Matthew 16:18 “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”

Every generation seems to think that his/her generation is the worse; that it couldn’t get any worse and so there seems to be little hope for the culture or society as a whole.

By briefly tracing the advancement of the Kingdom of God I want to show, as well as give “hope” to this (and the next) generation that even though the advancement of God’s Kingdom has faced many tribulations, set-backs and huge obstacles over these past two thousand years, it is still here and not giving up – all glory to God. Other earthly kingdoms have come and gone, but the Kingdom of our Lord and Savior will remain forever.

Regarding the past, Stephen Neil said that “throughout the history of the disobedient church and their unfinished task – God has used those disobedient churches to do great things, and brought into being a universal church. Missionaries on the whole have been feeble folk, not very wise, not very holy, not very patient. They have broken most of the commandments and fallen into every conceivable mistake. And yet, God has used their weakness to bring into existence a universal church.

“Missionary societies and churches have run their affairs in a way that would have reduced any ordinary business firm to bankruptcy in a year. They have tolerated rivalry, overlapping waste and imprudence. And yet, God has taken them up with all their follies into His service for the creation of a universal church. Converts on the whole have been terribly disappointing. Some have elapsed, others have grown arrogant and unusable, the majority have sunk down all too quickly into spiritual mediocrity. And yet, with all their failures, they have been God’s front line for the winning of a universal church.”

What of the future? That our Lord Jesus has yet to return, only underscores the incompleteness of the “missionary task.” Indeed, to look abroad throughout the world today is to confront the tragic reality of disobedient churches and its unfinished task. Not that God has failed; for He still desires that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

In the end Almighty God will win. Power is on His side and His heaven rules. No weapon formed against Him will prosper, but how will we do in our generation?  Will we finish what is ours to do? What will we leave behind for our children to carry on with – in the advancement of God’s Kingdom? We each need to consider this and then prove faithful.

However, in the midst of all that is taking place today in the world, I do sense an urgency to do what Peter admonished us to do.  2 Peter 3:12 “looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat.”

The best way to describe the history of the advancement of the Kingdom of God is going from TERROR TO TRIUMPH.

We need to look forward to, and speed that day when Jesus comes to judge righteously. This world will only be set right by judgment and the only One that can judge righteously is the Lord Jesus Christ. So, come Lord Jesus!

Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.”

Mob appeal is an attempt to persuade others by either making them feel like they want to be ‘one of the guys’ or by preying on the emotions of a large crowd. Socrates once said: “The crowd cannot be a lover of wisdom.”

Reading through Proverbs and Ecclesiastes we see that God has called us to a life of wisdom and discernment. We are not to buckle under ‘peer’ pressure or to any charismatic speaker trying to motivate or manipulate the masses.

Where we see this type of appeal is often in politics. For example: Often we find the Democratic party referring to themselves as the party of the ‘working man’ or the Republican party as ‘being against the lawyers and being outside of the establishment’ – even though many have been in public office most of their lives.

We see this “mob appeal” also in advertisement. I was watching TV when the advertisement for the Chevrolet truck came on, set in the background ‘out on the range’ surrounded by cowboys. Another advertisement was in the midst of a steel plant and a voice was saying that the truck is built like a ‘rock.’

The thing against the “mob appeal” is that it distracts from the main point and makes us want to be a part of the mob or the crowd.

To me one of the main dangers of this emotional appeal is that it plays at one of our most vital needs; the need to be accepted. One of the ways that Satan keeps people locked into their little kingdoms is through the bars of acceptance and rejection. We are afraid of being rejected by our peers and so we find ourselves going along with the crowd. In other words, everyone else is doing it and you will not be cool (part of the group) if you do not go along.

One of the things that has been speaking to me is what is called the “spiral of silence.” Because of “mob appeal,” going along with the crowd, we find that we do not speak out even though we know that what is being said is wrong, a fallacy. We do not want to be the ‘odd man’ out!

Socrates said: “The crowd cannot be a lover of wisdom.” Often, we have found out that some very popular ideas have turned out to be ‘very false.’ Look at Hitler in the 1930s who rode to power on a radical wave of popularity.

I often think of this verse in Proverbs: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” Proverbs 14:12

Proverbs 10:11 “The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but violence overwhelms the mouth of the wicked.”

Proverbs 10:31 “The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, but a perverse tongue will be cut out.”

Proverbs 11:9 “With his mouth the godless destroys his neighbor, but through knowledge the righteous escape.”

Another very common way to tarnish a debate is to cast doubt or in some way misinterpret the source of information. I find that often people will come to me and say or express doubt about a particular news caster or news channel that they are not reliable because they are to leftist or too conservative.

They will always come and say: “Consider the source.”  I am not saying that we should not consider the source, because we should, but to completely shut them out is not right either, because of certain issues they could be telling us the truth. A habitual liar could still be telling the truth on certain matters under debate.

Corrupt character may well imply something is not right in one’s argument, but it does not necessarily mean that there is not an element of truth in what is being said or debated.

“Poisoning the well” was an act of warfare in ancient times to kill unsuspecting villagers. Even today the “poisoning of the well” or water supply is a possible terrorist tactic. People know that drawing water from a poisoned well they can die. Likewise, if someone can discredit their intellectual opponent, then an audience will instinctively reject the opponent’s arguments as well. He has “poisoned the well.” Not only is the opponent’s source rejected, but also any future facts that he might bring out.

There are two things to do in order to defeat this fallacy. First, one must bring out the facts. Even if the person is the vilest person alive, there still can be an element of truth in the argument.

The person might be vile, but….

Or the source might be lopsided, but….

We always need to look at the argument itself and not get sidetracked by the “poisoning of the well.”

Also, when a person tries to “poison the well” it could very well be that he is showing his own vulnerability in the debate in putting forth the “poisoning of the well” fallacy to cover his own intellectual cowardice. In other words: perhaps he is afraid to address the real issue?

People who “poison the well” can pertain to any source: people, nations, races, eras, universities, ideologies, etc. In other words, an argument that says: “Do not believe anything coming from………”

Did the Pharisees “poison the well” when they said that Jesus cast out demons by the power of the prince of demons? Yes, they were trying to refute who Jesus was and get the audience not to believe anything Jesus said. But, Jesus refuted this fallacy by pointing out that people are known by their works.

We really need the gift of discernment today.