For Many Are Called...

I heard a sermon recently where the speaker talked about evangelism in the current secular atheist environment. He noted that most non Christians don’t have much pre-existing knowledge about God, or Christianity, and that we often have to fill in the blanks for them. We can’t start assuming that they know what we would have accepted as normal in the past when even non Christians has a good basic understanding about the bible, the gospel and subjects like sin.

I have to say that it really chimed in with my own thoughts about the state of society as it is changing and the challenge for the Church to connect with people today. I have to admit to feeling very sad about the move away from God, the gospel and Christianity. Many folk not only don’t know about their need for salvation they don't care.

They are actively resistant any attempt to share Christ with them. Often citing science and atheism as valid reasons to reject the gospel and any outreach to them from the Church. They have become hardened toward Christ and are apparently content to die in their sins. All the while oblivious to their real plight where they are facing eternal separation from God their Creator.

The apostle Paul phrased it this way in Romans 1:28 “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting...” In their hearts the unbelieving  have an intuitive understanding of right and wrong and they only need to look at creation to realise that there is a creator. Again Paul puts it this way in Romans 1:19-20 “because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse...”

So non Christians in this era are somewhat lacking in even a rudimentary knowledge of the gospel and the word of God in the bible but God has given them an inherent ability to know right from wrong and at some level an awareness of their sin burden. This understanding is perhaps key in the thinking of any evangelist intent on witnessing to these poor desperate souls because some level non Christians know they need to deal with their sins.

Bear in mind that though I am speaking to other Christians intent on witnessing to the non Christian people around them. However, I would say to non Christians who are reading this piece that I am being objective rather than subjective in my analysis of folk who are not Christian. I would also add that Christians are people too and are largely faced with the same challenges that non Christians are. Except that they have the benefit of a relationship with God, in Christ Jesus, and the presence of the Holy Spirit in their hearts to assist them in daily life.

To Christians who are feeling warn down by the lack of knowledge of Christianity and the lack of interest in salvation exhibited by most non Christians. I would suggest to them not to get too depressed about this as Christ Jesus said that there would be a great turning away in the End Times (Matthew 24:10). We have certainly seen this over the last fifty years in the Western World.

 
However, in the Middle East, Africa and Asia there are many converts to Christ Jesus even in the face of great persecution at this time. God is active and many are coming to Salvation.
If things are not happening in our countries perhaps we need to chasten ourselves and get down on our knees beseeching God to pour out the Holy Spirit in our land. God promised the nation of Israel in II Chronicles 7:14  “ If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” This is a promise to Israel but I feel it could well apply to the Church in our time.

Even we Christians are to some extent consumed by worldliness and we need to separate from the world and become earnest in our desire to see the gospel preached to poor retched folk who don’t know the Lord. We need to pray that the Father would draw them near to Christ in the process of hearing the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ and of His redemptive work on the Cross at Calvary. Where He bore the sins of the World that those who believe on His name may be saved.

Finally, I would say that, yes, we live in perilous times but we also live in times where the gospel will be preached abroad and countless people will be saved in Christ Jesus. We have an opportunity to ask God to consecrate us to Him and to prepare us for the battle that will be fought for the hearts and minds of men and women in our time. Lord Jesus Come Quickly Amen.

An Imperfect Christian

 

I often think if only people would hear the gospel and repent. I look around me and think what am I doing here? I pray for people and nothing seems to happen. That’s not entirely true a lot of my prayers are answered but some of them just seem to be on hold.

I must confess to being an imperfect Christian. It’s not uncommon you know. Many Christians, if not all Christians, are just people. Yes they believe on Jesus and read the Bible but despite what they may think they are not perfect. Actually, they may be in denial and not realising that they are not any different from other people and that there are non Christian people who are very generous, very loving, very philanthropic and very decent people.

The bible speaks of these people II Timothy 3:5 “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” The apostle Paul is quite hard on these people but myself I am in awe of them. I am a Christian and have all of the blessings of God and yet my life is not perfect in any way. Instead of being spiritually and angel I feel my self to be a spiritual leper. There are many ordinary folk who live far more righteous lives than I do. If only they could believe on Christ and surrender their sins to Him. Imagine their potential as Christians.

I guess what it comes down to is that “If I can be a Christian, then anyone can be a Christian.” “If I can fellowship with God in Christ Jesus and my sins can be forgiven,” “Then anyone can be forgiven and inherit eternal life?”In fact, I John 1:9 says “ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This is a promise of God. I must say that I ask for this promise of God often myself.

However, it comes down to my preparedness to trust God and to surrender control of my life to Him. That my friends, is a work in progress. The question here is of trust and obedience to the will of God. Another question is how much of my will is in alignment with God’s will? If I’m honest we’re probably talking single digit percentages here.

So in the end it is about waiting on God. It is the realisation that He has a plan and only He can give me the power to be reformed in nature. Only through the work of the Spirit can I be holy and sanctified. In the end it is walking in the Spirit not the flesh. It is only possible if God sanctifies me as He justified me through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the Cross. And so it falls to each man, and woman, to take up their cross and follow the Savior, Jesus Christ. Who is Lord of All.

Waking Up The World

 

John Bunyan in his priceless literary work 'The Pilgrims Progress' rightly identifies that many people in the World are asleep and they don't want to wake up and acknowledge that they are dying in their sins. They are seemingly unaware that their inaction is leading them to certain doom.

 

Most of us think that we aren't really sinners. We do what we do and we know that some of our decisions are not great but most of the time we do our best to be good. So how can God be so inflexible toward us and the wrong choices we make?

 

Frankly, I can't give you an answer on that question. Isaiah 55 verses 7 - 9 says this "Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. From <https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+55&version=NKJV>

 

So, God insists as our Creator that He won't tolerate unrighteousness and that the wicked must forsake His way. However, if He seems inflexible it is because His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways not our ways. Such is the distance between our thoughts and our ways and His thoughts and His ways that the distance is stellar. We are light years apart in our thinking and our ways and His.

 

Thus we can grumble about God's inflexibility and complain that God just needs to chill out because that is never going to happen. Infact God is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). He never changes and if He has high standards they won't be getting lower anytime soon. Infact He will never compromise His standards.

 

Here's the rub then. The issue that separates us from God is our sin. It doesn't make any difference if we don't think that is the case or we think that is unfair. It is the case. Because God loves you He has given His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the Cross at Calvary as a blood sacrifice for your sins. All you need to do is believe on Jesus as your saviour and repent. Change your ways. Then those sins of yours will be wiped away and you will have eternal life in the coming Kingdom of God.

 

However, you need to wise up and realise that God is the Creator. You can ignore God and you can cast my advice aside but if you do this will cost you eternally. You will face certain judgement and the second death. It is time to wake up people. The world is changing rapidly and not for the good. The freedom we have enjoyed in the past is about to be removed. We will face famine and oppression and the Aotearoa of the last century will pass away into history.

 

Our little bastion of milk and honey will be finished and a new time of turmoil and uprising will come upon us. It will be a challenging and perilous time. The reason I say this is that it will be so bad that people will die of fear. Now I'm not saying this to scare you. I'm sure if you're honest with yourselves you can see the beginnings of this happening in front of your eyes. We are already facing shortages of some foods and energy is rising in price. It will soon become apparent to you that God is your only real option. When you realise that, you will have a decision to make. Confess your sins and believe on Jesus or reject Him and take your chances on my being a false prophet or, just plain wrong?

Woe unto those who say evil is good and good is evil...

I guess most people have heard something of Critical Race Theory, George Soros and ANTIFA. Critical Race Theory basically views people in society as The Oppressors and The Oppressed.

The Oppressors are those who have the greatest amount of power in society because they are born into the dominant discourse. Their class naturally have control of society and dominate resource management and decision making to their ultimate benefit. Because they are The Oppressors they can have no knowledge of what it is to be The Oppressed. Therefore they must be opposed, marginalized and cancelled. You’ve heard of Cancel Culture?

The Oppressed are the only ones in society that have knowledge of oppression. Only the oppressed can know truly how the evil the thinking of The Oppressor actually is and can criticise the actions of The Oppressor so that their ideas and policies can be excised and cancelled from culture and society as a whole.

Thus the focus of modern Communism is not on distribution of wealth but on controlling the individual citizens thought. On stating what people should think and making sure that they behave in a state proscribed manner. That a person is a good citizen. This is apparently the failing of Communism previously that it focused broadly on the wealth of the proletariat and distribution of resources rather than evolution, atheism and secular science as it applies to individual thought.

The greatest foe to modern Communism is the white man and the Christian. Enshrined in the thinking of European race and Christians is all that is oppressive, discriminatory and intolerant. What’s more the Pakeha European or Christian is born into this oppressive mindset and cannot be liberated of it.

The Oppressed on the other hand because of their victimisation are born into an understanding mindset that has the true knowledge of what needs to change in society to develop a tolerant and understanding society. What’s more the more types of oppression you undergo the more wisdom you are said to have acquired. For instance the trans-gender, black woman has far more knowledge of oppression than the white gay man because she naturally has more perspectives of oppression.

I don’t know very much about George Soros other than he is inordinately wealthy and is said to support the cause of Socialism globally. It is also said that he has created groups like ANTIFA around world as a paramilitary support to Communist Activists with the ultimate aim of promoting Marxist government in many countries. Ultimately the complete breakdown of global democracy and its replacement with Communism

ANTIFA in the United States seem to be well educated in socialist activism and the strategies they can use to intimidate free thinking citizens. They also seem to be a well trained paramilitary organisation with no qualms about beating verbally or physically anyone that opposes them.


So what is the underlying truth of all of this Critical Race Theory and the move toward an Atheist, Secular, Communist State? Well sixteen hundred years ago the Emperor Constantine is said to have replaced Paganism with Christianity. This was not entirely the case as Paganism simply continued to exist amongst Christianity and what the bible describes as the Mystery of Iniquity has continued unabated throughout the Church Age.

However, where true bible believing Christians have existed the hand of God has come down hard on Paganism and their agenda has been sorely pressed by the prayers and evangelism of faithful believers. It is fair to say they are somewhat irritated by this state of affairs and are seeking revenge against the Church.

It is also notable that the mainstays of secular socialism are rooted in Paganism. The LGBTQ+ movement comprising Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, Trans-gender and Questioning which is a mainstay of activism in secular socialism is also woven into the fabric of Paganism. Worthy of mention is the political focus on abortion and euthanasia both of which existed in Pagan cultures in the past with infant sacrifice and senicide. However, with Paganism driven underground these groups have not been tolerated by the Church. Although they have flourished in certain areas of society all along.

Lately and In the background the New Age Movement has also infiltrated the Liberal Church drawing many Christians into Yoga; To seek spiritual Enlightenment; Inner Peace; Self as God and so forth. Outside of the Church this same movement has acted as vehicle for Wican, Spiritualism, Satanism and the Marshal Arts Movement to educate followers in New Age Philosophy in the same way as has been achieved in Liberal Christianity.

Meanwhile, Atheism, Secular Socialism and Critical Race Theory are a cover to bring back into greater society the stalwarts of Paganism (LGBTQ+). Where they were hidden in plain sight they are now overtly proud and visible. They are also the means to bring the proletariat under the power of the fledgling hammer of emerging Communism. Withe the intention to attack the Christian enemy and render them speechless and powerless.

This state of affairs coincides with a falling away from Christianity as Atheism and Paganism take hold in much of the world. This falling away was prophesied by Christ Jesus in Matthew 24 verse 10. It is important not to lose heart, though, because Jesus said this must happen before the time of the end, the judgement and His return to establish the Kingdom of God.

What I would leave you with is to advise you to “Keep the Faith.” In this time the Mystery of Iniquity believe that they will win the battle against the Living God, His son Christ Jesus and the Church. They believe that they are in control. However, just as in the past this is an illusion and Yahweh has the outcome of this war under control. Christians across the world just need to hold fast to the word of God and His promises while putting on the Full Armour of God and, making all prayer and supplication as it says in Ephesians chapter 6 verses 10 - 20. To restate my position Yahweh is in control and His will is to be played out as He has stated in the Word of God, to the glory of God.