In ancient times, it was Rome….in more recent history, it was Germany. Each of these countries were at one point a free society, but eventually led a total dictatorship and police state. Struggles first showed themselves as simple heated political debates….but eventually crescendoed when national emergencies plunged the countries into confusion and fear. After national emergencies, temporary laws were enacted in emergency sessions by their leaders, and they people were told they were necessary to protect them from foreign threats which sought their destruction.
One morning the citizens of these countries were free to live…free to travel…free to conduct personal business as they pleased with their families. Who would have known that sudden national emergencies would throw their entire way of life into chaos? It would come on gradually over time….But the difference would be as stark as day versus night, as one morning they were seemingly free….but by the next morning…the next sunrise would shine on a different society, a different people…and a different way of life. It may have only taken a few moments for key events to occur…But these events would seemingly instantly thrust these people into a total lifestyle change for years to come. The history of these two societies cries out still today at the crescendos which we now know as the crossing of the Rubicon or the burning of the Reichstag.
The real question is: Did these things really happen in just a few hours or minutes..without prior warning? Was there any signs which could have alerted them sooner? Did these sudden life-altering chains of events happen instantly one day, or was there a consistent pattern which should have warned the people to pay attention to transitions from a free society to a dictatorship? If so, where was their ’line in the sand’ where they could have stood up and done something about the terror which was about to befall them? Did it take executions in the streets…stormtroopers dragging people out of their homes in the middle of the night…did it really take the death of themselves or their loved ones before they could notice what changes had gone on around them? Did they really consider their options, or follow the sweet words from their politicians?
And furthermore…as Christians living in those societies…What did they think? As many were eventually being dragged away to their deaths, or watching others being taken…As they soon watched from afar as previous popularly-elected leaders became a class of their own, both able to pass law by decree and maintain untouchability to charges of corruption and outright fraud… What went through these Believers’ minds? Did they think, ”Surely Jesus will return soon! He will save us from this destruction, for who on earth has seen the magnitude of this persecution, bloodshed, and power on the world stage? Is this not the final anti-christ and his last grasp for power? But why are we going through this trouble…why are we too partaking then in this cup of persecution? If this went through their minds, how might it have affected their faith in God? And if so…was it because of a lack of faith, a change in God’s nature… Did Jesus come back as many surely thought, or do those events have yet to occur? Why did such terrible happen to people who could not have previously conceived such evil?
Have you ever studied history? Have you ever thought about how we have gotten to where we are today…How times have changed since Jesus walked the streets of a Jewish Jerusalem, to today when we may walk similar streets in Jerusalem…with a battle now between several religiouns and their adherents! How things have changed!
Yet, how many things stay the same. Did not people throughout history share the same emotions as we today, such as happiness…joy…fear….pain….anger….complacence? Do we not all share these very same human characteristics? And furthermore…even with a change of setting, whether they be time or place….Does that really change the human condition? Besides a few new inventions, locations, and clothes…Do we not share many of the same similarities to people throughout history? From birth to death, education to marriage, hope from youth to the wisdom of older age….peace to war, free society to slave society….While names change and the language that describe them, don’t we all share much more in common than we many times may realize?
Therefore, if there is any validity to these thoughts…Are they worth asking ourselves? Are we learning from history? Are we living in a free society, a police state, or somewhere in between? At what point …and what changes should be made…to ensure that our children are free to live in a society where they can grow not only spiritually through our Lord Jesus Christ, but are free to serve Him in the freedom which God gave each one of us at the point of birth? At what points are we drawing a ’spiritual’ line in the sand to safeguard our thoughts and beliefs…Or is that being foolish and ‘closed minded’?
And if the time comes when our societal freedoms are taken away….If the time comes when we awake to a new sunrise, and see a place and society which have become unrecognizable overnight…What would we hold to? What things are eternally true and worth clinging to, and which things are we willing to give up or change our lives around? Who do we turn to, and in whom do we place our faith and trust? Do we long for convincing leaders without question, or do we think through current problems based on what we can verify and have held true previously? Who do we turn to? And how do we do it?
Perhaps more importantly: If we call ourselves Believers….If we truly claim to follow Jesus…Are we constantly putting words in God’s prophetic mouth? And if we do so, does that increase or decrease our faith? (Do we blame God for the failures of our mixing His word with our assumptions?) Or do we let God’s Word and prophecy lead us where it may, and adjust ourselves according to His unchanging Word? Will we do the difficult thing….Will we listen so intently to the Word of God that we can spot inconsistencies in our lives or that of our society around us? And furthermore, are we so attuned to hearing the voice of our Heavenly Father that we can spot a fake from the real thing?
If we are truly moving into a time when we are experiencing more times of trouble on a global scale…Is our faith strong enough to stand a little testing? Where do we have our foundations, and what are our opinions and morals based upon: Ourselves? Society? God? Or perhaps something or someone else? Do we even know?
Do these thoughts have any merit…Or are they not even worth thinking about?
What do you think?
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