| (Copyright) by James McBride (United Kingdom) |
|---|
Armed conflict disrupts the lives of millions of earth’s populace—though ‘the West’ has been blessed with more than half a century of relative tranquility, with a welcome rise in living standards. But inequalities persist, and world leaders are behind the scenes planning radical change, change that will affect all of mankind.  Our track record down the centuries, however, raises a red warning flag. After six millennia of civilization, governments have utterly failed to implement utopia; ‘…the way of peace they have not known’. For every ‘solution’ is undermined by human nature and scorn for foundation principles.  Right v. Wrong Civilization—and its governing laws—is formulated on the basis of majority opinion driven (despite democratic elections!) by those who wield power—overtly or from behind the scenes. Their agenda, however, sprouts from fallen human nature—which cannot discern right from wrong.  To discern right from wrong demands a recognizable universal standard based on the divine ‘law of love’ as summarized in the Decalogue—all ten of God’s guiding principles.  The imposition of the humanly devised standards has now devolved to a global level, with the ‘United Nations’ and its covert sponsors dictating the agenda for all nations from behind closed doors, with national governments, local councils—and the public— as enforcement pawns.  Future Shock Our new rulers present their agenda as benign paternal leadership dedicated to the welfare of all mankind. Their clearly stated plan can be summed up as ‘net zero by 2050’, with implementation of most measures by 2030: A laudable end to destructive air and water and agricultural pollution. An end to poverty and recurring pandemics and to the housing shortage. Sounds good!  The shock comes, as always, in the detail. Public transport replaces cars. Air and sea travel curtailed. Food and water rationed. Meat banned. Animal husbandry eliminated. Hi-tech GM food. ‘Smart’ cities. Reliance on (fragile) internet technology. A cashless society. Behavioral monitoring via intrusive surveillance on our smartphones and TVs, Alexa, cctv etc.  But such aims can be achieved only by coercion. Indeed, plans for this are well advanced as digital IDs are being imposed and an army of ‘hit squads’ recruited to monitor our spending, behavior, our recycling, our eating habits, our travel.  Christian Values Such humanist attempts to solve man’s challenges are the focus of Isaiah’s analysis (as quoted earlier). That is, the rejection of our Creator and His guidance. Man was created as a perfect, rational, sentient being created from earth’s elements but with an in-built guiding spirit (the ‘spirit in man’) and described as being ‘…in the image of God’ (Genesis 1:27). His purpose is we become, through our life experiences, restored to that character image.  Our ‘operating system’ was ahab, agape love, defined as total harmony with the divine mind, the force that maintains our relationship with the Father and keeps us on the straight and narrow. Our rejection of that pathway (‘sin’) and our dependence on distorted human reasoning required the direct intervention of the Godhead:’…God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone believing into Him should not perish, but have everlasting life ‘(John 3:16).  It is ’the way of the world’—a world rejected by those who are ‘in Christ: ‘…Who but the man that believes that Jesus is the Son of God overcomes the world?’ (I John 5:5). Our mission as Christians is to ‘walk as Jesus walked’— to overcome the world and its ways, as did our Savior: ‘…I have spoken these things to you that you may have peace in Me. You have distress in the world; but be encouraged, I have overcome the world’ (John 16:33).  Much of society presently stumbles through a fog of fear—fear of a virus, fear of hospitals, fear of touching something, fear of being locked up for a so-called ’violation’ of an edict, fear of climate change.  But that’s not for us, for ‘…There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear: because fear has torment. He that fears is not made perfect in love’. Paul adds: ‘…So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me’ (Hebrews 13:6).                       ———————————————————————————————————- Reprinted with permission from: The Churches of God Outreach Ministries http://www.cgom.org/  ———————————————————————————————————- |
Views: 0