Peace Peace When There Is No Peace
The latest violence in the Mid-East has gotten everyone in an uproar and some are talking about Armageddon while others are screaming for peace and cease fires. I find it interesting that the Secretary General of the UN could have been called Kofi Anonymous while suicide bombers were killing civilians in Israel but when the Israel had enough and started fighting back then he gets vocal. How sweet. Most of the UN is made up of countries that hate the US so I say we need to kick them out of NY. Let them build a new building in Germany or Moscow. The crime rate in NYC would go way down as criminals that are diplomatically immune leave. Trying to get a consensus from your enemies is not only foolish but very dangerous. If we sought God’s will rather than the will of the UN we would be much more prosperous and secure than we are now.
Matt 24:1-14
24:1 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.
2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. KJV
Much of this passage reads like today’s newspaper yet no politician or journalist really wants to admit that this prophecy is being fulfilled. Had this been written by Nostradamus or found on an Aztec ruin it would be in all the papers constantly as scenarios developed. Wars and rumors of wars have been on the increase since 1900. We have had two major World Wars, a Cold War, police actions and numerous operations in the last century and we are seeing more opportunities for war very day and that is just the scenarios we are playing a role in let alone all the civil wars all over the world. Add to all that increasing numbers of terrorist attacks and you are hard pressed to find a place of peace on the earth.
Rev 6:3-4
3 And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.
4 And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword. (KJV)
To all the Doves around the world I must say that I share the desire for peace but it will not happen. Fussing and carrying on and endangering the troops won’t stop the war but may bring a needless end to some of our lads and lasses. In Matthew 24 and here in Revelation we see that war is going to be a part of our experience until Jesus returns.
One of the young men of our church has left for the Marines. I prayed with him and begged God to bring him back safely to us. I told him that after God you listen to that DI in great detail because no matter how hard he may seem and how stupid some things may sound just do them for that man is trying to keep you alive in the battle. We shall have wars and there is one coming that will make all the rest look like backyard squabbles between four year olds.
Some are saying thanks for that depressing picture. Well, better to face reality and walk in the truth than to run around in a fairy tale of false hope. But, you say how do I cope with the fact that any day I may lose a loved one in battle, die in a nuclear blast or from a biological attack? I am glad you asked.
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (KJV)
You have to remember who is on the throne and where your real home is and all is well. A life with no stress or problems is what the world calls peace. No such life exists. In Luke we are told that during the coming tribulation men’s hearts will fail them for fear. He has told us to have no fear. If you are saved, when or how you die is not a problem. If you were planning on a vacation to your favorite place and were given the opportunity to leave a few days earlier than you planned you would be thrilled. We all say that we love the Lord and want to go to Heaven but we all want to be the last passenger onboard the last car of the last train there. Maybe we don’t have as much love or faith as we think.
John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. (KJV)
John tells us that if all that Jesus said and did in His earthly ministry were recorded we would have to have it on our computer or have a big cart to tote it around with. The coffee table would have to be steel reinforced. We don’t have everything He said and did but what we have was given to give us good cheer and peace in a world of tribulation that He has overcome or conguered.
Phil 4:6-7
6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (KJV)
To have peace when there is chaos and trouble all around you doesn’t make much sense from a worldly perspective and folks can’t understand when they see a person dying of cancer or at the casket of a loved one with an air of peace about them. That is OK because outside of Christ it doesn’t make any sense and can’t be understood. If the saint of God is taking everything to God in prayer and trusting Him, rather than carrying the burden themselves the peace will come. You don’t have to understand it. You need only believe in it and once you receive it you will never doubt it again even if you can’t explain it to another person. Blessed be His name!
A nation trusting in the Lord can have this peace as well. When the US did trust in God rather than the money that the motto is printed on we had greater power in the world and defeated our enemies and were faithful to our friends. Those days are gone.
Jer 6:13-19
13 For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.
14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.
16 Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.
17 Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.
18 Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them.
19 Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it (KJV)
We have left our foundations and the Word of God and the God of His Word and wonder why we have such unrest and why we could win World Wars and now we have trouble with all sorts of people. It is because that from the greatest of us to the least of us we are predominantly wicked.
We have allowed many abominations to be committed in this country that was built upon God’s name and we are not ashamed. We have tried to remove His name from the public sector. We want to restrain the omnipresent God and keep Him in the confines of church buildings. We can’t speak His name in schools, we can’t ask for His blessings at public events and we cut off microphones of graduates who want to give Him glory. We kicked God out of school and we wonder why there is Hell in school instead of a peaceful atmosphere of scholarship.
Because we have turned out secular humanists in our schools for forty years or so we have homes that have no peace. They have no clue how to handle their children or their spiritual problems because they have been taught that they are only high tech apes that have nothing but this life to worry about or anyone to be responsible to but their own selfish souls and its desires.
Sadly, many Christians have bought into some of the lies of this culture and this admixture of Church and the world has brought the Hell of the world into a home that should be a heavenly haven causing divorce to be as prevalent among professing Christians as it is among the pagans.
A great part of this adulteration of the Church and Christian homes comes from the preachers who should know better but have sold out either because of shekels or numbers and the notoriety that comes with those things. They have watered down the Word to make it approve of the abominations of this world or they have polluted the Word of God with their bogus texts and pseudo-scholasticism that has caused more confusion and disunity then ever before in history.
To build a big church all you have to do is preach or rather give a speech about what people want to hear. Never get on their lifestyle. Make sin the act of not naming and claiming the wealth and prosperity God has ordained for you. Approve of unbiblical lifestyles, ordain women, come up with an Evangelical rosary, and hang out with everyone at the local ministerium and you too can live in a five million dollar home.
The preachers who should have held forth the Word of God and called sin, sin have caved in to the culture and to the carnal desires of the people rather than being obedient to their calling. They have in essence denied the Lord who bought them for they changed His Gospel. This is not just lost Liberals or whacked out cultists but many who minister to the true children of God have done the same. They healed God’s people slightly or rather gave them a quick fix. The people are suffering from cancer or a ripped artery and the preachers are giving the people feel good morphine and pretty band aids promising that they will be healed rather then giving them Scriptural chemotherapy or surgery to solve the problem and preserve life.
2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. KJV
Revival is what we need desperately in this country, not another seminary or seminar. We need to get back to see the Great Physician rather than the useless theological doctors and snake oil vendors that are like the ones on which the woman with the issue of blood wasted her money. We need men who know what the real Physician’s Desk Reference is and that is the good old King James. You use the wrong reference and you’ll get the wrong prescription and you will miss out on the cure.
Do you have peace today? There will be no worldly peace until the Prince of Peace reigns in Jerusalem on the throne of David and even then there will be one more war at the end of the Millennium. You have to live with war but you can live in peace because you can live with the peace of God. Maybe you have been slightly healed by a poor physician. Maybe you have had too many prescriptions from the wrong Book. Maybe your lifestyle does not promote peace but rather guilt, fear and chaos.
Come to the Great Physician and the Prince of Peace. Be saved today if you are not saved and cast your care on Him if you are and receive the peace that passes all understanding. Maranatha!!
