) He is with us always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:18-20).
Where, then, is there room for discouragement? Where, then, is there room for a "throw in the towel" mentality?
And if we are successful in making disciples, won't that meant that positive change will come?
The biblical mentality is expressed by John, who told us that "the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining" (1 John 2:8).
Or, in the words of Paul, "The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light" (Rom. 13:12).
That is how we must live, and that is the attitude we must have as we stand for what is right, regardless of how dire things look and regardless of cost or consequence.
And that means that, until our dying day - or until Jesus returns, whichever comes first - the salt must stay salty and the light must stay bright (Matthew 5:13-16).
How else could a disciple possibly live?
Don’t take the Mark.
Although it makes sense where some, who are in situations where they can not defend themselves, and are being persecuted- though they are powerless- that they find their strength and comfort in knowing that in the end, Jesus prevails.
But that is not the case for any Christian born in the U.S.A.. Here you have freedom. You have a choice. You can let your voice be heard. This freedom has come at great cost- all the blood that has been shed to give us this freedom.
(IMO-It would be the height of ingratitude to not excercise the freedom we have been given .)
And I think the parable of the Good Samaritan also applies somewhat - He did not walk by the injured man and leave him to die in the ditch- the Pharisees did- They were the religious people of that time.
Finally-Jesus himself spoke out and challenged injustices throughout his time on earth.
Great article.
Too many spend too much time trying to prove the first chapters of Genesis.
Too many spend too much time trying to prove the last book Revelation.
Way too many forget that what is important is in between Genesis and Revelation.
I began to have doubts on the Scofield doctrines when I saw a professionally printed map of future Israel that was NOT accurate. I had read about the actual borders in Ezekiel.
Later I found that the Southern Baptist Convention has NEVER officially endorsed the Scofield doctrines even though it has taken over their churches.
Among the Independent Baptists, John Rice refused to endorse them, but later, Curtis T Hutson did.
Meanwhile, you can find Tim LaHay’s books in all in the thrift book stores. I guess people got tired of waiting while boning up on fiction.
Well, the disciples did feel that way.
They had no idea thousands of years would pass and Jesus would still not have returned.
But, other signs are indicating we are on a course that no one can change. But, I’m not a doom and gloom type of person. I do believe there is a lot of change coming, and coming very soon.
Paul said repeatedly that HE was living in the endtimes.
Yes, Paul knew he was living in the last two days between the first and second comings. However, since a 1000 years is like a day to the Lord, it seemed longer. Guess what? Time is up!
Yeah, I suppose that is the reason why he told some church members that, since the time was so short, they probably should not think of getting married. They might bump into that 950th year.
When you messed with your Stellarium program did you set the coordinates to the Temple Mount ?
I remember playing around with it a few years ago on my other computer and seeing something with draco pop up later
I wish I still had the notes
Yes. Jerusalem is the observation point. However, only the dates change in this particular configuration.
The planets do an interesting dance for the next seven years, and there are two total eclipses of the Sun that crisscross the United States in a big X between 2017 and 2024, nothing that one can map to the appearance of the Dragon in in the star charts. So it has to be something from the unknown.
If you want to be a stupid twit, then remember: Do not Take the Mark of the Beast on your forehead or right hand.
We know not the hour but we most certainly should realize the season. GOD for our sakes stopped man at Babel and set mans progress back thousands of years. Look at where we've came in the past 150 years especially the last 50. Christ did say "First The Gospel had to be preached to all nations". Until the space program was underway we didn't know with absolute certainty where all nations were and island or area with isolated people were still being found. I think it's safe to say that is near being accomplished as well. The language barrier world wide is broken.
It's not just this prophecy or that prophecy but a cluster of them which seem to be falling into place now at a rapid rate as of late.
“If you want to be a stupid twit, then remember: Do not Take the Mark of the Beast on your forehead or right hand.”
“stupid twit”
Such Christian warmth is always charming.
Well, you are exactly right. I missed the mark. I should have simply said, “The LORD rebuke you!”
To repeat, such Christian warmth is charming.
My job is done. You have been warned.
Ezekiel 3
16 Now it came to pass at the end of seven days that the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
17 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth,
and give them warning from Me:
18 “When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning,
nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life,
that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand.
19 “Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way,
he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.
20 “Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity,
and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die;
because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sin,
and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered;
but his blood I will require at your hand.
21 “Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man that the righteous should not sin,
and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning;
also you will have delivered your soul.”
Nelson, Thomas (2009-02-18). Holy Bible, New King James Version (NKJV) (p. 806). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.
And the test of my supposed “wickedness” is that I don’t accept your views on “end times”?
Convince me that you are Ezekiel, first of all, and then we can talk.
If you were what you claim to be, you would not be using the NKJV, which people mistakenly believe is the King James version modernized.
Also there are scholars that have named a few end times events that have to happen before His return. Psalms 83 and Ezekiel 38. Both talk about destruction of Egypt and Damascus that will happen before His return. Egypt will become uninhabitable for 40 years, when has that happened in history? And Damascus will be destroyed in a night, Damacus is one of the oldest cities in the world today, that prophecy has not happened. But it sure looks like events are lining up for something like that.
In Acts 28, Paul declares Isreal lost and that now Gods salvation will turn to the Gentiles, as they will believe. A new dispensation began then and you can see many things changed, no longer were the apostles doing miracles and healing, Paul could not heal his own Timothy? Why not, a few years back and everyone was getting healed, what changed, why was God's approach to His Isreal different?
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