A New World
This old world has deteriorated very badly and sorely needs renewal. Its people walk about with downcast heads. They know that something is wrong but are not sure what it might be. They see that we have been going downhill for a long time, perhaps a century or more but have no clue as to why. Many think that an end is near. They believe that God will snatch them up to Heaven before things get even worse. Where do such ideas come from? Not from what God said in His Word! The Bible tells us that Jesus will return to a world that believes and worships Him. The source is lack of faith in what Jesus really said:
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28:18-20)
This passage tells us that we have work to do in this world. Our assignment is to make so many disciples that the nations of the world become Christian nations filled with true believers.
The Christian faith grew most rapidly in the early centuries when there were no churches and no pastors. There were Apostles that taught but God’s people were on their own almost all the time. They taught themselves from God’s Word which they studied in small groups. They overcame incredible opposition from the Roman Emperors but they persisted and grew. In 320 A.D. there were so many Christians that the Emperor Constantine was forced to declare Rome to be a Christian empire. The faith continued to grow in the centuries that followed but never at the rate it did in those early days.
More recently, an evil lie has been spread that says God changed His mind, that He will not wait for His people to obey his commandment. It says that He will end the world before it is truly a Christian world. Really? God changes His mind? He is imperfect? He doesn’t know all things? We can’t really trust Him in everything? If so, we can’t trust Him when He tells us we will live forever in heaven. This is not the same God we believed in all these centuries.
This rumor is false and all that help spread it are doing Satan’s work and not God’s work. It is indeed very sad that so many were so weak that they believed it to begin with. The lie started over a century ago and is still very much alive. Even today, many of God’s elect hold tenaciously to this false, decidedly unchristian faith.
How weak God’s people have become! They believe in such a petty god, one that needs to change his mind and rescind his commandments. But it’s not God that is weak. It is His poor, foolish greatures that are so very, very weak that they could believe such an obviously gross falsehood.
How did this happen? How did God’s people become so weak? Why did they not recognize and react against Satan’s lies? Why did they so gullibly swallow them? It was and still is because they had relied on churches and pastors instead of their own personal study of God’s Word. This neglect rendered them powerless and unable to recognize the lies as lies. Churches can be an asset but, when they replace personal Bible study and discussion, they are a detriment and hurt rather than help.
God is waiting for His people to reject Satan’s lie and regain the faith they once held. The near future is in their hands. As they continue to ignore the wake-up call, the world will become more and more wicked. However, when they decide to end their foolish dreams, it could turn around very rapidly.