02/08/25 BAD NEWS IS STILL NEWS

02/08/25 BAD NEWS IS STILL NEWS

I don't like reporting the dark side of life. I am not a gloom-sayer or a dooms-dayer. I am a truth conveyor. I tell the truth, even when it is unpleasant and even when I know some folks will attack me for saying it.

I have been warning folks that "the ride is about to get really bumpy," but the half has not been told. 

The Bible says the wickedness of the world in the last days will be like it was in the days of Noah. It appears that those days may be in our near future. And remember, though the judgement of God was a long time coming, when it did come, it came suddenly, and without escape.

When the bottom does "drop out" for America, it will seem like the flood in Noah's day. Total upheaval in politics, health, crime, perversion, violence, hatred. Though Christians will not be here during the Tribulation, the pre-Tribulation world will be worse than we can imagine. Ask Christians who came under the demonic rule of Nero, Decius and Diocletian. During those persecutions there was a dramatic rise in cultic belief and behavior. Don't be surprised at the rise of false prophets, false teachers in our day. And don't forget, the Edicts of Serdica and Milan which supposedly were intended to end persecution of Christians led to a State religion following the rule pagan Constantine, which has been more destructive to Christianity than persecution.

Also consider the Christians who lived under persecution from the Roman Catholic religion, the Zoroastrians, the Muslims, the Communist (such as Russia, China), the Ottoman Empire and the barbaric regimes of Idi Amin, Kim Jong Un, Mao Zedong, Stalin.

Don't be lulled or deceived into popular, cultural, State Christianity. Abandon man-made and man-centered, watered down faith. True salvation is miraculous, free, costly, transforming, empowering.
The present political environment is enticing folks to trust in a man rather than trusting in the God/Man, Jesus Christ. Today's "Christian" is less likely to be a vital, active part of a local church. This is dangerous for them. God's plan and His revelation in the New Testament is a community of believers who are committed and submitted to one another, working as one body. New Testament Christianity is not a Lone Ranger or Lone Wolf religion. Be Biblical. Your own spiritual well being and need of a lost world demands Biblical discipleship. We are not allowed to re-frame, re-interpret, redesign God's plan for the present age.

It is difficult to find a truly Biblical local church in today's sinning religion atmosphere. But it is also true that people do not want to submit to Biblical authority, as the Bible says, it is found in pastors and fellow parishioners.

Jesus only spoke of the Church, by name, a couple of times.
In Matthew 16. He told us that He is the foundation of The Church and that the Church (the unified body of believers) would overcome the gates (the power, the wisdom, the strategy) of hell.
In Matthew 18 He gave us the form of church discipline and authority for local bodies of believers.
But Scripture spoke of the Church by name (mostly the local church) over 100 times in the New Testament.

God's gifts and calling and discipline and mission and offices and officers and authority and message are given to the Church (local churches specifically). There is no Biblical Christianity aside from body of Christ. Our personal need for the local church is always a priority, but especially as things get worse. 

Hebrews 10:24-27
24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.