ARE WE LIVING IN INEVITABLE TIMES? ARE THE THINGS HAPPENING AROUND US, INEVITABLE? Some- times, words convey meanings that usher us right into the moment. I woke up one day this past week with this word on my mind, playing over and over like a song in a loop. Similar words like, inescapable, unavoidable, imminent are being used concerning what we are seeing in the news today. In spite of the attitude of some, this is not a que sera sera (whatever will be, will be) moment in time.
Prophetic words have a way of hanging over us. In another day, it was a thinking Christian who penned these words: “It is Inevitable that a nation will suffer depression if it waters its stock, trades in fictitious values, rigs markets and inflates currencies.
It is inevitable that a city will be plagued with juvenile delinquency if it builds factories where playgrounds ought to be and make manufactured products as gods.
It is inevitable that police costs will go soaring if the liquor trade is licensed to sell poison that incapacitates men and reduces the nation’s homes to a level of dens.
It is inevitable that our courts will find their dockets clogged with loathsome cases of sex offenders if we issue a license to purveyors of obscenity and exhibitors of nudity. (THIS WAS WRITTEN 40 YEARS BEFORE THE INTERNET WAS CREATED, AND SOCIAL MEDIA WAS NOT EVEN A CONSIDERATION.)
Yes, it is inevitable that we will see the divorce rate rise sharply if we make a jest of marital fidelity and hold the faithful wife and loyal husband up to ridicule for the sake of box office receipts.
It is inevitable that we shall see industrial violence if we teach people that life is made out of the abundance of things and that the spiritual values of life are passe’.
It is inevitable we shall have communism in our midst if we keep the doors of opportunity closed to large numbers of our youth and consign millions to the roles of unemployment every winter. (WITH THE CORONA SHUT DOWN, WE HAD AN EXTENDED WINTER AND CABIN FEVER HAS NEVER BEEN SO HIGH ON THE REGISTER. AS A MATTER OF FACT, IT BROKE THE THERMOMETER!)
It is inevitable that we shall be compelled to pay confiscatory taxes and liquidate the nation’s savings if we allow our government to operate on the basis of deficit spending and irresponsible investment of the nation's productivity and earning capacity.
It is inevitable that the Church shall stand ignored and neglected if, in the face of woes that are sapping the nation, it remains neutral.”
We are not as some that believe that we are doomed to an inevitable decline. We believe that America is God’s idea and that He is listening to the groan of mankind, the groan of waiting for the manifestation of the sons and daughters of God.
The greater inevitability is found in 2 Chronicles 7:14. In this verse, we are reminded that God’s promise is our provision. At this time millions around the world are crying out to God on the basis of this text.
2 Chronicles 7:14 (Amplified Bible)
And if My people who are called by My Name humble themselves and pray and seek (crave, require as a necessity) My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear [them] from heaven, and forgive their sin and heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14 (The Message Translation)
If...my God-defined people respond by humbling themselves, praying, seeking my presence, and turning their backs on their wicked lives, I’ll be there ready for you: I’ll listen from heaven, forgive their sins, and restore their land to health.
2 Chronicles 7:14 (The Voice Translation)
And if My people (who are known by My name) humbly pray, follow My commandments, and abandon any actions or thoughts that might lead to further sinning, then I shall hear their prayers from My house
in heaven, I shall forgive their sins, and I shall save their land from the disasters.
In the early days, salt was used as a currency. Have you ever heard that a man is worth his salt? There is no saltiness on the earth except for salt. There are thousands of flavors of sweetness, but only one that is salty, and that is salt itself. There is nothing that can replace it. Jesus asked this question, “If the salt has lost its saltiness, wherewith shall the earth be salted?”. What he said next is as powerful as the day He said it, “You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.” I would fail you as your pastor if I did not share with you what I am hearing and studying today.
I believe in you, and I believe you and I can make a difference in today’s present climate.
Your Loving Pastor’s
Cleddie and GayNell