Injury Time Living

And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. (Romans 13: 11 – 14)

I had a whole night of dreams with one theme; that the days we are living may be the very last to live as we are before a believer in Christ becomes the most abominable kind of character on the face of the earth. In other words we are about to be made the most despicable and unwanted criminals with nowhere to run for refuge. And that because we have totally agreed with what God says about the world without apologies.

We already have places where people are killed, raped, imprisoned and many other things are done to them just because they refuse to deny Christ. But I believe this is almost nothing compared to what is coming. And the main reason is that what is coming could well be springing from the organized church against those who take God too seriously.

And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains: And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein, to take any thing out of his house: And let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up his garment. (Mark 13: 13 – 16)

Most pulpits nowadays have enough abominations to have anyone serious enough for God wonder why Christ is taking too long to come. Many churches have the kind of leadership that could make a sensible Sunday School child squirm with horror. Many sermons have as much direction to heaven as brothels. Many church boards are made up of people whose only connection to Christ is walking or driving through the church gates. Many pastors and preachers take the Bible only as the source of witty epithets to spice up a motivational speech they call a sermon.

The pursuit of holiness may be the most abominable thing to these highly motivated people. Speaking about holiness (of course by first addressing sin) will make one the most abominable character in their scheme of things. But for the most part it is being done in secret because the wider church knows or appreciates that sin is against God’s standards.

What happens when these abominable characters who for the most part are completely illiterate of the word and workings of God take full control of all leadership? What happens when these people who strategically positioned themselves and their own completely take over churches as is already happening?

It will simply be criminal to live for God. We already know of nations where it is criminal to call homosexuality sin and a few have already been imprisoned, lost their jobs or paid hefty fines for simply agreeing with what the Bible plainly says. But many think it is too removed to affect us in a very long time. But the speed at which many such things are happening make me think it will be overrunning us in a very short time and that we better be prepared.

But the main reason I write this is to challenge us to reconsider our priorities.

Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. (2Peter 3: 11 – 14)

What would I be rather Christ found me doing when I consider these things? What are my priorities? What do I spend my most valuable time doing?

This is because I might be wasting my most precious time feeding the fire. I might be using my best resources on the wind. I could be trashing all the essentials I will need in the soon to be real life.

You see, once my faith is criminalized, I will be sacked from that job I have invested my all to keep as is happening to people who are taking their faith seriously in the gay debate in some countries. That neighborhood I spent the world to own a part of will reject and eject me irrespective of all that investment I poured. Even that church I equate with my spiritual wellbeing will excommunicate me for being extremist because I take God too seriously. In short, all I own could be confisticated because of my relationship with God.

Of course prisons will be overflowing with the new breed of criminals who qualify so by being serious with their faith. Others will be run off from society and will have to look for places to live, all the while running from persecution, even death. This will necessitate living very simply and frugally. That cell phone could be trashed because apart from there being no power on the run, it could be used to track and arrest you at will. You will need to leave that car as you may not have the money to fuel it as your accounts will be frozen as happens to other criminals.

And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. (Revelation 13:17)

But we realize that the prisons will be for the ones the world has a hope of leading back to itself. The most radical ones have only one sentence, death, because their radical faith is at the danger of spreading to the watching world which would be disastrous to the ruling powers. The truly converted will therefore need to flee for their lives, leaving everything behind as we have seen with the displaced everywhere.

These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you. (John 16:1 – 4)

Yet I think the most important thing to do is being more committed in our relationship with Christ. You see His grace is always abundant to those who are walking in His light and living according to His revelation. Then we will not be caught unawares whatever comes our way.

We must develop the right relationship with whatever we own because we may soon need to leave it, or it is taken away by force. We must need to learn to live by faith and within our means. In fact it is important to teach our systems to adjust by consciously denying our bodies some pleasure that we cannot sustain under persecution. 1 John 2: 15 – 17 must describe us.

We must share the Gospel before that is completely criminalized (though it is already criminalized, only in a soft way). This is what Christ said will hasten His coming (Matthew 24: 14).

But what binds this together is our need to hate sin with every atom of our being. You see sin is what locked us out of Eden. It is what hung Christ on the cross. And it is what is taking the world to hell. Of course it is the cause of all the persecution we experience.

The second is elevating the word of God above all other knowledge, experience or wisdom. As the belt of truth, it gives us stability in our pursuit for holiness and God’s will. As the sword of the Spirit, it becomes the only weapon we can wield against the world and worldliness and win. It is the only one we can take to hell and rescue captives.

Thus we will seek to know all there is to know about God through His word and as we live according to it will be able to handle the pressures the world will pile on us to abandon or adulterate our faith. And I suspect we do not have the luxury of time as things are about to happen a bit too quickly for our preparation. It is the one who is already prepared who will not be caught naked.