December 1
Daniel 8:1-27 | PS 120:1-7 | Prov 28:25-26 | 1 John 2:1-17
It is amazing that most hold to the concept that humanity is continuously evolving. In pride, many want to believe that they are better than previous generations, but where is their proof? What is the standard used to make such a comment? Yes, technology has certainly improved: we can travel the world on airplanes, send people to the moon, communicate in a multitude of new and different methods, etc. But we have also come out of a century that has witnessed the largest volume of genocide than ever before. This widescale murder has reached nearly every continent. Technology has also made this grim reality possible. Satan is real and has never had to change his playbook, because humanity has fallen for the same things from the time of Adam and Eve, until the present day. We read in 1 John 2:15-17, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever." Now, let’s examine the very first sin after Satan tempted Eve in Genesis 3:6, "So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food (lust of the flesh), that it was pleasing to the eyes (lust of the eyes), and a tree desirable to make one wise (the pride of life), she took of its fruit and ate." Satan has not had to change, since humanity is as easy to manipulate now as it was in the Garden.
With this in mind, we are immersed in one of the, if not the most contentious election ever to hit our nation. We read in 1 John 2:18, "Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour." We know that the Antichrist (capital A) will reveal himself in the Great Tribulation, which is yet to come. But anyone who stands in opposition to the things of Jesus Christ is an antichrist, simply by definition. The reason why many don't see this, is they have chosen to remain biblically illiterate. Unless one knows Scripture, it is difficult to know what things are for Jesus Christ and which things are opposed to Him. So, what you see in this biblically illiterate world is the elevation of humanity's sense of what is right and wrong, what is good and evil, without the slightest sense of how they compare to the word of God. In our nation many will elevate those who lift up LGBTQ and a woman's right to abort as good, despite their being contrary to God's word. We see many in positions of power standing in direct opposition to those who desire to worship God. We see those in the technology world who have the power and have chosen to censor things which they deem wrong from their worldly perspective. We have witnessed things unimaginable in the response to coronavirus. The purposeful sending of the most vulnerable, the elderly, into facilities where they would not only die, but take many of their fellow elderly with them. The death of thousands in hospitals, by themselves, due to those in power deeming it unsafe for loved ones to be in proximity to them, despite a less than one percent chance of actually dying from the virus, and it being against what the loved one would have chosen to do. We fancy ourselves evolved, but if we open our eyes long enough, and compare our actions to what is written in God's word we see a world that is not evolving, but devolving. We may be more "educated" but that does not make us wiser, just in many cases more prideful.
Yes, we are in a fallen world, which seems to be spinning out of control. But what was true when John wrote this letter is just as true today, as we read in 1 John 2:1-2, "My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world." Our propitiation, or the satisfaction of our sinful accounts, occurred when Jesus died on the cross for the sins of all of humanity, when He said, "It is finished" (John 19:30). So, as we look around and hopefully see things less as Democrat vs Republican, less as those who see a mask as the answer vs those who think the wearing of a mask as too much, but instead as God sees things, those who stand firmly on the finished work of Jesus Christ vs those who choose to stand in opposition. We Christians, must not get angry, but see the opportunity before us. Those who stand opposed to Christ now, are no different than we were before coming into a relationship with Jesus. Though Satan has his playbook, God has given us a playbook also, called the Bible. We can either choose to remain ignorant of its contents or use it as God intended us to.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: