PART TWO Truth in a nutshell: the Creator - law - judgement - grace - forgiveness - new covenant

Downward Spiral of Romans 1:

There's nothing new under the sun. In the OT, the Creator's chosen people, the Israelites were promised a good life in a new land that would be their own.

Part of this promise involved them keeping covenant with the Creator and, if they held up to their part of the covenant, the Creator would fight for them in vanquishing the current inhabitants of what was to be their promised land. But instead, the Israelites lived in a double-minded, half-hearted state.

They obeyed the Creator for a time, but soon longed to be like the culture(s) around them. They found the Creator's ways restrictive. And they forgot, very quickly, all that the Creator had miraculously done for them over and over again (parting red sea, drowning their pursuing enemies, winning victories against out-numbered foes etc).

And they did the very things the Creator had warned them about - slipping into the pagan cultures of the day. They bought TV's, they went to nightclubs, they... they even brought the night club 'rituals' into the Creator's temple.

This involved all manner of idol worship. Though modern Americans wouldn't generally bow down to a piece of wood, we nonetheless have our own forms of idolatry (keep reading), which ultimately appeal to the same desires which every person has.

The thing about their idolatry (as it is with ours), is that it involved acceptance and practice of self-indulgence and sexual acts, including perversions which the Creator strictly forbade (and still does).

It also in many cases involved offering their own children in sacrifice. These horrible .. yet it is to the same demons (ultimately under the rule of Satan) who through various appeals to the fallen part of human nature, induce pepole to indulge and to offer up their energies in the name of a false the Creator. This is how demons and Satan are empowered.

Just recently I read a prophetic word which was from a 90 year old norwegian woman in 1968, who saw the signs of the end times. I won't go into all the details except to say that she saw, in a vision, four things which would precede the final nuclear war (yes, that's what she saw) and the second coming of Christ which very quickly followed that war. read the full article here. I only want to mention one of her four points, one of the indicators of the second coming which this woman saw in 1968. In her own words:

"A lukewarmness without parallel will take hold of the Christians, a falling away from true, living Christianity. Christians will not be open for penetrating preaching. They will not, like in earlier times, want to hear of sin and grace, law and gospel, repentance and restoration. There will come a substitute instead: prosperity (happiness) Christianity... The important thing will be to have success, to be something; to have material things, things that the Creator never promised us in this way. Churches and prayer houses will be emptier and emptier. Instead of the preaching we have been used to for generations - like, to take your cross up and follow Jesus, - entertainment, art and culture will invade the churches where there should have been gatherings for repentance and revival. This will increase markedly just before the return of Jesus..." 

All of those things are startling because they have all happened since 1968 when the vision was given, (and at the time, the technology did not even exist, nor the political climate in place for many of the things she described to be able to occur, but as we know, TV channels were invented, detente happened, immigration happened, violence and immorality rule the air waves, and....)

The one point I wish to emphasize here is that just as the Israelites of old desired to be like the nations around them, and in this way, were drawn into the same practices, worldviews, and sins as those nations who the Creator had pronounced judgement against, so it is today.

I heard a speaker once talking about ... and that was to prevent revival from happening. to draw attention away from the Creator and onto people.

At no time in history have people so elevated and worshipped the accomplishments, talents, and abilities of other humans than now. American idol, the most are paid millions to adoring fans to watch ...

My original point was that evil is being allowed to flourish in this world. But the Creator has always gave them over - did not further restrain them - like father of the prodigal son giving him his inheritance so he could go indulge himself.

A thousand warnings are going out for those with ears to hear. Even the most hardened agnostic are predicting dire times ahead for world economy, world , ...

repentance must precede restoration. And yet the news is still the good news. It is a gospel of hope.

"But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for the Creator’s holy people. 4Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of the Creator. a 6Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things the Creator’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 7Therefore do not be partners with them."

TBC