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Last Days Lies

Upon reaching the land of promise about two years from the time they were delivered from Egypt, the host of Israel, still very young in their experience with the great “I am”, failed a crucial test of faith.  They shrank away in fear, cowering before the concept of taking the land.  You see, they had learned ‘the talk’ saying, “All that the Lord says, we will do!”  But ‘the walk’ was all together a stumbling.  You remember the story of how the 10 spies were sent into the land to scope it out, but the report they brought back was one of catastrophic cowardice.  Only Joshua and Caleb among them said, “We can do it.”   

And so, for the next 38 years they wandered in a wilderness wasteland.  It was a time in which the old died and the new people that emerged were honed by the hard times, developed by the difficulties and thus ready to run to the battle.  Moses couldn’t lead them in – Moses represented the Law, and for those of us who have wandered, you know the Law only exposes the nature, the ugly nature, of self.   

It took Joshua, the one whose name and leadership represented Jesus, to lead them out of the self-oriented wasteland, through the Jordan river on dry ground, and into the conquest of the land promised by God to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  The same is true today.   

The dead religion of today, having merged with the value system of the surrounding world at large, has fostered a generation of me-oriented wanderers.  It wasn’t that long ago that Jesus-people, the Jesus Revolution, emerged from ‘Egypt’ - perhaps a generation or so - but never ‘took the land’ spiritually. 

Instead, they fostered a celebrity-oriented, lukewarm, compromised Christianity.  What started out radically different, died out, conforming to the pattern of the previous piety and ultimately left Jesus outside.   

But now, here on the east side of Jordan so to speak, is a final opportunity for God’s people to forsake the religious wasteland of the last generation and to truly follow Jesus.  It will mean death to self, doing battle and utterly depending upon your Lord.  With Christ’s return imminent, will you rise up and follow the call of His Spirit?  Do you dare?  Allow me to illustrate:

I was scared stiff!  Entering into the total darkness of the Space Mountain ride, my little boy and I were not yet securely strapped in and when the car jolted downward in a near free fall, I held desperately onto him.  He was crying because he sensed the danger and I was freaked because I couldn’t see to fix his strap and my own was way too loose as well. 

Every twist and turn was without warning and under other circumstances, would have been fun.  This, however, was sheer torture and when it was finally over, we both were white as ghosts and worn out by the terror of the seemingly endless series near-death experiences.   

Darkness and a loose grip are indeed a grim pair.  Unfortunately, that is the state of the world and the church in our times.  Of course, a good deal of the world has always been in darkness but even where the light of the gospel has for millennia transformed pagan societies into caring cultures, advancing in arts, sciences, law and such, we witness everyday more evidence of societal demise as people have turned away from the light.   

What the Bible prophetically terms Babylon in the book of Revelation is the worldwide congregation of the rebellious against God and today its leaders are introducing darkness into every nook and cranny of our societies.  Personally, I am convinced that they will continue to reject redemption.  There’s no saving the ‘Babylonians’ now.  God is entirely justified in judging them and as sure as the sun rises, that judgment is on its way.     

Deception is the new norm.  Evil is being considered as good and good as evil.  Homosexuality is not only tolerated but extolled by the leaders of the nations - political, judicial and otherwise.  Murder is glorified in our entertainment.  Moral conduct is routinely mocked in almost every venue from schools to business to the media.  Our politicians are ripping off our society and laughing that we were stupid enough to put them in the position to do so.  Every media message is polluted with its own agenda-oriented propaganda.     

Youth is exalted into leadership while the aged are discarded or dismissed.  Kindness is considered weakness, while empty hearted violence is considered noble and heroic.  Good grief, vampires and werewolves have become romance figures, older women are ‘cougars’, teachers are morally untrustworthy, police and government officials have scandalous pensions that represent as much as 90% of their salaries – i.e. the society now serves the civil servants.  Stars of sports and entertainment are insulated with enormous sums of money while living lives that spotlight all that’s wrong with our society.     

The list is far too long to expound completely and touches every facet of our world -- children that wear explosive vests, and religions that exalt hatred, terror and the violent destruction of whole societies while imprisoning their own. There’s no saving Babylon now.  Like the Titanic, its sinking fast and rearranging the deck chairs is absurd.   

While there remain many people who will ‘abandon ship’ and still respond to the life of Christ’s light, our societies as a whole are in the stench of rigor mortis.  So what hope remains?  What are we as believers to do?  Do we stick our head in the sand and pretend everything will be alright?    

Definitely not!  Christ said that the person whom He finds feeding His sheep when He returns will be blessed.  He also said to hold fast to what we have – that is, our faith in His grace.  We must recognize the nature of the warfare to which we are called – it’s spiritual, not fleshly – and do the first works.  We must be sure of our own salvation and with regards to the world, live defiantly free from its entanglements.    

The true church has always been the community of the faithful to Christ.  It has never been Catholic or Protestant, Baptist or Brethren, Calvary or Calvinist.  There is one Bride of Christ period.  These are the last days and last days lies being aimed at the Bride abound.     

The church cannot save anyone through politics or law or entertainment.  The church cannot save anyone period.  Salvation comes when the church is engaged in lifting up the light of Christ, pointing people to the One Who does save.     

Unfortunately, the world is swirling around and down the toilet path to hell and the contemporary church is in danger of going with it.  The Lord’s call is as emphatic as ever – “Come out from among them and be separate!” -- separate from the world, its lies and lusts, its parades and passions, its call to self-gratification.       

One of the problems with the last days church as explained by Jesus in Revelation chapter three (See Rev 3:17,18) is blindness.  Absent the light of the scripture and spiritual discernment, this church has a false sense of needing nothing.  It is entirely susceptible to deception.  As a consequence, some people associated with it may end up following a false messiah into the lake of fire. 

Don’t you be one of them!    Join the revolution.  Make the break and head for the high ground now.  Lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us.  Christ will be with you and care for you.  Live entirely for Him – entirely.  This is the balm that clears our vision and how we do battle against Babylon.