In these times of trouble and tribulation, with all that’s happening in the world today, it’s easy to succumb to a spirit of hopelessness, despair, and grief — for the deceived, lost and perishing people around us, and yes, even for ourselves. It’s especially grievous when those deceived, lost and perishing are people we know and love. Perhaps even our own spouses, children and grandchildren.

We look around and see how Satan and his demons seem to be in charge of everything now, and how truth is now regarded as “hate speech,” having fallen in the streets long ago. We see how successful the enemy has become at twisting hearts and minds, and fundamentally changing our society and culture and the entire world all around us, and it’s easy to become discouraged. There are so many lies, so much hatred, so many who have departed from the faith and chosen instead to follow doctrines of demons. Yes, it can become very disheartening.

But here’s what I KNOW: “God’s Word is truth” (John 17:17). And the Bible He has given us, from Genesis to Revelation, is FILLED with all we need to know about the history — and the future — of this world. It is FILLED with all we need to know to live our lives as God’s own children, to raise OUR children to know and love Him, and to learn to disciple others and share the Good News of the Kingdom and Jesus’ redeeming work on the cross with them as well. It’s also FILLED with warnings about what NOT to do, how NOT to live in this world… as well as instruction on how to fight the spiritual battles that threaten to ensnare us every day. In short, God’s Word is FILLED with everything we need to equip us to live here on this earth and to prepare us for eternity. We need no other instruction than that which He has already graciously given.

Having said that, I’d like us to consider today just how much JOY, PRAISE, and BEAUTY we also find in God’s Holy Book. And though it’s easy to take our eyes off of our Creator and dwell on the negative, there are virtually countless Scriptures that talk about God’s goodness, His peace, the Comfort of the Holy Spirit, and especially giving thanks.

Just as WE appreciate it when our earthly children are THANKFUL to us for all we provide and do for them, our Heavenly Father wants US to be thankful to Him as well. And we have SO MUCH to be thankful FOR! You know, you cannot be discouraged or depressed AND THANKFUL for all the many blessings you’ve received from the Lord at the same time… it’s just not possible. So I encourage you to be THANKFUL today… and every day to the One who Created us, and this amazing “habitat” called “Earth” that He designed as our temporary home.

I’m reminded of the old hymn by John Oatman, written in 1897, titled “Count Your Blessings.” It goes like this:

“When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed, when you are discouraged, thinking all is lost, Count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

“Are you ever burdened with a load of care? Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear? Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly, and you will keep singing as the days go by.

“So, amid the conflict, whether great or small, do not be discouraged, God is over all; Count your many blessings, angels will attend, Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.”

Oftentimes, when I find myself loaded down with burdens and cares, I’m not able to sleep at night or to calm my troubled mind. So I spend time in prayer, and then I begin to count MY many blessings. A word of caution here: if you DO this — (begin to count your blessings) — instead of helping you fall into peaceful sleep, I oftentimes find myself UNABLE to name all the many blessings God has so graciously given me, and I find I’m actually so filled with thankfulness and wonder and awe at what God has done for ME, I’m too excited to sleep after not very long!

I think of God’s beautiful Creation — the entire universe, designed and set in motion and sustained by His mighty hand. Through a powerful telescope on a dark, starry night, I’ve seen with my own eyes the rings of Saturn, and other planets, close up; not to mention our own moon — created by God and placed in just the right spot to not just light our way at night but also to help sustain life on our planet.

And this beautiful, wondrous earth. I have been blessed to be able to see and enjoy more of it in my lifetime than I ever thought I would… I’ve been to the highest mountain peaks in North America (and played in the snow at those summits with my kids on my birthday in August) …as well as the lowest point called “Death Valley.” I’ve swum in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and I’ve been to tropical rain forests and desolate, wind-swept deserts. I’ve seen the raging rivers and the awesome power of Niagara Falls. Living in Wisconsin, I’ve spent much time taking in the splendor of the Great Lakes. I was even blessed to pilot a steamship part-way across Lake Michigan one time.

I’m constantly amazed at God’s creation. Just the sheer BEAUTY of it is beyond description. And I often wonder what Eden must have been like before the fall. When everything was perfect. As incredibly beautiful as our earth is today, none of us can even begin to imagine what it once was — and will one day be again — when the New Heaven and New Earth appear.

Before Adam sinned, everything was perfect. But once mankind disobeyed God and brought sin and death upon us, our earth began producing thorns and thistles. There were no thorns before that… just beauty and perfection. I think of what Christ did on that old rugged cross for those who repent and call upon His name… and how His tormentors tortured Him so cruelly before nailing Him to that Tree… they even went “the extra mile” by fashioning a crown of thorns and jamming it into His head. Think of that: THORNS… the very thing that was brought upon this earth by our own disobedience and unbelief. Those thorns were part of the curse when God cursed the ground because of OUR sin.

But now think of THIS: Jesus Christ, our Lord, REVERSED that curse and conquered sin and death for us as He wore that crown of thorns on His head! Truly, those who murdered Him knew NOT what they were doing — and Satan perhaps even thought he had “won.” But God worked even that wretchedness together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Yes, He wore the crown of thorns — He bore the curse, and He REVERSED the curse for all who will repent and turn to Him.

Yes, I’m very thankful for this beautiful world God made for us. And all the animals and birds and flowers He filled it with for our pleasure. Each one an incredibly amazing, unique creation. Some of you know I am a bird-lover; if you just look at the incredible design of BIRDS alone — the many different ways each one is designed… some colorful and bright, “painted” with such creativity and splendor by the Master Craftsman Himself.

Some with unbelievable eyesight… I’ll always remember the time I was out on a lake watching in awe as a Bald Eagle soared high overhead, circling. Suddenly, he swooped down, just above the surface of the lake, and before my eyes, snatched a fish from the water and flew it home to his Eagle family for dinner!

Yes, God let me see that.

Amazing.

Some birds don’t even fly — they swim, like penguins. But each one is beautiful, and each is designed with everything it needs to live and survive, and each is FED by the hand of God. Now think of all the other animals the Lord made; then think of the “lilies of the field!”

Some designed to be our food; some just for the pure beauty of seeing them, because God LIKED them!

And I have to wonder, looking around JUST AT CREATION, how anyone could ever even question the fact that there is a God in heaven who made all this. Romans 1 tells us, “the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead….” Yes, those who doubt God are, indeed, without excuse.

The human body is also a miracle of Creation. There is nothing else like it, designed for our souls to live in on this earth, but also blessed with the senses of sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste. Did you ever consider God did not HAVE to give us all these things? But He wanted us to be able to experience ALL these wondrous aspects of His creation — and in the New Heaven and New Earth, I can only imagine the wonders He has in store for our new, restored bodies!

Then, think of the changing seasons. The warmth and beauty of summer. The spectacular colors and crispness in the air at harvest time.

The restoration time when the world sleeps during the winter, and then the rebirth that comes in the spring.

If you look around, you’ll see there is such BEAUTY and MAGNIFICENCE in this world that God provided for our earthly home. It’s hard to believe there are so many who continue to hate Him, deny Him, persecute those who love Him, and seek to destroy all that is beautiful, lovely, and good.

Yes, there is great beauty, but also great ugliness. On one side, you have the things of God and His incredible creation, His amazing design for mankind. You have the natural family, one man and one woman, designed to be united for life in holy matrimony — a covenant union, producing beautiful babies that we are to nurture, train up and teach all we know about our Heavenly Father, teaching THEM to honor and revere their Lord too. On the other side, you have darkness, evil schemes, greed, lies, deceit, treachery, sorcery, demonism, hedonism, and death.

Spiritual warfare continues, and daily we are to put on the armor of God that we might stand firm in our faith and resist the wiles and temptations of the enemy.

And again, the work of spiritual warfare — which we are ALL, as Christians, CALLED to engage in, serving as a restraining force against evil in this world — is much easier for us when we count our blessings and remain THANKFUL to God for each one. Psalm 95:2, “Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to Him with songs of praise!” Psalm 106 and 107 both begin with the same words: “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His steadfast love endures forever.” And in case you didn’t catch the gist of those Scriptures, look at ALL of Psalm 136!

Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice!”

And we all know Philippians 4:6 and 7, “Do not be anxious about anything but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

And continuing on in Philippians, in Verse 8: “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

We have so much to be thankful for. Yes, the world around us may be dark and growing darker every day.

We may very well be at the closing end of days here on this earth, and we may be precariously perched on the precipice of the Great Tribulation when the wrath of God is unleashed on all those who hate Him. But while we are still here, while we still have breath in our lungs, there is still good work for us to do. And our job is to BE His Church, to BE the salt and light of the world, to serve as His restraining force against the evil of the enemy, to preach the Gospel and make disciples, to ALWAYS be thankful to our Creator and Sustainer, and to praise Him in all circumstances.

There is no greater calling and no greater purpose.

When the enemy of our souls has you discouraged and depressed — again, simply begin to count your blessings and name them, one by one.

Thank the Lord for all He’s given you, and then with a grateful heart for the privilege of serving your King, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get back to work. Use your talents wisely because there comes a day, perhaps soon, when no man will be able to work; so let us be about His business as good stewards of the faith and press on, rejoicing always and thanking God for His abundant love and grace toward us. Let there never be found among us any hint of grumbling or murmuring or ungratefulness. Our Lord has made us His own children, and we’ve been blessed beyond all measure.

Thank Him every day, and let’s do EVERYTHING we do as service unto our Lord.

I pray you and your loved ones will have a blessed and happy time of Thanksgiving this year — not just for a day, but every day, as you work to minister to and serve all those around you.

—————-

Audio CDs and transcripts of this message are available when you call me at Wisconsin Christian News, (715) 486-8066. Or email Rob@WisconsinChristianNews.com and ask for message number 270.

(with footnotes)

This current generation, it is true,
Are lovers of pleasure,¹ more than of God.
Their entertainment exploits do accrue,

And treasures of their leisure get the nod.
Their measure is materialism,
While over the Lord God, they ride roughshod.

And how view we this age – modernism,
Pluralism, eroticism, and
Militarism, radicalism.²

Against all these the Christian takes a stand.
The Bible’s prophecies speak of decline¹¹
At the close of the Church age, in each land.

‘Mid persecution, God’s own must align
With faith and love upon a hostile earth.
Resist the devil, and in God, recline.

How long was it after angelic birth
That Satan fell from heaven like lightning?³
Furious now, he plants for all he’s worth,

Wickedness so great, it is frightening.
With false wonders, and all power and signs
And with deception that is heightening –

This rebellious one, and from ancient times,
With his angels, down to the earth He was thrown –
Master of this world, in whose realm he shines.

But to God, all future history is known,
And Satan will be crushed under our feet,⁴
For God’s word in all its splendour has shown

The future time when all will be complete;
A coming time for Satan’s cessation.⁵
Meanwhile, he works with cunning and deceit.

Dissemination of information
Is rampant and constant with mobile phones.⁶
They eat, sleep, talk, walk their fixation.

Facebook; rock music, all day through headphones,
Distraction and curse the devil applies –
Vehicle for Satan through tones and semitones –

We have a world of arrogance and lies,
Distorted, delusional, mangled mess.
Where honesty’s cloaked in subtle disguise;

⁵Causes man generally to confess
That good is evil and evil is good;⁷
Sweet is sour, and sour parades in sweet’s dress.

For us Christians, it must be understood
That these are the days of darkened light.
We must withstand, as Christians have withstood.

It is against the world’s darkness we fight.
We are not blinded to Satan’s foul schemes.
The world might be dark, but our view is bright.

So many endeavours touch the extremes
Of fanciful foolishness of men’s lives.
They each build around them uncertain dreams.

Satan’s horde is diligent, and it strives
To pervert the eternal human soul
For hell, and from heaven, so it deprives.

Therefore, it is Satan’s ultimate goal
To confuse, confound, pervert and hate;
To bring the nations under his control.

Why do the nations rage and legislate⁸
Against what’s upright, moral and decent,
While every essence of sin they dilate?

Duped, they seek out paths that are putrescent –
Abortion to twenty-two weeks is law;
Homosexual marriage – God’s law rent.

Many more would swell the list of man’s straw.
Why do people imagine a vain thing,⁸
Opposing God’s word against which they gnaw?

Satan they are aiding and abetting,
While giving credence to the “isms” of men,
And it is God they are abusing.

And what of this world’s “isms” can we say then –
Humanism, liberalism and
Environmentalism and its yen?

So many more will claim the devil’s brand –
Abortion, sexuality, gender,
Human relations, we can expand.

In all of this, who is the offender?
He, through human history, the insurgent,
Thrown out of heaven, from all its splendour.

In these last days, his vileness resurgent,
And for their ruin, among the nations moves,
So they, from all truth, become divergent.

All ideologies vile, he approves.
He promotes demonic fermentation.
God’s precepts, among the nations, he removes.

Vile Satan, what caused in you, gestation
From perfection to your full decadence;
From the Anointed Cherub, to mutation?

In all you are and do – an abhorrence
As among men you move and infiltrate,
But in God’s righteous judgement – dissidence.

Education streams you adulterate.
Governments and rulers are in your pay.
All men’s ambitions – desecrate.

In the United Nations – have your sway
To every land on earth.  You organize
Such, that every human being is your prey.

Any spark of decency – tyrannize,
And seek destruction of the human race.
All that’s good and holy – you demonize.

All that’s not of God, you surely embrace.
Iniquity and evil are your being.
In righteous eyes, an absolute disgrace!

With eyes opened wider, we are seeing
One aspect of this world’s false devotion.
From all its errors, godliness is fleeing

From evolution’s evil promotion:
“Survival of the fittest” it acclaims,
Then all human values face demotion.

Unleashed, vaulting pragmatism proclaims
“I fight for my existence tooth and claw”
The biblical principles, it disclaims,

Of adherence to God’s compassion law.
God said to love your neighbour as yourself,
Not to squash him under, for more and more.

We hear the term “ev’ry man for himself”
For evolution’s doctrine has that theme:
“Others are lesser value than myself.”

The hurting ones may cry with silent scream.
As they are not the fittest, you ignore
Their pleas. For evolution’s cruel regime

Will murder the yet unborn child, before
It can mount its defense, its case to raise,
So it’s evolution we must abhor.

Harken here! God knows the ways
Of the murderers, and the ruthless mob;
Those who ascribe to subjugating gaze;

Whose hearts unchecked, with wicked passions throb;
Who are evolution’s selfish offspring,
But your future’s sure. God you cannot rob!

In this chaotic world with its blurring
Of divine boundaries that are set in stone,
Man is launching into an authoring,

Where humanism’s future is unknown
In its reckless abolition of God,
Its futile chase, one day it will bemoan.

Man will bow to none other, than the rod
Of his legislated humanism.
Men of influence think it warped and odd

That Christians might raise a criticism
Of their ungodly and satanic lives.
They accuse the Christian of dogmatism

While they engage their atheistic drives
With all pre-flood⁹ urgency and yearning –
Godlessness, until judgment day arrives.⁹

What of these days when men’s hearts are burning,
Inflamed to pursue so sinful a course?
All around, to evil they are turning.

It’s the Bible’s prophecy we endorse,
When it sheds light on the present last days;
When we see from standards, certain divorce,

And women and men move with hearts ablaze –
Money lovers, self-lovers, ungrateful,¹
And obedience to parents decays,

Conceited, brutal, reckless and boastful
Irreconcilable and unloving
Treacherous, malicious gossips, hateful,

No self-control, unholy, reviling.¹⁰
Comprehend these things, but don’t be alarmed
But note well, for these things are beguiling.

The confused world in ev’rything is charmed
By subtle guile and enticing delights,
And will embrace actions by which it is harmed.

The pleasures of sin will stir appetites,
But the Christian with God, he understands
The world is entering darkening nights.¹⁰

The rulers of the world lift up their hands
To execute agendas they devise,
Imagining things vile for all their lands;

To institute their plans considered wise –
They know not what, because their vision’s blind.
They plot to culminate their sure demise,

Yet think the strategies they have outlined,
And those on which to lavish much acclaim,
Are policies to benefit mankind.

The God who rules will not deny His Name,
Though Satan’s active in his deception
With “God is dead,” advancing his own fame.¹¹

But where rests God in the world’s rejection?
With humanism’s tune, the nations ring.
Their loyalty? Another owns defection!

The nations rage, and all their hatred bring
At the behest of their commander vile;
His praises claim; his attributes they sing.

The nations’ goals – their “leader” will defile:
Their Satan by whose power they are fixed.
So God’s right? His claim they will revile.

With craftiness … hatred and love come mixed,
As Satan holds the nations in his sway;
Their minds, unknowingly, are all transfixed,

So evil is good; evil for good, repay!
Usurper’s role, angel of light impressed,
And gilds the nations grasping in dismay.

O, Lucifer, god of this world possessed,
You guide the peoples with your unseen mind
Ensnaring them; in vileness you invest.

Through governments, your demons are entwined.
Their laws, with humanism, you endow,
And godliness, with tragedy, maligned.

Named “prince and power of the air” for now –
Usurped through fiendish pride, you renegade,
Defeated, but to Christ one day, you’ll bow.

The world’s condition now is retrograde₁₂
But for the Christian, of greater concern,
Are abominations that masquerade

In Christian circles, where truth, one will spurn
And errors of doctrine and faith, accept.
Where now is the person who will discern

The evil that entered while clergy slept;
When ties to God’s holy word were detached;
And away from God’s truth, wicked men stepped.¹³

From once sound doctrinal statements, are scratched
The virgin birth, eternal punishment,
Repentance and sin. Liberals attached

Themselves to pursue spineless appeasement
To the world’s vulgar standards of Satan.
God’s honourable truth met abasement.

Many churches preach the dogmas of man.
The Bible’s teachings have been watered down.
Laodicea’s weak tepidness began¹⁴

In the eighteen hundreds, and hangs around
With insidious leaven,¹⁵ dictating
Godless doctrines inside churches, that crown

Not God and His gospel, but abducting
From truth, they will surely have their reward.
All sin, the lake of fire is attracting.

Christian, look up! We belong to the Lord.
He will deliver us by His power.
He is coming soon! Praise with one accord!

NOTES ON PART 5:

1. Lovers of pleasure and entertainment, sporting events, music, iPods and computer games and all the rest are a feature of the current times. What is wrong about all this, is the word “MORE/ RATHER” as in this passage referring to the last days – 2Timothy 3 v 1-4 “Realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come, for men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.”
2. There are so many “isms” we could apply to our present age. It is interesting to look them up. The ones chosen here are, in my opinion, most relevant to the time of writing.
3. Satan’s fall. How long after Lucifer’s creation did he fall from heaven? It is impossible to answer because of the Bible’s silence. The various ideas people have are the conclusions from their individual philosophies. For example, those who subscribe to Creation Science (Answers in Genesis) claim that the creation of everything, including angels, is only 6,000 years ago. Because of that stand, the adherents place the creation and the fall of Satan almost at the same time. It is a very confining position. Those who believe in a much older angelic creation have a greater latitude in time, but nothing can be accurately known.

Those who subscribe to an older universe (some up to about 11 billion years as the oldest level) believe the fall could have been eons ago. There is an interesting thought that Satan’s fall to earth caused a judgment on earth that resulted in the earth being covered in water and darkness as it was when God began to refashion the earth from Genesis 1 v 3 onwards. It is a huge area, as is why the earth was “formless and void” in Genesis 1 v 2 and a parallel passage with the same expression in Jeremiah 4 v 23-26 where Jeremiah is describing the results of judgment. The only accurate fact is that Satan’s fall was sometime in the past before he tempted Eve.

4. Rom. 16 v 20 “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.”
5. Satan’s end is certain. He is active only for a season and is always on God’s leash. When the Lord reigns for the 1,000-year Millennium, Satan is chained in the abyss (Rev 20 v 1-3 “I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand, and he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he should not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed. After these things he must be released for a short time”).

After that, Satan goes out to deceive the nations for war against God, but he is taken and thrown into the lake of fire forever – Rev 20 v 7-10 “When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war. The number of them is like the sand of the seashore. They came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them, and the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are also, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

6. The mobile/cell phone revolution has been astounding. The older generation sees these devices as a curse to social interaction from the days when people spoke to each other at bus stops, on trains and in the street. Now it is all look-click-look-click-read-type with human voice silence. What these phones have done is to make information and events known almost immediately throughout the world. That puts Revelation 11 v 10 right into context, a concept no earlier generation could ever understand. A recent report claimed that 68% of people went to sleep with their phones under the pillow or very close to them. Such is phone dependence and addiction!
7. Much of morality and God’s precepts have been turned upside down only since about the year 2010. Australia has seen an immorality revolution since only 2017 with the adoption of homosexual marriage, gender neutrality, a child’s sex withheld from the birth certificate, abortion now to 22 weeks, forbidden to use the term “boys and girls” as in Victorian schools, and the widespread advancement of what is known as LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual, Queer, Intersex, Asexual).

The Bible has an answer to this, very clearly. God’s standard is immutable. Isaiah 5 v 20 “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Isa 5:21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight! Isa 5:22 Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and valiant men in mixing strong drink; Isa 5:23 who justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away the rights of the ones who are in the right!”

8. Psalms 2 v 1 “Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? Psa. 2:2 “The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers take counsel together against the LORD and against His Anointed: Psa. 2:3 ‘Let us tear their fetters apart, and cast away their cords from us!’ Psa 2:4 ‘He who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord scoffs at them.”
9. “Pre-flood.” There are two main references here for this entry. There are two references only, in fact. Here is the first – Genesis 6 v 5 “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” That is a serious statement about the sin of the human race. Before the flood came, men were so wicked that every thought and action was continually evil. We will not reach those days like that before the Lord returns for His Church (the Rapture), but we are certainly walking the downhill slope.

Regarding the judgment day to come, the second reference was given by Jesus – Matthew 24 v 37-39 “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah, for as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking; they were marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away. So shall the coming of the Son of Man be.” The flood took them all away in judgment. At the Second Coming, all who are not the Lord’s in the Tribulation will be taken away in judgment. In the Tribulation, wickedness and men’s hearts will be as bad as, or almost as bad as what was before Noah’s flood.

10. 2Timothy 3 v 13 “But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” The Bible is clear that things at the end of the age get worse and worse. 2Timothy 3 v 1 “But realise this, that in the last days difficult times will come.”
11. The “God is dead” movement was very popular in the 1960s especially among the intelligentsia and academics. The movement spread to the streets. The same concept is very much alive in universities and caused the rapid rise in atheism. It is the general belief of communists and the socialist left. One day all the God-deniers will receive a huge shock.
12. The older generation, as never before, is astounded at how rapidly the world has changed in ways never thought possible. Every facet of human life is touched. There are increased laws of restriction and abolition of human rights. Gender, sexuality, marriage, decency, trust – all have been reversed. Two to five hundred years ago, art, music, literature etc., were grand but have declined into ugliness. One of the best examinations ever written on this subject is “How Should We Then Live? – The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture. It is a major Christian cultural and historical documentary film series and book. The book was written by theologian Francis A. Schaeffer and first published in 1976.” Source: Internet.
13. The Bible is our only authority, and for ages past was upheld as the inspired word of God. Then in the last couple hundred years, the rationalists and the advocates of “higher criticism” mainly in Germany questioned the authority of the Bible. One major Australian denomination, full of liberalism, claims the Bible “contains the word of God” but is not the word of God. This is why churches can accept all the gross evils of gender and abortion and marriage. You pick and choose from the Bible what you want and what you reject.
14. Laodicea was one of the seven churches John wrote to in Asia Minor in A.D. 96. It was a smug church that was run by the people, not by spiritual men appointed by God; a church that had shut God out of the equation. The Lord condemned them because they were tepid, lukewarm, and a disgrace. They stood for nothing and shut the Lord outside the door. The study of these seven churches is a truly enlightening revelation into the historical progress of Christianity for the past 2,000 years. Revelation 3 v 14-22 is the letter to Laodicea.
15. “insidious leaven.” Without exception, “leaven” in the Bible is always evil. It is NEVER good. The Jews search and eliminate every hint of leaven for Passover. God commanded unleavened bread for the Passover in Egypt before the exodus in Exodus chapter 12. Jesus warned of the wickedness of Herod – Mark 8 v 15 “And He was giving orders to them, saying, ‘Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.’” He also warned of the wickedness of the Pharisees – Luke 12 v 1 “Under these circumstances, after so many thousands of the multitude had gathered together that they were stepping on one another, He began saying to His disciples first of all, ‘Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.’”

Paul warned about the evil working of leaven – 1Cor 5 v 6-8 “Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened, for Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” Paul infers that evil does its work – Gal 5 v 7-9 “You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion did not come from Him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough.”

One of the most misunderstood parables is one of the Kingdom parables of Matthew 13, the one about the leaven – Matthew 13 v 33 “He spoke another parable to them, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three pecks of meal, until it was all leavened.’” It is the incorrect teaching to say that the leaven is the gospel which permeates through the world to make the world righteous. In fact, it is the opposite. Leaven is always evil. In the early days of the church (and we will look at Constantine later – Part 6, Footnote 15), much evil entered the church and permeated through the church and the world. A type in scripture is always uniform. It can’t mean one thing on most occasions, but something else another time.

ronaldf@aapt.net.au