Secularism and paganism permeate every influential part of society: Science, Education, religion, Medicine, Industry, The Marketplace, Entertainment and journalism. Unfortunately, most of the soldiers on the traditional Biblical side of the war are AWOL – absent without leave. Many of them don’t even recognize there’s a war on. And most of them have no idea what the enemy is doing to effectively anesthetize them and win the prize of this war. What is the prize?
In today’s world ‘captivity’ can easily be seen in the darkness and agony of those trapped in human trafficking as well as those trapped in undeniably pain-filled evils of addictions and self-destructive behaviors of all kinds. But captivity is a reality by which even the most highly esteemed among us can be endangered. Afterall, we’re surrounded by a society, overwhelmed by a vast typhoon of voices. Many of those voices are deliberately mesmerizing us into endless temptations to fear men and what they can do to us, rather than to fear God and accept His mercy. Inevitably, all of us are in danger of captivity because we lack knowledge! …particularly the knowledge of God.
Unfortunately, many have become so damaged, so jaded, so disconnected from the true and living God of Creation, that they’ve become hopeless. Their hurt, often turned to scars by people and events often which were beyond their control, has sadly worsened into a burdening ‘callous’ of cynicism, bitterness, and vulgarity. They need the saving grace and perfect peace of The Savior as much as anybody does.
Here’s where the realities of the truths of the Bible need to be presented as an anvil that can withstand the blows of doubt and criticism that imperfect humans have leveled at it for centuries. And, as much as many of us would like to start with Jesus and His gospel of the kingdom of God, when it comes to the challenge of speaking truth into the lives of an unbelievably twisted and warped generation, it’s not a bad idea to begin… with the beginning – Genesis. And that’s just what the word “genesis” means… ‘beginning.’
Many reach middle age, watch their children grow up, welcome grandchildren into the world, and quietly wonder, “Have I already done the important part of my life—and now I’m just coasting?” Scripture offers a very different picture. It tells us that from the very beginning, God has been a God of purpose—He creates intentionally, He calls personally, and He uses His people meaningfully in every generation and in every season.
You know, one of the realities of life that our current physical science-based medical system has had to admit in recent years is that there are non-physical causes to poor health and disease. One widely accepted non-physical cause is “stress.” It’s quite well known today that the presence of stress in one’s life, and how one deals with that stress, has a direct impact on our health. Unfortunately, the solutions the medical system most often prescribe today for mental and emotional health are expensive drugs. And they often have serious side effects. So many people are “stressed out” that anti-depressant drugs have become a growing and prosperous business for pharmaceutical companies.
When you think about taking a proactive change of direction to reclaim your legacy, what do you think is the most important thing that you’ve personally learned in your lifetime so far? While you make the focus of your attention on having a positive influence on your own children and grandchildren – your next generation – what truth or idea have you discovered that is such a powerful influence on your own life that you’d have to include it among the very top dozen or so important things that you have ever learned in your life?
Does it matter what you believe about origins? The devil hopes you don’t think so. Maybe you’ve heard people say… “It doesn’t matter what you believe about Genesis.” “Beliefs about origins are not really important to my life.”
What do you suppose is the Number One Thing that causes God’s own children to suffer unnecessary losses, frustrations and destructions in their lives?
Remember What Jesus said about why He came?
The enemy disturbs people’s lives for a reason, why?
It’s … “to steal, kill and destroy.”
Jesus came to give his children what?
“…that you may have life and life more abundantly.” John 10:10
Abundant Life? Would you say that deception and destruction should be a part of that?
Notice what the prophet Hosea says about the one thing that affects God’s people destructively.
“My people are destroyed for a lack of… what? … Knowledge! Hosea 4:6
So, who do you think is the one who wants you to stay dense (stupid)? … in other words, do you think you should just remain ignorant about what God and true open investigation have to say about any fundamental knowledge like the topic of origins, creation and evolution?
How high of a Priority do you put on Truth? Where do you find the truth?
Remember what Jesus said? “…for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” John 18:37
And what was the sarcastic comment of the one man to whom Jesus spoke these words?
Remember what the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate said?
“What is truth?” John 18:38
So why are so many people so mixed up about the truth?
Paul’s letter to believers in Rome said: “They did not like to retain God in their knowledge.” Romans 1:28
Do you think that’s why many people say… we don’t talk about religion and politics around here? They don’t want to think about God and what He has to say about the vital issues of society that everybody’s talking about.
The gospel Jesus preached demanded total surrender. He told people to count the cost (Luke 14:28). He said following Him might cost family, comfort, reputation, maybe even life itself (Luke 14:26-27). He never chased crowds by lowering the standard. When people walked away, he let them go. Contrast that with today’s approach. Churches compete for attendance. Sermons are shortened. Sin is renamed as struggle. Holiness is replaced with becoming religious, whatever that means. And the cross is softened into a mere icon of identification, or worse yet, to some, a symbol of good luck. But the gospel is not about self-improvement. It’s about self-crucifixion. Jesus said, “Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do the things which I say?” Luke 6:46.
That question still echoes today. The gospel Jesus preached demanded total surrender. He told people to count the cost (Luke 14:28). He said following Him might cost family, comfort, reputation, maybe even life itself (Luke 14:26-27). He never chased crowds by lowering the standard. When people walked away, he let them go. Contrast that with today’s approach. Churches compete for attendance. Sermons are shortened. Sin is renamed as struggle. Holiness is replaced with becoming religious, whatever that means. And the cross is softened into a mere icon of identification, or worse yet, to some, a symbol of good luck. But the gospel is not about self-improvement. It’s about self-crucifixion. Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.” Matthew 16:24-25.
How many Christians actually think of anything like that, when they put on their “Christian” jewelry to publicly show they are a blood-bought child of the living God?
When we wonder “why is all this evil upon our nation?” We can easily see that the general eradication of the godly influence of God’s people is because we have forsaken the commission of the Lord to be salt and light… to overcome evil with good… to expose the darkness of our own communities… to rescue those who are perishing because of the evil that is allowed to prevail. So, it isn’t a bad idea to pray about where you can be involved with the work God is doing through his soldiers who are courageous to do all they can to stand against the ‘gates of hell’ as only the Ekklesia is enabled by our risen Lord to do so.
America’s Declaration of Independence is a covenant document that joins member states together under a common frame of government. On a deeper spiritual level, the Declaration of Independence is a spiritual covenant between a people and their God. To state this concept of the spiritual covenant with God another way, America consists of separate sovereign independent member states that voluntarily joined under a covenantal framework of government as “One Nation Under God. “They,” the American people, as John Quincy Adams stated “were bound by the laws of God, which they all, and by the laws of the gospel, which they nearly all, acknowledged as the rules of their conduct. They were bound by the principles which they themselves had proclaimed in the declaration.”
Is Thanksgiving in America a legacy worth reclaiming?
We all know the traditional Thanksgiving story of the Pilgrims, but have you considered the little-known experiences of the his-story that COMPELLED those humble believers to take such risks, posed by tyrants, to make the choices they did?