“But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse…” (II Timothy 3:13).

I guess the Fox Network really is fair and balanced. They present the good, the bad, and the truly ugly. In this case the “ugly” is a program about Lucifer. That’s right: Lucifer leaves Hell and becomes a resident of Los Angeles. I’m not making this up.

A trailer for the show portrays Lucifer as a handsome, British-accented, well-to-do lady killer full of charm and wit. The more subtle side of Satanism in Hollywood entertainment is now a thing of the past. Prime time television now will air blatant drama featuring Lucifer but portrayed by a character who is just a nice guy.

Based on the show’s trailer, the Lucifer character will be offered up to the masses who watch the Fox program as a likable character with moral and ethical convictions, fulfilling the biblical account of this insidious demonic entity. It’s only fitting then, that this modern-day show would portray Lucifer as a type of benevolent god, since this was always his goal. It was to take the place of the real God.

One commentator said that the masses are increasingly obsessed with evil so why not make a program glorifying Satan? You might say that Hollywood has done that for decades and featured their offerings to the evil one on the big screen and you would be correct, but this program will be prime time, available to millions with just the turn of a dial or push of a TV transmitter.

Satan, disguised as Mr. Nice-Guy, will come leaping into the family rooms of millions of unsuspecting people, and particularly into the minds of impressionable young people.

The entertainment and book industry have paid homage to Lucifer for years and with each generation, the interest becomes more and more staggering — and more bold and blatant.

Hollywood has offered us “The Omen,” “Rosemary’s Baby,” “The Exorcist,” endless Halloween dramas, Freddy Kruger’s evil, and many nightmares on Elm Street, but now it is not just coming to a street near you, it is coming to your living room. And on a network you thought you could trust.

Lucifer will make prime time TV.  On a reality show that may be all too real.

He has even influenced Christian publishing. In the 1930s, two women channeled a book called “God Calling.” They heard from demons in other words. That book remains a big hit today. From that came the modern day best-seller, “Jesus Calling.”  This author credits “God Calling” as her inspiration. How is this possible?

Tell me these aren’t the last of the last days? Try to convince me that is not true.

There is an undeniable increase in wickedness today. So what is our response?

Let our light so shine before men that they see our good works and glorify our Father, who is in Heaven. When evil increases – we must do good. We must delay the decay.

Mike Oppenheimer of “Let Us Reason” writes, “God did not invent evil, however he knew it would come about. Yet He did not stop it but made a provision for it when it would rear its ugly head.

“There is coming a day when this will be taken care of. Right now we are in position of grace where God is commanding all men everywhere to repent.”

Oppenheimer says, “First, evil is a necessary part of free will. Man has free will — we can choose what we want. We sin because we want to sin. It is our natural inclination. We follow our strongest nature at any given time. We are not morally inclined toward God.

“As J. B. Phillips has put it: Evil is inherent in the risky gift of free will. God could have made us machines but to do so would have robbed us of our precious freedom of choice, and we would have ceased to be human. We all exercise free choice in the direction of our nature which is traced to the ‘fall’ of man.

“This is the basic reason for evil and suffering in the world. It is man’s responsibility, not God’s. Why does God permit evil?  He could stop it, but in so doing would destroy us all.

“It is worth noting that the whole point of real Christianity lies not in interference with the human power to choose, but in God producing a willing consent for us to choose good over evil. He offers us choice and by doing so a chance to grow and understand the difference.”
The world was this evil during the days of Noah but they didn’t have the entertainment world glorifying it. We know what the consequences of the evil of Noah’s day were. The last days are compared to the days of Noah.

Need I say more?

The devil can roar all he wants. He knows his time is short. But he is making good use of his time.

A final thought: Is Antichrist’s reign on earth so close that this paves the way?

What nation could be “apartheid on steroids”? Surely some Islamic stronghold, right?

Wrong.

Try Israel. That’s according to World Vision’s Steve Haas writing for the Lausanne Movement.

Haas goes on to suggest that all the problems of the Palestinian people perpetrated upon them by Islamic thug dictators are, in reality, the fault of Israel. He even blames the demise of the Palestinian Christian population upon Israel when, in fact, Palestinian Islamic leaders have driven out the Christians.

Haas states, “As peacemakers, we have been tasked by a justice agenda of love and sacrifice. I truly believe we can be pro-Palestinian, pro-Israeli, and pro-justice because we are adamantly pro-Jesus.”

Don’t believe it.

I’ve been present at a tragic event called “Hope for the Holy Land”. The one-night event visited my alma mater a few years ago, Bethel University in St. Paul, MN. It featured a World Vision rep, Mae Cannon, Willow Creek’s Lynne Hybels, and The Holy Land Trust rep Sami Awad.

Their approach offered zero hope for the Holy Land because they only wanted to talk about “the occupation”. Jesus didn’t live in “occupied territory”. It was and is God’s land and the borders are outlined in the Bible.

Efforts to interject truth into that forum were blocked.

Haas says, “For over 60 years, many evangelicals have clung to a very narrow theological narrative that weds Christian theology with a political ideology known as Zionism.” This is in the latest issue of Lausanne Global Analysis.

He compares Christian Zionists — evangelicals with a Bible-based zeal and love for Israel and the Jews — to Spanish inquisitors, Crusaders, supporters of apartheid South Africa, and other historical atrocities.

I don’t put the root of such thinking at the feet of antisemitism as much as I lay it at the feet of “Replacement Theology”. This is the belief that all the promises made to Israel have been transferred to the church. It is raging through many denominations today.

“Replacement Theology” leads to “replacement reality”. That’s what is going on. There is a twisting and a distorting of facts so severe that it has created a “replacement reality.” Folks are believing a lie.

To add insult to injury, pro-Palestinian U.K. Vicar Stephen Sizer last week stated that Israel was likely behind 9/11. The comments were especially egregious coming during the week when most of the free world recognized the 70th anniversary of the liberation of many of the concentration camps.

Sizer’s “replacement reality” leads him smack-dab into the heart of antisemitism, so much so that he hangs out with the daughters of Iran’s Ayatollah Khoumeini.

Here Sizer presents many of his anti-Israel books to the Khoumeni daughters with fond autographed comments.

Sizer has also been a regular organizer, lecturer and panelist at the Christ at the Checkpoint conference hosted by the Bethlehem Bible College. The bi-annual event has been characterized by sentiment that Israel and her Christian supporters are to blame for most of the woes in that region.

Sizer did apologize for his “replacement reality”.

Folks who think this way believe that the old religious Right crassly imposed a pro-Israel U.S. foreign policy based on its end-time theology, creating untold suffering among largely innocent Palestinians. They now hope that more thoughtful, more compassionate evangelicals, will reject that heritage and instead stand with the Palestinians as the victim group most needing compassion.

The fact is that evangelicals are strong supporters of Islamic evangelism around the world. Many evangelical agencies have been raised up, particularly since 9/11, to reach out to lost Muslims, including Palestinians.