The divine overarching story of humanity and the universe itself is playing out right before our eyes. It's happening everyday. It's all around us. You can feel it. It's all encompassing!
It's like a song in the backdrop. It's like a quiet melody on the wind. You can feel it when you stare down an empty road in the midst of night. You can sense it as you stand alone in a wooded forest, listening to the timbers creaking. You feel the enchantment of it, staring up into the star filled sky. On the way to work it's happening. These are the moments of life itself. Maybe we'll talk about them in the next life. Maybe it'll just be written down somewhere, and we'll never think of it again.
As I watch a group of pigeons fluttering about on the pavement, I'm amazed. Deep down I know something so complex couldn't arise from disorder and nothingness. Such harmonious complexity takes a divine personality. God is at work, now and especially when I'm not noticing.
The beauty of these wind swept moments are breathtaking, but just as prescient is the sorrow of the darkness of this world. By darkness I mean struggle. I can feel that so powerfully. I have a mind where it takes off, and I can slide down into it, contemplating the incredible scope of the deceptions in this world. They are massive, entrenched, and powerful. Over such a short period of time the truth seems to have been entirely swept aside and every manner of filth, depravity, sin, and corruption have taken it's place. So quickly it seems, so quickly. One can build such good, and it can be circumvented so totally, so quickly.
I am the future generation, the millennials, generation Y. Yeah, it's interesting. It surely is interesting. We've grown up, at least I've grown up hearing in the backdrop of my daily life, adults whispering: "I feel sorry for the next generation." Or "I'm glad I'll be gone because the future is bleak."
And then there's my generation... well. They drink and drug and party quite a bit. They think they're brilliant artistic anti-establishment. But a lot of them are dumb, brainwashed pleasure junkies who parrot whatever the media tells them to believe. They puke out liberal sentiments programmed into them by the television. They go all out on party, wealth, selfishness, and sex. They are so assured there will be no consequences and they live in denial when the consequences crash down upon them. It's such a lost generation. And nothing I can say changes it, at all. I could weep for them day and night. It wouldn't change anything. Many of them are nothing more than dead walking. I once was the same.
In sexual encounters at random, in drug highs, in drunken bashes, the trick was this: We thought we were taking. But it was taking from us. It's very simple, but profound. Every single time, every high, every sexual blitz, every crazy night out, we were losing something. And so many of us have ended up hollowed out. This world took something precious from us. It took the sacred from us. The sacred is like a soft wind, a soft calm, a sort of blanket over the moment. Warm and fuzzy. Why? Because it's true, it's moral, it's right. It's a peacefulness, a closeness with God. It's a sense of living in a state of rightness; of being good. And being good feels so good. It feels so great.
With all the sinful depravity of this life, we stripped ourselves of the sacred for the sake of trite pleasures and those pleasures, appearing like sugary treats turned out to be meat hooks that dug into our flesh and turned us into slaves to desires we could never truly satisfy. There is no end to the need for depraved encounters, sex addicts and porn addicts will tell you they need more and more depraved and twisted imagery to keep themselves sufficiently titillated. You will hear much the same from the drug addict. More and more. It's never enough.
We thought we were so wise to turn from all the foundations, to write our own faustian story. But it wasn't the real story. It was a lie.
And thank God that I discovered the real story. The story has to be true to change the world. It has to be true to change me. That story is the saga outlined in the divine revelation known as the book. The book changes the world. Yet it's so hard for us to accept. It was for me. Why? Because it tells me the unvarnished truth about myself. It tells me all the things I don't want to hear. It tells me about how I'm the problem. It won't let me play it off on government, big business, banks, poverty, conditions, or anything else. It forces me to realize something very simple: What's wrong with the world is me. I'm the problem. And I've got a just reward in front of me because of my own selfish choices: total disconnection from God. That drives people crazy, how could God send me away from him? How could he send me to "hell"? Well, I suppose God doesn't want evil people around him. And to be honest, we aren't the victims of a mean God, we're the ones who have gone astray. Our choices have set us on this course, and we all know it deep down.
A former drug addict like me knows it quite acutely.
Do you think there's something good about people? Do you think people are good? I'll quote the famed atheist scholar John Gray who wrote in his book Straw Dogs, and I quote: "Humanists think there is something good about humanity? Why don't you try reading a newspaper?"
Taking a look at the Fox News website (I'm a millennial I don't have a physical copy) the current top story on Fox News is the ongoing investigation into the San Bernardino terrorist attack. One could pick up a newspaper on any given day and find the truth about humanity.
The truth about humanity is that we need a savior. Thank God that we have a savior. This is the truth about life: I need to reconnect to the divine architect of the universe. I need God to change me. The right state of me as a human, is to be in total connectedness to God the creator of life. I'm meant to enjoy closeness with the Heavenly Father and the enjoyment of his universe. I'm meant to connect to eternal truths beyond this world. The very meaning of life itself is to live in permanent relationship with God. Can you perceive it? Can you sense it? Can you feel it? Can you philosophically conceive of it? Can you scientifically see the patterns in supposed chaos? Can you understand the love of God? And the most important question: Can you humble yourself, to that of a child, to receive this kingdom that is coming into the wreckage of this world?
It is a divine mystery, the coming of this kingdom.
Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.” -Luke 17:20-21.
The kingdom of God is within you. The kingdom of God is coming into this world. Can you see it?
Sometimes when I'm standing there, in the darkness at night, examining the streets, watching the roads, listening to the wind and the air.. I can feel it. I can feel the anticipation. I can sense the divine poetry of the moment. I can sense the poetic mystery playing like a song no one can learn. It's beauty knows no depths, and it sings out, it shouts from every corner of the land, the buildings, the concrete, the trees, the grass, and the waters of the lakes and rivers. It aches bitterly for the revealing of the sons of God and the final perfection of the universe for the coming of the King of Kings. I can see it. I can sense it within, the bitter aching for the rightness of the kingdom of God.
For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. -Romans 8:19-23
Yet this life is so fearful. There are so many giant mountains in the distance. Just like Atreyu faced on his journey. Just like Luke Skywalker faced when he hung by a beam at Cloud City. Just like Frodo examining the gates of Mordor. Just like Jesus at the garden of Gethsemane. Fear is a deadly enemy to those of making for home. It captures me at times, and I can't help but feel weaked by it. Yet the story continues, the saga goes on. After all, we have narrative minds. We're drawn to the story. We're drawn to the heroic, the great leader, the great hero on his journey to save that which as been lost. Our own cinema and books often reflect the divine overarching meta-saga of paradise lost, humanity lost in the dark wilderness, and the redemption of mankind through the God-man Jesus Christ. And the future eternal reign of the King of Kings. It's beautiful. It's epic. It's the truth about life. It doesn't change. It's not one of many truths, it's the only truth.
The stakes are exceedingly high, so high, so high, the souls of mankind hang in the balance everyday. So many are led astray. So many evil forces and terrifying strongholds exist. It makes me want to shutter in fear, and shut down completely!
"Do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." -Matthew 10:26-31
Jesus said, "Don't be afraid, I'm with you." He says the same to you and I today: "Don't be afraid, I'm with you."
Jesus Christ changed everything in my life. He took me from the king of clowns, a drug addict with serious mental issues, to putting me on the front lines of an intense spiritual battle for the hearts and minds of the people of the world. I found it a bleak situation. The forces of light are not winning, in fact we're thoroughly losing on just about every front.
I entered former strongholds of light and the power of the Spirit to find the systems of defense crumbling. I found the guards on the walls were elderly, and no young men had come to take the places of the aged and infirmed. I found women lost in sex, drunkenness, and selfishness. I saw beautiful women, with wisdom in their eyes, and zeal for changing the world, I saw them lost, broken, addicted, driven mad by the half baked philosophy of this world, run amok, turned into sex toys for depraved men and destroyed completely. And I can only think why Lord, I can see the goodness in them, yet they are addicted, lost, emotionally destroyed, and so far gone. Is there any hope I wondered? I found the old women passing out of this world, leaving no legacy, because their children had all turned from the faith of the old. I found broken lines, crusted entrenchments, empty, all the enthusiasm gone, all the zeal collapsed, and I found in-fighting, despairing, and crumbling of the foundations of the hope of humanity, the Christian faith itself!
Yet I realized something. God is still at work. He hasn't gone anywhere. And even if I see so few young people, so few millennials willing to take up the call... I realized. I took up the call. I'm standing here. I've taken up my spiritual armor, I've taken up the sword of the Spirit. I've taken up the cause of Jesus Christ in this world, to share the gospel, to be preservation and moral goodness to this world. Even if no one else does, I'm here. And I'll keep fighting. God is at work in the world. He came to my mutilated remains on the fields of darkness of addiction, and post-modernism and this farce of a culture addicted to television, fine cuisine, self indulgence, and consumerism. My mind ripped apart by it. My soul crushed. And he carried my remains to Jesus Christ who poured his own life into mine, and suddenly from death itself, from total spiritual decay and physical collapse, I stood anew redeemed out of the world by the precious gift of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, his blood for my blood. He changed everything. He woke me from the dead.
The story of humanity itself is that of a wayward people fleeing their creator, and of the pursuit of God toward his people, and the coming of God into the nightmare of his own people. Jesus Christ appeared in the haze of the evil planet Earth, bringing redemption. That is the saga of humanity. Every leader has to understand this over-arching narrative, this story. But it's not just a story, it's not just a narrative. It's the truth about life. It's the history and personality of humanity. It's the full description of the universe around us. It exists and so do we. So does God. And we need God. Jesus Christ brings us home to God. In Jesus Christ we can change the world. But when we try to build a peaceful paradise outside of Jesus Christ, it crumbles in our hands. So many in this world want peace, but they don't want the prince of peace. And there can be no peace without the prince of peace Jesus Christ.
The time is now friends. This is our great moment. We millennials have been so led astray by the liberal media, by secular universities in this country, we've been led astray by philosophical lies, we've been led astray by arrogance. We've been led astray by drugs, alcohol, by the sex revolution, and by the selfish consumer society. But it's not too late! It's not too late! It's not too late! We can stand here. Now. We can change the world. But we can't do it alone. If and when we choose to place the Christian faith, Jesus Christ at the center of our efforts to change this world, then we will bring about the greatness we wish to see.
We want change. We want to help people. This is the mission. This is the message. Millennials must humble themselves and come to Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness we wish we didn't need. But we do need it. Call upon Jesus Christ. Take up the banner of the truth! Start a movement. Start a revolution!
The hour is late friends. The forces of darkness are moving in all directions. Our own defenses have been corrupted and crippled. Our generation has slipped into many traps and deadly snares. But it's not too late. If you can believe that Jesus Christ really is who he claimed to be. Then there is a chance. Can you believe? Can you really believe? Can you accept it? Can you accept that and receive Jesus Christ the son of God, the redeemer of humanity as your own personal Lord, comforter, and savior?
Can you perceive it? Can you sense it? Can you see it in every moment? Can you read it in the pages of the book? Can you live it? Will you repent of your old ways? Will you turn to Jesus Christ? Will you take up your spiritual armor and fight against the lusts of your own desires? Will you build boundary walls in your mind? Will you fight your sinful desires which fuel the self destruction of the human race? Will you receive the son of God as your redemption, your righteousness, the remover of your sins? Are you ready for a new life? Are you ready to be born again? Are you prepared to know the deepest truths in the universe? Are you prepared to encounter God himself?
Today is the day.
There is still hope.
The light shines in the darkness.
And my generation, young people will come to know it.
Because my generation deserves to know, like our parents and our grandparents came to know, that they are designed creatures, created beings, designed and crafted by the beautiful, enchanting artist, an architect, a quiet being lingering in the backdrop, listening, loving, and caring for us... the God who made the universe itself. Can you understand the full weight of that? Can you perceive the expansive meaning behind that? God is real. You should be free to know him. Like I've been made free to know. By calling out to Jesus Christ for help, like I called out to Jesus Christ for help.
I write this because I want you know in the most sincere way the meaning I had ached for so desperately that I almost died several times filled to the brim with pills, drink, and drug. Jesus Christ is the truth. He is the answer. In him is the real truth of life. It's not a game. It's not an old superstition. It's really real.
I want you to know so badly, because it's so hard to see behind all the televangelist nonsense, the megachurches, the false teachers, and the way Christianity is portrayed in the media as a sort of backward superstition of the foolish. But I found something very different.
I encountered God himself. He's real. You can be with him through his son Jesus Christ. You don't have to like it, but it's the truth. Please receive it. Please trust in him. Please call out to him. We have much work to do, the hour is late in these spiritual battles. We need you now. Join the resistance, join the revolution.
May the grace and peace of Jesus Christ be yours, always, amen.
