Are Christians Losing America, Or Is America Losing Christ?
Some are suggesting that Christians are losing the war on abortion, losing the war for America’s schools, losing their influence on society, and now are losing the war for the preservation of their very own institutions–their churches. They even go so far as to say that this is the reason some great men of the past have rejected institutional Christianity, because it is too hypocritical.
But a look at what these are suggesting to be Christianity, reveals why they are thinking that Christianity is losing the war. They are considering that Christianity includes all who profess the name of Christ, and they consider the church to be the sum of all denominations that identify themselves with Christ.
Christ taught that many who use His name are nothing more than counterfeit Christianity, designed by Satan to deceive the masses. He also tells us in His Word that evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. False Christianity does not afford any the way of salvation for their souls, let alone provide for victory in society. False Christianity leads men to lose every spiritual battle, and the battle for their souls. But false Christianity has been, and still is, the preferred choice of America as a whole. Many are on the broad road to destruction, while few are on the narrow road to life eternal.
In Christ’s day, He did not win the war against the evils of His society, nor did He save His nation from becoming desolate. But this was not due to His ineffectiveness, powerlessness, or abandonment of the battle on His part. It was due to the rejection on the part of Israel, that Israel lost the power and person of Christ, that resulted in the desolation of their nation.
In Noah’s day, he did not win the war against the violence and corruption that swallowed up his world. Noah did not win the war to keep the sons of God from marrying the daughters of men. Noah did not succeed in getting people to turn from their spiritual indifference unto seeking God. But according to the Bible, the difference between Noah’s salvation and the destruction of his world, was that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, while the rest of his world paid no attention to the judgments of God.
When Jesus died on the cross to save all men, God did not win the war to save all men. Rather in Christ, salvation is available to all, but all who do not repent and trust in Jesus Christ to save them shall perish. The cause of Christ has not failed in America, or any other time or place. But all who reject Christ are losing the victory that is in Christ, whether society or individual. All stand or fall by what they do with the Word of God.
SHARING
Where Was God When The Tsunami Hit?
This giant tidal wave was the result of a massive earthquake that occurred out in the ocean. These have happened before, and no doubt will occur again somewhere, sometime. Jesus foretold that in the last days–(Matthew 24:7-8) “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”
Where was God when this happened (as well as all the other tragic storms?) The same place He was, when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, which sin brought the curse upon all nature. The “creature was made subject to vanity” and was brought under “the bondage of corruption” as a result of the curse of sin. Thus, “the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” Romans 8:20-22
During the Great Tribulation Period, when sin, Satan, and anti-christism are ravaging the earth, and God, His name, His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven are being blasphemed on earth, the convulsions of nature (violent storms, abnormal weather, etc.,) will intensify to levels unknown before. Revelation 16:18-20 records an earthquake that will occur, whereby the cities of the nations fell, and every island fled away and the mountains were not found.
“And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.” Luke 21:11,25,26
The message these things convey can be summed by Christ’s message of Luke 13:1-5, when He stressed that in light of tragic events, men desperately need to repent.
The origin of all disaster goes back to sin and Satan, with man’s choice to sin against God, rather than God having let man down. But instead of sinful man humbling himself before God, he will blame God.
SHARINGEarthquakes
When God was manifesting Himself unto Elijah, to redirect the prophet’s thinking, there was a great and strong wind, and after the wind an earthquake, and after the earthquake a fire, 1 Kings 19:11-12.
Isaiah 29:6–“Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.”A great earthquake occurred two years before the prophecy of Amos (Amos 1:1). The Israelites fled from before this great earthquake, Zechariah 14:5.
When Christ gave up the ghost on Calvary’s cross, “the earth did quake” (Matthew 27:51), and at the account of His resurrection, “And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it.”
“And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.” (Acts 16:26)This affected Paul and Silas’s release from the prison at Philippi.
After the rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18), during the Great Tribulation on earth: “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; …and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.” Revelation 6:12a, 14b.
Again: “And the angel took the censor, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.” Revelation 8:5.
Later: “And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand.” (Revelation 11:13) and again, Revelation 11:19f–“…an earthquake…”
With the greatest earthquake ever, that will change the geological landscape, “…and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.” Revelation 16:18-20.
Christ prophesied that in the last days: “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” Matthew 24:7-8.
SHARINGA Voice From Hell
“Oh, why am I here in this place of unrest
When others have entered the land of the blest?
God’s way of salvation was preached unto men;
I heard it and heard it, again and again.
Why did I not listen and turn from my sin
And open my heart and let Jesus come in?
For vain earthly pleasures my soul did I sell–
The way I had chosen has brought me to hell.
I wish I were dreaming, but ah, it is true.
The way to be saved I had heard and I knew;
My time on the earth, oh, so quickly fled by,
How little I thought of the day I would die.
When God’s Holy Spirit was pleading with me,
I hardened my heart and I turned from His plea.
The way that was sinful, the path that was wide,
I chose and I walked till the time that I died.
Eternally now, I must dwell in this place.
If I from my memory could but erase
The thoughts of my past which are haunting me so.
Oh, where is a refuge to which I can go?
This torture and suff’ring, how long can I stand?
For Satan and devils this only was planned.
God’s refuge is Jesus, the One that I spurned;
He offered salvation, but from Him I turned.
My brothers and sisters I wish I could warn.
Far better ‘twould be if I had not been born.
The price I must pay is too horrid to tell–
My life without God led directly to Hell.”
Oh, soul without Christ, will these words be your cry?
God’s Word so declares it that all men must die.
From hell and its terrors, Oh, flee while you may!
So, come to the Saviour; He’ll save you today!
–Oscar C. Eliason
SHARINGWhat Saith The Scriptures?
How serious is sin in God’s sight?
“For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the Lord thy God.” Deuteronomy 25:16
“The Lord trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.” Psalm 11:5
Thus we see that sin is hateful to God.
SIN SEPARATES FROM GOD
“If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Psalm 66:18
“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” Isaiah 59:1-2
WOE TO THOSE WHO DOWNPLAY SIN AND THOSE LIVING IN SIN
“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.” Isaiah 5:20
“Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life.” Ezekiel 13:22
“Ye have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?” Malachi 2:17
WOE TO THOSE WHO APPROVE OF THE DISREGARDING OF GOD’S LAWS
“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:17,19
“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 7:21
“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Isaiah 8:20
SHARING
