The foolish don't understand...
So the world sees and can only wonder…
 One
of the great lies we are constantly hearing is that
any person can do or become anything they desire if
they work hard enough, remain doggedly persistent and
never take “no” for an answer. As you know,
life does not work that way. Have you ever known of
anyone with an IQ of 60 to chair the physics department
at MIT? Seen any 4’8”, 95lb women in the
NFL lately? You see, desire does not necessarily trump
inability. It seems we have become so obsessed with
innate human prowess that common sense has been dumped
in favor of the “you can do anything” secular
philosophy.
At least one of the reasons for this
almost fanatical thinking process is the lie Satan told
Eve way back in the Garden when he said she could disobey
God not only without consequence, but that she would
actually become a you-can-do-anything goddess in the
process. And, the world still believes that same lie
— it has all the answers to all the questions.
Watch Fox News, CNN, etc., each night
and you will see a bunch of president-wanna-bes proclaiming
they have all the answers, and if the electorate would
just vote for them the future for America and the world
would be so bright. You will also see the stoic faces
of renowned scientists and hear them drone on about
what the disciplines of medicine and pharmacology could
do for mankind if only the moral ethicists would simply
get out of the way and let them destroy human life to
prove their hypotheses. And to top it off you can turn
to a religious channel and hear some slick preacher
with coffered hair, heavy gold rings and wearing a $1700
Gucci suit tell you that you would most certainly gain
excellent health and lots of wealth if your faith were
just strong enough and if you would just send your money
to God and use his address. Multitudes see all this
hogwash and while gorging themselves on TV snacks filled
with enough preservatives to bypass embalming, they
sit on their comfortable sofas not only transfixed,
but confused and without a clue as to what is going
on.
Well, is this really an accurate picture
of things? Unfortunately, yes. Sort of like a hog staring
at a wristwatch — they see and hear, but don’t
have the discernment to put world-wide turmoil and disaster
in their biblical perspectives.
To most people every event is related
to a physical cause-and-effect. If there are famines,
floods and tornados the cause must be a natural and
somewhat normal environmental issue. If there is a disease
pandemic it must be due to a glitch in health care somewhere.
The hatred Moslems have for Christians, Jews and westerners
must certainly be because of the crusades nearly a thousand
years ago. So, of course, they must be appeased. (Never
mind the first crusade was the Moslem attempt to subjugate
all the world to Islam 1300 years ago.)
Because people do not generally believe
in what might be called spiritual cause-and-effect,
they cannot bring themselves to believe natural catastrophes
could possibly be associated with mankind’s rebellion
against the Creator. Atheists, of course, do not believe
in the existence of God, and agnostics don’t know
for sure either way. Still others think that if there
really is a God out there somewhere who created this
universe, He has no interest in what is happening and
has no hand in the affairs of humanity today. That is
called deism. No matter how one might look at it, most
people cannot fathom the idea that humanity is accountable
before God and that He does indeed deal with rebellion
in physical ways.
Most people today have at least some
understanding of politics, meteorology, astronomy, medicine,
etc. That is, we are much more savvy about these and
other disciplines than were our grandparents. But, it
seems our great learning has not been without serious
negative spiritual consequences. We have lost a certain
intimacy with God and His word. In this most important
regard our forefathers and foremothers were hands-down
much more informed than our own generation. In the end
this has led to our ignoring God’s warnings about
sin because we do not really believe spiritual matters
can have physical consequences.
Space will not allow a thorough review,
but read Judges, Old Testament history and the prophets.
There you will see more times than one would want to
count how often the results of the rebellion of God’s
people were disease, war and captivity, drought, crop
loss, etc. What makes us so sure God no longer works
in this way? In essence, to believe God does not punish
collective sin with the raising up of demagogues, inclement
weather and disease is…well, in plain language
it is the belief of a fool; a belief system conceived
by arrogance and birthed by pride. Yes, that is a serious
indictment...as are the consequences of ignoring it.
What would it take for people to understand
what is happening in this world? Basically, two things.
First, a person would have to believe God. Not just
believe in God — Satan goes that far — but,
to believe what He has said. Second, that person would
have to act on that belief by faith. Belief and faithfulness
is where it all begins to make sense.
A study of prophecy clearly shows the
growing turmoil of this age is exactly what God said
would happen in the last days. But unsaved people, and
unfortunately many Christians, do not believe in the
literal meaning of prophetic texts. Those texts are
rejected by unbelievers and are simply allegorized by
any number of Christians. That is why so many Christians
are as ignorant, and often are as fearful, about current
and future events as people who have never even read
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Revelation, etc., much less
objectively studied them.
The fact is among those left behind
after the rapture billions will die from war, disease,
famine, murder, etc. (Revelation 6ff). Note that even
then most people will angrily reject and deny what God
has said, will shake their puny fists in His face...and
will die...and will spend eternity in hell. It is clear
we are living in the shadow of that attitude presently.
People angrily reject and deny not only what God has
said, but they dismiss the evidence He sends to get
our attention.
The candidates and the scientists do
not have the answers needed to deal with the very black
and ominous clouds of unprecedented global trouble gathering
on the near horizon. The race is basically fumbling
around in the dark with the blind and deaf leading the
blind and deaf. God unveiled that principle when He
said, “My people perish for lack of knowledge…”
Isaiah 5:13; Hosea 4:6. And the sad part is the truth
is there for all who might want it. They just do not
want it. You see, that would require people to make
some changes in their lives, and that is just too much
to ask!
It would be good if people would pause
sometime during their headlong rush for secular success
and consider what might be behind the geological groaning
of the earth, droughts, floods, storms, killer heat-waves
and the rest of it. If they would stop and look around
for a moment they would immediately see God is sending
warnings because of mankind’s growing rebellion
against Him. So, what are people doing that is so bad
and that brings such warnings? How about the unprecedented
immorality in entertainment, tens of millions of abortions
to date, same-sex marriages, hatred for God and His
people, pornography — the list could go on. In
a nutshell, holiness is out, gutter-level carnality
is in.
In Matthew 16:2,3 Jesus rebuked religious
people for being able to read weather signs, but not
signs of the times. No doubt such rebuke is applicable
today, and especially for Christians because they should
know what is happening. Yet, in most churches such warnings
are never issued. Texts about God’s impending
judgment are never expounded and applied. Most preachers
flit about picking a sort of pig-path through the Bible
talking about things that make people feel good about
themselves. What they typically serve people every Sunday
is a biblical diet very heavy on carbohydrates and thoroughly
void of protein.
If Matthew 24 is a snap-shot of the
tribulation then daily headlines indicate we are in
the shadow of that ominous time this very moment. The
fact is this: no matter how hard the world works, no
matter how persistent world bodies might be in the pursuit
of peace, no matter who never takes “no”
for an answer and all the rest of the secular you-can-do-it
slogans, this world has nothing to offer but tragedy.
Foolish people cannot see that God is sovereign, that
His patience has a limit and that He evens uses tragedy
to get the attention of this world of people He loves
so much. Few, however, listen.
If our God knows when a worthless sparrow
falls to the ground, if He knows us so well that He
has numbered the hair on our heads, if a thought does
not cross our minds that He does not know about...then
surely every event has purpose. The wise can see it;
fools don’t have a clue.
What did the writer of Proverbs say?
How blessed is the man who finds wisdom, and the man
who gains understanding (3:13). Do not speak in the
hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of
your words (23: 9). A fool rejects his father's discipline,
but he who regards reproof is prudent (15:5). Like a
dog that returns to its vomit is a fool who repeats
his folly (26:11). DLM |
