An article today in the Asia Times described it this way. There is no longer a current world order based on Western rules. This is acknowledged in both the West and the East....but as of yet nothing has replaced it. The United States under the Trump administration is operating unilaterally. We view China as having entered our world order but refusing to follow our rules. They view it as legitimate distrust after centuries of being humiliated by the West. China is expanding all over their own region as well as around the world. The inter-relationships of nations around China are not only frayed over historic animosities but do not have in place a dynamic to even deal with their problems within this new void.
When President Trump said upon being asked if the United States would defend NATO if push came to shove with Russia....his answer essentially was that it would depend on if their bills were paid up. Put yourself in their position. Where they once at least had peace of mind as to security....they are now not so sure. In the natural course of events....when something like that happens....people tend to look elsewhere for allies and security.
They were painted with a broad brush as Christian Fundamentalists back in the 70s....1970s....and 80s....when they talked and wrote and taught about the coming New World Order. No one took them seriously.....many even laughed.....but they....or rather God's Word.....were right. There most definitely is a New World Order coming in....complete eventually with the Antichrist. These same 'fundamentalist' teachers were very specific about what this New World Order was going to look like....that is where mere speculation moved in....but the fact remains that they were correct on their original interpretations. I could also have used the word 'evangelicals' but the evangelical today is different from even the 1980s evangelical whereas 'born again' was then the phrase of the day but 'make America great again' is the new and improved phraseology.
The 'fundamentalists' were correct in many things in that time period and today are not given credit. Secular humanism was indeed the beginning of the problem....and computers would indeed take over....but generally we are too sophisticated to consider biblical warnings where if we give attention to them they tend to place us out on a limb as to our reputation....and in today's timid evangelical age the last thing we want is to be considered peculiar.
"GREETINGS....YOU ARE HEREBY...."
In a few days it will be fifty years since my aunt, with my mother in the car, dropped me off at the Federal Building in Pittsburgh. I can still picture the scene. I had no goal in life....was going nowhere....and signed up for four years in the army, eventually serving three since the army was drastically downsizing in 1972. Basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey (B-3-2) was a combination of constant marching and standing at attention and pushing and shoving and groaning all the while being yelled at. It was great....in retrospect of course....one of the best periods of my life. I needed some discipline. I needed to get away from thinking about girls. I needed to eat something other than hot dogs and French Fries. I needed to get away from constantly combing my hair.
In a few days it will also be forty-seven years since getting out of the army at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. I bought a bowling ball at the PX.....rolled one game....a 245....and with the top down packed up my MG.....put on a blue and white polka dot hat and headed home. By the time I got to Breezewood on the Pennsylvania Turnpike I was sunbeat and tired. I entered the turnpike....thought I might be going the wrong way....turned around in the middle.....thought that now I was really going the wrong way.....turned around again.....and maybe even again.....I was that exhausted.
To this day I look at those three years with some sense of pride....and always have a pin of some sort in the hat that I'm wearing. I showed up....I signed up and showed up....it may not have been much in the grand scheme of things....and it did not address all my problems....but it was something.
So it's fifty years later. America is on its last legs. Freedom and liberty are not enough if God is not the commander-in-chief. I had to sign up and show up once again....only this time it's a different kind of army. Basic training seemed to last forever....and the same type of idols had to be discarded. Battle plans and weapons are different but it is still an enemy trying to deceive and destroy. There are still trenches....and still bunkers in this type of conflict....only they are trenches and bunkers of the mind. I have no combat experience to compare it to but it is still combat. Poisonous darts fly everywhere. Doctrinally wounded and decommissioned churches are everywhere. The enemy has compromised the perimeter and we are in danger of being overrun....but you would never know it to hear the average sermon.
This army is poorly trained right now....malnourished without Christ and His cross preached....with few good leaders....but Christ is mounted....with myriads of powerful angels holding their steeds back until the word is given. There will be no flotilla of boats taking us away....instead a power from on high giving us all that is necessary to hold on....and even advance....as a winnowing will separate a ragtag army into a smaller but growing one that relies on it's commander-in-chief....and His Word given to us. No one volunteers for this army....no one signs up....as everyone called is drafted....so here's your draft letter....."The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel.".....but if you do show up....that draft notice will be the greatest letter you ever received!
When President Trump said upon being asked if the United States would defend NATO if push came to shove with Russia....his answer essentially was that it would depend on if their bills were paid up. Put yourself in their position. Where they once at least had peace of mind as to security....they are now not so sure. In the natural course of events....when something like that happens....people tend to look elsewhere for allies and security.
They were painted with a broad brush as Christian Fundamentalists back in the 70s....1970s....and 80s....when they talked and wrote and taught about the coming New World Order. No one took them seriously.....many even laughed.....but they....or rather God's Word.....were right. There most definitely is a New World Order coming in....complete eventually with the Antichrist. These same 'fundamentalist' teachers were very specific about what this New World Order was going to look like....that is where mere speculation moved in....but the fact remains that they were correct on their original interpretations. I could also have used the word 'evangelicals' but the evangelical today is different from even the 1980s evangelical whereas 'born again' was then the phrase of the day but 'make America great again' is the new and improved phraseology.
The 'fundamentalists' were correct in many things in that time period and today are not given credit. Secular humanism was indeed the beginning of the problem....and computers would indeed take over....but generally we are too sophisticated to consider biblical warnings where if we give attention to them they tend to place us out on a limb as to our reputation....and in today's timid evangelical age the last thing we want is to be considered peculiar.
"GREETINGS....YOU ARE HEREBY...."
In a few days it will be fifty years since my aunt, with my mother in the car, dropped me off at the Federal Building in Pittsburgh. I can still picture the scene. I had no goal in life....was going nowhere....and signed up for four years in the army, eventually serving three since the army was drastically downsizing in 1972. Basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey (B-3-2) was a combination of constant marching and standing at attention and pushing and shoving and groaning all the while being yelled at. It was great....in retrospect of course....one of the best periods of my life. I needed some discipline. I needed to get away from thinking about girls. I needed to eat something other than hot dogs and French Fries. I needed to get away from constantly combing my hair.
In a few days it will also be forty-seven years since getting out of the army at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. I bought a bowling ball at the PX.....rolled one game....a 245....and with the top down packed up my MG.....put on a blue and white polka dot hat and headed home. By the time I got to Breezewood on the Pennsylvania Turnpike I was sunbeat and tired. I entered the turnpike....thought I might be going the wrong way....turned around in the middle.....thought that now I was really going the wrong way.....turned around again.....and maybe even again.....I was that exhausted.
To this day I look at those three years with some sense of pride....and always have a pin of some sort in the hat that I'm wearing. I showed up....I signed up and showed up....it may not have been much in the grand scheme of things....and it did not address all my problems....but it was something.
So it's fifty years later. America is on its last legs. Freedom and liberty are not enough if God is not the commander-in-chief. I had to sign up and show up once again....only this time it's a different kind of army. Basic training seemed to last forever....and the same type of idols had to be discarded. Battle plans and weapons are different but it is still an enemy trying to deceive and destroy. There are still trenches....and still bunkers in this type of conflict....only they are trenches and bunkers of the mind. I have no combat experience to compare it to but it is still combat. Poisonous darts fly everywhere. Doctrinally wounded and decommissioned churches are everywhere. The enemy has compromised the perimeter and we are in danger of being overrun....but you would never know it to hear the average sermon.
This army is poorly trained right now....malnourished without Christ and His cross preached....with few good leaders....but Christ is mounted....with myriads of powerful angels holding their steeds back until the word is given. There will be no flotilla of boats taking us away....instead a power from on high giving us all that is necessary to hold on....and even advance....as a winnowing will separate a ragtag army into a smaller but growing one that relies on it's commander-in-chief....and His Word given to us. No one volunteers for this army....no one signs up....as everyone called is drafted....so here's your draft letter....."The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel.".....but if you do show up....that draft notice will be the greatest letter you ever received!
