Reality :: by Grant Phillips

One might say that “reality” is “that which actually is.” In other words, it is “truth.” We, as a society, are not living in reality. Most people glide through life ignoring truth, and especially TheTruth that comes from Almighty God. Like the ostrich, we hide our heads in the sand, thinking we can avoid what God says is true.

I have come to the conclusion that we as a society are indulging in one big gigantic party, which reminds me of these verses from the Scriptures.

“1 King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them.

2 While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them.

3 So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them.

4 As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.

5 Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote.

6 His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were knocking.

13 So Daniel was brought before the king, and the king said to him, “Are you Daniel, one of the exiles my father the king brought from Judah?

 

17 Then Daniel answered the king, “You may keep your gifts for yourself and give your rewards to someone else. Nevertheless, I will read the writing for the king and tell him what it means.

18 “Your Majesty, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness and glory and splendor.

22 “But you, Belshazzar, his son, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this.

23 Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways.

24 Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription.

25 “This is the inscription that was written: mene, mene, tekel, parsin

26 “Here is what these words mean: Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.

27 Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.

28 Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

30 That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain,

31 and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two.”

These verses are taken from the book of Daniel, chapter five. If I didn’t know better, I would think they were written yesterday by just changing a few names.

The leaders of this once great nation are in party mode and leading us to destruction. Generally speaking, our forefathers feared God and we have been greatly blessed. However our present day leaders have ignored the God of our forefathers and have gone after other gods. The golf courses, beaches, night clubs, and secret hotel rooms are filled with Godless politicians, while we the people are being sucked down the drain of hopelessness for our country’s survival.

Even we lowly citizens, as a whole, who have put these rapscallions in office, are in party mode, going through life like there will never be an accountability.

I don’t know how God will ultimately judge us, but I do know we are long over-due.

From the back alleys to the White House, sin has saturated our nation. Even our churches, in general, are dens of thieves and houses of harlots before the God they “say” they worship. We have taken those things that belong to God, and desecrated them with our frivolousness.

The people we call our heroes are usually, not always, degenerate in their thinking and filled with hatred toward God, their Creator. The holy name of God is mocked, while the “stars” of society are worshipped. Our consciences have been seared with the hot iron of sin and we have made Satan our king.

It is my opinion that God has been warning us even prior to September 11, 2001, but we would rather party. We were brought to our knees on September 11, 2001 and rushed to the churches, but guess what? Nothing happened. Oh really? We have had disaster after disaster; hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, drought, economic woes, loss of life, blizzards, and it goes on and on.

We didn’t stay long at the churches after September 11, 2001, except for those who stayed because they like being told what fine people they are while they indulge in their sins.

Reality still has not set in for us as a nation. We still want to party, but sooner or later the party will end and we will be left with nothing but one huge hangover.

The reality for us as a nation is judgment. It is coming. The reality for us individually is judgment if we don’t sober up and get our lives right before Almighty God.

Soon, the Lord Jesus Christ is going to return for His Church. He will remove His Church, the Bride, from this planet and take her to His Father’s house in Heaven while He carries out judgment upon this fallen world. It will be a time of absolute hell on earth.

You can laugh. You can mock. You can put your party hat back on and pour yourself another cup of rebellion, but if you do not repent before Jesus Christ, you will face reality.

The reality for those who are the Bride of Christ is salvation by God’s grace and fellowship with Him forever in Heaven.

The reality for those who reject Him is judgment.

 

Grant Phillips