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Are These Really Uniquely Dark Times Today?
A Debate About Whether Times Really Are Dark
A very high percentage of people with whom I speak agree with deep decline of the United States. I ask many people the question, “Do you think the country is in decline?” Very few say “no.” Two different men touched on this subject in recent days, and I want to comment on their conclusions.
First, Kevin Schaal, president of the FBFI, wrote, “Wars and Rumors of Wars,” beginning the post with “we live in dark days.” Second, Aaron Blumer, owner of fundamentalist website SharperIron, wrote in criticism of Schaal’s introduction with “Do We Live In Dark Times?” First, Kevin Schaal, second, Aaron Blumer, and now I will write my thoughts addressing the question, “Are these really uniquely dark times?”
Maybe Not Any Darker?
From what I read, the older people in succeeding generations in the past complained about decline from a previous generation to theirs. The new generation changes. The former generation interprets this as decline. Some would say this happens again and again. Some would say what’s happening right now is just more of the same. Is this true? Blumer says it’s not much different and maybe better based on certain data. At least in his introduction, Schaal says, No, these are uniquely bad times, enough to call them “dark.”
Blumer contends there have always been bad times. He says this trend goes back to the beginning. Job, Jesus, Paul, and Peter talk about dark days then and into the future, Blumer writes. He also bemoans how leaders feed the anxieties already inundating the news media.
Preliminary to Christ’s Return?
I don’t think Kevin Schaal was feeding anxiety. He was saying recent world events seemed tell-tale as something preliminary to the coming of Jesus Christ. For a Christian, that doesn’t cause anxiety, but joy or happiness.
Mainly Schaal pointed to wars: Ukraine, Israel, rumors of possible war in Taiwan, and maybe something bigger in the Middle East with Iran. These are the dark times to which he referred, pointing to them as a warm-up for the seven year tribulation on earth. Maybe Blumer totally missed Schaal’s point. I believe Schaal thinks the catching up of the saints with Christ in the clouds, the rapture, precedes the second coming of Christ by seven years.
Yes, Darker Than Ever
When I talk to people out in the world, I too talk about uniquely dark times. Based on the way true Christians judge the world, this world is darker than ever. The United States, the greatest light for the Lord in recent world history, is as spiritually and morally bankrupt as ever. It is the worst by far based on every way you can judge.
In the 1980s William Bennett published his Index of Leading Cultural Indicators. Using accurate data, he reported the measurement of the downgrade in every cultural area. At that time, there was little to no positive presentation of homosexuality in the media. Now it is rampant and normalized. It’s worse than that. Conservative homosexuals now stand as leading spokesman against woke transgenderism. There is a steep decline in this country and nothing indicating that we’re coming back.
Apatheism and the Start of a Turnaround
I’ve never seen greater ignorance of the gospel in places once considered the Bible belt. Atheism has grown, but it’s not just that. It’s what someone rightfully calls “apatheism.” Apatheism might be worse than atheism. It’s at least atheism from the neck down but in greater numbers by far than actual atheism.
When I preach and serve, I don’t act like we can’t come out of the present cold or lukewarm spiritual condition today. I behave like we can see this all turn around. Do I think it will turn around? No. But if it is, it will start with me, then my church, then my community and my county. I’m not thinking of something as big as a nation changing. Let’s start with our church and then our neighborhood.
Simeon and Anna As Examples of Looking and Waiting for the Coming Lord
Believing in Jesus Christ is looking for Him. If you are not looking for Him, then you are not believing in Him. He is real. What is looking and waiting for Jesus Christ?
Jesus Christ is coming back. That is His plan for the earth. True believers fit into that plan. They want that.
Believing in Jesus Christ means believing in His Person, receiving Him as Lord, God, and Savior. John 20:31 explains it as “believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and the believing yet might have life through His name.” “Christ” carries with it the three: Lord, God, and Savior. You believe that “Jesus is the Christ.”
Part of being “the Christ” is coming back and setting up a kingdom on the earth as part of the completion of salvation. Salvation includes the kingdom. When a believer lives His life, He lives it looking forward to the Christ setting up His kingdom. The coming of Christ arrives between this life and the kingdom. No kingdom comes without the coming Lord.
How do we believe in the Christ? By looking and waiting for the coming Lord. We have examples of those looking and waiting for the first coming of the Lord. We don’t know almost anything about the life of Simeon except that he looked and waited for the coming Lord, which is described in Luke 2:25-35:
25 And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
26 And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.
27 And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,
28 Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,
29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:
30 For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
32 A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.
33 And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him.
34 And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against;
35 (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
Simeon looked for the “Lord’s Christ.” This is the true Christ, the one the Lord would anoint as King over all the earth in fulfillment of the Davidic covenant (2 Samuel 7:12-13). Simeon knew he would see Christ, but we should still take this belief as a model. We know that Simeon’s looking changed his behavior, because he was “just and devout,” the former being toward man and the latter toward God. True faith endures. Simeon kept looking and waiting for the Lord’s Christ, because true faith endures. Enduring faith in the coming Lord sustains just and devout living.
The Greek word “devout” is eulabes, a compound Greek word with eu (“good”) labes (from lambano, “taking” or “receiving”), which means “taking hold well.” This is to be careful and sure in the reception. Someone who stops looking and waiting for the coming Lord is not being careful or sure in his reception. He is not taking hold well. Simeon did take hold well and then he literally took hold of the Lord’s Christ in his own arms.
Looking and waiting for the Lord’s Christ in a major way means identification. Someone has to be right about who the Christ is. He must take the right view about the history of the world: how it started, what went wrong, and what the future plan is. This is the message of scripture and someone must acquiesce to the Bible as God’s Word and then surrender to its message. It centers on the Christ. If someone sufficiently ignores the message of the Bible, doesn’t humble himself before it, not adequately recognizing its divine origin, he will not look and wait for the Christ.
Looking and waiting for the Lord’s Christ is more than just identification, but it is at least that. If you get the wrong identification, then you will miss the Christ. Your Christ must be the true Christ. He can’t be a Christ of your own choosing, but the actual, true Christ predicted in scripture. That’s the one for which Simeon looked and waited.
Anna provides an example too for looking and waiting for the coming Lord in Luke 2:36-38:
36 And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity;
37 And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.
38 And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.
Even though Anna’s life dramatically changed with the death of her husband, when she was very young and only seven years married, she sustained purpose in life by looking and waiting for the coming Lord. Her life wasn’t over. She still had much for which to live. She “looked for redemption in Jerusalem.” Jesus was that redemption.
For Anna, looking for that redemption in Jerusalem meant not departing from the temple and serving God with fastings and prayers. Like Simeon, she instantly recognized the Lord’s Christ and gave thanks. Only those thankful for the future kingdom, which is under Jesus as Lord, will look and wait for the coming Lord and that coming kingdom.
Simeon and Anna provide two good examples and looking and waiting for the coming Lord. The Lord is coming back. That expectation should drive all of us to a right belief and practice and affection.
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