Echoes From the Campfire

There are too many folks who spend their time doing too much talking about things they don’t know anything about.  But they’re sure willing to let the world know its shortcomings.”
              –Lou Bradshaw  (Big Man’s Keeper)

    “Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him as He is.”
              –1 John 3:2 (HCSB)
————————-
         “And they said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.'”
                   –Acts 1:11 (NASB)

We live in strange, unique, and difficult times.  Therefore I ask, what is your view of the world?  What are your reactions to the things that are happening?  What are you expecting of life?  Ask these questions to anyone, Christians included, and you will quickly learn the depth of their Christianity and relationship with Christ.
    We may wonder why things are happening.  Why are there such fools that are definitely antichrist in their beliefs and actions in leadership positions in our country?  Why are their riots, thugs roaming the streets, and terror spilling forth into everyday life of the people?  If you know the Bible, that is readily and easily answered.  “The whole teaching of the Bible, from beginning to end, is that the trouble with men and women, with life and with history, is radical.  The real problem is sin.  Sin is something that does not merely affect the surface of life; it affects the very source.  And the result of all this is that the life of this world is under the control of sin, under the control of Satan.” (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
    There is a kingdom of light and a kingdom of darkness that are on this earth.  Both are working.  This is proclaimed throughout the Bible and Jesus spoke to it in John 8, saying that the Pharisees were of their father the devil. (John 8:44)
There is a clamor about a worldwide revival (not the term, revival).  Christ did not come to reclaim the world; He did not come to bring a worldwide revival.  He came to redeem the world, which He did at the cross.  That is the good news, accept Christ and believe for redemption has taken place.
    There is no hope for the world.  Sin is here and will remain until the new heavens and new earth are created.  Education programs will not help nor eradicate sin.  Housing programs will not help for they are like a bandaid placed on a sore that quickly falls off.  Food programs are good, but they will not stop sin.  Vaccines–ha, there is no vaccine against sin.  The only hope is to accept Jesus and be ready for Him when He comes or when you take your last breath.
    Too many people, including Christians, are looking for cures in the world while the world belongs to the devil.  The world is cloaked in sin.  We should be looking for the coming of the Lord while going about our daily duties for Him.  We should be “looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God…” (2 Peter 3:12, NKJV)
    I have borrowed many thoughts from D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, so let me leave you with the following words by him:

         “I suggest to you that, in the midst of the darkness and the confusion and the uncertainty of this modern world, if you want rest, if you want peace, if you want quietness of heart, you will not find it by trusting to ideas as to the reformation of this world, for these are all being falsified before your eyes.  No, you will find peace only there where you will find this assurance that whatever may happen to you in this world of time, nothing, nothing, shall be able to separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord and the glory of being with Him for ever and ever.”