I cannot count how many times in a teaching message I ended with the evangelistic admonition, "You are one heartbeat from eternity." True, true. But when you are rolling in a Miami ambulance and peering at the end of life as you know it, that shot of truth takes on a whole new shape. One form that fact took was to give me a broad sense of how desperate the human condition truly is. We are all very good at insulating ourselves from this harsh reality, but like a Weekend at Bernie's, we are really propping up a corpse and going on a road trip. When the Bible says all mankind is, 'Dead in their sins,' it is not talking about half measures. Dead is dead, not mostly dead, but totally so.
Therefore our world is generally populated and operated by dead people, out of touch with their creator and capable of the worst in zombie-like behavior. Extreme? I think not. Only our salt and the Spirit prevents a total collapse into depravity.
In the hospital, the History Channel was about the only one that was not trying to sell me something. And June seemed to be 'Nazi Special Month.' I am well studied about the holocaust, have visited Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and shudder during Schindler's List. Maybe it was the morphine, but seeing these Nazi monsters massacre Jews, Gypsies and other 'inferior' races, made me more disgusted than ever. And truth be told, the Nazi's were amateurs compared to Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot and many, many others. Don't get me started. The Assyrians may have set the mark for monstrous behavior, their treatment of prisoners was so gruesome it cannot be repeated. And what really happened to the Mayans? My observation is that they disappeared due to sacrificing their male population to the freaking demons, (See Mel Gibson's Apocalypto). And this is not all ancient history before mankind evolved to enlightenment. The 20th century was the worst, not the best.
Remember, until the 1900's, life for most of mankind was short, dark and brutal. Even now it is no picnic for many, consider that our garbage disposals eat better than thirty percent of the world.
All that to say this, most of us are children of, as Bob Seger sang, 'The UMC,' (Upper Middle Class) and as such, we are beneficiaries of all that Western European Judeo-Christian Civilization can offer. Fueled by a cheap and temporary energy bubble since WW II, we have had it soft and sweet.
This is neither normal nor permanent in the context of history and prophecy.
Far from that doom and gloom guy, I am generally a hopeless optimist, but reality bites. It is going to get worse. Much worse. I wish it were not so for the sake of our children and grandchildren, but my Bible has the book of Revelation in it.
Now perhaps our leaders will be ingenious enough to postpone the inevitable for a generation, or two. Actually, the best option is an amazing revival in America immediately followed by the rapture with no stops for judgment or the national humiliation which we so richly deserve due to abortion, mocking God, etc. Here's hoping.
John MacArthur said the path to a civilization's judgment is paved with pornography. Check. William Durant said that before a nation can be conquered from without, it must crumble from within. Partial check, working on it.
Radical Islam is relentless, (see Constantinople Jerusalem and Cordoba) they will neither give up or give in, so buckle up, this is at least the beginning of the end. But keep in mind, it took centuries for Muslims to establish Istanbul as an Islamic capitol in the heart of Christendom. (Note, Turkey is now 99% Muslim).
As I write this on my lanai in New Mexico, it is a gorgeous day, blue skies, birds, blah-blah-blah. But reality is just a click away on CNN where I see some guy shot up a camp full of teens in Norway.
They were meeting to discuss making the world a better place.
I'm thinking Jesus has a plan for this.
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