What Can We Do? part 9
Revelation 13:16-17 “He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.”
We see from the above passage that a time is coming when there will be strict government control on all that we do in buying and selling, as well as in so many others things. Even today in most of our countries in the West we find that a lot of our life is under government control through many government regulations. One thing that we have in the West is religious freedom, but we can see that this too is being infringed upon and we are in danger of losing it.
I was talking with a brother and he mentioned how the mark of the Beast is already in play here in our society. He was referring to America and this reference as to the tax exemption that churches have. He went on to mention how many churches are afraid to speak out on certain issues, especially political issues in fear of losing their tax exemption status. Was he right? I think he might have a valid point, because of the tax exemption status given to us by the government and through political correctness we find that the government is controlling a lot of what we say or preach from the pulpit.
It would seem that the “upper and lower story” that Francis Schaefer brought out might be in operation more in our preaching than we might like to think. Like I wrote about in my series “Biblical Worldview,” our Biblical worldview affects everything in life: marriage, family, politics, government, economics, entertainment, media, education, etc. In a Biblical worldview there is no such thing as an upper story (our spiritual life) and lower story (our secular life). There is only one floor and our spiritual life, or lack of it, affects our physical life. Our spiritual life affects absolutely everything.
Wallbuilders David Barton brings out some important points regarding the founding of America during the revolutionary period and how the Lord used what was known as the “Black-Robed Brigade.” This was a name given by the British to pastors who in their preaching used rhetoric to bring out Biblical principles in which to guide the congregation in building a just and righteous civilization. They preached the Word of God without fear or favor. They boldly proclaimed the Word of God to everything that pertained to life whether spiritual or temporal. There was no upper and lower room in their preaching. They fearlessly preached and brought the Word of God to bear upon the main issues of the day.
Today we live in times of great deception and there is a need for great discernment in moving through all of the subtle, but real and deadly traps the enemy has placed in front of us seeking to stop and hinder us.
Why are we, here in the 21st century, in a situation where we have started to call evil good and good evil? Isn’t it because man’s reasoning has superseded God’s wisdom as a basis for gaining knowledge? When I look back over my writings regarding the men who built upon the ideas or philosophy of previous men – so that we have the stronghold we have today – I need to ask myself where was the church; ‘the holder of truth?’ Are we MIA (missing in action)?
We need men of God in our pulpits today that are truly called by God. What do I mean? Some years ago when I was the director of our (Operation Mobilization) ship the DOULOS we had Stephen Olford (a well-known English Bible teacher) to come on board and preach to the ship personnel.
In a private conversation he told me about a survey done by a major denomination to find out why so many pastors were leaving the pastorate. They came up with four reasons:
1. The pastorate was a profession and not a calling
2. Immorality
3. Love for material things
4. Biblical illiteracy
This last one was the great surprise for me. They did not know the Word of God. I was dumfounded by this. These were men who had their doctorate degrees in theology. They had studied books about the Bible, but they did not know the Word of God.
Might God in our generation raise up men and women of God who are filled with the Words of Christ, who “while musing the fire burned and then spoke with their tongues.”
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Colossians 3:16-17