Is It Time?

So, what have I been thinking about? I almost hesitate to write about it. However, as I told Mel yesterday, the whole subject reminds me of something that happened about 25 or so years ago.

We went to visit good friends in another state. While sitting around talking, I realized that the church these friends attended was really into talking about anti-evolution stuff and how the church needed to be fighting it. Now, I agree - the church needs to teach the truth about this theory at every opportunity. What I was surprised at was that there was no mention at all of what the current false teaching was that was sweeping through the public and to a big extent, through the churches in America. That was the false teachings of New Age religion. (Maybe that dates this conversation better than my memory can date it!) It was like this church, and those in the surrounding area, were living 10 or more years in the past, addressing problems and error that was (and is) 'old news' and totally missing what needed to be addressed at that particular moment.

New Age religion was, and still is, a huge false teaching in the world. Living in Colorado we heard and saw a lot of it. Remember the book, The Celestine Prophecy? And there were dozens more like it. In fact, in the library where I worked just a few years later, we often took in donated books to shelve because the library was so underfunded. One day we got in a box of books, some of the titles were "Becoming Rock" or "Becoming Tree" or some such stuff. All very New Age. The librarian, a Christian, was distressed because she could not just throw the books out into the garbage, but had to shelve at least a couple of them. This was policy - anyone who knows how the modern library system in America works knows that you cannot "censor" books. Right?

Well, I think we are at a similar place right now in the Church in general. There is a very serious 'new' teaching going around like a wildfire and I have not heard a single word about it from any of my Christian acquaintances, in any Christian blogs I read, or in any Christian 'news.' That is the subject of 2012 and what is going to happen in 2012.

Planet X. Nibiru. The Mayan Calendar. December 21, 2012 or maybe December 22, 2012. There is a LOT of stuff out there on the internet about this. On YouTube alone there are some incredibly well done videos available for viewing, all teaching about what is going to happen and how and why, and how to survive it. If I can find it, then junior and senior year high school students are finding it, people in the church are finding it, and unless someone is teaching otherwise - well, it is very well done and very believable and people are gullible. The church needs to be aware of and ready to teach/instruct about this error or it is going to become embedded in the church like evolution and much New Age thinking has become a part of the church's thinking.

This is partly what I wanted to talk to someone about. Someone who would listen without judging, without blowing it off, without thinking I'm "way out there and need to be corralled" or something.

How did this all start in my thinking? It started with the recent election in the States. I have a lot of questions about what happened and why. I mean, really - who ever heard of this guy, O, before he suddenly just appeared? We all knew it was going to be HC and whoever the republicans finally decided on - right? Even she seemed to think it was going to be her. But suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere this guy, O, appeared.

I have puzzled so very many times at how this man could say exactly what he believed and was going to do - much of it anti-Biblical and anti-Christian - and yet "Christians" by the hundreds and thousands voted for him. It's like they were totally deceived, like a huge deception swept through our country. We know much of his background - and frankly, I find the man very scary and very, very dangerous.

I don't just accept things that I'm told - I research stuff. In the past, I went to the library and read books and magazines on both sides of the subject. Or I watched videos or television programs. Now I read books (limited due to where I live) and read what's on the internet (there is a lot of junk, but there is informative stuff, too). I read the Bible and listen to sermons, I remembered what I've been taught since childhood. And I evaluate. I study. I think things through. From A to B to C to what may possibly be D or E and so forth. I like to look not at just what was and what is, but what are the possibilities proceeding from what was and what is. There are usually several possible results, some equal while others have more or less probability of occurring.

Why do I do this? Mostly because it's interesting to me alone. Other times - it's because I see something that claims to be good and I happen to think it is not good, or maybe just plain dangerous. In the past I wanted my kids to be able to think things through clearly, to not believe something just because someone tells them it's true (Christians or non-Christians - some of what is taught under the guise of Christianity is pretty scary or simply stupid but Christians lap it up because it comes to them under the guise of being Christian or possibly under the guise of fighting against non-Christian beliefs. THINK people!! Open your eyes!!). I wanted them to discern the truth, learn to discern the truth, not just to be sheep that followed along because everyone else was. Mel also taught them this way.

So, I've asked myself (and Mel) a dozen times - where did this guy come from? How did this happen so fast? How could so many people be so deceived so quickly? How does this relate to what the Bible tells us, what it teaches us? What are we to do with it? And many more questions.

I've said it before, and it's true - I revert back automatically to the way I was raised. And End Times comes to mind immediately. The Great Deception. A one world religion (which I happen to now call Global Warming/Climate Change and the current high priest of this new world religion is named Al Gore). An anti-Christ - name unknown, but proto-types abound.

But talking about End Times has almost become an anathema with many people I know. People got burned out by the 60's and 70's when it was preached all the time from pulpits all over America. Charts and diagrams up the Wazoo. World events at that time seemed to indicate to many that the Second Coming was just an instant away. But Christ didn't come back then. And then some guy went weird with "88 Reasons Christ will return in '88" and of course, He didn't. And Jonestown happened. And a bunch of weird people in California decided to commit suicide together. And a group of weird people moved to our part of Colorado and declared that they were 'pod people' and that the mother ship was returning soon to get them. And people in Taos started hearing a weird noise that could not be picked up on recordings. And cattle and other critters were mutilated (including our neighbor's dog) in bizarre ways. And it seemed it was one thing after another. And no one in the church wanted to talk about Christ's Return, the Second Coming, the Apocalypse (except for scary movies) and so forth. It's like His Second Coming is hush hush or something.

I did not have good success trying to talk to someone about this all, no, my attempt backfired badly. I need to be able to bounce my thoughts off another person to make sure I'm not getting myself into my own weird stuff, but am rationally and carefully thinking it through. I needed someone to say - hold that thought and let's explore it a bit more and see where else it could go. And more than anything, I needed someone who knows the scripture well and can keep me firmly grounded in God's Holy Word.

Thus, not only did I talk with Mel about this, but I also looked up Last Days from a Reformed point of view on the internet, specifically looking for sermons I could listen to.

You can have no idea how relieved I felt when I found a series of sermons, preached from a very Reformed, Presbyterian, Godly point of view. Preached without lots of charts and diagrams. Preached taking what is happening in the world today in mind. And finding that this man, in most points, agrees with what I am seeing and thinking. (Not once did I hear him preach "Oh, Martin Luther thought Christ was returning during his time, too - but He didn't. Every age in the history of the Church thought Christ was coming back during their life time. Don't think about it." or even worse: "Don't worry about it." or "Don't get so excited/upset about it." grrr)

Now I did not choose this man because I knew he agreed with me! No, I had no idea what he thought before I started listening to his sermons, other than the fact that he was indeed Reformed and Presbyterian (that mattered to me for a couple reasons). In fact, it was not easy to find very much preaching on this subject from the Reformed point of view. And in fact, I did not expect this man to agree with my thinking. (Note - I've never met him, probably never will and we probably do not look at everything the same. I'm not saying I liked hearing him because he agreed with me, I'm saying I liked him because he is preaching about it right NOW and that he sees a lot of the same things I'm seeing. He is not ignoring the subject, or making more or less of it than he should. I hope that makes sense!)

I believe our time here on earth is very short. I'll not say it's going to happen in 2012 - good grief! But I do think that Christians, true Believers in Jesus Christ, need to carefully evaluate what is happening in the world, live like Christ can return at any second and LOOK for Him!

I'll write more about this later. This post is getting too long. :)

"Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it[d]is near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation[e] will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
Matthew 24:32-35,42-44