SIGNAGE

As I have traveled all over the world one thing has always struck me, the more developed the country is the better the road signs are…….STOP, CURVE AHEAD, DO NOT PASS, YIELD, ETC. In countries like Pakistan, when you get out of the cities there is a basic mentality of "the biggest vehicle makes the rules for the road"………no road signs……..scary! That got me to thinking, what do you suppose the signage along the "narrow road" looks like;

Matthew 7:13-14
Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide
is
the gate, and broad
is
the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait
is
the gate, and narrow
is
the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

 

I believe the very first "warning" sign was right at the beginning of the road…….it's the "Y", or "fork ahead"…..your choice! If you make the correct choice, and that's a major "IF"! It isn't too far down the way that you encounter the next sign;

 

Matthew 7:15
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

 

Now, in my estimation, the destination of "LIFE" has got to be one of the most developed places you could find……so naturally…..the road that takes you there should have an abundance of warning signs along the way. Here are just a few that I found on the "ROAD MAP";

 

BEWARE - 14 verses in the NT

TAKE HEED – 26 verses in the NT

ON THE ALERT – 15 verses in the NT

WATCH OUT – 3 verses in the NT

STAND FIRM – 8 verses in the NT

 

Now, on the contrary, the destination of "DESTRUCTION" has got about as many signs on the super highway as the rural roads in Pakistan.

 

Matthew 7:13
"Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.

 

So, the moral of the story is…….are you one of those people that when they come to the "Y" on the road……and you choose the correct way to LIFE……..ARE YOU PAYING CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE WARNING SIGNS? Have you been stopped by "LAW ENFORCEMENT" for violations along the way because you weren't paying attention to the signs? Have you tried to take a "DETOUR" off of the road that was more of a "SCENIC ROUTE"……with a lot less "SIGNAGE" to spoil the view?

 

GIVES US SOMETHING TO PONDER IN THESE "DIFFICULT" DAYS….ON THAT NARROW ROAD……WITH ALL THOSE SIGNS TO WATCH OUT FOR!

 

2 Timothy 3:1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.

Deluding Influence Part 6

The next area of focus in the "deluding influence" we will consider is; coming to an understanding of the "God sending" of this influence. It is established in scripture that God cannot sin or be part of a temptation to sin…..so how is this possible with a deluding influence that He sends upon any human being…….who is made in His likeness? I believe Jon Gill's commentary on 2 Thessalonians 2:11 gives an excellent explanation of this;

….for the efficacy of error (deluding influence) is not to be considered as a sin, of which God cannot be the author, but as a punishment for sin, and to which men are given up, and fall under the power of, because they receive not the love of the truth, which is the reason here given: and this comes to pass partly through God's denying his grace, or withholding that light and knowledge, by which error may be discovered and detected; and by taking from men the knowledge and conscience of things they had, (see Romans 1:28ff). So that they call evil good, and good evil, and do not appear to have the common sense and reason of mankind, at least do not act according to it……….

Romans 1:18-32 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

 

A very interesting side note to this are the words that Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3;

 

2 Timothy 3:1-5 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.

 

It makes one wonder if God wasn't warning Timothy to avoid such men as these because of the deluding influence He was going to be sending on these unsaved individuals that would ultimately lead to judgment……..probably a good warning for us to behoove as well…….also a good reminder to make absolutely sure of your genuine (Born Again) salvation experience as well as anyone you lead to that saving knowledge.

One crucial area of PREPARATION

The devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan that happened yesterday was a very good example of having a plan in case of an unexpected emergency, not that anyone could have foreseen a catastrophe of that magnitude and made any kind of preparations.

However, if you know that something is eventually coming that will have a negative impact on your daily life it is only wise to ponder it and see if there is something you can do ahead of time to lessen the impact of the negative thing.

If you know something will have a negative impact in a spiritual sense then you look in scripture for principles that will lessen that impact. One of the biggest areas that I personally see is the intense study of spiritual warfare……a very neglected area in most modern day churches. That is the main reason I have decided to start an on-going Internet based study on Spiritual Warfare for the 21^st Century, click on the following link to learn about this and register if you like;

http://www.theundergrounded.org/webinars.htm

Another area of preparation that we can look at does come from the earthquake in Japan, that is, being totally dependent on an outside source for ELECTRICITY. When you look at the number of people that really weren't in the major part of the earthquake but are still effected by not having electricity……it is staggering. Just things like 1.keeping food edible, 2. Being able to communicate with loved ones, 3. Everything in your home that uses electricity that won't work. This is overwhelming for most people who have never had to deal with this kind of thing.

In looking at this one thing personally, and pondering it a bit, we have decided to consider having to live as if we were camping somewhere where there is no electrical hookups. We have purchased items that work off of 12 volts, have bought an extra deep cycle battery with a solar panel for charging them when we don't have electricity, we bought a 12 volt ice chest to keep food cold after you cook it on a butane gas stove, we purchased a 12 volt to 110 volt AC inverter so we can charge our computers and cell phones………just a few things like this will help tremendously in times of crisis.

Now for Christian persecution preparation, you need to add in the whole idea of making sure your neighbors are truly born again as you so you can work together during a crisis instead of having to defend what you have from your neighbor……who could be your worst nightmare depending on his or her spiritual condition.

This is just one area of preparation to consider. In the days ahead I will try to highlight several others so we can honestly say that we have done all…….and then stand firm in the Truth.