Getting Rid of God — Then What?
 Looking
back upon the last several years of American history
consider what the following people have in common: David
Hager, Jerry Tacker, J. Leon Holmes, Michael McConnell,
Charles Pickering and Priscilla Owen. If you said they
are people who were nominated for appointments to government
panels and the judiciary you would be correct. Consider
another list: Senators Dick Durbin, Dianne Feinstein
and Charles Schumer. What these people have in common
is they are all liberal senators who did everything
in their power to block the appointments of the people
on the first list. Why did they do this? Was it because
the nominees were either unqualified or criminals? Not
at all, for they all had impeccable credentials with
stellar records.
You see, if these people had been liberal, pro-abortion
nominees with a secular/multi-cultural worldview they
would have been confirmed with no argument. But, they
had a problem; they all have a strong Christian worldview,
and that is something that is absolutely unacceptable
to the anti-God crowd. In fact, Sen. Schumer said of
Holmes, “This man is an embarrassment to be nominated...This
guy is so far off the deep end...I do not know why this
man was nominated. What he thinks is so bad.”
1 Did you get that last sentence? That
is, Schumer thinks the Christian worldview is something
that is bad for America. How so? Probably because Christians
believe in godliness, righteousness, accountability
and the existence of moral absolutes, the direct opposite
of the secularist agenda.
Anti-Godism is no longer something the secular sect
tries to keep secret. Those who oppose any vestige of
Christianity in the public specter (and anywhere else,
for that matter) are now coming out of their closets
with bold declarations and a marketing strategy that
is being swallowed hook, line and sinker by a docile
and ignorant American public. There is no doubt the
anti-God crowd is growing in both influence and noise-making.
All you have to do is consider secular society’s
view of Christmas. Never before has such an effort been
raised to take Christ out of Christmas as we are seeing
today. Oh, there have always been those who have worked
against the spiritual aspect of the holiday season,
but never before on this level. Public school students
have been told they cannot have Christmas parties and
cannot sing Christmas songs. It is acceptable to sing
about reindeer, snowmen and Santa Claus, but kids can
no longer sing about Jesus and His birth. The parties
students are allowed to have can have no reference to
Jesus’ birth. You see, the politically correct
reference today is to call Christmas the Winter Holiday,
or some other such “neutral” name.
However, the ACLU, atheists and others so inclined
to be anti-Christian are strangely inconsistent in their
demand to have no Christian references during any part
of the year in public bodies, whether schools, agencies,
etc. The Jewish menorah is allowed to be displayed during
Hanukkah in many schools and government work places,
and, of all things, the Islamic crescent moon is allowed
to be displayed during Ramadan. The reason for this
inconsistency? According to government bureaucrats and
the ACLU the menorah and the crescent moon are not religious
symbols, but are rather cultural symbols. This is absolutely
incredulous. But, what is even more incredulous is that
many people are accepting this cockamamie explanation
with very little protest! The ACLU likes to say they
work to protect the rights of all Americans. I think
this is a very pristine and pure form of hogwash. Can
anyone verify how many times the ACLU has filed suit
against a government agency or private company on behalf
of a Christian who has experienced discrimination because
of his faith?
The fact of the matter is that the anti-God crowd is
growing in number and influence. Christians are being
branded as reactionary and dangerous. In some places
such as Europe it is said to be in vogue to be anti-Christian.
2 It clearly seems the same mind-set
is alive and well in our own country. For instance,
a Christian fraternity at the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill, Alpha Iota Omega, was forced by the
school to close because it discriminated against students
who had other religious beliefs. 3
What about those Moslem campus groups who discriminate
against Christians who would like to join and become
leaders? Has UNC or any other school shut down those
Moslem groups? I think not.
So, what will be the outcome of all this anti-Christian
stuff? Well, first God is going to give them exactly
what they want — a world without Christians, and
it might happen a lot sooner than some think. When Jesus
takes His church off this planet the world will be just
as the ACLU and other anti-God people want. That is,
they will be rid of people who have a Christian worldview,
who believe in absolutes, who believe God is still God
and has not divested Himself of His sovereignty and
who believe homosexuality, abortion and other such abominations
are wrong. When the rapture happens some will no doubt
know what has happened and will be quite distressed.
But, for most it will be a time of gladness after the
initial shock of millions of people disappearing has
worn off. But, there is more to it than simply being
free from Christians. What follows the rapture is not
something the anti-God rogue associations will celebrate
with joy. Hell will break loose on earth to such a degree
that people will try to kill themselves in order to
escape the suffering, but will be unable to do so by
Providential design.
Once the church is removed God is going to inflict
rebellious humanity with a degree of wrath that is absolutely
unprecedented. We must understand, however, this time
of tribulation will have several purposes. First, it
will be a time when God will deal with the Jewish people
in order to bring them to their knees before their Messiah
Jesus. It will also be a time interlaced with God’s
grace, for though the church will be gone yet the invitation
to eternal life will still be open, though it will cost
people their lives. The 144,000 Jewish evangelists will
be at work (Revelation 7) along with the two witnesses
(Revelation 11) and the angel who will preach the eternal
gospel to those on the earth (Revelation 14). It will
also be a time when God will avenge the blood of His
saints and will severely punish those anti-God forces
which have demeaned, ridiculed, persecuted and otherwise
terribly mistreated those who were Jesus’ own;
those whose only crime was to be Christian.
But, it is the unmitigated suffering that will take
center stage during this time. As Jesus opens the scroll
with the seven seals the wrath of God will begin. As
an example of what will happen once the world is rid
of Christians consider the events associated with the
breaking of the first four seals, commonly called, “The
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” (Revelation 6).
The first rider is on a white horse. He is the anti-Christ,
the false messiah, the great counterfeit, the world’s
last great leader and the one who hates Jesus with a
terrible passion. He will have a plan and will offer
the world “peace”, something the whole world
will buy without reservation. Little do they know what
they are buying.
The second rider is on the red horse. This rider takes
away any “peace” the first rider might have
temporarily brought and ushers in a time of bloodshed
that is unimaginable. War is a growing problem and there
is no end in sight, humanly speaking. Forget the United
Nations; it is not only an impotent body, but is a perverse,
crooked, leftist, Israel-hating impotent body. An interesting
thought in Revelation 6:4 is the great sword the rider
carries. In Greek the word refers to a dagger, the weapon
of an assassin. This indicates it will be a time of
bloodshed that is not limited to warfare, but includes
civil turmoil when old scores will be settled and private
vengeances carried out. It will be a time of civil butchery
that cannot be contained. How can this be? Remember
that Paul called the anti-Christ the man of lawlessness...the
son of destruction (2 Thessalonians 2:3). His agenda
will be limited to power and worship of himself. Human
life will be of no concern. You see, when God is kicked
out, lawlessness enters the vacuum.
The third rider enters the scene on a black horse —
that of famine. War, earthquakes, climate change, etc.
all have their impact on the world’s food supply.
With a shortage of food comes rising prices and rationing;
it all goes hand-in-hand. A quart of wheat is the least
amount of nourishment one man needs for one day. If
that is all a man can get in one day and if there are
others in his house who depend upon him for food then
someone is going to get very hungry. Barley is animal
food, something only slaves ate during hard times. And
even that will not be in great supply. However, the
oil and wine will not be in short supply. Expositors
have variously applied that text, but many attribute
oil and wine to the luxuries of life. Can you imagine
that? Starving to death while staring at a big-screen
TV! Starvation on this level will not take very
long to occur. It is interesting to note that ten thousand
people starve to death daily in our world while about
15% of edible food in America goes into garbage cans
with some American dogs getting more protein than most
of the world’s population. This is not an indictment
against America’s affluence, it is simply an example
of what will someday happen in this “land of plenty”.
The fourth rider comes into view riding an ashen horse.
In the Greek the color is a pale green like that of
a rotting corpse. Death comes by way of the sword, famine,
disease and wild beasts. Surely the carnage caused by
the other riders is enough, but it is not. Just when
the anti-God earth-dwellers think it might be over it
becomes even worse with even more death and suffering.
And instead of repenting before God puny man shakes
his puny fist in the face of the awesome God (Revelation
9:20,21). Twenty-five percent of all humans left after
the rapture will die at just this point, and the wrath
of God is nowhere near being over.
Okay. So the world does not want God and His people
around anymore. Well, one day God will give this anti-God
world exactly what it has been wanting. He will take
the church off this planet, He will pull back His hand
of mercy and grace and what will result will be a time
of pain, misery, terror and death that is nothing less
that incomprehensible. Is this something far off? I
do not think so. Remember something about Bible prophecy
— great prophetic events have a way of casting
their shadows before them. We are living in the darkening
shadow of the coming tribulation even this moment. How
can we know this? There are many reasons, not the least
of which is the reestablishment of Israel in their ancient
homeland. But, there is something else: the level of
anti-God and anti-Christian rhetoric is being cranked
up at almost an exponential rate. The change even in
the last two years is very evident, not just in America,
but in the entire world. That this world-wide anti-God
attitude coincides with what is happening in Europe
and the Middle East is by no means a coincidence. Things
are happening and they are happening at an increasing
rate. We wait and we work while we wait. DLM
End Notes
- David Limbaugh, “Anti-Christian
Litmus Test”. Townhall.com, 6 August 2003. Cited
17 December 2004. Online: http://www.townhall.com/columnists/davidlimbaugh/printdl20030806.shtml
- Marion Baillot, “Buttiglione
Cites ‘Anti-Christian’ Fad”, The
Washington Times. 11 December 2004. Cited 17 December
2004. Online: http://washingtontimes.com/world/20041211-114117-7361r.htm
- George Archibald, “Anti-Christian
Charges Probed”,.The Washington Times. 18 August
2004. Cited 17 December 2004. Online: http://washingtontimes.com/national/20040818-114636-5163.htm
|
