I just read an article about what is happening in Egypt and then commented to Mel that I am actually more concerned about what is happening in Egypt than by what is happening in Iran and Palestine. Maybe that is because I have been to Egypt, but not to the rest of the Middle East. Well, I've been to Turkey and I'm concerned about what is happening in Turkey, too, so - there you go.
My own little world seems so safe and secure. Sure, they are doing something to the water pipes again somewhere in our podyezd, but even so, the water should come back on again in 20 minutes or a few hours. It's only 66 F in here, but the pipes are at least warm and we have electricity so we can use the little heater if needed. My own little world is safe and secure at the moment.
But I watch world events. I've watched world events since, well, as long as I can remember. Maybe because I was raised in a very Dispensational church in the '60's and world events at that time were causing preachers like ours to preach on End Times stuff all. the. time. But in the preaching I did learn that what happens in one part of the world has a direct influence on what happens in my little world. It might take years, or it might take just a few minutes, but it will affect me in some way at some time. The cultural revolution in the '60's also taught me that. Just look where we are now in our society and culture compared to where we were in the '50's. The new tv program "Skins" is a direct descendent of what happened in the 'revolution'. So is the rise of homosexuality in America and even around the world.
I'm sure I've written about this before, but a change happened in the '50's and '60's. One of Mel's profs in seminary truly believed that Satan had been loosed from the pit then. Revelation 20:7 When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. 9 They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. 10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Maybe we are in the middle of that right now, the deceiving of the nations. If so, the time will come for the rest of it to be accomplished as well.
I read about what is going on in Algeria. I read about the unrest in Egypt (one report I read today said there may have been or may be a massacre of protestors in Suez!). I think about what is going on in North Korea where millions of people are on the verge of starvation, or are already in the midst of it.
Those places are so far away and have nothing to do with MY life! we think. But not really. Mexico is on the border of the US and the violence is spilling over into the States now. Unusual cold has affected grain crops in many places of the world. Floods have wiped out farm land areas the size of Germany and France combined in Australia. Our planets' oceans are polluted with an amazing amount of oil, caused by man's drilling and carelessness. A volcano has erupted in Japan, filling the air world-wide with more volcanic ash (I wonder when it will get to the point that we once again have 'pink skies' like we did when Pinatubo erupted back in the early '90's? At least they were a weird pinkish during the day in the Wet Mountain Valley when looking toward the south - no true Colorado blue skies that whole winter.)
What happens in one part of the world eventually has an effect in another part of the world. Food prices are rising - due to destruction of crop land in Australia (they will need to import more food - competition for that food increases), due to extreme cold in various parts of the world (Vietnam is one example with thousands of cattle dead and crops destroyed), due to drought and/or extreme heat in other parts of the world (Russia and parts of Ukraine lost much of their wheat crop last year due to the unusual heatwave). And so it continues.
I listened to the Revelation series by Art Azurdia and although I was blessed by much of it, I struggled with his non-dispensational view of the book (again, I've written about that before and won't go over it again now). But recently his view has brought me great comfort. If we are in the middle of the Revelation now, as he contends, then just look at that verse in Revelation 20: 9 They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. We are the city he loves. WE are the city he loves. We are the camp of God's people - the Church today is the camp of God's people! And he loves us!
In today's news is this article: U.S. missionary in Mexico fatally shot. Toward the end of the article: Maryanne Wheeler, another friend who worked with the Davises in the 1990s, said Nancy Davis' death was a great loss.
"They breathed Mexico," Wheeler said. "That's their love.
"For 40 years she has gone around Mexico, trying to be there as a nurse, a friend, as a spiritual adviser and has loved them. They lost the best," she said. "They had a petite lady who had the tenacity of a bulldog and was there for you."
Wheeler said the couple had been shot at before and knew the dangers of the border area.
So, things are getting worse, and are going to get much, much worse. But then - oh my! But then will be eternity and things will always be perfect!
Hear the words of J. C. Ryle today on Christ-Centered Quotes for the Renewing of Your Mind: January 27: The state of things after the judgment is changeless and without end. The misery of the lost, and the blessedness of the saved, are both alike forever. Let no person deceive us on this point. It is clearly revealed in Scripture. The eternity of God, and heaven, and hell, all stand on the same foundation. As surely as God is eternal, so surely is heaven an endless day without night, and hell an endless night without day.
Father God in Heaven, help me stand firm in faith to the end of my life. Come quickly, Lord Jesus!
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