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CORRUPTION ERUPTION: THE ROT HAS SET IN
“The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
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THE FATE OF EVIL
All evil will be judged. Everyone and everything associated with it will be dealt with. Those who join up with evil and make the free choice to be connected to it and engage in its practices, whatever their reason, will suffer the same fate. The time will come when all evil and all evil people will be judged, sentenced, and cease to exist. Evil will never make the transition to eternity. It will be incinerated.
“Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” [Matthew 10:28]
TWO OPTIONS
“All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.” [Matthew 25:32]
The Word of God reveals a clear dualism. There is good and there is evil. There are the righteous and there are the unrighteous. There are sheep and there are goats. There is wheat and there are tares. Every human being who has ever existed or ever will is in one group or the other. There is no middle ground.
The Word of God also defines sin. No other definition matters. Any other definition is false. Therefore whoever makes the choice to live according to God’s commands knows that God is the sole Author of His commands and made them for a reason. A person has no choice, then, but to accept God’s parameters for living. One cannot make up his own rules and be right with God. He or she cannot choose some of God’s commands and reject others. His commands have already been established. Thus, it is simply a matter of a person living for God to the full or not living for Him at all. Again, there is no middle ground.
When God gave the Law to Moses He made no provision for alteration. There was no amendment process. He never allowed for the later “Oral Law” which corrupted His Word (and is still in effect today). His Laws were not suggestions. They were not experimental applications seeking personal and societal solutions. God already knew what worked and what didn’t. He already knew what was evil and what was good. He already knew what good and acceptable behavior was and what behavior was evil and unacceptable. He didn’t need anyone telling Him what He already knew. He didn’t need someone with an extremely limited level of knowledge and life experience telling Him what He had known for multiple centuries regarding the behavior of human beings. He created human beings. Every human being who has ever lived has an extremely limited level of knowledge and life experience compared to God. The same holds true for generations. Entire living generations of human beings existing at any one time are collectively grossly inferior to God. It is therefore laughable for anyone to suppose he or she knows better than God. An honest courageous person thus understands that the best way is God’s way, that God knows best, and that all one needs to do is do one’s best to trust God, obey His commands, and live for Him.
The dishonest rebellious person, however, refuses to accept this course of action. Such a one would rather submit to his or her own will or that of another rather than God. Consequently, he or she will question God and will question His commands. He or she will attempt to eliminate some or all of His commands, accept what he or she happens to agree with, and will refuse to accept the rest. He or she will desire to modify, alter, amend, change, or revise God’s commands to suit himself or herself not understanding or caring that such is a purely selfish course of action which can never be applied universally. The only universe such people care about is their own. The dishonest rebellious person, then, is not concerned with pleasing God but only pleasing him or herself. He or she does not care about an actual relationship with God. If the only way to be right with God and have a good relationship with Him is to obey His commands, such individuals would rather not be in relationship with Him at all. Their personal freedom, including the freedom to sin, is more important to them. They are thus contemptuous of God and His commands. They will violate any law, rule, or social more, usually to the degree they feel they can get away with (because most are cowards at heart), for personal pleasure and enrichment.
CORRUPTION ERUPTION
This is exactly where corruption originates. It starts small and grows over time. When a person commits sin for the first time, always at a young age, his or her future course depends on how the sin is dealt with. Though God has blessed humanity with a working conscience which convicts a person of sin and which assists in one learning right from wrong, some people learn to reject the conviction of their conscience and eventually deaden their conscience to the point that they have no problem with sinning and engaging in ongoing sin. This is an otherwise obvious form of mental illness but when everyone else is mentally ill the mental illness does not register. When everyone else in one’s chosen group rejects God and chooses sin, are they actually living in sin? From God’s perspective the answer is yes indeed, of course, but from the perspective of those within that sinful group, society, or culture, since everyone adheres to the same principles and beliefs and behaves the same way, there is no comparative by which to judge. The people therein are therefore unaware of any acceptable alternative since they reject the possibility of all others and remain smug and secure within their own group and are constantly confirmed of one’s rightness by each other.
In other words, if all the animals in a particular enclosed pasture are goats, then goat behavior is perfectly acceptable because no one there will ever challenge goat behavior because everyone there is a goat. Goat behavior thus becomes the norm and any animal not a goat is perceived as a vile deviant that must be hated, rejected, censored, cancelled, ripped off, run off, and/or murdered, likely with malice. (That will teach them to mess with perfection.)
As another case in point, Cain and Able had a difference of opinion. Abel loved God, obeyed God, honored God, and served God. Cain did none of those things. Since Abel had love in his heart, he had the ability to put up with Cain’s sin and bad attitude. He had no evil intent toward Cain. He knew it was not his place to do anything about his brother except do his best to remain positive about him and pray for him. Cain, however, had no such ability or attitude. He grew to despise his brother. He was jealous regarding Abel’s walk with God. His hatred for Abel’s excellent attitude and good behavior grew until it reached a boiling point. Rather than repent, change, conform to God’s will, and eliminate his bad attitude and sinful lifestyle as well as create a happy union with both God and Abel, Cain chose instead to violently murder his brother and thus eliminate him. He did this in part to create his own “pure society” playing by a different set of rules in opposition to God’s Kingdom.
He also did it to remove the source of his conviction.
This is how it always happens. Rather than accept and conform to God’s perfect universal commands for living, rebellious sinners who oppose God make their own set of rules which benefit themselves and force everyone else within the range of their influence or authority to conform to them. Since all such subsets of rules are insufficient and even immoral and fraudulent compared to God’s, and since any number of such societal subsets exist simultaneously, they cannot help but spawn greater hate and ever-greater division. Some such societies and cultures will gain greater traction and overcome others. This allows for a strongman or chieftain to arise who plays the part of God and battles other such chieftains. The end result is incessant killing and perpetual warmongering. It is the end result of rejecting God and His commands. It is Cain killing Abel on an ever-increasing scale. In time, eventually, the pack of evil, selfish, unrighteous cowards will wipe out all the good, unselfish, courageous, righteous ones. The evil will eliminate the good from the earth. The goats will win. Sound familiar?
Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. [Genesis 6:11-12]
BEYOND THE POINT OF NO RETURN
I remember when I was a kid and learned about what happens when one flies an airplane too far out to sea with no opportunity to refuel. Once the pilot reaches the point of no return he will not have enough fuel for the return trip and is doomed. And I wondered why anyone would do that and not make sure it wouldn’t happen. I also remember a small factoid regarding the Japanese kamikaze pilots bombing American ships out to sea in WWII: They were only given enough fuel to make it to the target. Those guys were so dedicated, and they only chose the most dedicated, that they wouldn’t have turned back anyway. But just in case…
The same holds true for societies and cultures. Those who research the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, for example, become aware of certain societal signs to watch for which indicate the downward slope of a nation in decay. I studied this a long time ago and was certainly intrigued by seeing those exact early signs in my own country at that time. America was starting to look just like Rome in its declining phase. Things have grown steadily worse since then, much worse than most people would have ever thought, and we are now in the exponential days in which cultural decay is proceeding rapidly. There are no longer any sufficient societal checks to keep the inevitable from taking place. America has gone beyond the point of return.
People who used to have high moral standards have allowed their morals to slip. Many formerly strong people regarding societal mores have allowed themselves to be overcome by the upcoming lawless culture. They used to know what sin was and stood against it but stopped standing and laid down. Salt and light is at an extremely low ebb. Many in the older generation who had much better morals and a Biblical worldview have grown tired of standing against the incessant onslaught of sin and corruption. It is such that no one has escaped it. Evil has come against every segment of society. No one is immune.
Even many Christian ministries and churches have gone the way of the world. A majority have adopted whatever new cultural mores have come forth, mores which oppose real Christianity. A new agenda has replaced the former. Rather than living for the Lord and accepting, believing, and practicing the full Gospel, the new agenda calls for mere financial survival and ministry in general is now tailored toward making money and serving mammon. Sin, even egregious sin, is rarely or never addressed. This is just a fact. It cannot be denied. Money is now first. This means, according to the statement by the Lord Jesus, that most of Christianity is not serving Him but serving wealth. This means there is no longer any effective witness from American Christianity against the wicked traditional servers of money. These two used to be at loggerheads but now are joined at the hip. One has an infinite supply of ready cash and the other needs increasingly greater amounts. American Christianity has thus grown as corrupt as the corrupt ones it used to rebuke. There is no longer any effective rebuke. And this is in part why the evil ones are presently going in for the kill.
American Christianity in general grew weak and corrupted because it kicked out the strong honest Christians it could not control who were trying to save it.
The same thing happened in the secular and civic realm. Those trying to save the country clashed with those trying to destroy it. I revealed this destruction protocol in my prior post though few of you read it. I understand that such articles are not popular. I suggest to those who have yet to read it to take a look, though. I told you in advance. Yesterday marked another one of those points in history in which everything is made clear to those paying attention.
Regardless of this present darkness and the corruption therein, however, the Great Awakening continues. Praise God for that. May many more wake up and get right with God.
Otherwise, consider the following:
“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.” [Matthew 5:13][1]
© 2022 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
THE “LAST DAYS” DECEPTION: A Brief History of Misapplied Prophecy (1)
We have been convinced we are living in the “Last Days,” that there is no remedy for the growing evil of these times, and that we must surrender apathetically without a fight.
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“THIS GENERATION”
“Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” [Matthew 24:34]
The Lord Jesus frequently and consistently referred to a single generation throughout His ministry. Throughout the Gospel accounts He refers to it specifically as “this generation.” There are a total of seventeen such references, five in Matthew, three in Mark, and nine in Luke. He also described it. He referred to “this generation” as “evil, adulterous, unbelieving, perverted, sinful, and wicked.” In Acts 2:40, Peter also refers to it as “perverse.” In Philippians 2:15, Paul agrees with Peter and adds another fitting adjective—“crooked.” So here we have seven quite descriptive adjectives describing the generation the Lord referred to as “this generation.”
GROSS ERROR
There is a very strange occurrence that takes place when Christians refer to prophetic content within the Gospel accounts. They almost always have a tendency to refer to the generation the Lord referred to as “this generation” as their own generation. This phenomenon became more common after the advent of the Protestant Reformation five hundred years ago. It happened before then as well though the instances are far less due to a lack of access to the Word of God, attributed to general illiteracy, and also because the Roman Catholic Church had purposely hidden the written Word behind a wall of Latin.
Thus, in the 1500s, as more Christians began reading the few emerging Gospel accounts in their own languages, and apparently due to their limited understanding of the phrase “this generation,” they had the decided tendency to think it meant their generation. The same thing happened in successive generations since, from the 1500s to the present. This became especially true beginning in the early to mid 1800s in America with the advent of Dispensational Theology, a spurious construct invented out of thin air. By the time the 20th century dawned in the year 1900, the phenomenon became much more pronounced. It gained great steam by mid century, especially by the 1960s when America began being inundated with so-called Christian “prophecy teachers.”
Strangely enough, though these “prophecy teachers” had relatively slight differences which got blown out of proportion (such as the pre-trib, mid-trib, and post-trib nonsense), they generally agreed very closely on what they termed Biblical prophecies coming true in our time. This does not mean that they were right but that their interpretations were coming from the same original source.
Then, in the mode of Space-based science fiction popular at that time, the phenomenon broke out into the secular culture with the publication of a seminal Christian prophecy work entitled The Late Great Planet Earth in 1970. According to the New York Times, this was the “bestselling nonfiction book of the 1970s.” [1] All of the sudden, Biblical prophecy not only became a popular topic in America, it was also said to be coming to pass in real time. According to the author, the prophesied future was now upon that generation of fifty-two years ago. Due to its nature and claims, the book was also publicized through high circulation mainstream newspapers and magazines. Many more prophecy books were published by various authors. The top prophecy teachers were touring the states speaking at churches, colleges, and conferences. With the advent of Christian television in the early 1970s they were suddenly selling their wares through that medium. It truly was a burgeoning phenomenon. And the one astounding constant those guys all had in common was that our time (the 1970s) was the specific time referred to in the New Testament when the “Last Days” prophecies of the Lord Jesus were actually coming to pass.
In essence, the prophecy teachers made the declarative persistent claim that the American generation of the 1970s was the New Testament “this generation” referred to by the Lord Jesus.
THE DECEPTION PERSISTS
Remember, pretty much every generation over the last five hundred years has, to varying degrees, believed their generation to be the one that would see the culmination of prophetic events and the second coming of the Lord Jesus. This was more pronounced on scattered occasions here and there especially during times of revival. But as I stated previously, the phenomenon became a flowing stream with no discernible interruptions beginning about 120 years ago. This had never happened before. That generation was convinced we were at the end of time. When WWI broke out it appeared all the more believable. The same thing happened during WWII. The belief that we were in the “Last Days” gained force and notoriety for seventy years until it burst onto the scene in the 1970s reaching an apogee that carried on into the 1980s and 90s.
Of course, the year 1900 or thereabouts was not the end of the world, nor did the prophesied end come in the 1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, or 1940s though many in those two generations were convinced otherwise. A third generation then came upon the scene and gained age in the 1950s and 60s. This generation was also fully convinced it must be the last one on earth due in part to the advent of nuclear weapons which were said to have the firepower to effectively destroy the planet. The 1960s saw great social change not only in the secular but also within Christianity which for the first time was visited throughout with the Holy Spirit outpouring within all major denominations. This occurrence definitely had an effect on the “Last Days” theme.
Then, with the initial emergence of the fourth generation beginning in roughly 1970 the phenomenon blasted into outer space. One could not escape such news if one tried. The Christians of that time knew the “Last Days” had certainly arrived. Regardless of what any previous generation had thought prior to the 1970s, those people were simply wrong, it was said, and they were only seeing the earliest glimpses of the future in their time. The previous generations had made the mistake of attributing the future to their time, it was said, while the emerging generation of the 1970s, having been shown so clearly by the prophecy teachers “that one can see prophecy coming to pass simply by reading the newspapers,” were convinced their days were truly the “Last Days,” the time when Jesus would definitely return. Well, He didn’t return fifty years ago in the early 1970s. Maybe He was “tarrying.”
When nothing changed in the 1970s the new mantra was based on the state of Israel. The prophecy teachers insisted the Lord must return within a generation of the founding of the state of Israel, which took place in the spring of 1948, as wrongheaded as that contention was. Their reasoning was thus: Since a Biblical generation was thought to be forty years the Lord will return by 1988. And of course, because there must be a seven year “Tribulation” period within this construct, this great time of turmoil and suffering which the world has never before seen would have to begin by 1981. That was forty-one years ago. Of course, the “The Great Tribulation” never happened. The Lord did not return in the 1980s.
The prophecy teachers made more adjustments. They were absolutely right all along you see and never admitted to being off, so they simply added more to the mix. They continued to make the rounds and make money. They continued writing best sellers. They continued pontificating on Christian television. Everyone, it seems, kept believing them. As time went on, however, they started sounding that much more incorrect. They could no longer come up with adequate explanations. But giving credit where credit is certainly due, these guys were masters at their craft. And Christians in general remained Biblically uninformed regarding New Testament Scripture as usual and thus extremely gullible. As time continued to pass the entire prophecy timelines and constructs of the prophecy teachers simply started to fade away. There was no sense pushing them anymore. They could no longer be made to fit.
Then a new generation began to rise in roughly the mid-1990s. Christians were still aware of these so-called prophecies somewhat but no longer emphasized them. Nevertheless, from then until now the deception has remained. Christians still insist we are in the “Last Days” referred to in the New Covenant literature. Christians still believe we are in the days directly preceding the Second Coming.
As it turns out, the “Last Days” last a long time, much longer than prophecy says they should. They have now lasted over 120 years. The state of Israel is almost 74 years old. That’s almost two Biblical generations. Every generation from roughly 1900 until now believed they would see the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus. Each generation was obviously wrong.
THIS PRESENT DARKNESS
We are now at the beginning of the sixth generation. The entire construct of the prophecy teachers of the recent past has been proven absolutely wrong though a probable majority of Christians and even great millions of non-Christians still believe it. Though it has no rhyme or reason from a New Testament perspective, it has become accepted religious theology. We have seen this play out once again over the last few weeks in the Russian war with Ukraine in which prophecy is once again being applied to the actions of Russia as it always is when Russia makes a perceived major move of one kind or another.
The major problem which arises from this prophecy heresy is the idea that evil will continue to grow worse and worse in the world and that there is absolutely nothing Christians can do about it. Though the Lord Jesus has all authority in heaven and earth there is nothing He can do about it either. If Christians have been convinced that prophecy says the world is lost then the current Kingdom of the Lord Jesus existing in this world lacks the power to overcome evil which indicates evil is the greater power.
I submit that this idea is pure unadulterated garbage and that the reason evil is overcoming good is because many potential proponents of spiritual good have been erroneously taught to stand down and go about their Christianity in such a way that they represent no threat to the devil. This absurd attitude based on the “Last Days” deception may best be described by the Lord Himself in the following:
“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.” [Matthew 5:13][2]
Sound familiar?
© 2022 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [To Be Continued]
[1] Wikipedia
[2] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
THE “LAST DAYS” DECEPTION: “This Generation” (2)
THE “LAST DAYS” DECEPTION: New Testament References to the “Last Days” (3)
GIDEON’S 300: WHY A SMALL GROUP OF REAL CHRISTIANS IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN 32,000 PRETENDERS [Part 4: Destroying Spiritual Strongholds]
Now on the same night the LORD said to him, “Take your father’s bull and a second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it…” [Judges 6:25]
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The official United States population as of today is approximately 332.67 million. According to the Gideon paradigm, in which Gideon’s prospective army to be used against the Midianites starts out at 32,000 but is reduced by God to 300, the reduction in percentage terms is over 99%. Imagine that. God reduces a sizable force of 32,000 warriors to a microscopic 300.
Thus, the actual percentage of the people who made the team—Gideon’s 300—is less than 1%. Technically, it is only .9375%. In terms of the United States population, this greatly reduced force would be equivalent to roughly 3.1 million people (3,118,781.25). In other words, if the Lord wanted to perform another Gideon power play to rout the forces of invading evil, and if He started with the entire U.S. population, He would make such a drastic reduction to arrive at those who qualified for His team that He would only have the equivalent of a mere 3.1 million Americans remaining.
This makes one wonder, of course, what the remainder would be if He started with only those who qualified at the onset as warriors. In other words, after eliminating children, the too young, the too old, and all the others who do not qualify for various reasons, He might start with only a fraction of the U.S. population. Americans between the ages of 20 and 40 are approximately 25% of the populace. If, let’s say, only 75% of these qualify, the Lord would start with about 62 million. Reduced according to the Gideon paradigm, the final fighting force would be only about 600,000. This represents less than a fifth of 1%. Could a minuscule 600,000 Americans perform the necessary work to do what Gideon did?
WICKED EXCEEDINGLY
This reminds me of Abraham’s prayer regarding Sodom and Gomorrah. When the Lord told Abraham that judgment might certainly befall the dwellers of those cities Abraham asked Him, “Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?” (Genesis 18:23).
“What if fifty righteous people dwell in Sodom?”
“I will spare it.”
“What about forty-five?”
“I will spare it.”
“How about forty?”
“I will spare it.”
“Thirty?”
“I will spare it.”
“Twenty?”
“I will spare it.”
“What if only ten righteous people dwell there?”
“I will spare it.”
It is difficult to gauge what the population of Sodom was but ten people would have to be an extremely small percentage. As it was, God was able to rescue only four people and help them escape. No one else cared. Nobody else wanted to leave. One wonders if even those four wanted to leave. It is safe, to say, therefore, that Sodom had reached a point of total depravity with absolutely no hope of redemption. If the four that escaped represented 1%, then the population of Sodom was 400. If the four represented a fifth of 1%, the total population was 2,000. Of course, it was likely larger than this, maybe much larger. But God never would have destroyed Sodom if only ten righteous people lived there. He would never release His wrath on His own people. He would make a way for them to escape before judgment fell.
These two Biblical accounts tell us two things: (1) Righteous people have a much bigger impact on society than is otherwise supposed or acknowledged. (2) The Lord can do great things with only a few.
AMERICA 2021
Christians have been predicting great judgment upon America for a very long time. It is not any different today. Is it true, however, to say that the country is more depraved now that at other times in the past? Not necessarily. The real history of America involves massive amounts of unreported sin, much of it in very high places. It is often the case that gross sin is legitimized or even recategorized as not sin at all. Sometimes people at the top make decisions that negatively affect millions of people because they have a different agenda that benefits them and no one else. They must thus use excellent propaganda to eliminate suspicion. This is sin of the worst kind but if people don’t recognize it as such the perpetrators go unpunished and are never stopped. The Lord sees it all, however. That’s why He raises up spiritual Gideons.
Much of the sin at various points in history was not seen as sin at the time. Much of past sin is still not seen that way. In reality, God could have judged America many times already. Maybe He has in part. But those calling for outright destruction due to sins of the present are not only out of their tree, they are not considering God’s mercy and compassion, His abundant grace, and the fact that large numbers of righteous people have always lived here and still live here today.
If we define the righteous as those who do the will of God, who can be used of God, who strive to please the Lord, who have 100% trust and confidence in the Lord, and who are spiritually effective in making a positive difference for the better, then it is probably a small number of people percentage wise. But what if it was, as I mentioned previously, only 600,000? Could a mere 600,000 righteous people make a big difference in a nation of 332.67 million?
To answer that we need only look at what Gideon’s 300 did. We can look at the extremely powerful impact Abraham had both in his time and that of his descendants. These men and those comprising the ongoing remnant of Israel were righteous. They acted as the salt of society, as a preservative, and an antiseptic force that enabled a flowing distribution of righteousness throughout society against ubiquitous rot. If not for the righteous it would have been all over when the last of the righteous died off, but Israel never reached that point. No matter how far the nation strayed into sin there was always a faithful portion that stayed true to God. It was because God always found someone to stand up for Him to do the hard thing—the difficult but victorious task—against the forces of evil that always caused evil to be checked and allowed righteousness to make a comeback.
Consider what the young obscure Gideon did in the following passage. Get inspired.
Now on the same night the LORD said to him, “Take your father’s bull and a second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it; and build an altar to the LORD your God on the top of this stronghold in an orderly manner, and take a second bull and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down.”
Then Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the LORD had spoken to him; and because he was too afraid of his father’s household and the men of the city to do it by day, he did it by night. When the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was torn down, and the Asherah which was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar which had been built. They said to one another, “Who did this thing?” And when they searched about and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash did this thing.” Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has torn down the altar of Baal, and indeed, he has cut down the Asherah which was beside it.” [Judges 6:25-30] [1]
© 2021 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [To Be Continued]
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
RE: LEGAL BABY MURDER—IS SELECTIVE JUDGMENT LOOMING?
Some Christians believe there is judgment upon America. It could be that there is actually selective judgment. If so, it is likely based primarily on a single heinous crime growing more egregious each day.
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We exist in a time when the onrushing forces of evil are no longer holding back or exclusively operating from behind a veil of deception. They are challenging the long-held American traditions of morality, truth, and goodness on a greater level. Rebellion is rising exponentially. Deep-seated systemic corruption has invaded all levels of society including the upper levels of management in both the public and private sector. The fox is often guarding the henhouse.
What used to exist on the seedy side of town in nondescript storefronts and secreted locations run by shady characters has now become mainstream. There are two principle reasons for this: One, sin is progressive. It continues growing and expanding until it meets the proper force of resistance. Two, the entities authorized to counteract such sin and resist its spread have grown weak and often non-existent.
All manner of sin, hate, rebellion, false narratives, and deceptive agendas are now transmitted into every available receiver from televisions to personal cell phones. The American people in general remain mostly oblivious or have been shanghaied by disinformation and false narratives. If one takes in a movie or network television program it is likely one is being secretly indoctrinated. Anything Christian is taboo. Hate is driving belief. As a result, once a person, event, issue, practice, outlook, or truth is identified in a large swath of the public mind as evil and the target of revulsion, through an ongoing onslaught of negative and distorted prevarications, there is often no remedy to change such thinking. It may take time but entire cultures can be transformed in this manner. People simply accept what they are told without questioning the validity of such programming. Others accept it readily because it supports their prejudices and gives them an accepted outlet for their angry agendas.
The natural result of such distorted misconceptions in the minds of the deluded is to strike out against those they wrongfully discern as deviants, in order to correct a perceived wrong, without comprehending that the wrong they perceive is actually often a false construct. These misguided and often hopelessly deceived people apparently believe they are standing up for what is right. They insist on supporting sin and evil practices because they do not see such practices as sin and evil but insist they are good and wholesome.
They align themselves with the forces of darkness while believing themselves to be the children of light.
They inevitably begin attacking the very ones who are the actual guardians of truth, purveyors of righteousness, and preservatives of society. This ongoing ferocious, brutal, and even violent attack and destruction by degree of truth, righteousness, and society itself results ultimately in an outright civil war of which only one of two sides can be victorious.
If the lawful institutions, both civil and religious, which previously provided a bulwark against corruption and destruction also grow corrupt what will then act as a preservative? What societal organization can perform the objective of stemming the tide of ruin? Who or what is left to provide an appropriate defense of all that is good?
“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.” [Matthew 5:13]
TAKING RESPONSIBILITY
I want to thank those of you who read and supported my previous post, REPLACING RUTH BADER GINSBURG WITH AMY CONEY BARRETT: EPIC BATTLE BREWING? It attracted a lot of traffic. Some of you may have noticed that I posted it before sunrise on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. In direct association with this you may have also noticed that later on the same day a new pro-abortion law in New York was passed that allows for abortions all the way up to delivery. The lawmakers who made this possible gave it a standing ovation and many cheers. There were smiles and laughter all around. A Roman Catholic Democrat governor signed it into law. The newly elected Democrat Senate made it possible. The Catholic Cardinal said it would not be appropriate to reprimand or excommunicate the Catholics involved. Catholic politicians are sometimes the very ones who support such abortion laws and are never made to pay even though Roman Catholicism purports to be against abortion. New York City has already been the worst offender in that more abortions are performed there than anywhere. I wrote the following post on this over six years ago: New York City is the Undisputed Abortion Capital of America.
The gist of last week’s post was that America has the greatest opportunity in a long time to get closer to eliminating the worst decision in Supreme Court history (and there have been some bad ones), by replacing a pro-abortion female Justice who likely agrees with what New York just did, with a Pro-Life female Justice who will respect the Constitutional rights of the unborn. All the other political battles currently brewing pale in comparison to that one should it occur. But we are heading in that direction. The nation has become increasingly factionalized over the issue.
Speaking of which, unless one stands up and fights for righteousness one will fall into unrighteousness. The forces of evil are relentless. They must put out the light. They must keep light from shining. Light exposes them. Also, they combat truth with lies. Lies must not be allowed to stick.
Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil. [Romans 14:16]
When the enemy tells lies, and the devil is a master at it, truth must strike back. When darkness invades, light must shine forth ever brighter. Much of what is termed Christianity has never understood this. The false forms of Christianity have no spiritual power or authority to act in concert with the Lord and stand up for righteousness. When revivals break out it is sometimes only because someone gets fed up, throws caution to the wind, and speaks out loudly and strongly against that which deludes and brings weakness and for that which stimulates and brings forth spiritual strength and vitality. When many others agree they are inspired to follow suit
It is simply a fact of life that life itself will cause weariness, a winding down, and low batteries, especially if one is living righteously or working for righteous causes. That is why Christians must remain ever vigilant, maintain their spiritual strength, and continually strive for excellence. The Lord showed us how to do this. When real Christianity is successful within a society the society prospers and there is peace. Evil is relatively weak. It must seek the dark corners and hidden dens of sin. We are presently not living in such a time. Evil has made a great comeback. This could only have happened, however, if large portions of the forces of good have surrendered, capitulated, grown weak and ineffective, or even joined the opposition.
There comes a time when Christians must understand that business as usual no longer works. And if those the Lord has worked through previously are no longer doing the job they must be rejected and replaced with those who will. This is happening on an ever-increasing scale at present. The mainstream everything has grown corrupt. The Lord is therefore raising up new people everywhere, those who are not corrupt, in all venues of society to counteract and fight against emboldened evil. One of the most terrible consequences of this scenario is when the new righteous are fought against and stigmatized by former friends who reject the need for reform since they control their organizations and thus stand for the corrupt status quo. This happens all the time in churches. Church leaders who grow spiritually weak but personally strong usually have no accountability or check on their behavior. When the Lord attempts to correct them they fight the messenger. What is even worse, all the wimpy Christians in the controlled congregations side with their corrupt leadership and also fight the messenger. They would otherwise lose their social standing and know they are too weak to handle it. They could never stand the adversity.
SELECTIVE JUDGMENT
It should be obvious that if the hundred and fifty million or so Christians in America were doing their job we would not have come to this point. The good news is that all the rejected who didn’t give up and are doing their jobs, though often subject to ongoing attacks and character assassination, are beginning to have a major impact. That impact is strong enough that the forces of evil and darkness have reached a place of utter desperation and collective insanity. The places and institutions they control with the support of the majority will thus likely incur selective judgment. This is judgment that pertains only to them and their locales. America as a country is not being judged and will not be judged as long as there is a strong contingent of real believers. God does not pour out wrath on His own obedient people doing what He called them to do and He has millions of followers here. Rather, He supports them and blesses them. He loves them. This means America is presently factionalized spiritually as well.
The Lord revealed to me decades ago that a separation was taking place and would continue. The good guys were leaving the bad guys and vice versa. As this continued, there was a higher concentration of both. This is why you see evil rearing its ugly head in such a pronounced way and standing up for the most vile practices imaginable. It is why they continually subvert the truth and double down on manipulating the public to maintain their status. It is the only way they can survive. They have rejected the checks and correctives on their sinful behavior and false beliefs. There are few left within their groups to tell them they are wrong. There is little semblance of salt among them.
And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper… [Romans 1:28] [1]
© 2019 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
THE SALT OF THE EARTH
“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.” [Matthew 5:13]
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You know the wrong people are in charge when sin triumphs.
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When sinful people have their way and no corrective measures are taken, greater sin happens. This causes lesser sin to remain completely untouched and such lesser sin becomes interwoven into the fabric of the culture.
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And every time those in cultural control allow greater sin to transpire without the proper corrective, those sins, greater than the lesser sins, also become culturally acceptable.
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The proof of resident sin and spiritual blindness is that otherwise sane people reject obvious answers.
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Is not the continual application of failed and unworkable methods to correct growing and expanding problems while also rejecting obviously correct, workable, and time-honored solutions a form of insanity?
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SPIRALING OUT OF CONTROL INTO EVER-INCREASING SIN AND LAWLESSNESS
We now live in the time when sin and lawlessness are going through the roof. Lawlessness has been rising exponentially.
Every time someone tries to do something about it they get shouted down by the sin-embracing seeming majority.
But this seeming majority is not at all the actual majority. It is simply a unified, defiant, vocal marginal faction that has taken over and won the culture war.
How?
BECAUSE THE PEOPLE WHO ARE SUPPOSED TO BE THE SALT OF THE EARTH ARE NOT DOING THEIR JOB.
SALT AND LIGHT IN NAME ONLY
Many American “Christians,” millions and millions of them, are sitting around doing absolutely nothing other than being “good church people.” Their authority figures have long since ran off all the real Christians who possess great salt and light because such leaders prefer collections of spiritually weak people who meekly always do what they’re told but rarely or NEVER what the Lord Jesus tells them to do.
Such God rejecters—“Christians” in Name Only—are infinitely easier to control, manipulate, and house, and much more likely to support false prophets. By surrendering their God-ordained status as the Salt of the Earth and Shining Lights with Eyes to See, they are no longer worth anything to God.
“Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” [Luke 14:34-35]
The ethos of real Christianity has thus been destroyed among the majority.
Salt and Light now only exists among those real Christians who serve ONLY the Lord Jesus.
American “Christians” in general should be ashamed, but like Americans in general, they have become spiritually emasculated by their bless-me clubs.
CONNECTION AND CLUE TO THE PAST
The Lord Jesus clearly stated that the last days of the world would be like the days of Noah:
“And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
“It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.
“It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.” [Luke 17:26-30]
LINKING THE FLOOD WITH SODOM
Have you ever noticed that the Lord Jesus tied these two accounts together? Both accounts relate to great judgment upon thoroughly depraved and morally corrupted people. By the time God’s judgment and final destruction arrived, it was because the people had reached the full limit of sin and were beyond redemption.
They all refused the corrective of repentance and thus no grace could possibly be granted. They loved sin. They wanted it. They chose it. They were no longer good for anything.
We know the sin of Sodom. Undoubtedly, it was also the same among the people who refused the ark of Noah.
According to the Lord Jesus, the following are the activities the people of both historical accounts were involved in just prior to final destruction:
(1) They were eating
(2) They were drinking
(3) They were marrying
(4) They were being given in marriage
(5) They were buying
(6) They were selling
(7) They were planting
(8) They were building
During the great flood, the entire population of the world was destroyed except for the eight people on the ark.
During the destruction of Sodom, the entire population of those cities was destroyed, except for the rescued Lot and his daughters.
This proves that most, the vast majority, will reject the ark of the Lord’s salvation in the last days and will refuse to exit their doomed antichrist cultures.
It means exactly what the scriptures claimed almost 2000 years ago:
But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. [2Timothy 3:13]
CLEANING UP SINFUL CRISIS DISASTERS
There are a few people reading this who know what I’m referring to. You have been involved in impossible clean-up projects as the result of the great sins of others. You know what it’s like to be involved on the fixing end of an impossible crisis that happened because of outright sin and rebellion. You know how much effort it takes to become Salt and Light, to be Salt and Light, and to work with Salt and Light to clean up corruption. It’s a great feeling to work so hard and see great results.
But what does one do when the people causing all the gross corruption are unwilling to fix the mess they created? What happens when they laugh at the corrective of repentance? What happens when such people become the majority? And what happens when so-called leaders bow to the dictates of the sinful majority and refuse to apply the proper corrective?
You’re seeing it right now.
Sin is spiraling out of control into ever-increasing lawlessness.
The proof of resident sin and spiritual blindness is that otherwise sane people reject the obvious answers to correct the problem, and refuse to correct it even if they manage to know the answers.
This is the point when a culture has lost all sense. There is no salt. There is no light.
Being the Salt of the Earth is now not only politically incorrect, it is religiously incorrect.
Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.
You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.
No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him.
Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning.
The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. [1John 3:4-8] [1]
Each and every entity that allows sin and promotes sin is of the devil.
THE LORD JESUS IS THE ONLY ANSWER
All real Christians in America must get the big idea if they have not already. It is only the Lord Jesus who has the answers to fix the problem, and He works through His people—those who have surrendered to His authority and become real disciples.
But He was rejected by His own, as all real Christians are rejected by their own.
As sin increases, the people who know how to fix things and have the power and ability to fix things are increasingly rejected by the ones who are increasingly destroying things.
Yet, the love of the Lord is such that He is bringing a Great Awakening to America anyway.
If you believe yourself to be a real Christian, then walk in complete confidence, strength, and anointing that you may be used of God to bring Salt and Light to a place and culture in desperate need of it, though you must wade through hate, indifference, and rejection to get the job done.
Don’t just take up your cross.
TAKE UP ALSO THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT.
BE THE SALT OF THE EARTH.
© 2015 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
