Oct 4, 2004
The Good News About the Lack of Commitment
When it comes to the subject of the average Christian's commitment to the
Kingdom of God, there is not a whole lot to list as being good news. Because
the Body of Christ is trained to focus on the positive aspects of
Christianity, the sobering lack of dedication often gets overlooked.
The experience I've gained from operating this site has taught me how
disconnected believers can be from their faith. I've noticed it is easy for
people to offer pledges of help, but it is very difficult to turn those
promises into action. Our efforts in translating works by classic Christian
writers have given me the greatest insight into how challenging
commitment can be for some folks.
The past two years, we've labored to add hundreds of Christian classic books
to the site. During that time, around 100 people indicated they
would like to help format the books; however, only 12 people
actually ended up doing the work.
Sometime in January, I was contacted by a young man who responded to one of
my appeals concerning the optical scanning of hardcopy books into a digital
format.
This gentleman was genuinely excited about doing something that would
contribute to the cause of Christ. We even talked on the phone about what
needed to be done. Feeling he would be a trustworthy person, I mailed
him a copy of The Heart of Christianity by T.S. Linscott, which I had
purchased from a rare book dealer. After several months passed with no
sign that he was accomplishing the task, I tried to contact him via email to
check on his progress. I received no reply.
I've learned that people who offer the strongest indications that they will support the site are generally the ones who turn out to be the least
reliable.
It is fairly common for people to email me a vow of financial support for
site. In most cases, the funds never materialize.
I have no way of knowing what prevents people from
becoming involved in the site. I do know the cares of this life often
override the satisfaction that would come from contributing to the cause.
It is a bit depressing to constantly run into people who fail to grasp the
seriousness of the responsibility of being a Christian. What
keeps me inspired are the kind folks who fulfill their pledges. Of course,
if everyone was totally dedicated to advancing the Gospel, all the world
would be saved and there would be no need for evangelism.
The good news about the lack of commitment is the abundance of opportunity
to excel in the Kingdom of God. You don't need to be someone with special
abilities, you just need to be someone with the right amount of will power.
Christians who are mindful of the duties that come with being a part of the Christian faith
have a huge advantage over the believers who lack commitment. In many ways,
it's like running a race in which you are the only competitor on the field. As
long as you keep moving in the direction of the finish line, you're guaranteed
to be a winner.
Rapture Ready has a long list of pages that are either the largest of their
kind or are totally unique concepts. The "Who's Who of Prophecy" is an example
of a page with no competitors. As far as I can tell from search results,
no other site offers a role call of prominent prophecy
teachers.
The benefits that come with commitment are
the results of most people choosing not to become involved. Whenever I
mention the low percentage rate of people who involve themselves in
Christian work, most people fail to realize the inactive majority
most likely includes them.
When we leave this world, our lives will be summarized by our
salvation decision and the good works we accomplish. I'm sure Jesus will
ask each of us this simple question, "What have you done in my name?"
Knowing we will have to account for our actions, it is extremely wise for
us to be ready that day.
Because time is running out, the window of opportunity for raising your heavenly standing
is coming to a close. The shorter the time we have until the rapture,
the harder it will be to contribute to the cause. My advice is to act now.
-- Todd
Iran’s Double-Dog Dare
This, I know, will date me. That’s okay; I’m an old guy and don’t mind the designation.
Some of us remember when, as kids, one of us or the other would, upon getting in an argument with a friend or a foe –really made no difference in those days—say “I dare you,” inviting the nemesis to answer our challenge. This was meant to intimidate our adversary. If he was hesitant or said something intimidating back, we would say, “I double-dog dare you!”
We smile at those childhood confrontations. They meant little more than an occasional scuffed pair of jeans, or in a worse-case scenario, a slightly bloodied nose or blackened eye.
Today, our nemesis is international terrorism. The confrontation isn’t child’s play, because the price of confronting the bully is deadly.
Iran is at present the bully on the international scene that threatens to disrupt the peace. That diabolist regime seems to be challenging the international community –especially the United States and Israel. “Knock the nuclear chip off our shoulders. Go ahead! We double-dog dare you!”
The challenge is over Iran’s unabashed uranium enrichment program, the purpose of which is almost certainly to produce nuclear materials that will be used in building atomic weapons. Iran is determined to become a significant power player in the Middle East and the world. Having nuclear threat is, of course, a sure way of commanding the attention the bullies of the world desire.
Many will claim Israel is one such bully who already has a number of nuclear weapons in their military arsenals. This is why, the Israel-haters claim, that nation constantly brings threats and arms to bear against a peace-loving Yasser Arafat and his Palestinian dominion, which wants only to live in peace.
Problem is, they want to live in peace only AFTER Israel and every Jew in the Holy Land is removed –preferably drowned in the Mediterranean.
Israel’s military posture has been one of a defensive nature since its rebirth in 1948. Thing is, most Israeli leaders believe in the old military and sports adage, "the best defense is a good offense."
This is a truth President George W. Bush tries incessantly to drum into the woolly minds of the peace activists who see no need to have removed Saddam Hussein from Iraq, or to remain active in pursuing militarily the terrorists and terrorist regimes where they live, rather than having to defend against them in military conflict on the North American continent.
So when Iran, which Bush has termed one component of the “axis of evil,” begins scowling at the free world, saying , in effect, “we’re going to be a nuclear power; what are you going to do about it?” –the war-fear senses of the whole world should come to a heightened station of alert. Or so it seems…
This is not the case for some reason. The mainstream media is failing –at this point—to address the increasingly volatile situation.
One writer who has closely watched the Iranian bully-boy posturing gave what I thought to be a good analysis:
The recent announcement of a deal for Israel to acquire thousands of Precision-Guided-Munitions (PGM) went largely unheralded by Elite-Media, who mostly yawned and ho-hummed the sale. One source, the Seattle Post Intelligencer, did little more than the intellectually lazy approach, recycling an AP report but the numbers in the report were very telling: 3000 2000-pound laser-guided bombs, 1000 1000-pound laser-guided bombs and 500 500-pound precision-guided bombs.
The most important number noted above is the huge number of 2000-pound PGM’s – these are heavy, penetrating munitions needed to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities…
In case you haven’t realized the fact: the Iranian nuclear enrichment program will soon dramatically affect your life and the lives of countless millions in other nations. A massive showdown is coming over Iranian enrichment of used nuclear reactor fuel that will draw many more countries into the fray in the Persian Gulf…” (Source: Media Asleep? Israel Arming to Strike Iran, by Chris Long, 9/24/04; ChronWatch Search Results & Advanced Options).
A perplexing mystery is why the Iranian despots, knowing the US has pronounced them a part of “the axis of evil,” would nonetheless declare they are going ahead with their nuclear plans. It’s true they are thinly veiling their nuclear program under the guise of its being for electrical power production. But they must know the experts in the matters of nuclear energy and nuclear weapons development easily see through their weakly disguised plans. It’s as if they are saying “Yes. We are going to do this, so why don’t you try to stop us?”
President Bush and others of the western world are considerably encumbered by the US State Department and by the UN-minded of the diplomatic communities. Iran’s dictators know they can depend on cajoling, negotiations and threats to go on for a long time before action is taken--kind of like a murderer on death row can depend upon many, many years for his appeals process to play out.
Really mind-boggling –at least to this writer—is how the Iranian tyrants can look Israel in the eye and say, “I double-dog dare you to do something about our continuing to pursue our nuclear weapons production project.”
Israel doesn’t bow to bullies who threaten their existence. This is a volatile confrontation, make no mistake. Perhaps it will become clear in the near future why Iran’s beast-state regime so blatantly challenges Israel at present.
One thought is that the in-your-face challenge by Iran might be one major element of an overall list of fear-inducements involving potential war--a potential that might bring pressures by the international community upon Israel and its enemies to sit down together at Antichrist’s table of peace (Daniel 9:27).
--Terry
