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Some encouragement regarding recent current events.

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  • Some encouragement regarding recent current events.

    As many of you know, my family consider ourselves part of Grace Community Church, pastored by John Macarthur. Yes, we live zillions of miles away from there, but we have found him to be a stalwart voice for the truth of scripture. He has rightly divided God's word for 4 decades now, and continues to teach rightly.

    We received this letter today. I found it very encouraging and so appropriate for the days we live in.

    I am sharing most of it here. I don't need comment on it, but am wanting to offer to others the same encouragement that I found in it. Comment, however, if you wish.

    Of all the ways to describe the times in which we live, I think the most concise is this: The days are evil. Every age since the Fall has been dominated by evil, but that doesn't mean it won't become more blatant, pervasive, grotesque, dangerous, and institutionalized. Scripture is clear that over time, evil men will become worse (2 Timothy 3:12-13).

    So while last months' United States Supreme Court ruling that sanctioned homosexual marriage was troubling at many levels, it wasn't particularly surprising. The decision was simply the practice of sowing and reaping writ large. The trajectory was set long, long ago.

    What has been surprising is how the moral slide has accelerated in recent years in America, and how hostility to Christians has become so overt in such a short time. Usually a culture changes so slowly, to change is barely perceptible. Not so now. The recent, seismic ruptures in our society have been swift and catastrophic.

    While many people fear that the current moral crisis will someday lead to god's judgment, I believe we're far past that. What we see happening now is God's judgment. Romans 1 indicates that divine judgment involves three stages. first, there's a sexual revolution, followed by a homosexual revolution, and finally an abandonment to a reprobate mind. Ultimately, the culture's way of thinking is so corrupt, there is no way back to truth and goodness. We see the reprobate mind in full bloom in the Supreme Court, the presidency, the legislature, the media, and the popular culture.

    As a result, we are feeling pressures we've never before experienced and facing mockery and abuse simply because of what we believe. Our gospel, our values, our priorities, our doctrine -- our entire lives -- are comprehensively and irreversibly at odds with the world. And as challenging as the situation is, it can and will get worse. I've commented several times recently that I believe the hostility toward Christians in the west will give way to full-blown persecution. A decade ago, many Christians would have laughed at such a suggestion. No one is laughing now.

    What should our response be to these new realities? First, I believe we should be supremely hopeful. God has not been surprised by the moral slide we are witnessing, nor have His good and loving purposes been thwarted by it. He reigns supreme over everything, from the smallest details of individual lives to the monumental, collective acts of rebellion and sin of a nation. While He is offended by sin, He is neither a victim of it nor is He a helpless bystander. He is acting in patience and mercy to many, meanwhile storing wrath for His ultimate day of righteous judgment. We can rejoice both in His mercy and in the knowledge that He will someday make things right.

    We must also stay focused on Jesus Christ and the mission to which He has called us -- to live and proclaim the gospel. while Romans 1 offers a bleak diagnosis of the world's lost condition, it also assures us that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and that we must preach it without being ashamed. External circumstances have no real power over us -- rather than being gripped by fear and discouragement, we should fix our eyes on Christ, walk in obedience, and trust Him. He will not disappoint.

    The current circumstances should also create in us an increased sense of expectation. Expectation of seeing the grace of God displayed in and through His church. Expectation of seeing many people gloriously converted, as a refined, purified church fulfills its role as salt and light in a fresh, powerful way. Expectation of seeing the return of the Lord and the final consummation of our salvation. Now is not a time for fear and shrinking back, but for trust, obedience, and, yes, expectation.

    As for how the Bible-teaching ministry of Grace to You is responding to these evil days, the answer is simple: Hold nothing back. We are going to articulate biblical truth more clearly and assertively than ever. In fact, as the culture continues to degenerate and biblical standards are challenged, every new attempt to undermine Scripture is going to elicit from us a loving -- but clear -- confrontation.
    The rest of the letter is discussing the resource sent with the letter, so I will not include that info here.

    Be encouraged, dear friends! God is still on His throne, He is still in charge, and He has already conquered!
    Last edited by mossrose; 07-24-2015, 09:56 PM.


    Securely anchored to the Rock amid every storm of trial, testing or tribulation.

  • #2
    Yes, many of us have been saying that sort of thing for a long while. The future looks bleak, but God could turn us around. He has done it in the past.
    Micah 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

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    • #3
      Originally posted by Jedidiah View Post
      Yes, many of us have been saying that sort of thing for a long while. The future looks bleak, but God could turn us around. He has done it in the past.
      It is sometimes hard to know which way the wind is blowing. Not knowing if this is the beginning of things getting worse, or getting better. Sometimes I look around at the world and just get frustrated. But I know that in the end we have the promise that everything will be the way it should be. Thank you for the encouragement, MossRose!
      "Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." ― C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock: Essays on Theology (Making of Modern Theology)

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      • #4
        Just my own thoughts on this: While here in Canada, homosexual "marriage" was legalized many years ago which greatly grieved me at the time, I was still more grieved (and still am) to have heard that the States decided to follow suit. Nonetheless, we can be assured and comforted in knowing that our God is still on His throne and in control -- even if it doesn't seem so.

        I just finished listening to John MacArthur's latest sermon in which he addresses the issue, which I've linked to below for anyone interested to read/listen to and take encouragement from. May we who truly love and follow the Lord Jesus Christ have the courage to say to the evil world system around us -- as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego said to Nebuchadnezzar when they were ordered to bow down to his golden statue (Daniel 3:16-18) -- "we will not bow."

        http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons...e-will-not-bow
        ~ Russell ("MelMak")

        "[Sing] and [make] melody in your heart to the Lord." -- Ephesians 5:19b

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        • #5
          Originally posted by The Melody Maker View Post
          Just my own thoughts on this: While here in Canada, homosexual "marriage" was legalized many years ago which greatly grieved me at the time, I was still more grieved (and still am) to have heard that the States decided to follow suit. Nonetheless, we can be assured and comforted in knowing that our God is still on His throne and in control -- even if it doesn't seem so.

          I just finished listening to John MacArthur's latest sermon in which he addresses the issue, which I've linked to below for anyone interested to read/listen to and take encouragement from. May we who truly love and follow the Lord Jesus Christ have the courage to say to the evil world system around us -- as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego said to Nebuchadnezzar when they were ordered to bow down to his golden statue (Daniel 3:16-18) -- "we will not bow."

          http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons...e-will-not-bow
          Daniel 3:17-16 If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

          Job 13:15a Though he slay me, I will hope in him
          Micah 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

          Comment

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