Preface: I remember when I wrote this post.....back in March of 2017. I was venting a little....come on guys....500 years....you are in effect telling your people....not....to look to and pray for the imminent return of our Lord and Savior and Mighty King! God is telling us to prepare....and you are essentially telling us not to be too concerned. Once again we are twenty-four hours from faithful men taking their pulpits. May God....if it be His will....and to His glory alone....even now burden these men with the responsibilities of the souls in their pews....(yes even the redeemed in the pews of reformed churches need warned….are we not susceptible to idolatry….I know that I am....are we not prone to laziness....I know that I have that fight daily)....cause them consternation....searching for the source of that burden....and then fill them with Thy Holy Spirit....calming them with the glory of such a Father....who is there to apply the balm....and strengthen the sinews....all to His everlasting praise....and our eternal redemption....in the joy of His presence!
Is It At Least Possible?
It may be the single most valuable Christian ministry in America....well that's my opinion anyway.... and they have a home conference coming up that they call The Next 500 Years. They are alluding here to it's having been almost 500 years since Martin Luther's writings began the 16th century Reformation. So it's natural to take the opportunity to envision what can be done in the next half millennium.
I understand the message but what went through my mind upon hearing of the conference title was.....next 500 years....how about the next 500 days? Or even the next five years...or maybe even the next 500 souls surrendered to Christ...or even the next 5 million souls surrendered to Christ? I just don't agree with the emphasis on the next 500 years when....if I might use this expression in a very literal sense....all hell is breaking out in this world. (folks....within 500 days of my writing this....both R. C. Sproul and Billy Graham had gone on to be with the Lord....the first of two impeachments were to begin....followed by the pandemic....the horrors of January 6....along with multiple other horrors....including the collapse of evangelicalism....and the very possible beginnings of world war)
What it boils down to is this.....some people see events in one way...and others see it in another way. So I'll be party of the first part here. This is not normal what we are seeing. This is not problems with a Third Reich and an Imperial Japan. This is not a Cuban Missile Crisis. There is no America to defend the world anymore. We're dealing with nuclear weapons in the hands of maniacs...maniacs who actually want nuclear war... and we can't even come together to deal with them.
Nothing is holding together! Do you read the news? I'm not talking about that worthless paper delivered to your door every morning....I'm talking about Drudge. He's where he is at because he actually links to real horror...and that's what it is....horror! A kid walks out of his house a couple days ago holding his mother's head in his hands! And this horror happens every single solitary day! And even if we somehow read about it it's a shake of the head and page over to the sports or weather.
The party of the second part here happens to be the vast majority. By the way I'm only referring to Christians here whether the first party or the second....wonderful Christians! I'm but a gnat compared to any one of the dozen or so speakers at this upcoming conference. So what have we become...a church where only the well known are to be heard. I hope that we all can still give an opinion.
It's not only war...the people with all the money want a one world government...and they want it bad! We do know what that means do we not? One half of our nation....one half of America....are blind to just about anything. I listen to them on the news and marvel....marvel....at how little the human mind can at times comprehend.
The same men at that conference will admit that we are now pagan. We sacrifice children! New technologies are entering into areas that make the Tower of Babel look like child's play. The last one hundred years has been one warning from God after another.
I am not alone in my concern by any means. There are atheists out there...Stephen Hawking for one says that "The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race." Here's a man with no concept of God who sees what most of us don't.
The party of the first part reads Revelation or the Olivet Discourse and sees a message that after nearly two thousand years may literally be written to them. The party of the second part reads the same words and says... "Uh...be careful there...don't want to be a date-setter!" Can anyone read my posts and think for a second that I have given up on proclaiming Christ? The crux of the matter is whether one can see disaster on the horizon...warn about it...and still trust God. I say that they can....in fact that seems to be what Scripture tell us to do. I would question others on if they trust in God so much why don't they trust in His warnings?
Let me ask this question to the [men involved in this upcoming conference]....do they even think that it is possible that they may have made a mistake....that they may have actually come up short in this area? I'm just asking and honest question! I know how accomplished you are and how much good that you have done...and I praise God for that! I've admitted that you tower above me....but is it possible that you may have erred....is it somehow possible that an Arminian....such as Billy Graham....not educated in a Reformed seminary....or another who may wear an ill-fitting suit off the rack at Sears and dangle his misplaced modifiers...is it possible that he might have discerned what God is saying and you may not have?
