Wednesday.....Culture.....On The Plains Of Marathon?

In 1981, Greece became the tenth nation to join, what is now, the European Union and changed their currency to the euro in 2001. They have since dished out entitlements and high wages, their government grew into a monstrous bureaucracy and corruption increased proportionally. They are now in deep trouble. If they go down, they may take the euro with them, and some say we will follow...as if we need any additional threats for that to occur. Strikes are beginning to consume the evening news in Greece and tourism is suffering. Pensions and state wages are on the chopping block. Greece is only the worst of a group of EU nations breaking under the weight of their debt and none of this has anything to do with terrorism which lurks in the shadows looking for an opportune time. Meanwhile in the United States a rebellion is brewing. The government is in the midst of a full-scale takeover, the people are up in....signs, and the states are beginning to say we gave you the power, you are abusing it, and we are taking it back. Folks, these are not run of the mill problems. We are in a period every bit as tense as the years prior to World War II. The prophet Jonah proclaimed that God would destroy Nineveh in 40 days. Nineveh responded with repentance and God showed His great mercy, but 120 or so years later, the prophet Nahum, preaching to the same city, came only with an announcement of doom. I have often wondered whether we are in a similar situation to the first Nineveh or the second, for surely it is one of the two. Our pulpits need to return to preaching Christ every single Lord's Day. I think that I related this story before. A number of years ago I came across a women's Bible study series by Carol J. Ruvolo. It was impressive for it engaged the readers mind in doctrine which was a rarity. I took the book with me on vacation to Hilton Head and laid it out by my chair at the pool solely that someone might notice it (this is the type of thing that I do.) I got more than I hoped for.  A pastor of a large Presbyterian (PCA) church noticed it and asked to look at it. He took it to his wife so she could incorporate it in the women's bible study at their church.  Today, a Pittsburgh newspaper ran a story of four ministers who were going to run a marathon to bring attention to help still needed in Haiti. Unless they plan on either dying on the course or finishing in ten hours they must be putting in an enormous amount of time training. As important as extending help is, our churches are starving. Our Bible studies have been consumed only with topics such as forgiveness for as long as I have known. If the congregations find out that they have not been fed, Christ has not been preached...they will need that desirous ability to forgive. Abraham Lincoln once said I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. Truly, there is no where else to go. 1942 was not a year for trivial pursuits, 1941 should not have been, nor should this year.