The World has become a scary place. Extremism has taken centre stage with acts of terrorism on a large scale, and the lone gunman stalking temple, mosque and schoolyard. There’s also no escaping the climate is in a process of change with severe events affecting many. Australia has seen its worst bushfire season impacting every State. In the Middle East we find deadly floods, humidity, and snow as never before. Typhoons, hurricanes and storms are growing in frequency and intensity, destroying crops, homes and livelihoods. And a virulent infection seems to turn up every year. Due to its place of origin; covid-19 will have a notable impact in 2020 outside its immediate health concerns. It is understandable the young are anxious about their future.
The Church also has seen great change, as new ways seep into the bedrock older parishioners once knew and took for granted. What was a house of sermons, hymns, and quiet reflection is now a hall of amplified noise.
Many are now looking elsewhere to be fed in the Word as these new-age styles do not sit well with some. Everyone is touched one way or another by the world we live in. It has indeed become faster, noisier and more complex, as we look to the future with a degree of unease.
We also live in an egocentric age, where the Internet fills every corner of our lives, some good; some not, while television continues to insult and degrade. We have become a peculiar society, eating food we don’t prepare, looking to recycle needless waste. And although good qualities of community care still linger, they are quietly being erased by invisible means; doubt and hatred the ascendant spirit where trust and respect once lived. This is nowhere more apparent than in the modern political world.
When we gauge today’s governments with those of former times, it is comparing night with day. Yes, there were moments of prickly debate in the past, but the values of mutual respect stood firm. It is no longer the case. The surge of supremacist leanings in Europe and America a case in point; that leaders would encourage such behaviour would have shocked a nation, but no longer as the decline in global political standards and conduct clearly show.
And now grassroots anger is rising. It will consume many, as cultures and peoples become more entrenched in their views. Social mistrust, racial tensions, growing poverty, political frustration and climate concerns, are causing violent outbursts around the world. It will continue to spiral out of control. Yet, none of this is really surprising.
What’s new is the current growth of myopic nationalism emerging in a perceived enlightened global society. It has raised its deadly intention in many countries driven by a tribal-religious politic, openly in Israel and covertly in a growing number of States. Together with a notable change in the weather, the temperature is rising every single day. This is the evolving reality in our polarized political world, an uncertain social landscape, in an age of fading values.
We are seeing it manifest in human terms in the homeless and hungry; stripped of dignity and purpose, not only by failing systems for hope has forsaken them also.
They have become as strangers in their homeland, with nothing left to give save to smother the pain in their heart. The bruised and naked, who weep alone abandoned, denied our good charity as laws now bind our comforting hand. It seems providence has hidden its light from the world.
Is it our own design that has brought us to this cruel arena, where those who call for peace are made silent, and the virtuous turned aside by smear and retort? And, how can a man profit from another’s hurt when religion flourishes: and why are the rights of some to follow abnormal desires protected when the godly are reproved? It looks like humankind has turned in on itself like never before as we watch love, compassion and the fading glow of wisdom slowly begin to set in the east.
Schools of Thought
Some would advocate this is no more than natural evolution: societies and cultures continually shaped through habitual change. It may also be likely those who think this way, might benefit to some degree. There is also that force via the ballot box, driven by physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization needs that can, and does amend society, from time to time. Yet, it is quite apparent; social media is now the tail wagging the dog.
Others proffer it is years of ecological disregard, communal extravagance and spoil, which has brought us to this place. Our living has caught up with us as we now suffer the indignation of the spirits, sent to punish us all. So, where does it fall; are we the architects of our own demise or is there another power at play? We have indeed impacted the environment, our societies are less caring, and we face difficult times ahead. But what of God, is He in this equation at all?
Various philosophies; be they secular or spiritual, have shaped our thinking about our place in the world. And while they may on the surface appear numerous, unique or different, when we strip them down to their essential canon two remain; the Wisdom of God and the knowledge of men. The clear difference is found in evolutionism, the idea we are an accident of nature where intelligent design has no place, or part to play.
The first school holds the Earth and the Heavens are the creation of God who brought forth all manner of life. And while this belief is recognized by over three billion people, it has become the subject of derision throughout academia. So we see a division of thought, with external design and spontaneous generation, in opposing camps of equal conviction. We can of course kindle some alarm by asking the question, ‘has nothing ever existed,’ but that’s not the matter at hand. So, where then is the truth? It may be of interest that the only one to have ever claimed such, as his domain, is the LORD Jesus Christ:
I am the way, the truth, and the life: (John 14:6)
Concerning These Times
The Holy Bible contains writings and prophesies about the state of the world in this age. It also speaks of God’s desire we follow the good path set through His Gospel, Apostles and Prophets. So, in coming to grips with these days, we should uncover the root of disorder spilling out into the world. And, while we find it in both Church and State; our brief must of necessity look to the clerical, where errant doctrines, laws, false assumptions and dubious behaviour, insult its very foundation. It seems we are drawn to corrupting all the good we touch.
Over the last few years, the churches have consented to rules opposed to Scripture and bowed to the laws of humanity; sanctioning the marriage of same sex couples an example of their plight. Within the Church system, we find homosexuality inside its ranks, the abuse of children, and women dispensing the Gospel, all in disagreement with the express teachings of the Prophets and God they allege to embody.
Hence, the Church has turned its back to the LORD, rejecting sound teaching deemed no longer relevant in the modern world.
The Prophet Isaiah, spoke very well of his generation, and of today. None call for justice, nor plead for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity. (Isaiah 59:4)
The Church took upon itself great responsibility to teach the certainty of the Gospel, attested by all reliable authorities as faithful and true. It has betrayed that trust. By removing the heart of God’s Word, by teaching only what suits, congregations are now open to derision by those who would pull them down. As Peter writes in his second letter, these latter days would see people ridicule the truth of God following their own desires. (2Peter 3:3) Paul’s statements on the subject were so accurate it is impossible to discount their origin as divine.
Know this also that in the last day’s perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: (2 Timothy 3:1-5)
A Falling Away
Many will have heard or read, in the later days there would be a falling away, believing church numbers will decline. While a sign, this is not the falling away we see in Scripture. It’s the drying up of God’s Word: behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD. (Amos 8:11) The famine is our adding of confusion; the bread now tainted by the leaven of creeds, doctrine and laws. Soiled by these impurities, it can no longer sustain us with its truth now denied. Paul’s warning to Timothy shows how the falling away has come.
Disease, conflict, division, racism and hatred, depression, poverty and slavery to all manner of addiction, are the natural products of a godless and hopeless age, for without hope faith is dead. When we favour ourselves ahead of our neighbour, love is diminished. However, none of this is new. In His Revelation to the Apostle John, Jesus directed his attention to the decline of faith down through the ages. Every generation had its failings, but still declared great truths seen in Paul, Irenaeus, Luther, and Wesley. Even so, all were opposed by those of the Church in their day, who impiously claimed God’s Word as their own.
These are they who reject Isaiah’s testimony Jesus is Almighty God. (Isaiah 9:6)
And refuse Peter’s witness that Jesus is both LORD and Christ; (Acts 2:36)
And Paul’s ruling Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)
Those who abandon these scriptures have fallen from the truth of God. We are in disorder for the simple reason we have cast off the fullness of the LORD and His Christ. Every action bears its sweet or bitter fruit.
While we provide for material things, we fall short in the Kingdom of God. As Paul rightly says; seek those things which are above, where Christ sits… (Col 3:1) There is nothing new in human nature when we compare the past with today, refusal then or rejection now, the result is the same. Aggression, excess, conflict and division, are symptoms of our fears and failings. Maybe we could return to the ease of a loving God by first respecting our neighbour. We might also exchange our narrow creeds for faith and charity as Paul and Peter suggest we do. And as all things begin with a single thought, perhaps now is a good time to start down that path.
The Oil of Joy for Mourning…
We began by looking at the state of the world and the difficulties many people face. Some find it too hard to bear turning to drugs and alcohol, or have in quiet desperation ended it all. This is not an easy place to make headway, if we feel we are on our own. The good news is we are not alone; we were all given a spirit to commune with a greater hope than ourselves. But, to those who suffer violence openly or behind closed doors, more than anyone Jesus knows how you feel, He also suffered great abuse at the hands of men.
For those trapped in despair, listen to your brother or sister when they mention His name; for in their love for you they also bleed. Would it be a poorer place than where you are right now?
To the maimed and broken by conflict and war, I pray the LORD’S pity rests upon you also, that He may give unto you beauty for ashes, so you may know you are not forsaken.
For those in authority, act fairly with justice in mind; whatever your actions bind on Earth shall be remembered. We are all held to account and subject to reckoning when we stand before the LORD. Charity has its own reward.
And to those who preach the Gospel: you are charged to be in keeping with His Commandments, to tell the truth about Him, to speak well of His servants, to respect and declare their testimony; and with all energy and kindness protect His children in your care. The LORD neither slumbers, nor does He sleep.
His peace be upon us all,
James