“Because Iniquity
will abound, the love of many shall wax cold” (Matt. 24:12).
Hey Gang: The ship
arrived at the dock after its five-day journey across the sea. When it docked the old missionary heard the
band playing and the people singing their praise of someone who was on the ship
with him. For a moment he hoped it was
for him, who had sacrificed more than fifty years of his life to plant the
seeds of love and redemption in the hearts of a remote tribe in Africa. But reality quickly set in when he saw the
sign saying, “Welcome home President Roosevelt”.
He turned to his wife with saddened eyes and hearts and said,
“For fifty years we have served the Lord with gladness in our hearts. One would
think that He would have had a brass band and a crowd of glad hearts for the
services we gave to the Lord.” For
several weeks the old missionary was despondent and cried out frequently to the
Lord, “Why, Lord, was there no reward awaiting our return?’ But that still
small voice whispered in his ear, “I have not passed out my rewards, yet. You are not home yet!”
The title I have given to what I have chosen to be my fourth
Sign of the Times is “The Destruction of Love”. As mentioned in the last blog, I believe The Destruction of Love is the bottom line
of all of the evilness that is taking place in or world. As I thought of The Destruction of Love, three verses popped into my mind.
The first of which I have always had a hard time understanding
- Self esteem - has always been a problem for me. I have
always been plagued with the attitude that I am not worth very much. When I read John 3:16 and the words that He,
Father God, sent His only begotten Son to earth to walk in my steps -runs head
on into the feelings of inadequacy. I
mean He, Jesus, was in the perfect place with Abba Father where there was no
sin; He chose to come to earth with the full intent to one day carry the very
cross they would use to crucify Him on to a hill called Calvary - to set me,
and all who choose to follow Him as Lord, free from the bondage of sin.
The second verse “Greater
love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends”
(John 15:13), and the third “You shall
love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with
all your mind. This is the great and
foremost commandment. The second is like
it, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend
the whole Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 22:37-40).
We go back to the first words of verse one and find the very
foundation and essence of love, “For God
so loved”. We find the foundation
and essence of what love is not in Isaiah, “All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own
way” (Isa. 53:8a). John made it
clear that there is one source of love when he wrote, “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love”. A
few verses later he emphasized this point when he wrote, “We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for
us. God is love, and the one who abides
in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (I John 8/16).
Question? Are we
entering post-Christian America? Or are we already there? Daniel 12 speaks of a period when “there shall be a time of trouble, such as
never was since there was nation”.
He was also told to close up and seal the words of the scroll until the
time of the end.” The angel said to
Daniel, “When the time comes to open the
seal the world will be in utter confusion but the wise will know and understand”. Our world is certainly in a confused state
but I wonder how many of the ‘wise of the world’ understand that God is
preparing to take back His creation.
Why has the world chosen the more gross things of the
world? Are there not God’s people in the world? Yes, but we also have apostasy breaking out all around us. You see evilness overtaking the land; you see
a new morality that seeks to eradicate faith in God. Many are falling in behind the leading of the
evil one. Are we not seeing a returning image of Antiochus Epiphanes, who
proclaimed himself to be god. Does that
sound familiar? Suddenly Christmas has
become taboo. It is now ‘Winter Recess.’ Manger scenes spark lawsuits by atheists, and
courts rule in favor of the atheists.
Did you, in your wildest imagination, believe that in our
lifetime we would see a manger scene be considered dangerous and even
evil. It is no longer a celebration of
the Messiah, a personification of all that is good and love, but now is a
celebration of Black Fridays and happy winter holidays.
The spirit of antichrist seeks to remove God from every
corner of the culture and many are doing all in their power to make that happen. The Bible and prayer were removed from
schools in 1960’s. The Ten Commandments have
been removed from the government buildings and Hate Laws have been passed in
many cities- making it a crime to say anything that paints homosexuality and
gay marriage in a negative light.
Jonathan Cahn, Author of The Harbinger and The Mystery of
the Shemitah wrote the following, “Charlie Brown Christmas, which aired on
network television for the first time in 1965, featured Linus walking on stage
in a Christmas play and giving a dramatic retelling of the Christmas story
straight -from the pages of Luke’s gospel.
Fifty years later it remains so popular that the networks continue to
show it.” But as Cahn pointed out a Linus program of
this type would not receive funding in Hollywood today. The only reason it is still shown is public
demand! And that is true for most
religious films that are produced – the public craves wholesome programs that
shows the love story over and over again.
Well, my friends, I apologize for getting so long -but I
fear for our nation, if we do not get the message across- that there is only one way out of the
pit we have allowed our country to sink to -and that is for God’s people to
humble themselves before Him, pray diligently and with fervor, seek Good until
we find Him and put away the nonsense of this world (2 chronicles 7:14).
Blessings,
Gramps
One last comment that has come across my
computer screen in recent days, many Muslims and non believes in the Middles
East, China, Russia and other nations have become followers of Yeshua in recent
years. The reason most given for their
seeking Jesus as Lord is Jesus is love and they craved love
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