We serve such a wonderful, loving, faithful God, yet we do live in serious times.
I recently received a letter from Mike Bickle and Lou Engle that presents a good picture of the struggle we are in. Below are excerpts from the letter that I felt were important...
We stand at a critical juncture in our nation's history. It is time to encounter God and to take action. The Holy Spirit is visiting His people with power. At the same time, the powers of darkness are raging against the moral fabric of our nation. The light is getting brighter as the darkness gets darker...
The crisis in our nation is real. The serpentine stranglehold of abortion continues to squeeze the life out of over 4,000 wombs daily. Sexual immorality, both heterosexual and homosexual, is reaching epic heights of perversion. The number of women and children being trafficked into the dark underbelly of the sex industry in our cities is growing at an alarming rate. Entire school systems are giving way to darkness. The sanctity of marriage is under siege, threatening to destroy the moral foundations of our nation...
A new wave of confusion is systematically seducing many young adults into deception. Sincere young people whose hearts were once ablaze for Jesus are being allured into compromise on foundational biblical truths and practices, while at the same time they are increasing in works of compassion and justice. No amount of increased ministry activity can “balance out” their profound spiritual compromises. In the name of tolerance, they are settling for a humanistic and "politically correct" theology that trivializes the glory of Jesus. Many young adult ministries are falling prey to this as they are seeking “relevance” that dulls the razor’s edge of truth for the sake of man’s approval. It is not enough to mention Jesus’ name if they deny foundational truths about Him. Our works of justice must flow from deep allegiance to Jesus and the Scripture.
Our nation has never stood on such a precarious footing as today. The onslaught of spiritual darkness is increasing in our classrooms, boardrooms, courtrooms, and bedrooms. We must confront the confusion that is pouring forth from many pulpits as well as from the halls of Washington. It is time to draw a line in the sand. We must hear what the Spirit is saying, and we must act on it. The Spirit will confirm the truth with demonstrations of power.
It is darkest before the dawn. Our hearts are full of faith. We know another historic "Great Awakening" is soon to sweep across our nation. We look with confidence to God’s promise: “In the last days . . . I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh” (Acts 2:17-21). All nations will receive the witness of the kingdom with power (Mt. 24:14; Rev. 7:9). What a privilege to live in this awesome hour of history...
With passion for Jesus,
Mike Bickle and Lou Engle
the tragic thing that too many people, especially so many of our misguided liberals dont seem to be able to get their head around is that true love never practices tolerance at the price of the truth. you may not be able to lead the horse to the right spigot of water, but you sure dont have to help him drink out of the wrong one. REAL love is willing to present the truth to someone, even if ity may mean the loss of a job, a friendship or whatever, because its the right thing to do.
ReplyDeletetoo often presenting the truth in love is confused with judgement. but ,its like this, if you see someone driving down a road that ends in a river or down a bridge that drops off into the river, no sane person would say well im going to be tolerant and let him drive into the river. theyre going to flag him down. my sister is a licensed counselor who deals with many troubled teens, and ive gained a whole new respect for her job over this past year. she is often presented with the task of, lets say, having to tell a client who may have been recently raped, that..... instead of going out and partying which more than likely put her in the same situation she found herself in when the attack occured...she needs to sit back and examine the direction her life is going and take a serious look at where she may have been at fault,even at the risk of her client becoming very angry. there IS no way that true character will ever sit back in the name of tolerance and not point out when someone is going down a detructive path.
salvation is instant,but character built on the fruits of the spirit takes alot longer, and usually involves repeatedly making choices, that in todays world, may not make you popular.
this is not an easy path. its all about pressing on and keeping ones eyes on the rpize