| Steve:
In light of the fact that the hearts of men will grow callous, I think
of what Stephen said in Acts 7.
"You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always
resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And they have
slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom
ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: Who have received the law
by the disposition of angels and have not kept it." Acts 7:51-53.
I'm afraid we are approaching the same type of environment Stephen
faced. I believe stronger persecution is on the horizon for the true
believer.
-Jack
|
| Agreed, Steve.
The ethos is changing to see good as evil and evil as good. Just this
lunch-time I was talking about this with some friends, as we were looking
at Isaiah 5. verse 20 says:
"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil, who put darkness for
light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for
bitter."
Some time ago, a friend was shocked to realise that in the new phraseology,
children would use terms like 'evil' to indicate a compliment to something
they admired.
In giving the message of salvation, we aren't trying to put life giving
liquid into an empty vessel; often now, we're trying to put it into a
vessel which is filled with something else....
Long term rejection of God by mankind has hardened into seeking a deeper
substitute than the mere physical gratification. The eternal void within
wants a spiritual satisfaction, and if the holiness of God is not accepted
there are other things with an appetite hungry for the human soul.
I see Romans 1 being fulfilled.
"...since they did not think it worth while to retain the knowledge of God,
He gave them over to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled
with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of
envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers,
God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing
evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless,
ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such
things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but
also approve of those who practise them."
It creeps in everywhere...
"... when these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up yuor
heads, because your redemptionis drawing near."
Well ... ok, so Luke 21:28 isn't strictly referring to to that particular
sign, but the general trend is indicated for the last days (as in 2 Timothy
3:1-5), so we can take it as an anticipation, just maybe a little further
off than immediate....
Only the Holy Spirit can convict people's hearts of righteousness (John
16:8), and a measure of that includes realising the awfulness of what they
- we - have become....
looking forward...
Andrew
|
|
While not entirely on subject, I find it interesting (and most certainly I'm
not the first to notice this) that the TV networks tell us about the horrible
criminal acts taking place (such as the Post Office murders taking place
yesterday) and what a horrible world this is becoming, and then the next 3-4
hours of network TV time bombards us with docudramas on similarly horrible
crimes, interspersed with commericials for the type of "entertainment"
described in .0!
Jim
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| As some of you know, I'm working with a partnership that is trying to
bring good entertainment out. I'm learning a lot in dealing with
people in the industry. One thing I learned is that there is a
community of Christian actors/actresses who really are trying to
promote good entertainment. Even though it is Christian, it actually
involves non-Christian folks who share Judeo-Christian values. They
are almost "secret" because in the business it is sometimes the kiss of
death to be labeled as "Christian" or "family-oriented."
Another thing that I'm learning is that the sales for good quality
entertainment are booming, but we don't usually hear much about it on
radio, commercial television or in movie theaters. A lot of it seems to
be by word of mouth. Kind of like a grass roots movement. It's a very
curious situation to me. I wonder about the folks who are "addicted"
to the ugliness they see on TV and in theaters.
A friend of mine that I've shared these thoughts with likens the situation
to the days of Rome when they threw Christians to lions for entertainment.
I envision the cheering crowds as otherwise normal men, women and
children. I imagine they probably talked about these events with the same
awe and enthusiasm as some folks talk today about the things that happen on
soaps, movies, TV drama and news. Perhaps they didn't view these events
just with laughter but also with some pain and anguish. Even so, they may
still have regarded it as fine entertainment. I wonder how similar
they are to people of today.
As others point out here, I also wonder how far it will go. Will
people become so hard-hearted that real violence will be done to
Christians with crowds cheering it on? Incidents involving abortion as
discussed here seem to be saying that, yes, this could happen soon.
Steve
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