You
and I are privileged to be living at the most exciting time in the history of
the human race. Why is this the most exciting time? Is it because people
of
this generation are witnessing the formation of governmental power spheres
precisely configured like those prophesied for the end of the age?
Is
this the most exciting time to be alive because socioeconomic, technological,
and religious conditions seem to be rearranging in the exact order that
God's
Word predicts they will be as the climax of history approaches? Or are these
the most exciting times because the geophysical and astrophysical worlds
around
us more and more display dynamic upheaval like those prophesied for the
apocalypse (awesome displays such as great earthquakes, violent storms,
environment-changing
volcanoes, devastating floods, and spectacular stellar cataclysms-for example,
comets slamming into planets)?
Fear
can be a powerful stimulus upon the process of generating excitement. Since the
indicators strongly suggest that we stand at the very precipice of
that
horrific period that Jesus called the great tribulation, these are fearful
signals indeed. Certainly, however, it would be inaccurate to say that
it
is a privilege to live in times that are exciting based solely on the fearful
events we see occurring all around us. To be privileged implies living
in
conditions that are enjoyable. Fear-engendered excitement produces no enjoyment
for rational-thinking people.
News
accounts coming at us in barrage after barrage from the many media outlets
around the world report in large measure the most tragic aspects of the
human
condition. None are more tragic than instances of violence against children.
Nothing that man perpetrates against his fellowman tears at our hearts
more
than the beastly activities engaged in by child pornographers.
A
recent account involving child pornography sheds light on this sin-putrefied
symptom of our times. The report detailed the indictment of 16 men on charges
they
participated in an international Internet pedophilia ring in which members once
chatted on-line
while
a 10-year-old girl was being molested According to the report, the men belonged
to a club, a " chat room in which users swapped stories about child
sex
and conspired to produce and exchange sexually explicit images of girls as
young as 5. .. .'
Although
we can be thankful that this particular abominable operation was crushed, it
was, statistics tell us, only the proverbial tip of the iceberg. The
knowledge
that even one child is at this very moment being subjected to such horrendous
activity is heart-shattering. Yet thousands, perhaps millions,
around
the world endure this vileness which must regurgitate directly from the mind of
Satan himself.
Child
pornographers exhibit the fact that they are "without natural
affection"-one of the major characteristics that Paul the apostle said
would mark the
end
of the age (2 Timothy 3:3). For who with God-given natural affection can look
into the beautiful, bright- eyed faces of little ones and conjure up
the
absolute abomination of child pornography?
How
Satan hates God's creation called man! The creature God loved so much that He
sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for continues to follow in the devil's
footprints,
which lead to the abyss.
Homosexuality
is now termed "gay." The act that God indicts as being an abomination
the Satan-controlled minds of men now call bright, happy, and alternate
lifestyle.
Despite the reality that AIDS and other deadly diseases such as hepatitis are
directly attributable to their "gay lifestyle"-thus making it
in
fact a death- dealing existence-they refuse to cease their life-ending
activity. God's Word says that they receive in themselves the recompense of
their
error
which is fitting (Romans 1:27). God, in other words, says that they get what
they deserve when they refuse to repent of their abominable activity.
Homosexuality
cannot procreate, which further attests that Luciferian hatred is behind it.
How better to kill off the human creation?
Abortion
in the United States is a highly profitable business that delivers death on
demand. Congress, as of this writing, is considering making legal the
French-produced
RU486 abortion pill.
Reprobate
thinking dominates our culture today thinking that calls good evil and evil
good, thinking that condones killing for the sake of expediency. As
proof
that ours is a generation steeped in reprobate thinking-that is, thinking that
is convoluted, irrational, and even demented consider the following.
Rational,
loving parents would never for a moment think about giving their child a
cyanide capsule. Many of these same parents, however, would support legalizing
the
abortion pill and would themselves take the pills, effectively poisoning their
children in the womb. Death on demand is made attractive when it is
legitimized
and comes nicely merchandized and packaged. Expedience and convenience declare
to the reprobate mindset that the unwanted pregnancy equates
merely
to an upset stomach or a headache that must have a quick fix.
Euthanasia
raises its Luciferian head during the last days of societal collapse. Whether
considering the ancient Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Mayans, Incas,
or
Aztecs-or the more recent atrocities inflicted upon those under the Nazi
regime, the systematic murdering of sick, disabled, and elderly people marked
those
cultures in the last stages of their decline and fall. Unwanted people were and
continue to be discarded through genocide, such as that currently
taking
place in China, where girl babies reportedly are drowned by the millions.
Satan's
hatred for God's creation called man is easily observable in our own time.
"Dr. Death" is the nickname given a medical doctor who routinely
involves
himself
in so-called "assisted suicides." The doctor's own words obviously
betray his feelings about the sanctity of life and the Creator who gives it:
During
a luncheon before the National Press Club, [Dr. Jack] Kevorkian defended
himself and attacked the religious community, boasting: "Had Christ died
in
my van, with people around him who loved him, [it] would have been far more
dignified.
Attempts
made to convict him of murder have thus far failed. With each failure of justice
comes the desensitizing effects. Ours is a generation quickly
becoming
anesthetized to the fact that euthanasia is murder. How near we must be to the
time when God says, "Enough is enough!"
Homosexuality-abortion-euthanasia
are inalterably linked to Satan's ravenous desire to destroy human beings.
God's Word says that Satan "as a roaring lion
walketh
about, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8).
These
rampant anti-God activities increasingly find acceptance, even among those who
call themselves Christians. But homosexuality, abortion, and euthanasia
represent
a satanically inspired death wish for all people. Individually and
collectively, these hellish practices oppose the one and only Life giver.
God's
prophetic Word tells us in unequivocal terms about the rebellious, blasphemous
generation that will populate planet Earth during the time of the apocalypse,
the
closing years of this earth age, which Jesus referred to as a period of great
tribulation.
"Neither
repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their
fornication, nor of their thefts" (Revelation 9:21).
The
word "sorcery" is translated from the Greek word pharmakeia. The
approximate equivalent is the English word "pharmacy," which means
the art of preparing
and
dispensing drugs.
Drugs
will flow through the veins of that end time generation while those people
blaspheme God even though they know His judgment is upon them. The people
of
apocalypse will refuse to repent and turn from their total immersion in drug
addiction and every other imaginable sin even though their very souls hang
in
the balance.
Our
evening newscasts are all we need to validate that we are already waist-deep in
a cesspool of illicit drugs. Every crime on the books, it seems, can
in
one way or another be linked to the mind-altering poisons routinely distributed
on the streets of every city in America. We have only to recall our
last
local news broadcast to remember a reporter saying something like
"...police believe this [shooting, murder, robbery, etc.] was probably
drug-related."
Gangs
with members as young as seven years old willingly become slaves to drugs and
the dealers who live luxuriantly on the billions of dollars generated.
Governments
are demonstrably inadequate to the task of stopping or even curbing drug
trafficking. Politicians promise wars on drugs but inevitably prove
impotent
in fulfilling those promises once the electioneering is over.
A
recent news item testifies that politicians and their mouthpieces view the drug
problem as nothing to be concerned about, even if their own staff members
are
alleged to be heavily involved in illicit drug usage.
Barry
McCaffrey, national drug control policy director, asked in Washington that all
politicians stop trying to make an issue of whether an opponent has
used
drugs because "no good can come from it," adding, "Drug use was
a generational thing, and we should just accept that and move on." Drug
infection
gushes
through the nation's and the world's bloodstream, not only degenerating thought
processes, but feeding lust and greed as well. Paul's words ring
true
today: "The love of money is the root of all evil" (I Timothy 6: 10).
People
of the great tribulation era will not repent of their sorceries because, like
the addicts and dealers of this present hour, they will be willing
to
pay any price to continue feeding their insatiable appetites. The tremendous
growth we are witnessing in illicit drug trade is a foreshock of the coming
Antichrist
and his system-a system, which will, no doubt, at the outset of Antichrist's
reign, promise seemingly brilliant solutions to all problems, including
those
involving illicit drugs.
Governmental
and business institutions grow increasingly concerned about instability within
world money markets. Stock market record highs, followed by
wild
fluctuations, cause worry and sometimes panic for global financial analysts.
Despite the chaos, international banking conglomerates continue to merge
and
meld and network into what surely will soon become a one- world economic order.
The
exponential growth in computer technology is without question moving our
generation toward the time prophesied in Revelation 13.
Again,
Antichrist will offer solutions to unbelievably complex fiscal problems
produced when the four horsemen of the Apocalypse ride across the world,
bringing
war, famine, pestilence, and death. "It's the economy, stupid" might
have been a catchy-if somewhat deceptive-political slogan during the 1992
U.S.
presidential campaign. Such a slogan will not be necessary during that future
time of tremendous economic turmoil. Everyone will be agonizingly aware
of
the abyss in which they will be mired. They will beg the beast and his
totalitarian system of computer control to institute world order.
New
Age thought runs throughout government, business, and religion at all levels.
Sadly, even evangelical Christianity suffers with New Age infection.
The
same serpent who seduced Adam and Eve with the lie promising that they would be
as God when they ate from the forbidden tree now whispers in the desensitized
ears
of this generation the same lie: " You will become gods when you follow
the New Age pathways laid out for you by the ascended masters." But they
are
pathways
leading to the end time abyss of apocalypse.
Lucifer's
soothing lie that proposes many ways to God's salvation salves the guilt-ridden
conscience of fallen man. It appeals to the supremely arrogant
pride
that mankind inherited from father Adam when that first man determined to
disobey his Creator and instead accept Satan's offer of godhood.
People
today by and large think of salvation, of going to heaven when they die, as
obtainable through self-effort. If one lives a good life, God will weigh
this
against the bad and the person will be found worthy based upon his or her
personal accomplishments on the side of good. They need no atoning sacrifice
by
Jesus Christ to save them. Such is a narrow-minded concept they reject, even
though the still, small voice convicts them of the truth during those lonely,
empty
times when their souls yearn for something, for someone to fill the void.
Doug
Groothuis, assistant professor at Denver Seminary, and noted researcher and
author on the New Age movement, recently pointed out who Jesus Christ
is-rather,
was according
to New Age thinking. He addressed the fact that New Age thought proclaims that
there is no need for a Redeemer. Groothuis said:
The
emphasis on Christ is not Christ as the unique and final liberator, the savior
of the human race because of what He's done through His [crucifixion
and
resurrection], but that He is kind of an example, the model for what we can do.
Jesus was a man who [tapped into] the Christ energy for the Christ
Potential.
... It's not biblical Christianity at all .... I
Groothuis,
in further explaining the insidious influence the New Age movement inflicts on
this generation, talked about Jean Houston, the New Age guru who
spent
considerable time with America's First Lady in the White House during the
summer of 1996 as part of the now-famous Eleanor Roosevelt contact incident.
Groothuis
said: [Jean Houston] is very influential. She leads seminars all over the
country and in fact all over the world basically on how to release the
divine
potential within us all. She has referred to herself as a global midwife. She
means by that ... we all have god within us. We all have the fullness
of
[deity] within us. But that somehow this god within us is stuck and we don't
realize it, we don't actualize it so it's up to people like her to tell
us
we are divine and how to put that energy out into the world .
Groothuis
went on to say that New Age theosophy purports that there is a latent, divine
energy that makes up the universe. God is that energy. But there
is
no distinction between the Creator and the creation. Everything is one and we
are all part of that great cosmic unity.
Groothuis
said that according to Jean Houston and other New Age thinkers: ... the problem
of the human race, the reason we have ecological problems, military
crises,
economic crises, etc., is not because of human sin against a holy God that has
affected us all. It's because somehow we are suffering from a kind
of
divine amnesia. We have forgotten the divinity within ourselves. So her role is
to be a catalyst or midwife to bring out the latent divinity inside
of
all Of US ....
Groothuis
said that consulting channelers, mediums, and indulging in other occultic
techniques to achieve one's goals instead of going to God in prayer
is
dangerous. He said, "... in fact, doing this sort of thing can lead to
some kind of encounter with the demonic. We have to remember that Paul said
Satan
himself
masquerades as an angel of light.... If [anything] is leading away from Christ
and His gospel, then it's not of God."'
Despite
such warnings, mankind strives pridefully closer to the abyss and eternal
separation from God. One of the New Age movement's most renowned contemporary
leaders
sums up the audacious claim that man does not need God because he is God!
The
great and growing interest in Eastern philosophy and religion, in reincarnation
or the law of rebirth and the power of mind over matter, this is part
of
a great shift in consciousness which is everywhere taking place and a direct
result of our sense that the old molds of thought and feeling are no longer
adequate
to express our growing awareness of reality, thus revealing a readiness for a
new revelation.
There
is no doubt of a spiritual awakening which is everywhere taking place, which
must eventually lead to an era of world brotherhood. The keynote of the
coming
Age of Aquarius.
What
is happening now is the outcome of inner forces which are affecting great
changes in human thinking and consciousness. This will result in the complete
reorganization
of the world's institutions and social structures which no longer answer man's
true need. This will entail the reorganization of our political,
economic,
and financial systems along more rational and just lines.'
New
Agers will achieve their paradigm shift to a society that is the antithesis of
what God intended for man. The most vicious dictator ever known will
then
rule over that darkest period in human history, the black abyss of apocalypse.
People
do not need to discover, then nurture, the Christ- consciousness within
themselves. No such entity exists. People need Jesus Christ to fulfill the
God-shaped
void that exists within every man, woman, and child born since Adam brought sin
into the world, thus separating himself and his progeny from
God.
The
Carpenter of Nazareth rebuilt the bridge over the abyss of eternal separation
with timber constructed in the shape of the old rugged cross upon which
He
willingly bled and died for you and me. Christ's atoning sacrifice is God's
chosen way to reconcile us to Himself. There is none other.
Foreshocks
of the coming Antichrist are everywhere. Those fearful signals that the beast
of Revelation 13 could very soon make his appearance upon the world
stage
should produce for the Christian not excitement based upon fear, but excitement
based upon joyful anticipation. We are promised not Antichrist but
Jesus
Christ! (Read Revelation 3: 10 and John 14.)
No
prophecy stands between this generation and the rapture. Christ's return for
His church in the air above planet Earth is imminent. You too can be part
of
those who excitedly anticipate that unimaginably exhilarating microsecond
when Jesus shouts "COME UP HITHER!"
Accept
Him today and receive God's inward peace which assures that in life or in
death, you are His own. So shall we ever be with the Lord.
Even
so, come, Lord Jesus.