I confess that I’ve been too frustrated to write for a good while. On the one hand, I don’t like to write about politics and current events. It’s just a stubborn streak I have. After all, what can I add that hasn’t been said. On the other hand, ignoring the events of 2020 is like ignoring a charging bull. You understand. There was an evangelist from the previous century who was taught to read and write by his wife, using the Bible. And he never allowed a printed word in his house except the Word of God. One day, a young preacher showed up at his door with a newspaper under his arm, eager to learn from his hero. The evangelist opened the door and spotted the newspaper.
“What’s that you’ve got under your arm? You can’t bring that in here. Get rid of it! Get rid of it! It’s full of lies!”
The young preacher threw the paper in the shrubbery and entered the house. I’ll just say this:
If everybody supposedly hates and distrusts the Media, then why do we let them decide what we talk about?
I am tempted to be discouraged and even fearful for the future, but I am not. I believe that these next few years are going to be some of the most momentous years in the history of man. The days that are coming are going to make us wonder why we ever doubted the goodness, the power, and the love of God. Don’t yearn for the “good old days.” My first pastor, Jerry Falwell, Sr., used to say,
“There were never any good old days. These are the good old days.”
He believed there would be a great turning to Jesus Christ in the last days, which he called a “third great awakening.” I would just add that I don’t think anyone will ever think of it as being third. I believe the gates of heaven will open up and literally millions, perhaps hundreds of millions or more will be swept into the kingdom, as the gospel of Jesus Christ goes out to the world. And this will happen because the Father wants His house (Heaven) to be full. Yes, there will be opposition. It will even be spoken against by religious leaders. But it is coming.
Already the Church in China has swollen to as many as 100 million or more people, despite persecution from a threatened communist party. In the muslim world, millions are coming to Christ. The church now numbers at least 3 million in Iran, alone. A few years ago we could have counted them with our fingers. Muslims all over Africa and Indonesia are converting to Christianity. Muslim immigrants to Europe are converting and filling up once empty churches. Yes, read it again. Muslim immigrants are coming to Christ and filling up once empty European churches. Even where preaching or converting will get you killed, the church is growing exponentially often through dreams and visions of Christ. Muslim news services have even been warning of mass conversions to Christianity in muslim countries for the last few years. Africa is now essentially a Christian continent. I believe this is only the beginning. And yet, in the United States, many are discouraged, seeing opposition to Christianity rise and the nation become fully secularized. It is easy to be skeptical of good news, especially when respected Christian leaders are pointing instead (with no sense of irony, I might add, considering what is happening in the world) to a great “apostasy” or departure from the faith. It is understandable in a way, if you are myopic and just looking at the U.S., because many churches are emptying out. And there is a passage in 1 Timothy 4 that says
“In the later times, some will depart from the faith.”
Now, I know I am not a respected Christian leader, but can I just address that verse for a minute? There is a lot I could say about this passage and another in 2 Thessalonians that supposedly speak of a “great apostasy.” Let’s just stick to this one point: It has already happened. About a hundred years ago some other respected Christian leaders “departed from the faith,” that is, they departed from “justification by faith through Jesus Christ alone,” and it spread like a cancer through seminaries and Bible schools, then churches and entire denominations. And now, you can just about count on one hand the number of seminaries that believe the Bible from cover to cover and preach the unvarnished gospel. So it is natural that their churches are emptying out. The good news is that churches that do believe the Bible from cover to cover and preach the good news of Jesus are filling up. Some of these Churches are filling to the brim and becoming quite large, mostly because they have been able to avoid becoming a private religious club. We are currently seeing a “shaking” of the church to separate the chaff. People are staying away from dry church liturgy in droves. But they are flocking to churches that preach grace. In many of the other places in the world that I have mentioned, there is vicious persecution. In India, in China, in Mozambique, in the muslim world, people are being martyred for their faith in Jesus. But it is not stopping the growth of the church. Instead, it is spurring it on.
So why am I telling you all this? I know it feels like the very ground under your feet is shaking, but I want you to be encouraged, not discouraged. You say,
“How can I be encouraged, D.J.? Don’t you see what is going on?”
Yes, I see what the enemy is doing. He is prowling about as if he were a roaring lion, seeking who he can paralyze with fear. Just know that the devil operates in the realm of what you can see. But, God operates in the realm of what can’t be seen. Don’t lament the loss of the thing that God did long ago. He has moved on. He is doing a brand new thing. The devil is panicked, because he can see it coming, and he is throwing everything he can at it. But he can’t stop it! If you are a believer right now, you need to pray for this great movement of God to explode around the earth. But don’t pray in discouragement, hoping to hold onto what we had. You have favor and authority. Pray with confidence, like the child of God that you are, knowing that God is on the move, and He is taking what the devil had!
“But, D.J., how do you know?”
One reason I know is because the Bible speaks of it. Jesus told a parable to the religious leaders of that day that corresponds to this day. Here it is:
“A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’ Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’ And the servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’ Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’ ” (Luke 14:16-24)
How do I know it corresponds to this day? Because I believe this is the generation that will see the return of Christ (for many reasons, but especially because of the prophesied rebirth of the nation of Israel). The parable is about a “great supper”, that is, the marriage supper of the Lamb, which is going to take place immediately after we are caught away to be with Jesus. So, “supper time” in the parable is the time just before His return. The servant is even told to “go out quickly” because there is no time to lose. When the invited guests begin to make excuses, the Master is angry, and so He tells the servant to shut the door and take most of the place settings off of the table. . . No. He doesn’t! He tells him to go out quickly and bring in “the poor, and the maimed, and the lame, and the blind.” And when that doesn’t fill up the banquet hall, He sends the servant out again to scour every corner of the globe to urgently persuade every possible person to come in.
Now, of course you know that the Master, in the parable, is our Heavenly Father. Jesus is the one for Whom the banquet is given. You and I are the guests. You could say that the servant is the preacher of the Gospel. I say it is the Holy Spirit, the one Who gives voice to the preacher. Who are the excuse makers? Because this parable is not describing Jesus’ day, but is instead describing our day, I believe they are modern westerners.
Unfortunately, this describes many of us, here in the U.S., and elsewhere, who’ve become familiar with the message but are too busy with other pursuits. But, look what God has done. He has shaken the earth, so that we might take our eyes off of the cares of this world for just a minute and see our need for the Savior.
You cannot read this parable and truly believe that God’s plan is to shut up heaven to all but a select few. No. God is taking urgent measures to fill up His house. Do not think this is judgment. This is the devil trying to hold back what God is about to do. The enemy meant it for evil, but God is going to turn it around, just like 2,000 years ago, when the enemy thought he was crucifying the Son of God. And look how that turned out.
I just have one loose end to tie up, and then I am done. The evangelist I mentioned at first did not think the newspaper was full of lies for the reason you might expect. The newspaper was full of lies, because it was full of the things which could be seen. When Moses sent twelve spies to survey the promised land, the Bible says that ten of them brought back an “evil report.” But it was not an evil report because they lied about what they had seen. No. The ten spies told the truth about what they had seen. Rather, it was a “report of evil” because they had not seen with eyes of faith. For God had promised the land to them already. And they failed to obtain what God had promised them because of unbelief. If ever there was a time to believe what you cannot see, it is now!