I was saddened to learn about the people who were executed in North Korea earlier this month for crimes stretching from prostitution to watching South Korean films to owning a Bible. These people were tied to stakes all over the country and mowed down by machine gun fire while thousands of people were herded into stadiums to watch. Daniel 11:33 says, Those who are wise will instruct many, though for a time they will fall by the sword or be burned or captured or plundered. We shouldnt expect that life will be easy when we become a Christian. In fact, it is just the opposite. Look at these descriptions: By the sword: militaristic oppression. Burned: physical oppression Captured: lack of freedoms Plundered: economic oppression While it is easy for us in America to turn a blind eye and say, That cant happen here... we are wrong. We may not, at the moment, be experiencing militaristic or physical oppression from our physical peers, but we are in the spiritual realm. How many Christians do you know who are oppressed by the attacks of Satan on their health and family? We are also experiencing in a physical way the oppression of our freedom of speech and our ability to act upon our Christian beliefs because it is now being labeled as hate speech. Under the current regime, many Christians are being forced to pay for birth control they view as in-Biblical, regardless of whether or not you agree with them. Our Presisent has threatened to begin taxing churches and other religious organizations. Even the IRS has begun targeting conservative groups by making it harder, if not impossible, to achieve their tax-exempt status. Yes, we are under attack. We are in what Dr. Loren Libeberry calls a soft tyrrany. But there is hope. If we read v. 35 it says, One of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time. While we may fall, it is not without purpose. We are being put into the fire to be better molded into the people our God wants us to be. We will better understand what our role is and be better able to serve our Lord. Another point to bring out is that there will be an end to all of this madness. It is not forever, but has an end point. And that point is still set by God. There will come a time when God says, Enough is enough. Despite what may seem as chaos, God is still in control. Please understand that this will not happen overnight. T will get worse before it gets better. If we look to Daniel 12:6 one of the celestial speakers asks the other How long will it be before these astonishing things are fulfilled? And in verse 7 the answer is given, It wil be for a time, times, and half a time. When the power of the holy people has been shattered, all these things will be completed. Time: it will continue to happen. Times: it will gain momentum. Half a time: it will be cut short when God ends it. When our power to resist has been shattered, that is when the end will come. We are fighting an uphill battle for sure. It will take its toll and we will be unable to defend ourselves. But take heart, for Jesus has overcome the world. We will lose the battle, but he has won the war.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Nov 2013 15:39:32 +0000
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