An awful lot of God-fearing, Constitution-supporting, and law-abiding people in America are deeply frustrated and concerned watching the obvious fraud that is now our nation’s elections.

A sizeable portion of THOSE folks are pretty sure the libs as a whole – and much of the “Republicrat” leadership – now routinely endorse lawless behavior to make it seem as though their candidates-of-choice “win” the vote.

A part of THAT second group is convinced this is all orchestrated by a corrupt justice system, globalist resources, covert tactics, and very dark agendas.

And finally – a smaller subset of that last bunch remains sure that God is STILL in control.

Put me in that very last category.

I’m watching a lot of people who call themselves Christians punch the panic button these days. “How could God allow this?” “We must be entering the Tribulation now.” “Is Joe Biden the antichrist?” “Obviously, this means the Rapture is about to happen.”

The constant display of foolishness in much of the church today is distressing to see and hear. It is self-evident that Christ’s bride knows very little about the plans of her Groom.

Here are just a few points to keep in proper perspective during these turbulent times:

Number one. Insofar far as Bible prophecy is concerned – and its primary developments and signs – things pivot around the nation of Israel. As Dr. John MacArthur said, “If you get Israel right, you get your eschatology right.” If you take your eyes off God’s timepiece, you cannot properly understand these days we live in. Assessing sweeping prophetic matters through the lens of America’s affairs is mostly a show of ignorance and a waste of time.

Number two. It’s a herculean stretch to suggest the debacle of our nation’s elections – or any other national dynamic – signals the Rapture is about to happen. Our ‘blessed hope’ (Titus 2:13) is not linked to any specific event this way. It is an imminent and signless wonder. It will come without warning. The apostle Paul anticipated it in his time. We should be looking for it with equal anticipation each and every day that God gives us breath and life.

Number three. Apart from the fact that we can indeed see a choreography of Tribulation-era elements beginning to take shape – global pandemics, surging lawlessness, specific alliances in the Middle East, and appeals for a one-world governance among those – nothing about these developments mean believers will endure the Tribulation. The FULL counsel of Scriptures makes it clear believers will leave this planet before Daniel’s 70th Week starts. True saints here and now are “not appointed to wrath” (1 Thess. 5:9).

And lastly, and most importantly, make sure your “ticket to heaven” is in order. Matthew 7:21-23 makes it very clear a lot of people will find out too late they really weren’t saved. This is one of the most frightening portions of God’s Word, and if you want to understand real panic, read this passage carefully.

Bluntly put, there are a lot of folks regularly in the pews these days that are not in a right relationship with Jesus Christ. They certainly think they are – but for various reasons, they’ve become seduced by ‘Christian culture’ instead.

They’re invested in a list of rituals, performances, ideas, and credentials that impress man rather than God. It’s a matter of eternal importance to get this issue right, and if it’s not – then believe me, that’s a REAL reason to panic.

All that said, a challenging but vital question to ponder is, “What is my eternal condition?” (2 Cor. 13:5).

Well, let me ask you something. Do you really see the evidence of the Holy Spirit’s control in your life? It’s an issue worthy of your most concerted and humble self-evaluation. David modeled the right posture when he prayed, “Search me, God, and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts. And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalms 139:23-24).

Coming full circle to the deceptions and challenges of our times – according to James chapter 1, it’s the trying circumstances that prove out the integrity of our faith. It’s when we’re smack dab in the middle of crushing trials, pains, distress, and despair that our faith is expected to show up and make a difference.

How do you know if your faith is genuine if it’s not tested? Can you be sure you’ve got the real deal if you habitually react to tough situations just like those “who have no hope” do (1 Thess. 4:13)?

No. You really can’t.

A faith that’s real gently brushes out the cobwebs of panic, fear, anger, resentment, and self-entitlement from the darkest corners of your heart. A faith that’s real permits eyes and minds to perceive with a calm serenity. A faith that’s real is grieved when sinful temptations win some daily battles. A faith that’s real counts every trial as a conscious ‘joy’ because it’s another opportunity to stand strong and be assured of a right relationship with our only Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Are you feeling some anxiety and distress about the failing world you see around you? Then take that opportunity to focus on the real joy that is yours if these things confirm to you that you are indeed walking on the narrow path.

Trust me; there is no greater urgency these days than to make sure your heart is right before God.

 

I have little idea where this post is going to go. I guess I’m partly writing it as a personal catharsis, and so I advise you – I’m not feeling warm and fuzzy.

I’m not a gambler, but if you asked me to pick up the dice and roll ’em, I’m going to tell you America is done. No single issue prompts me to say that, but rather many of them.

America is hurtling down a steep one-way road with no U-Turn on the map. It is experiencing a comprehensive and catastrophic moral collapse. Read Romans 1:18-32. It’s basically today’s news, and it makes one point clear: America is so far gone that it’s already experiencing the wrath of God. It is done.

I don’t see any valid “if’s” on this issue anymore. The most qualified questions are those that responsibly weigh the “when’s” and “how’s.” America is now marinated in lies and depravities of the sort that – not long ago – used to cower in the closet and carefully pick their disguises before daring to crack the door.

Not anymore.

Patently obvious deceptions now proudly parade in the public forums. Intentional fraud is welcomed at every level of our governing structures. Myriad efforts are being expended to ruin anyone or anything that speaks the truth or shows the facts. Many millions of dollars are spent on marketing, policy, and PR campaigns to advance exactly the sort of corruption, evil, injustice, and debauchery that God routinely – and forcefully! – judged in the Scriptures.

We live in a time where the agendas of depopulation, immorality, lawlessness, intolerance, and tyranny are celebrated – while efforts to support virtue, common sense, law and order, free speech, and personal responsibility are ridiculed. Children have become a key target in all of this. They are the victims of every vile form of wickedness imaginable, and legislation is even being proposed to legitimize these evils.

This nation’s descent is breathtaking to see. We’re rocketing so quickly into a sticky morass of wickedness that you can almost hear the sonic boom.

It doesn’t help that so much of our nation’s population is woefully uninformed – – and it helps even less that they choose to stay that way. There is a vast swath of our society that refuses to spend one calorie of energy to study the truth and confront their ignorance. It’s so much easier for them to attack the facts instead.

It’s that ‘safety in numbers’ thing that seduces them to float downstream with the dead fish – – to hurl themselves off the cliff with the rest of the ignorant lemmings.

But the gravity of this situation is so in-your-face that it’s now impossible to overlook. One must WANT to not see it for what it really is.

Honestly, I expect this sort of foolishness from those who have rejected God. Romans 1:28 makes the case that those who have done this end up with minds that don’t work like they’re supposed to. They’re as dumb as a frying pan. There’s a direct connection between their consecutive choices and their constant idiocy.

So again – I expect such darkened people to do precisely what they’re not supposed to do. I expect them to reject common sense laws and values that find their source in God’s divinely inspired Word. I expect this from the masses that want nothing to do with a right relationship with Jesus Christ. Their whole motive is to energetically go in the opposite direction instead – no matter the consequences to themselves or to others, or their self-evident displays of ridiculousness.

Perhaps that’s why this entire situation gives me another very specific discomfiture. Maybe it’s why I’m saying all these things in the first place – because the bigger picture is even worse.

You see, this whole problem extends well beyond that group we typically expect to applaud fraudulent elections, promote fabricated ‘science,’ or support foolish laws. This problem is much bigger than the bunch who cuts off their genitals, wears masks while driving alone, waves rainbow flags, conceals their violence under black hoodies, touts BLM, or sets up filthy communes in public places.

Here’s the hard truth. There are plenty in the church who have already made it clear they identify more with the postures of those who show they have rejected God than they do with anyone who diligently seeks to be in a right relationship with Jesus Christ.

I’ve heard pastors foolishly claim wearing a mask is a sign of worship. I’ve heard other pastors chide their congregants for wanting secure borders, for supporting responsible conservative values, and for not accepting plainly fraudulent ‘medical science.’ I’ve had conversations with church leaders who vigorously support the ‘Palestinian cause’ and a ‘two-state solution’ over all clear Biblical instructions to the contrary.

I’m just scratching the surface of all the ways I’ve seen church leaders lose their moorings.

Furthermore, there is no shortage of “Christians” who march for BLM, advocate for LGBTQ lifestyles, embrace gender rebranding, and promote the fallacy of climate change which lies at the heart of globalism. All of this shows glaring faults in the integrity of their faith since this bunch are “Christians” who also pick their way through the Scriptures like they are at a buffet – – ignoring what they don’t like and overindulging in what they most want.

That’s the part that gnaws at me and causes me no end of frustration. The truth is there for them to know it, but so many within the church are woefully uninformed – – and they choose to stay that way. There is a large proportion of “Christians” that refuse to spend one calorie of energy to study the full counsel of God’s Word, to humbly yield to its instructions, and to confront their ignorance. It’s so much easier for them to run with the packs that believe as they do and attack the truth instead.

The standard pew-warmer today desperately needs a carnivore diet (1 Cor. 3:2), but as Paul lamented, many of them can’t handle it. Just as Paul recognized young believers needed “milk” instead, so I think he would chastise those churchgoers today who have obstinately remained content with a lactose diet. Hebrews 5:12 states we should be striving for “solid food,” but most “Christians” and their leadership would much rather sip their doctrines through a straw.

A leading giveaway of such “Christians” is their inability to perceive the present times for what is really happening and for what they really mean. If we take 2 Timothy 4:3 at face value – and I do! – then it’s less of an ‘inability’ than it is a ‘refusal.’

This passage makes it clear such “Christians” will not tolerate hearing the things from God’s Word that they MOST need to hear. They will consciously embrace the “fables” instead that are the values and choices of this world.

They do this by “gathering around them teachers to suit their own passions.” That means such “Christians” will openly support pastors, teachers, and other church leaders who show they are not yielded to the full counsel of Scripture, and who evidence by the things they say that they have dangerously “conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2). It also means such “Christians” will isolate and berate any other pastors, teachers, and other church leaders who call their choices into proper Biblical accountability.

Churches and “Christians” who behave in this manner are living proof that we are indeed in the last days. The Bible calls these folk “scoffers” in 2 Peter 3:3. This bunch is noted for ridiculing the things of God they want no part of, for denying the truth of Scripture when it confronts their choices, for following their own evil desires over the clear counsel of God’s Word, and for mocking those who wait for, long for, and earnestly study the issues around the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

Jude goes one step further in Jude 1:18. He makes it clear that churches and fellowships will greatly suffer under the influence of these kinds of scoffers because they create division and introduce erosion. They may imagine themselves to be church leaders, they may imagine they are giving priority to the things they ought to be giving it to – – but Jude adds, “they do not have the Spirit” in vs. 19.

The surge of scoffers in the church today is a clear Biblical sign that we are in the last days. While there are many outside the church that plainly want nothing to do with the truth, there are many inside the church that are the same way.

I’ve come full circle to my opening comments. The prognosis for this nation is not good. You may choose to disagree with me on that – – but I urge you to “be as the Bereans” (Acts 17:11) and examine the Scriptures for yourself. This exercise will clarify all current events through the wisdom of God’s Word.

I believe – if you do – you will ultimately be prompted to say with a new hope, just as Paul did in 1 Corinthians 16:22, “Maranatha” (“Come, Lord Jesus”).