The Situation

I tend to get fixated on some of the issues that we face as Christians today. I sometimes think I make more of them than they are. I mean, surely, its not as bad as all that. In countries like New Zealand we’ve had it good for so long that we’re just getting soft. When I talk about the time of judgement coming I’m really just exaggerating as living standards in the developed world begin to equalise with those the developing world have faced for centuries.

Which is interesting in one way. If we define the developing world and the developed world what are the major differences that result in the people living in poverty. I think that in the developing world it is the fact that the rulers are exceedingly wealthy to the exclusion of their people who are exceedingly poor. Whereas in the developed world there has been a middle class of the people who have held a larger proportion of the nations wealth and the poor were not allowed to sink into destitution.

I’m going to go out on a limb here. I believe that this has been because the gospel has been shared with the people and we have had a large evangelical component in the societies of the developed nations. Where Protestant Christianity has thrived in the last five hundred years equality has flourished as well.

The Westminster style of government placed real power in the hands of the people. The safeguards in documents like the Manga Carta have protected the people. With the people being mainly Christian. God has blessed the those living in the developed world with peace and freedom.

This of course is the case for all nations that accept the gospel and we are seeing it today in nations like the Philippines and parts of Africa. As the gospel spreads and the Holy Spirit works. God brings about changes for the good. Don’t get me wrong, becoming more Christian doesn’t bring instantaneous wealth to a nation. It takes time and as with the Reformation it has happened over the past five hundred years. In fact we could say that the God’s work amongst the developing nations today is evidence of Luther’s Reformation still happening today.

It’s true that the countries where the Reformation started are becoming the mission fields of today as the gospel of Jesus Christ moves in the countries that were the mission fields of yesterday. Now those countries are taking the gospel back to the countries that were the strongholds of Christ and which are now becoming dark, and cold. A change which has occurred as the Satan’s forces consolidate power, having deceived the people with evolutionary science and secularism, to draw the people away from the truth of God’s word and the blessing of the gospel.

So do we need another reformation as the New World Order is unfurled by the servants of Mystery of Iniquity. We need a reformation at anytime and if God raised men of the caliber Luther, Zwingli, Calvin and Knox today to lead the charge for Christ Jesus. Well wouldn’t that be wonderful. I dear say He has those men and they will roll onto the world stage in due course.

Will it be under the auspices of the Tribulation? Will they come after the Rapture. Are we in the last days? Will life carry on as God tarries to see more people enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I don’t know. But one thing is sure we certainly need to see the reversal of humanism and the new paganism that is drawing many into darkness as I speak.

You may have heard the term Counter Reformation. Since the very beginning of the Reformation Rome has been busy countering the challenge to it’s authority over Christianity. The Society of Jesus for instance. Initially it was founded by Ignatius of Loyola. Members are called Jesuits and it’s remit under Rome would cause most people to blanch. To destroy without mercy those who oppose the Catholic Church basically covers it.

The agenda of Rome in our time goes beyond merely reversing the impact of Luther and the Reformers. It goes beyond Constantine’s amalgamation of paganism and Christianity. In fact it intends the destruction of Christianity and Christians reverting the world spiritually to the time before Christ. You might say taking the world back to Babylon.

What can we do as new Reformers? Christians today need to pray singularly and together for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and a time of repentance within the Church such as has never been seen. We need to take up the armour of God and take the gospel to the world with such passion and commitment as has never been seen before in the Church Age. A call to arms brothers and sisters. There is evil afoot and souls that need saving. Ephesians 6:10-17; Matthew 28: 19-20