9-11 and the shadow of the Almighty

Revelation 9:11: They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon [destruction], and in Greek he is called Apollyon [destroyer]. (ESV)

Psalm 91:1: He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. (KJV)

Shortly after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, I heard a message by a visiting minister at our church, who contrasted these two verses at the end of his sermon. The minister said America saw the first “9-11” verse, that is, the destruction brought about by the Satan-inspired terrorists who destroyed the World Trade Center and part of the Pentagon, killing about 3,000 people. The second “9-11” verse is America’s hope, that this country will commit itself to abide under the protective shadow of El Shaddai.

We need to pray for America to fully return to God’s shadow again. But then I have my doubts. The article I read here, which states that 80 percent of Christian youth have had sex before marriage, was very discouraging to me. Will even the Christians in America ever wake up and truly trust again in the shadow of the Almighty?

Harold Camping's false prophecy: the deadly toll

With Harold Camping’s previous false prophecies about the end times, those calling themselves Christians should have known better than to fall for his May 21 Rapture prediction (and should SURELY by now see through his latest explanation for this failed prediction and his new October 21 false prophecy; read his original words here). And yet because they didn’t heed this warning from scripture, many in this country lost fortunes and relationships; Bible-believing churches—including many that opening condemned Camping’s false prophecy—were widely ridiculed; and the youth, even among believers, but especially among Camping’s Family Radio cult, have all the less reason to believe the Bible, which Camping falsely claims he relied on, but contradicted by making his prediction to start with (by the way, with his faithful followers selling all their possessions to "get the message out," while Camping stayed nice and cozy in HIS home).

I only wish this were extent of Camping’s damage. But a reading of a recent article in the orthodox Catholic publication New Oxford Review gives a more grim picture: violence attributed to the prediction, including a California mother who tried to kill her two daughters and herself, and a Russian teenager who committed suicide by hanging, because they didn’t want to be left behind in the Tribulation; and a Florida man who, when the time approached for the prediction to be "fulfilled," in a frenzy jumped to his death so he could "get to God."

Then there are the deaths of possibly hundreds of Hmong Christians in Vietnam, who gathered to celebrate the "approaching Rapture" on a mountain—which was to end of their persecution under the Communists—only to be massacred by government troops as the prediction failed (read the original story at WorldNetDaily here). Two of their pastors were beheaded, and others in the group of 7,000 were arrested; the ministry that reported the massacre said these believers, unlike those in the West, were poor, ignorant and heavily persecuted, making them more susceptible to relying on Camping’s rants via short-wave radio.

It’s very easy for Christians to laugh along with the mainstream media about this false prophecy, and dismiss it. But this sad lesson should challenge us to proclaim TRUE biblical prophecy, which heads off such deluded teachings as Camping’s “prophecies” (see my previous blog), and keeps us centered in the truth of Jesus and His Word.

When a prophet speaks in the Lord’s name, and the message does not come true or is not fulfilled, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him. (Deut. 18:22, HCSB)

Preaching Prophecy: 10 Good Reasons

I remember several years ago when I was pastoring church, how I committed to teaching a midweek series on end times prophecy. A visitor came in with a church member (and a large spiritual chip on his shoulder), and during the teaching (in which I answered questions from the congregation) intoned that studying end time prophecy could "distract" from the "more important" teachings of the Bible. My answer--which was really more for the church member than the visitor--was that: A) Anyone who has been to the church on a regular basis knows it is not the ONLY thing I was teaching, and, B) Jesus Himself talked quite a bit about prophecy, so it must be important for us to know.

An article I read from ChurchLeaders.com gives 10 excellent reasons why we should preach about biblical prophecy (this is one of those articles I wish I had several years ago). You can read this great article here.

Pollyanna of the week

This breathless headline from MSN web site, under "Do-or-die time for the US economy":

"While economic data has been disappointing, our fate is not sealed. Check out why there's reason to believe."

Remember reading anything like that at MSN when George W. Bush was president?

Coming to a town near you? British youth riots and why "good without God" isn't good

I’ve heard countless times how the church in America was one generation from extinction; how, in my denomination, 90 percent of children walk away from the faith by the time they leave college. I’ve wondered about these statements in light of the riots in Britain. Articles I’ve read have pointed out the lack of a moral foundation among British youths, how the attempt to be good without God has come crashing down. Are the same things coming here, with American youth also lacking the moral compass of God’s Word?

The church in Britain should have seen this coming decades ago. Back in 1966, John Lennon was raked over the coals in the U.S., after being quoted as saying in a British paper that the Beatles were bigger than Jesus. Ironically, in the context of the British youth at the time, he was right: the Beatles WERE more influential among youth than Jesus (and the blame for that can be laid at the door of the church). It’s even more true today among youth here: many teens who couldn’t name a book in the Bible can probably sing every lyric of a Lady Gaga song. And music isn’t the only influence over youth: even TV shows on "children’s" networks can greatly influence their thinking more than we realize.

This should give Christians an urgency to teach our children the Ten Commandments, as well as the other foundations of the Christian faith. We can’t just leave it to the church, and many years ago, it WASN’T. Sunday School was first developed in England in the 1800s for poor children whose parents weren’t teaching them the Bible. No self-respecting Christian parent would DARE send their children there, for it was an admission that they weren’t instructing their children in the Bible at home. Over time, however, fathers got lazy about teaching the Bible at home--when the Bible seems to put the instruction of children in the faith squarely on the parents (Deuteronomy 6:7; Ephesians 6:4).

We can’t expect our children to respect us as parents if we don’t take the time to pray with them and instruct them on God’s Word. Help us Jesus never to shirk from this great responsibility! I pray more Christian parents take the time to teach their children God’s Word, so that our youth can once again have a moral compass.

Debt crisis, pro wrestling and space invaders

On the continuing crisis:

*Witnessing the "debate" between the Obama White House and the Republican "leadership" was quite like watching a pro wrestling match--especially the part where you just KNOW that ref was going to be distracted at the wrong time, so the bad guy can hit the good guy over the head with a chair. Everyone just KNEW the GOP blue bloods would throw the game, but allowing the ceiling increase to head off a phony impending "disaster" in exchange for some "super-commission" was pretty creative, I must admit. Guess the stock market investors weren't fooled by the "master stroke of genius," and we have a great credit downgrade to show off now.

*Then there was the otherworldly solution of NYT Nobel economic genius Paul Krugman, who actually said just like World War II saved the economy in the 1940s, a space invasion could do the same for us today (yes, he REALLY said it; check this link at Rush Limbaugh's web site. For you lefties who don't like Rush, here's a CNN link directly to the story).

Put aside for a moment the Left's usual hypocrisy with the WW2 example (remember the protests against George W. Bush's "blood for oil"?) The REAL kicker appeared the same day at the MSN web site, when a link to the Discovery Channel loudly wondered, "Well, what WOULD happen if there was an invasion from outer space?" I've recently been putting the mainstream media and its pro-Obama fantasizing in the same category as the supermarket tabloids--but THIS "nodding while writing notes" reaction from the MSM makes the Weekly World News look like what the NYT USED to be.

Where there is no vision ...

Proverbs 29:18: Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. (KJV)

Where there is no prophecy the people cast off restraint…(RSV) When prophecy shall fail, the people shall be scattered abroad…(Douay) When there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint… (NET Bible) There shall be no interpreter to a sinful nation…(CAB/Sept.) Without a prophetic vision a people become unruly…(Leeser) Without revelation people run wild…(HCSB)

All of these various translations of this Proverb bring out what happens when a people—individuals, a nation, a church or even a church movement—loses its prophetic vision. The casting off of restraint, or being unruly or wild—which leads to destruction—is the result of not following the prophetic vision God reveals to us through His Word, and which He confirms through prayer and walking in obedience to His will.

We can see this in our nation today, where God’s prophetic revelation is disregarded, resulting in rampant immorality and upside down values that permeate the entire society and government. And we wonder aloud how an alleged mother can kill her 2-year-old daughter and get away with it (with the evidence clearly showing the “mother” committed murder, the jury let her go largely because they couldn’t figure out her motive. Was that REALLY needed to convict her? Murderers have been convicted before when they DIDN’T have a motive).

But the church world can suffer its own brand of no “prophetic vision,” and not just in the area of “ministry expansion.” If a church’s prophetic vision doesn’t go beyond its four walls; if prophecies given are aimed at only addressing the church members (which runs counter to 1 Corinthians 14:24-25), or are not provoking the church to shine its light in the community; then yes, that community will be without restraint, and its people who are unsaved eventually perish, with the church’s witness absent. And like the Laodicean church of Revelation 3, the culture will have affected the church, instead of the other way around. To paraphrase Martin Luther King, the church will no longer be the thermostat that transforms the culture’s temperature, but will be a mere thermometer that reflects the culture and maintains its norms, including its unregenerate ones.

Help us Jesus—in our lives and in our churches—to once again receive and follow your prophetic vision, so that our whole communities will experience your blessings! “…[B]lessed is he who keeps the law.” (ESV)