The World's Last Gleaming

This is about a deep mystery. We are near the end. COVID-19 is just the beginning. What a thing to say. I am going to prove it to you.

Do not believe in exceptionalism. But consider the following.

Note: According to Daniel 7 and Revelation 17 during the earth's final seven years, there is going to be a worldwide Dictator (the man is the Antichrist) who is going to preside over a ten-nation confederacy.

All national distinctions will be eliminated, meaning the United States Constitution will be abolished.

That's quite an assertion? Our Constitution guarantees the American has the right to elect our governing officials.

Still, during the final seven years of history, this worldwide Dictator will rise to power without a vote by the American elector and abrogated our cherished freedoms, demanding he alone be worshiped.

Such usurpation of power can only be accomplished by the setting aside of the Constitution.

Once the Constitution is gone, so is the United States as we know it, and it will cease to exist. That is enough of the bad news.

The good news is although we cannot prevent the ultimate collapse, we can and must delay it. For a Christian, the motivation is not to preserve our way of life, but to give more time to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as possible before America is swept away by God's judgment.

Most evangelical Christians should understand even if they do not obey the mandate to serve as lights in a very dark world, pointing people to Jesus Christ's offer of salvation to all who will believe.

I find that many people do not comprehend Jesus' command to delay our culture by acting as salt in the world. (Matthew 5.13)

Note: Many Christians equate efforts to stop the murder of the unborn, uphold the Biblical principles of morality, and elect godly leaders with rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

They think, "If we are going down anyway, why bother?" I, of course, used to feel the same way. During my seven years on Hubpages, I have, on occasion, written about social issues and getting involved with political issues.

Note: A book that you need to read is "Our Last Gleaming" by Robert Jeffress, born November 29, 1955, is an American Southern Baptist (Evangelical) pastor, author, and radio and television host. He is the Senior Minister of the 14,000-member First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, and is a Fox News Contributor.

Here is something I have written about previously. A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse...from the public treasury...

The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years... And the cycle is surprisingly predictable:

• from bondage to spiritual faith;
• from religious belief to great courage;
• from courage to liberty;
• from liberty to abundance;
• from abundance to complacency;
• from complacency to apathy;
• from apathy to dependency;
• from dependency back again into bondage. -Alexander Tyler, 1750

Where are we in the above cycle? Lessons of the predictable decay of empires and cultures commonly differentiate three primary aspects of their decline: Social Decay, Cultural Decay, and Moral Decay.

The first being, Social Decay, which is pigeon-holed by the crisis of lawlessness, the loss of economic discipline, and the rise of bureaucracy.

This is associated with Cultural Decay: the decline of education, the weakening of cultural foundations, and the loss of respect for tradition. All this is, of course, the result of Moral Decay:

• the rise of immorality,
• the decay of religious beliefs, and
• the subsequent devaluation of human life.

I would suggest we are guilty of all of these. Am I wrong?

-Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

Consider our stock indexes are at record highs. Some people are buying their third and fourth cars. Almost every home has a computer. It's hard to find anyone without a cellular phone on their belt. Our fuel costs less than the water we drink. "It is the best of times...."

However, we murder socially, inconvenient babies. We change marriage partners like a fashion statement. We seem to have abandoned the sanctity of commitments in all of our relationships: our marriages, our business relationships, etc. Homosexuality is just an "alternative lifestyle."

In the Bible meantime, God rebuked Israel for its brutality, murder, and warfare. But we have had Waco and Columbine High School. New York City has recorded more crimes than England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Switzerland, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway, and Denmark combined.

That is nothing to be proud of without saying, which I just did. Should our reaction be to delay the demise of our culture? Remember, our divine calling is to lead people to the Lord Jesus Christ and to become born again.

We cannot just sit back and wait for the Lord to come. We are called by God to stand up and push back against the tide of unrighteousness that threatens to engulf our country. Are we?

What can we do to effect real change in our country? To start with, each of us can call, email, or contact your legislator and demand he or she investigates what can be done, whether it is a new law or meeting in Washington, DC, to let the world know we are not going to take it anymore. We must do something!

I have a feeling the answer to these questions is going to change my ministry forever. We can argue about Islam being a peaceful religion all day. It was evident that those who call themselves Islamic have committed violence around the world, including the United States.

It is also true the peaceful religion is one that oppresses women. The founder, Mohammed, took a nine-year-old girl as his wife and committed rape of a child. According to several sources, they use the excuse that everyone did that in the culture of the time.

Well, I happen to be proficient in Christianity, and God did not endorse the marriage of nine-year-old children nor having sex with that age individual. Paul states, "Flee sexual immorality (porneíā) and pursue self-control" (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:1–8).

Wow! This one is a tuff one. The truth hurts sometimes and we need to be awakened. That was a slap in the face to write as well. I hope you learned something from the short essay. If so, please leave some feedback. I don't get much and would like to change that some way.

Anywho, thank you for reading and God's blessings to you and your family, Gary