THE BATTLE IS GETTING REAL: NOTES ON THE BURGEONING AMERICAN CULTURE WAR OF 2022 – PART II: THE WARNING

PART I: The Commission – Ephesians 5:1-2

PART II: THE WARNING – EPHESIANS: 5:5-7

PART III: The Command – Ephesians 5:11-14

PART IV: The War – Ephesians 6:10-18

PART V: The Mystery – Ephesians 6:19-20

SCRIPTURE. “For be sure of this: No immoral, impure, or greedy person—for that one is [in effect] an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God [for such a person places a higher value on something other than God]. Let no one deceive you with empty arguments [that encourage you to sin], for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience [those who habitually sin]. So do not participate or even associate with them [in the rebelliousness of sin].” – EPHESIANS 5:5-7, AMP

QUOTATIONS ON MATTERS OF MORALITY

LEWIS. “Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.” Screwtape, Senior Tempter ― C. S. Lewis, ‘The Screwtape Letters,’ 1942

JAMI. “God judges men from the inside out; men judge men from the outside in. Perhaps to God, an extreme mental patient is doing quite well in going a month without murder, for he fought his chemical imbalance and succeeded; oppositely, perhaps the healthy, able and stable man who has never murdered in his life yet went a lifetime consciously, willingly never loving anyone but himself may then be subject to harsher judgment than the extreme mental patient. It might be so that God will stand for the weak and question the strong.” ― Criss Jami, ‘Healology,’ 2016

FIRST THOUGHTS

We live in a time when Questions of Virtue in America have been scrambled and crushed nearly to death under the onslaught of many ideological forces. The impact of which is eloquently described by a brilliant Nobel Prize winning poet 100 years ago.

“Turning and turning in the widening gyre, the falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; ‘the Centre cannot hold’; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, the blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
the Ceremony of Innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.” – W. B. YEATS, ‘The Second Coming,’ 1920; edited

For some reason, those lines have been ricocheting through my thoughts for the past week or so. Now I know why. When Yeats wrote them, most biographers believe he was responding to his own Protestant assessment of the Decline of Christian European civilization around the 1890s.

Recall my ‘120 Year Template’ from Genesis 6:3 about here with its Start Date of 1900 AD.

Yeats’ grave concern was captured in the piercing phrase, “The Centre cannot hold.” Meaning: When a society loses its Vision of God and Virtue, it begins to die. Such is the case with America and her increasingly anemic, willfully blind Church. So must we briefly examine the Great ‘Why’ of that historic tragedy.

EARLY FRACTURES. When I came to Christ in October 1979, just this side of a killer alcohol addiction and ancillary suicidal depression, I found myself being discipled by the staff or two churches: Lincoln Neighborhood (Assemblies of God) Church; and Lakeview Baptist Church.

The early 80s constituted a time when the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements were beginning to peak, while even the Baptist Churches were slowly coming around to accepting the full gospel ‘Continuationist’ theology to which the former subscribed. While ‘Cessationism’ is still very much present in American Christianity, the Spirit-Filled churches exploded across the American religious landscape in the 80s and 90s.

As they did, sadly, ‘doctrinal errors’ began to emerge, especially among the so-called ‘Faith-Prosperity’ churches. Men like Kenneth Hagin, Oral Roberts, Rod Parsley, Pat Robertson, Kenneth Copeland, T.D. Jakes, Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, Joel Osteen and many, many others began to carve out a home-grown, ‘New Gospel,’ that was an increasing Syncretism between orthodox Christianity and the vastly more secular political ideology of ‘The American Dream’ Vision of hyper-patriotic, Religious and Economic Nationalism.

DR. CATHERINE BOWLER gives us a priceless overview of the entire History of the Prosperity Gospel Movement in her doctoral dissertation entitled, ‘Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel’ Duke University, 2010; edited.

“This dissertation introduces readers to the major figures and features of the twentieth-century American Prosperity Gospel. It argues that these diverse expressions of Christian Faith-fueled ‘Abundance’ can be understood as a Movement, for they stem from a cohesive set of shared understandings.

First, the Movement centered on Faith. It conceived of Faith as an ‘activator,’ a power given to believers that bound and loosed spiritual forces and turned the spoken word into reality. Second and third respectively, the Movement depicted Faith as palpably demonstrated in wealth and health. It could be measured in both in the wallet—one’s personal wealth—and in the body—one’s personal health—making material reality the measure of the success of immaterial faith. Last, the Movement expected Faith to be marked by ‘Victory.’ Believers trusted that culture held no political, social, or economic impediment to Faith, and no circumstance could stop believers from living in Total Victory here on earth.

Though its origins lay in the late nineteenth century, the Prosperity Gospel took root in the Pentecostal Revivals of the post-World War II years. It reached maturity by the late 1970s as a robust Pan-denominational Movement, garnering a national platform and a robust network of churches, ministries, publications, and media outlets. Using the tools of ethnography and cultural history, this dissertation argues that Faith, Wealth, Health, and Victory served as the hallmarks of this American phenomenon.”

SIDENOTE. At a more personal and visceral level, Dr. Bowler, a Canadian, reported in an article published in ‘Dialogue Ireland, through a piece titled, “Death, Prosperity and Me” (February 13, 2016,) that she was diagnosed with cancer at the peak of her budding career, young marriage and birth of her son.

After watching her deeply moving 2018 TED presentation about all this, I thought to attach this very intimate sidebar to our story for this Commentary.

“On a Thursday morning a few months ago, I got a call from my doctor’s assistant telling me that I have Stage 4 cancer. The stomach cramps I was suffering from were not caused by a faulty gallbladder, but by a massive tumor … I am well aware that news of my cancer will be seen by many in the Prosperity community as proof of something. I have heard enough sermons about those who ‘speak against God’s anointed’ to know that it is inevitable, despite the fact that the book I wrote about them is very gentle.

I understand. Most everyone likes to poke fun at the Prosperity Gospel, and I’m not always immune. No word of a lie: I once saw a megachurch pastor almost choke to death on his own fog machine. Someone had cranked it up to the Holy Spirit maximum. But mostly I find the daily lives of its believers remarkable and, often, inspirational. They face the impossible and demand that God make a way. They refuse to accept crippling debt as insurmountable. They stubbornly get out of their hospital beds and declare themselves healed, and every now and then, it works. This is surely an American God, and as I am so far from home, I cannot escape him.”

DK’S TAKE. I believe with all my heart and head that it is past time for American Christians to take serious, even severe stock of ‘what we believe and why’ – as over against what Jesus Christ actually taught. He promised that in the Last Days, the world would be rife with Falsehood in a thousand forms – false doctrines of demons, false teachers preaching a false, anathemic gospel, doling out promises of health and wealth and triumph that were never in the True Gospel of Jesus Christ, ever.

Which is not to deny that as I write this as an unapologetic Pentecostal, fully believing that our God is a miracle working King, a loving Sovereign who does intercede to remove our maladies and tragedies.

But sometimes He does not beloved. Consequently, Dr. Bowler and we all, have to face up to that Divine Mystery every day.

THE CHALLENGE OF THEODICY

One of the main reasons I spent so much time with the Prosperity Gospel’s innate ‘Triumphalism,’ is that it reduces Almighty God tonothing more than a Divine Robot: That is, if we confess positively, live positively, do positive things for others all the time, never oppose anything; or anyone for any reason, and you know, just smile a whole bunch – then God ‘must’ bless us, or He is not really God.

Selah.

What Dr. Bowler and many of us in this little Community of Faith must confront head on is the Reality that ‘Bad things often happen to good people.’ “Good” being defined as faithful to God. I will quickly argue that gives us no reason whatsoever to ‘blame God’ for all the tragedy in our lives – though many do.

THE PROBLEM OF EVIL. Of course, the classic case study of this phenomenon is found in the Book of Job, when the most faithful of men was subjected to horrors and tragedies that most humans never experience – for no perceivable reason.

So, let’s take a closer look at this major issue through an introduction of it by the EDITORS of ‘Wikipedia’ (updated on December 27, 2021; edited). This will be followed by gazing through some tighter lenses from a couple of Bible scholars.

“Theodicy. Means ‘Vindication of God.’ It is to answer the Question of why a good God permits the manifestation of evil, thus resolving the issue of the Problem of Evil. Some theodicies also address the evidential problem of evil by attempting ‘to make the existence of an all-knowing, all-powerful and all-good or omnibenevolent God consistent with the existence of evil or suffering in the world.’ Unlike a defense, which tries to demonstrate that God’s existence is logically possible in the light of Evil, a Theodicy attempts to provide a framework wherein God’s existence is also plausible … As defined by [philosopher of religion] ALVIN PLANTINGA, ‘Theodicy’ is the ‘Answer to the question of why God permits evil.’” – cf. ‘God, Freedom and Evil,’ 1989

In that work by Plantinga, he sets up the Dilemma by citing the Australian philosopher, John Mackie, in a review by HELTON DUARTE in his blog published on April 24, 2018; edited.

“In its simplest form The Problem is this: God is omnipotent; God is wholly good; yet evil exists. There seems to be some ‘contradiction’ between these three propositions, so that if any two of them were true the third would be false. But at the same time all three are essential parts of most theological positions; the theologian, it seems, at once must adhere and cannot consistently adhere to all three …

Augustine says that for God to create a top-notch Universe it requires the existence of free, rational, and moral agents. However, some of these creatures will do wrong. That’s where Plantinga starts to do what he calls ‘The Free Will Defense’, i.e., maybe there is some kind of good that God is only capable of bringing into existence if He permits evil to also exist.”

THE POINT. While the Prosperity Gospel teaches that so long as you avoid doing evil and practice ‘doing good,’ God must reward you with some material blessing Notice that this is a partial or half-truth. While it is the case that “obedience is better than sacrifice” (cf. 1 Samuel 15:22) and pleases the Father, it does not, ipso facto, result in material blessing!

Indeed, this is the core aberration of the Prosperity Doctrine.

Today’s syncretized Americanized Gospel makes the Christian ‘sovereign’ over God in its de facto ‘demand’ that God do so and so. You can literally hear that sort of blasphemous hubris in the very voices and nuances of false preachers like Kenneth Copeland and his ilk.

THE CANON. Here is what the Word actually teaches, caught in two Old Testament passages and one in the New, that clearly reinforce the doctrinally sound ideas that Plantinga, Augustine and Mackie assembled as the Solution for the Problem of Theodicy.

JOB 13:15 (AMPC). “[I do it because, though He slay me, yet will I wait for and trust Him and] behold, He will slay me; I have no hope—nevertheless, I will maintain and argue my ways before Him and even to His face.”

DANIEL 3:17-18 (AMP). “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up!”

ROMANS 8:28 (AMP). “And we know [with great confidence] that God [who is deeply concerned about us] causes all things to work together [as a plan] for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His plan and purpose.”

THE LESSON OF JOB. I came across a wonderful analysis of the Book of Job by Irish philosopher of religion STEPHAN GRAHAM, that draws this massive idea to a rather lovely, neat conclusion.

“The Book of Job is written primarily for the people of God who are suffering. It’s a reminder that suffering isn’t necessarily tied to sin (thus suffering need not be compounded by guilt). Further, it’s a reminder that for those who believe in the greatness and goodness of God there is no suffering over which God is not in control … And, indeed, those who trust that God is perfectly good and all powerful have grounds to hold that whilst we may not see any good purpose, there must ultimately be one if an omnipotent and perfectly good God exists. That, it seems to me, is the underlying message of the Book of Job.” –

‘Divine Providence’ is the phrase that the Founders and Framers often used to describe this Mystery of the Summum Bonum aspect of our loving Father. But you must carefully note: This only applies to “those who love God, to those who are called according to His plan and purpose.”

The rest are pretty much on their own. That is to say: God does not so deal with those who defy Him, continually disobey Him and defile His name. This is the subject of the next section of our study.

THE TEACHING

SCRIPTURE. “For be sure of this: no immoral, impure, or greedy person—for that one is [in effect] an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God [for such a person places a higher value on something other than God]. Let no one deceive you with empty arguments [that encourage you to sin], for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience [those who habitually sin]. So do not participate or even associate with them [in the rebelliousness of sin].” – EPHESIANS 5:5-7, AMP

Well now, this is that Other Half of the Godhead that the contemporary American Church labors very hard to avoid including in so many sermons. Very hard indeed. And just in case you had not noticed from this passage – before we get to the Commentaries – the folks described here by the Apostle Paul have “any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ.”

To be clear, beloved, that means: They are going to spend Eternity in Hell, not Heaven as they all fully expect. Jesus put it this way in one of the Gospel’s most chilling passages.

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day [when I judge them], ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, and driven out demons in Your name, and done many miracles in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them publicly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me [you are banished from My presence], you who act wickedly [disregarding My commands].’ – MATTHEW 7:21-23, AMP

KEVIN HALLORAN. How many times have you heard sermons on the Judgment of God for what I shall call, ‘Doctrinal Insurrection,’ and its consequences for multitudes – Fiery Hell? Didn’t think so. Here is one author’s excellent Précis on this important matter in a piece titled, “5 REASONS” pastors will not teach on Hell, published on November 5, 2015 (edited).

Note that date by the way.

THE PROSPERITY GOSPEL. “Even pastors who formally reject the Prosperity Gospel can be tempted to functionally believe it in their hearts and proclaim it from the pulpit. Our materialistic culture only compounds this danger. Instead of proclaiming Eternal Judgment, preachers blunt the sharp edge of God’s Wrath out of a desire to highlight what [we] can get out of Christianity.”

‘LOVE’ IDOLATRY. “While Scripture is clear that ‘God is love’ (1 John 4:16), it’s equally clear that He is holy, righteous, jealous, and just—the Judge of the Universe to whom all will give account. Our feel-good culture of positive thinking may not like to talk about negative things like death or Hell, but God’s Word has much to say about it.”

LOW VIEW OF HOLINESS. “The Holiness of God is one of the most neglected doctrines in Evangelicalism today. Both the prophet Isaiah and the apostle John received glimpses into the heavenly throne room and heard the content of heavenly worship: ‘Holy, holy, holy.’ Only when we see God in light of His blinding Holiness can we understand how flawed rebels like us deserve His righteous Wrath. When we lose a sense of God’s Holiness, His Judgment begins to seem arbitrary.”

PRAGMATISM. “Many churches today run like businesses, basing their definition of success on metrics. Instead of prioritizing faithfulness to Scripture and making disciples, they focus on weekly attendance, bigger and better programs, and the amount of money in the plate. When the goal is padding numbers for a human definition of success, though, it’s not surprising some of the more ‘unsavory’ doctrines—like Hell—get left by the wayside.”

FEAR OF MAN. “Once we begin fearing our neighbor more than our Maker, a desire to please people will shape the content of our sermons. As preachers we must pursue the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom (Prov. 9:10) and let Him define ministry success. In ministry as well as in all areas of life, these words ring true: ‘The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe’ (Prov. 29:25). May our attitudes echo that of Paul: ‘For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ’ (Gal. 1:10).”

J. I. PACKER. In ‘A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life’ (1994) Packer observes what happens if we neglect to preach God’s hatred of serious sin: “If we do not preach about sin and God’s Judgment on it, we cannot present Christ as Savior from sin and the Wrath of God. And if we are ‘silent’ about these things, and preach a Christ who saves only from self and the sorrows of this world, we are not preaching the Christ of the Bible. We are, in effect, bearing false witness and preaching ‘a false Christ.’ Our message is ‘another gospel.’”

Paul’s Letter to Galatia takes this fiery remonstrance home for us in a passage I have cited before – and will likely again

“For [you seem willing to allow it] if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted. You tolerate all this beautifully [welcoming the deception] … As we have said before, so I now say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel different from that which you received [from us], let him be condemned to destruction!– 2 CORINTHIANS 11:4; GALATIANS 1:9, AMP

NOTE TO PASTORS. Unless I am completely misreading and applying the Scriptures and have misrepresented the Canon here, you are once more put on notice: IF you are preaching only a Partial Gospel, the Apostle Paul calls your preaching ‘accursed.’

Taken from the Greek term, ‘Anathema,’ meaning: “A votive offering devoted to God [that by corruption has become] a thing cursed, given to the darkest woes; a vow leading to punishment, discipline or destruction of an otherwise indissoluble oath; i.e., ‘let him be condemned to destruction!’”

Selah.

IN SUM. It’s all about ‘The Doctrines,’ beloved! Not the doctrinaires, nor the music nor even the praises, nor the latte coffee bars, nor the size and elegance of the buildings, nor the coolness of the pastor’s hipster clothing, nor even all the smiling faces and happy talk and endless hugs and high fives. No, beloved, no.

‘The Message’! Nothing more nor one ounce less.

THE LESSONS. So now we finally turn to the nuts and bolts of the Lord’s Teaching from Ephesians 5:5-7, focusing, as always, on the KEY TERMS from this important passage.

IMMORAL. From the Greek, ‘Pornos’ [πόρνος]: “Whoremonger; debauched as venal; lit. a man who prostitutes himself [spiritually or physically]; a fornicator; an immoral person; a man who indulges in unlawful intercourse [or alliances]; openly devoted to lewdness; sold to wickedness or to infamous purposes; a base hireling; a mercenary; one who offers himself to infamous employments for hire.”

IMPURE. The Greek word used here is, ‘Akathartos’ [ἀκάθαρτος]: “Unclean by unnatural pollution, or as applied to devils; idolatrous; morally unfit to be admitted to the peculiar rights of the Church [to be treated as in infidel]; visited by unclean spirits, having lost one’s original purity; abominableness, which the Lord hates; foul, lewd in thought and life; demonic.”

GREEDY. This refers to what in the Greek is called, ‘Pleonektés’ [πλεονέκτης], or: “A covetous or avaricious person; one desirous of having more; eager for gain, a defrauder [grifter]; wants to have what belongs to others, trampling on their rights to possess it; ravenous; voracious; very hungry for things desired; excessively eager to obtain and possess; directed to money or goods.”

IDOLATER. Finally, all these characteristics are summary of a person described in the following manner. From the word, ‘Eidólolatrés’ [εἰδωλολάτρης]: “An image worshiper, a server (worshipper) of an image (an idol); a follower of false gods; one who attends to or participates in their sacrificial feasts and banquets; especially a worshiper of Mammon; one who pays divine honors to images, statues, or representations of any thing made by hands; one who worships as a deity that which is not God; a pagan; an adorerer, extreme admirer.”

MATTHEW HENRY. “Filthy lusts must be rooted out. These sins must be dreaded and detested. Here are not only cautions against gross acts of sin, but against what some may make light of. But these things are so far from being profitable, that they pollute and poison the hearers … And if we ‘share’ with others in their sins, we must expect to share in their plagues [Selah]. If we do not ‘reprove’ the sins of others, we have fellowship with them. A good man will be ashamed to speak of what many wicked men are not ashamed to do. We must have not only a sight and a knowledge that that sin is sin, and in some measure shameful, but see it as a breach of God’s holy Law. After the example of Prophets and Apostles, we should call on those asleep and dead in sin, ‘to awake and arise,’ that Christ may give them light.” – ‘Exposition of the Old and New Testaments,’ 6 vols., 1708-1710; edited

THE APPLICATION. “So do not participate or even associate with them [in the rebelliousness of sin]. That is to say, beloved, in the surgically precise words of theologian JOHN GILL concerning these ‘so-called’ brethren:

“‘Be not ye therefore partakers with them.’ In their sins, and acts of disobedience; by keeping needless company with them; by abetting and encouraging sinful practices; by conniving at them, and not reproving for them; or by committing the same things.” – ‘An Exposition of the Old and New Testaments,’ 9 vols., 1746-1763; edited

Could it be any plainer, beloved? We are strongly, even again, ‘severely’ counseled away from such compromising alliances, a reference to today’s Trump-fueled American Nationalist Church if there ever was one

LAST THOUGHTS

You may recall that the subtitle of the first edition of my book, ‘The Sixth

Seal’ (2017) includes the phrase: “The End of History As We Know It.” Well then, either that is a demonstration of irresponsible Pretention on my part, or it is the Truth.

It cannot be both.

Please understand that I wrote those words after waiting and praying and researching intensely for no fewer than 35 years. And only after I believed sincerely that the Spirit of God told me to write them. Today, I find support for them in responsible Biblical analysis such as the one summarized below, as I conclude this Commentary.

DR. JOSH DAFFERN. Former missionary in Africa, seminarian, Bible scholar and pastor, Dr. Daffern presents a sober, theologically sound commentary of his own, published in ‘Belief.net’ (ret. January 11, 2022). His title and Thesis:

“5 SIGNS THE END OF THE WORLD” is indeed very much closer than we might otherwise be willing to think.

THE RISING PERSECUTION OF CHRSTIANS. “When talking with His disciples about the End Times, Jesus forewarned that before the End of the world ‘You will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death’ (Matthew 24:9). 2016 saw yet another increase in the persecution of Christians, with Fox News [sic] reporting that ‘nearly 90,000 Christians were killed for their faith in 2016 and that as many as 600 million were prevented from practicing their faith through intimidation, forced conversions, bodily harm or even death.’” DK: As Trump-inspired White Nationalism proliferates, I expect these waves to hit our shores in the next several years, between now and the end of the decade.

CHRISTIANS WILL BE HATED BY ALL NATIONS. “Immediately after Jesus tells His disciples about coming persecution in the last days, He states that ‘You will be hated by all nations because of Me’ (Matthew 24:9). This sign is more difficult to gauge because there is not a Hatred Index that we can use to determine how much the world hates Christians. But we can look at evidence of rising hatred in two of the areas of the world where Christianity used to dominate: America and Europe.” DK: Dr. Daffern is both courageous and discerning to posit this reality. Trump’s White Christian Nationalism will marginalize and ultimately prosecute Christians who will not go along with this insidious perversion of the Biblical Canon.

MANY WILL TURN AWAY FROM THE FAITH. “A third sign Jesus gave His disciples to signal the end of the world is, ‘At that time many will turn away from the faith’ (Matthew 24:10). Pew Research recently reported on the ‘Nones’ – those in America who self-identify as not being affiliated with any religion or denomination. From 2007 to 2015 this number increased from 16 percent to 23 percent while self-identifying Christians dropped from 78 percent to 71 percent.” DK: This is primarily taking place among young people, who see the division and hypocrisy and watered-down sermons in the Church, increasingly choosing to strike out on their own – at considerable peril.

THE LOVE OF ‘MOST’ WILL GROW COLD. “Because the end of the world is such a momentous event, Jesus gave His disciples several signs to look for to mark its arrival. The fourth indication Jesus gave in Matthew 24 is, ‘Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold’ (Matthew 24:12). Like the second sign (Christians will be hated by all nations), this one is difficult to gauge because there is not a way to scientifically gauge how hot or cold our love is, but we can sense an increase in wickedness all around us. Look at where our morals are as a nation. Look at our views on ethics, morality, and sexuality. We’re living in a ‘New’ Moral Age, one that is increasingly wicked.” DK: Though the author likely refers to mainline churches being emptied, our ‘thriving’ Evangelical, Charismatic and Pentecostal churches may appear successful, but are feeding the sheep half-truths and diluted doctrines, leading to increased profligacy and apostasy.

THE GOSPEL WILL BE PREACHED TO ALL NATIONS. “The final sign Jesus gave His disciples was a positive one, ‘And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come’ (Matthew 24:14). Not all the news out there is bad news. In spite of rising persecution, Christianity is proving resilient as Jesus continues to build His church (Matthew 16:18). Missionaries are being sent out from nations far and wide to provide a witness to all nations and all peoples.” DK: While mission groups and Christian researchers debate the number of people groups who have not yet heard the Gospel – averaging about 20% of the world population. The point is, we are getting very near, very near indeed.

CODA. This installment of the Five Point Series on the reality of our Spiritual Battle was to be on ‘The Warning.’ Allow me to say, without undue offense: Consider yourselves warned. I simply don’t have anything to add here, save for the Words of Moses:

“Beware that your hearts are not deceived, and that you do not turn away [from the LORD] and serve other gods and worship them, or else the LORD’S anger will be kindled and burn against you.” – DEUTERONOMY 11:16-17, AMP

¿Está claro, amados? Lo espero fervientemente y ruego que así sea.

Ever your servant, DK

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