Category: Shadows (Page 27 of 27)

Skyrocketing inflation, political division, social unrest, and a relentless effort to wipe away the fundamental principles of our nation should have us concerned. The nation we knew just 40 years ago is gone. Debt, and unprecedented social and cultural change, are redefining our civilization as evil and oppressive. If one listens to the media, it is hard to find any redeeming national characteristics. Among the devastating changes, are the growing and unbearable living costs, and an anti-American “woke” sentimentality infiltrating our nation’s public schools and universities. We find ourselves divided with one group tolerating riots in the streets of major U.S. cities, and the emboldening of the nation’s greatest adversaries. We find the other group silent, seemingly accepting of the demise of our constitutional republic and Constitution. And through all of this, our youth are being placed upon the sacrificial alters of drugs and sexual immorality.

It is reasonable, then, to ask whether the world has been here before and what can be done to change this destructive trend. The answers to this question can only be found in our world’s history.

• God is based on real history – The Bible, God’s Word, is based on real events. God is Real.
• Faith in a Creator hangs on history – Our vision back in time is 20-20. As humans, we are blind to the future. It is the learnings of the past that faithfully points us forward.
• Others have been here before us – Those, successful or not, have clawed their way through this cosmic world and left many footprints. Only fools ignore them.
• Perfection eludes humanity – Past failures serve as a light forward. Those who ignore history are destined to repeat all of humanity’s failures. Considering our crazy world, many people must ignore history!
• We can see God in history – His face is visible in the providence of His blessings upon a nation. Yet, such wisdom rarely lasts beyond a single generation. Frightening, isn’t it?
• Common paths uphold our diversity – Divisiveness is evil at its best. Celebrating the convergence of diversity should lead us to life, liberty, and happiness. Anything that divides a nation, and pits one side against another, is destructive and to no good end. The goal is not to conquer or seek control, or even consensus. Our goal must be to seek God!

(Psalm 110:6)¹NIV New International Version Translations – “He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth.”

For over 400 years, God’s prophets tried and tried to warn the people to repent of their idolatry and immorality. The Prophet Jeremiah, for example, repeatedly urged the people of his day to repent and the people repeatedly rejected his message. Jeremiah’s words of warning can be directed at our nation: “Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when they are punished, says the Lord.” (Jeremiah 8:12). Eventually that nation fell to an outside invader.

How then do we change direction and seek our God again as a society?

(1 Chronicles 22:19) – “Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the Lord your God. Begin to build the sanctuary of the Lord God, so that you may bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord and the sacred articles belonging to God into the temple that will be built for the Name of the Lord.”

The first step is to seek God again. Seek means to “attempt or desire to obtain or achieve (something). “  Seek is a verb, and in this context, it must be continual. The restorative nature of seeking God only comes when it is a conscious choice. It is direct, from the heart, and directed to God. The Apostle Paul states it well. “May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.” (2 Thessalonians 3:5). This is truly a gift from God. It is history that tells of the glory of God. It is through the history of God’s Word that we can find Him.

The next step is to leap over the greatest obstacle to seeking the Lord and that would be pride. “In his pride, the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.” (Psalm 10:4). Therefore, humility is essential to seeking the Lord. The good news is that God promises those who seek Him will find Him. “And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.” (1 Chronicles 28:9). “And without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”  (Hebrews 11:6).

Think of pride as an invisible barrier separating you from God. It can blind the heart. That is a frightening thing since God, the very Creator of our universe, is the greatest reward a human can gain. Remember, a relationship with God is personal, it is restorative and regenerative, and with God, we have EVERYTHING! “Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always” (Psalm 105:4). When a nation loses its mental and emotional effort to seek God, God is not lost, the people are lost! The heavens, our history, are shouting out the story of the Glory of God. God shows us His grace, free and undeserving grace, to us every day. To save a nation, any nation is to change its trajectory to one that will hit the bullseye. The people must SEEK GOD again.

Finally, seeking God is seeking Jesus Christ! When Israel’s prophets walked the earth, the nations all struggled to see God directly. All the nations had was God’s history. Today, we have more than the prophets could offer the people. Today we have a Savior, the Incarnate God, the Son, we have Jesus Christ. Our living Savior needs to be put back again into our families, our schools, our government, our society, and our nation. The best news of all is that Jesus’s work on the Cross erased our past sins of history. His hand, God’s hand is outstretched to us. Will we save our nation and reach for His hand?

Contemplations

• Are you content with our nation?
  • Ideas to Explore: History tells us we are in for a disappointment. Do we believe it? Why is the status quo such comfortable for half of our nation? Is the idea first to admit there is a problem?
• Lostpine has just finished 18 weeks, presenting each of God’s prophets in the order of their advice to the nation of Israel. If you read some of them, what did you conclude?
  • Ideas to Explore: God is patient, God has limits, sins of a nation will be punished, but God always leaves us with hope.
• What should our nation do?
  • Ideas to Explore: Admit there is a problem (this is the first step in any recovery program). Do not blame someone else. Repent and seek God’s forgiveness. Do you have a better plan?
• Can our children survive in our nation without God?
  • Ideas to Explore: Satan is after our youth. Destroy the faith of the next generation and you stop faith in God. Survival rests on our shoulders to save our youth.

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  NIV New International Version Translations

Bible history is filled with many people. However, the 18 prophets in the Old Testament are no doubt some of the most famous. Their role was not to predict the future. Their prophecies were more of a side effect of their main role and functions. There are four major prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. All are featured in books from the Bible, and Jeremiah may have written two of those books himself. The Minor Prophets are Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. The difference between the major and minor prophets is not an issue of importance, but rather the length of material written. Typically, we also add Elijah and Elisha to this list. All gave valuable, biblical insight that foretold important events that were to happen, that had already happened, and how those events reflected God’s plans for His people.

God Himself defined the role and function of the prophets at the beginning of Israel’s history as a nation:

(Deuteronomy 18:18-19)¹NIV New International Version Translations– “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name.”

The primary role of the prophets was to speak with the people about God’s Will for them. The prophets served as God’s social media and news channels, declaring whatever God commanded them to say. God chose gifted people with insight into the present and future that was more than the average person had. Their revelations and insights, however, could only be attributed to God and not human intellect. The role of the prophet continues even today. The test to see if God is really behind a prophecy and a prophet is given to us in Jeremiah 8:9, “But the prophet who prophesies peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the Lord only if his prediction comes true.” In other words, history is to show that they were correct. This is just one of the key reasons why teaching history and protecting its integrity is critical to God’s plan for humanity. It is history that continually points us to God. Destroy history and you will lose the breadcrumbs that can lead a nation back to God!

To be called a true prophet, one must be called directly by God. Numbers 12:6 states, “he said, ‘Listen to my words: ‘When there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams.’” Both the prophets of yesterday and those of today must be advocates for the Truth about Jesus. All of God’s prophecies will lead someone to Jesus Christ. When the attention is not on Christ, the message is not of God. The prophetic messages of the past and those of the present have consistency with God’s Word (Scripture). As a result, God’s prophets always bring good fruit.

(Matthew 7:15-17) – “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit, you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.”

The prophets of history were typically sent to warn God’s people of their wayward behavior. It is always important to remember that God’s Covenant to bless and care for His people came with a caveat. The people had to follow God’s commands and be true to His Word. Fast forward to the New Testament. And what is that message today? Being true to Jesus Christ. Ultimately, that is the only prophetic message that counts! It is a message that supports Christ’s Church and creates disciples to share the Gospel’s message with a fallen world. Any true prophet of today edifies, builds, comforts, exhorts, and uplifts Christ’s Church through her/his testimony and messages.

(2 Corinthians 11:3-4) – “But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.”

False prophets have always been around. The Apostle Paul warned those in Corinth of that very fact in his letter noted above. False Prophets prevent people from knowing God and His Truth. False prophets teach people to follow and/or depend on other gods, the gods of denominations, prosperity, worldly riches, money, and even government. Jesus gave the world one plan of salvation to build one church, and that is the only Church He recognizes. The risk we face today is that our intolerance for God is growing. No one seems to be concerned about the consequences of earthly life without God and Jesus Christ. We are busy erasing God’s history, changing God’s Truth, and abandoning the boundaries and authority of our Creator.

(2 Timothy 4: 3-4) – “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”

To guard against the risks associated with false wisdom and false prophecy, consider these Truths:

1. Jesus did not teach about a Gospel of worldly prosperity; He taught about a new world of service, sacrifice, and eternal prosperity.
2. Jesus never hesitated to call out sin. No one except our God can define what is sinful or not! No one, no church, or no government can redefine what is right and what is wrong in the eyes of God.
3. Jesus preached the need for repentance as one of the steps to avoid eternal separation from God’s eternal joy. No repentance, no joy! Sorry, but there is no easy way out of sin. You need to stop, and you need to change!
4. The true gospel is also very plain, No Jesus, No Salvation! Good works get you stone statues in this world!
5. God’s Word has no “holes.” Any alleged contradictions in Scripture are due to the intellectual limitations of humanity. God passed us His full wisdom. Unfortunately, the nature of our minds has always been to pervert the truth. The real truth is found in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

“It is my duty to say to you that the need was never greater for new revelation than now…The doctrine of inspiration is lost. Miracles, prophecy, the holy life, exist as ancient history [only]. Men have come to speak of revelation as somewhat long ago given and done, as if God were dead. It is the office of a true teacher to show us that God is, not was; that He speaketh, not spake.” 

~Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) | The Complete Essays and Other Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson

Contemplations

• Do you know anyone who claims to be a contemporary prophet?
  • Ideas to Explore: Can their role be matched against the five points listed above? What is their score? Is it a job for them, or can you say that it is an “appointment” from God?
• For many years, denominations have been redefining what our Bible has called sinful behavior. How do you personally reconcile with what they are doing?
  • Ideas to Explore: Does redefining a biblical sin to a non-sin get anything for mankind? What forces are driving these changes? Is there any evidence in Scripture that this is OK?
• How does the war against history affect people’s belief in God?
  • Ideas to Explore: Diminishes the value of the Bible. Allows people to repeat mistakes. Affects upcoming generations. What are your ideas?
• What do you think is driving the hatred of history?
  • Ideas to Explore: Racism, atheism, ignorance, and power (the desire for more).

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  NIV New International Version Translations