What's Going On: Understanding the Time We Live In

“Father, Father, We don't need to escalate; You see, war is not the answer, For only love can conquer hate; You know we've got to find a way, To bring some lovin' here today. What’s going on, what’s going on?”

Some of you may recognize these lyrics sung by the late Marvin Gaye.  Yeah, what’s going on is right!  Just as Marvin’s generation struggled to make sense of their world, we are struggling today to make sense of ours.  Many are wondering if that is even possible, but let me assure you it is--but only if you have developed a Biblical World View.  I must warn you, if your World View has been shaped by the world’s academia, the major news media, celebrities, or just the voice of the majority, you will not understand “what’s going on”.  In fact, you will probably think I am nuts, but that’s alright with me.  As the Apostle Paul stated, “I am a fool for Christ.”  But as the late John Wimber, (Of The Righteous Brothers and The Vineyard fame) used to ask, “I am a fool for Christ.  Whose fool are you?”  So be it!

So what’s going on?  Simply put, we are in a major conflict between good and evil.  If you have a Biblical World View, you will understand this conflict, or should understand it, which is a major theme of the Bible from cover to cover.  If you are unaware, then please understand that all that is happening today has been foretold in the Bible.

To start with, satan organized a rebellion in Heaven and was removed with approximately a third of the angels.  He later tempted and deceived Eve to disobey God.  Adam willingly rebelled against God at that time, which gave satan the opportunity to usurp the ruling position that was given to man, and now he uses it against mankind to keep them as his slaves to sin.  John 8:34, Jesus replied, "Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”  In other words, due to man’s willingness to sin, the rebellion was removed from heaven and spread to earth.  The very premise of the Book of Revelation is to reveal that Christ will once and for all destroy satan’s dominion.

The Old Testament clearly shows some of the many attempts satan has made towards world domination, through the Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian and Grecian empires,  to name a few.   In fact, the Scriptures refer to satan as “the ruler”, “prince of this world” and “the god of this world”.   It also makes clear that satan’s primary ambition is to overthrow God from His throne and ascend onto it himself.  This is parroted by Karl Marx and his followers, which reveals the root of Communism.   Marx himself is quoted; "I wish to avenge myself against the One who rules above ...” and "The idea of God is the keynote of a perverted civilization.  It must be destroyed.”  His followers would say "That Marx will surely chase God from his heaven”.  If there is any question of what “spirit” communism is, make no mistake, for the history of the last 100 years clearly shows its hatred towards Christ and all resisters.  Millions upon millions have been brutally murdered and tortured by Communists!

Jesus Christ was very clear when He said He is the King of all Kings, and that His first Coming was to defeat satan and to begin the establishing of His Kingdom here on earth.  Christ’s true believers, the Church, are His representatives of His Kingdom on earth.  His Kingdom is partially manifested but will be fully established when Christ returns again. Then He will FULLY establish His Kingdom on the earth AND will bind and punish satan and his followers--those willing to follow him and those deceived into following him.  This is a Biblical World View in a nutshell.       

According to Summit Ministries working with Barna, most Christians have no or at least a very limited Biblical World View. “ For the purposes of the survey, a "biblical worldview" was defined as believing that absolute moral truth exists; the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches; Satan is considered to be a real being or force, not merely symbolic; a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by trying to be good or do good works; Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; and God is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the world who still rules the universe today. In the research, anyone who held all of those beliefs was said to have a biblical worldview.”

“The research indicated that only 9% of all American adults have a biblical worldview as defined above. The Barna study also indicated that a minority of people who describe themselves as "born again" actually share this worldview. So while "they were twice as likely as the average adult to possess a biblical worldview... even among born again Christians, less than one out of every five (19%) had such an outlook on life."

Some other statistics from Barn:

. 29% of Christians believe ideas based in secularism, the belief that material world is all there is and that God is irrelevant to what is important.

. 36% of Christians accept ideas associated with Marxism-Communism, believing the current system must be overthrown because it exploits the poor to benefit the rich. 

. 38% of Christians are sympathetic to Islamic teachings, including the idea that people in rebellion against God should be made to submit - by force, if necessary.

 54% of Christians agree with postmodernism’s view that says that we should be suspicious of anyone who claims to know the truth, because absolute truth cannot be known.

Yet, the Book of Colossians 2:8 warns us; “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.” Except for the 19% mentioned it is quite obvious that the other 81% are prime candidates for the End Times deception.  In fact, they are already greatly deceived, as they have been taken captive by hollow and deceptive philosophies, etc.! 

So, “what is going on” today?  What is going on is that we are rapidly approaching the times of greater deception and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. That means satan has only a short time left at his futile but desperate attempt to overthrow God’s Kingdom.  In his blind rage he strives to fulfill this impossibility as we witness his destruction of society as evil deeds, violence and deception increase.

His attempt to erase God and Christianity from the public has been somewhat successful as God is no longer allowed in our schools or the public square.  There are no vacuums in life, and as Godly values are destroyed in a society, demonic values replace them.  Christ or Secular Humanism, Christ or Communism.  As a result, today school shootings have become the norm, and opiate use and immorality have increased exponentially.  Bluntly put, sin is mowing a vile swath of destruction through our populace.

2 Thessalonians 2.   We also know that there will be an Anti-Christ that will emerge from the population who will be satan incarnate (satan in human form).  He will deceive the whole earth and set up his One World Government, also called the New World Order.  He will deceive the nations and if possible, as Jesus warned, deceive “the very elect”, as Jesus called His followers.  This is happening today.

 In order to reach his objective, he must gain control of and corrupt the major news media.  He seems to have already accomplished this in the U.S.  At one time the media reported news with a level of objectivity and a reasonable amount of integrity, but now it has become the most powerful source of subjective, op-ed, (“opinion- editorial”), politically motivated propaganda.   This should be no surprise to us, because history shows that all dictators know that they must have control of the media in order to keep in power.  Hitler’s Joseph Goebbels was a master of Nazi propaganda who was able to manipulate the German people to their cause through the media.  In America, we have the First Amendment which guarantees a free press and freedom of religion.  However, if I were the devil, I would do all in my power to gain control of the media through the men and women who own it and use it for my purposes.  The Antichrist simply will not be able to gain control without the cooperation of the news media. We can learn a lesson from Russian dissenter Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who warned that the media is more powerful than the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial Branch of government since it answers to no one.   Yet sadly, multitudes sit like dry sponges day after day and allow the talking heads crowd to dictate their ideology, politics, values, and views of morality to shape their world view!  Many are caught in a dilemma as Mark Twain described: “If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed.  If you read the newspaper, you're mis-informed.” But if you read the Bible, you will always be informed.

Why is it so important that we have the “right” world view?  C. S. Lewis explains; “different beliefs about the universe lead to different behavior.”  For instance, some whose world view was influenced by Darwin’s Theory of Evolution and Nietzsche’s popularizing of “God is dead”, men such as Marx, Lenin, Stalin and Hitler, have no doubt used these lies to justify the cold-blooded murder of millions of their own countrymen and beyond.  If there is no God and we are just evolving cells, what does it matter if we kill?  Aren’t we are just making the species stronger, for only the strong survive?  This may seem like an extreme to some, but how does this come down to the average Joe or Jill on the street?  Let’s say if a person believes, or even entertains the idea that we are not created in the image of God, but have evolved, as Darwinism suggests, how is this person likely to conduct his or her life?    We can now shake the “burdensome and oppressive” shackles of morality off!  Truth becomes irrelevant -- sex outside of marriage is only a physical act and nothing more, what could be wrong with that?  (We all have needs you know.)  We see it all around us and the list goes on and on.

How does this Secular World View affect the raising of our children or community at large?  It affects us greatly, and as a consequence, our society spirals painfully downward as sin pays its wages of death upon us.  Malcolm Muggeridge said:  “If God is dead, somebody is going to have to take His place.  It will be megalomania or erotomania, the drive for power or the drive for pleasure, the clenched fist or the phallus, Hitler or Hugh Hefner.”  Hasn’t this been steadily developing in our world for the last century?

If we would only learn the lesson of Psalm Chapter 1:

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.  He will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season; its leaf will not wither, and whatever he does will prosper. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff, which the wind drives away. Therefore, the ungodly will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.  For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly will perish.” 

Or as Twain also warned: “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”  And that my friend is  WHAT’S GOING ON!

Pastor Gary A. Smith

New Life Christian Fellowship

Alpena, Mi