“‘Keep on
hearing, but do not understand;
keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ - Isaiah 6:9 NIV
keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ - Isaiah 6:9 NIV
the god of this world has blinded the minds of those who do not believe
to keep them from seeing the light of the glorious gospel of the Messiah, who is the image of God. - 2 Corinthians 4:4 NIV
For some time now I have been writing to warn of
the dangers and horrors of radical islam, usually using the examples of the
terrorist groups like ISIS and Al Quaida and such. They fight with guns and knives and barbaric
behavior that horrifies those who see them over YOUTUBE.
Yesterday in the US Congress America and the
world was warned in clear and succinct terms of this radical, or militant,
islam in the form of an existing national government, Iran. Those who indeed have the ability to read and
think have been able to see for years this great danger. The previous president of Iran often declared
the country would eliminate Israel. And
yet still he traveled the world and spoke at the United Nations and so on. The current supreme leader of this nation has
the same view.
And this nation is working steadily to develop
nuclear weapons. Does anyone who is
clear-minded and reasonably bright have any doubt what they might do with such
weapons?
These militant groups – the so-called terrorists
and the government of Iran – are at the top driven by religious ideology. They believe what they are doing is
right. They look for a world under the
control of islam. As the former leader
of Iran used to express, those in charge there await the return of the mahdi,
one long prophesied in islam, and they believe this will happen during a horrible
war. So naturally they are not concerned about starting such a war.
Those who approach this situation as if they are
dealing with normal secular governments with the usual concern of such
governments are just blind and lost.
In the speech yesterday of the Israeli prime
minister at Congress, there was reference to Purim, the Jewish holiday that
begins at sundown March 4 commemorating the time the Jews were saved from
destruction about 2500 years ago in Persia, which is - get this – the modern nation of Iran. The person through whom God worked to save
the Jews then was Queen Esther, and when the prime minister told the story,
those assembled applauded. I thought,
how remarkable, Queen Esther being applauded by the US Congress. You can read about Esther in the book of
Esther in the Bible.
So yesterday the prime minister took a bold step
and spoke openly and directly about the threat to Israel and the Middle East
and the world. Regardless of what others
thought, he took an Esther-like move.
And still so many clearly do not see the threat
posed by militant islam, by Iran and by the terrorist muslim groups. And they are offended by the direct warning
of the prime minister. They don’t see. They don’t get it. And the clock keeps ticking as we move closer
and closer to the return of the Lord. The last of the last days are not pleasant on
earth. You should know that by now. God’s judgment is poured out. The devil and his lackeys the anti-christ and
the false prophet run amuck. Massive
destruction and horrors. Those of us who
are believers in the Lord Jesus are alert as he instructed, eager to see how we
will escape all that is coming on the earth (Luke 21:36). In more than one place we are promised that
we are not appointed to suffer wrath (1 Thessalonians 5:9, 1:10; Romans 5:9;
Revelation 3:10).
In the meantime, don’t you think we all need to
be standing up for Jesus? Speaking truth
as God leads us to see it? Should we
like sheep sit quietly by while blind people make disastrous decisions and
policies? There are lots of parables
told by Jesus about how people should use the talents they have been given
while the master is away. He’s not going
to be away much longer, is he?
These are really good questions for you and me in
this age.
When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on
earth? (Luke 18:8)
Well, will he?
Keep Your Eyes on Jesus!
(March 2015)
Copyright © 2015 by John Newlin
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