The “i” Generation
It’s 4 a.m, I should be sleeping but it’s just not happening. It’s been one of those nights in which my mind keeps going over and over the same thoughts, troubling thoughts.
Maybe God is trying to tell me something, maybe not, I don’t know. But I do know that writing things down seems to help bring some peace and order to these thought’s.
In my house we have 4 children, 3 are mine and 1 belongs to my older brother. The lives of these kids revolve to a large extent around the personal computer, facebook, online networking, gaming, music, Youtube etc. If you’re a parent you know the deal, you’ll understand.
This is the “i” generation. The generation of I.T. “information technology”, it is the generation of the iPod, the generation of iTunes, the iMac computer, of me and my facebook, of me and my videos on Youtube, probably should have been called iTube. This is the generation where “i” sells. Heck they even tried to rename a revamped variety of the much loved Aussie icon “vegemite” with the name “iSnack 2.0″
And what is the symbol of the iMac, iPod and iTunes generation, yep, an apple with a bite out of it. Eve would be impressed that her legacy continues to this day. LOL as my kids would say.
But as a parent whose desire is to see his children live godly lives I get a little anxious about the depth of selfishness that this new iTechnology generation offers. The focus is so “i”, so me, so you, so inward looking, and so consuming to the degree that within this realm my kids find a sense of purpose, completeness and who they are.
Yet if we were to look at their lives from the perspective of Christlikeness I have an awful sense that this “i” generation is so unlike, so opposed, and so contrary to Christlikeness. I have to admit to having increasing feelings of repugnance toward it all.
The thought that prevails is this. How can I, as a dad in this generation instill the Christlike values of servanthood and self-denial amidst this culture. How can my words, my teaching, my life instill into their lives these diametrically opposed, counter-culture values when their lives are so consumed by “i” ? That’s the question and I need to find the answer.
Now I know prayer is a good place to start, and so this is where I will begin this journey.
Lord, help me to instill into the lives of my children, those values which you would be pleased with. Help me to help them see, that to live in You is to serve, that to love as You have loved is to forsake selfishness and self-centeredness. Father I pray to you for I know that apart from the light of your word and Spirit we are in darkness, we grope blindly, we have need of eye-salve, that we might see. Father help me to live this life, to forsake the hypocrisy which so easily ensnares, and to be that example to my children which speaks louder than words. Lord I confess my own selfishness and self- centeredness, guide me, light the path before me, that I may walk according to your word and be found pleasing in your sight. Thank you for the grace which you have freely granted us in Christ, that we may escape the snare of this world, and that our children also….in Your name Lord, with heartfelt thanks-Amen.
If anyone has any thoughts and suggestions they are all gratefully received, feel free to contribute.
It’s now 5.15 a.m. Still dark outside but the Kookaburras have begun their morning laugh session. How rude and selfish that they should make such noise at this early hour. If your not an Aussie and wonder what I’m talking about you can see a short video here. LINK
I never knew you
Mat 7:22 “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ Mat 7:23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you evildoers!’
Perhaps the most troubling aspect in this scene is the reality that these ones were unaware of their plight until that moment. The faith which they had presumed upon, had turned out to be another faith. How one could in a sense hope that they had known, one could hope that they knew full well that they were in rebellion to the truth of the faith, one could hope that they knew full well they were “evildoers”, false teachers, false prophets and wolves dressed in sheeps clothing, and here lies the most horrible reality, that they did not know until that moment.
And so in preparing this message, the thought of my mind aligns with the thoughts of a great man like Wesley, “Lord, is it my case?”
Selah!
One of the difficulties we face in the visible church these days is the pressure that is put upon us to refrain from putting fear into the hearts of men. To refrain from preaching messages that could be perceived as “negative” or “heavy”. We are encouraged to preach messages that are encouraging, uplifting and positive, and in this way, many will want to sit in the pews, bring friends and so we increase.
I am earnestly troubled about all of this, for it seems to me that we have gone astray. We have gone the way of covetousness and made merchandise of mens souls. We are foolishly departing from the fear of the Lord, from declaring to believers their obligation to the faith, lest they also perish. I wonder if the Joel Osteens of this world have told their congregations that many of them could end up in hell. Perhaps they have, perhaps I just haven’t heard that sermon. I wonder if these well known teachers have themselves considered earnestly the prospect that they may end up in hell.
Perhaps the lesson that sticks with me concerning the plight of those who will stand before Christ and hear those most fearful words “I never knew you”, is this. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9
This doesn’t seem to be the place to end this post, and yet I trust that it is. For their is nothing much else I can think to add except to say that God knows the condition of our heart. You and I may not know that we are blind, poor and naked and in desperate need of His grace, but He most certainly does know, and it is to Him that we should look now.
Psalm 145:18 The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
19 He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
he also hears their cry and saves them.
20 The Lord preserves all who love him,
but all the wicked he will destroy.
Woe is me
Where to begin ? It was over 11 years ago that I found the Lord, but to be honest I’m still not sure if I found Him, or He found me. I think He had been wrestling with me for many years, or I with Him. Either way for all the things that one experiences in life, this one event has become my defining moment. It has indelibly changed all that I am, all that I think, all that I do and all that I believe.
The journey that’s followed, down the narrow path which leads to life has certainly been interesting. Many times I’ve cried like a baby, even weeping bitterly for the rottenness that at times seems to rule over me. Many times I have mourned with those who suffer loss and also mourn, groaned inwardly as I pray for His children that suffer persecutions, become infuriated with the blindness of this world, am angry and frustrated by the reluctance of Gods people to stand up, to serve, to love and be faithful. Then angry with myself for being so judgmental, so able to see the splinter in others eyes, whilst remaining blind to the log in my own.
I recall one evening being so angry with myself, so desperate to hear a word from God that I drove to the top of a near mountain and there poured out my anger, my frustration at my lack of what seemed to be any personal righteousness, and in the most wonderful of ways an answer that I believe came from the Lord. In a distant tone, as if to say you are distant from Me, I’m sure I heard the following words “you have no righteousness apart from Me”
At that time I took that word as both a rebuke and a comfort. A rebuke for having mistakenly supposed that I could offer God a self righteousness and expect Him to be pleased. To mistakenly believe that He would draw close to me as I went about my life being self righteous. Yet at the same time a comfort for knowing that I may have been distant at that time, but not separated, and I was by no means abandoned.
From that time on I am more aware that it’s the Lords desire to work righteousness in my inner man, to speak to me of those things which are a little less pleasant to hear, and in this, in bringing these things to the light they can be dealt with.
The rottenness that pervades this soul of mine does at times seem to have no end. Of late I realize that I am guilty of measuring out to others in a measure that I do not always apply to myself. In this world at this time, like Lot in Sodom, we can find our salvation in the condemnation of the sin that abounds in this world. One can in a sense be self justified, convinced of self righteousness for not having partaken these same things which the world does, and yet even this is foolishness.
I believe that the mistake we can make is this Christian, when we find our justification in separating from the world, in living a good life, of doing the Christian thing, it is entirely possible that we are doing nothing other than holding to a form of Godliness, as the scriptures speak in 2 Timothy 3. I’ve learned this much, God is not looking for a form of Godliness, a man who outwardly looks like a righteous man, who speaks of holiness yet inwardly is an unclean cup. And the reality is that each one of us come to Him in just this way.
We are incredibly complicated creatures and so very blind to truth of who we are. If we will not abide in the light of the faith, if we will not draw near to Him, if we will not be led down paths of righteousness by Him then quite simply, we do not have the ability to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart in our own strength nor deal with the darkness that dwells within. Our righteousness, our salvation and justification does not come except from Christ, only from the righteousness that is granted to us as we abide in the faith.
I take great comfort from the words of the apostle Paul, who spoke of how he too was seemingly frustrated with his own humanity ;
Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.
Rom 7:19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.
and then
Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Rom 7:25 I thank God–through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
Finally I would ask you to consider the words of our Lord, who in Matthew 7:2 said that in the day of judgement that many would come to Him saying Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy, did we not cast out devils in your name, and I will say to them DEPART FROM ME YOU WHO WORK INIQUITY. You who are EVILDOERS. You who work LAWLESSNESS. These ones clearly held to a form of Godliness, of religiosity that was completely devoid of the faith of Christ.
The day of the judgement will be like a great unmasking, things in that day will be seen clearly and understood for what they are. I pray that we would recognize that at this time, the age of Gods grace, that we have been granted the opportunity to put off the old man, the man of death, in which no good thing dwells, and put on Christ, that we may be found as the children of God.
The Hypocrisy of Babylon
From the land of the great and the free comes the following article. Yes, in keeping with the spirit of Babylon, you can legally kill unborn children, make and export pornography, rip off fellow countrymen or other peoples to the tune of billions and license them with weapons that can kill. But try to get a number plate with the words “I Believe” printed on it, and you will invoke the wrath of authorities.
U.S. JUDGE BANS CHRISTIAN CAR PLATE
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GOD-IN-A-BOX
Haven’t had a lot of free time lately to post, but I found this site recently which I thought was very good. Didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
I especially loved the buyers testimonies of how their lives were changed after receiving their very own GOD-IN-A-BOX.
“You won’t believe how much my life has changed after I got my own GOD-IN-A-BOX©.
Now, since my god has attributes that fit my lifestyle, I don’t have to worry about going
to hell anymore.” – Ed Jr.
my own GOD-IN-A-BOX©.
.
The illusion of debt
For quite a few years I worked as an administration manager for a large manufacturing plant in Canberra. During that time we produced building materials for new homes, roof tiles, clay bricks and pavers.
Part of my responsibility entailed keeping an eye on our debtors, those who owed us money, to ensure that if there were a hint of insolvency we’d be in a position to act quickly and seek to recover any outstanding monies.
Sounds like a good theory but we were rarely if ever successful in achieving an advanced warning. The problem is that the banks are often the first ones to recognize there is a problem and by then it’s too late. You just have to join the queue with all the other debtors and cross your fingers that you’ll get paid.
I can recall on several occasions, some large and successful, well seemingly successful businesses, would be hard at work, building, buying, driving around in their company vehicles, doing business as normal and then bang. Overnight their creditors, the banks, would foreclose or freeze their accounts and we would be left standing with hands in pockets, somewhat surprised at the rapid transition from success to foreclosure.
I’m told that it was a little like this in the Days of the Weimar Republic when it came to hyperinflation. One day the supermarket shelves were full of food and the next they were empty.
I guess the thought that comes back to me is this. Debt allows a business or individual to present an outward appearance of affluence and prosperity, even success, yet behind the closed doors, where the truth lays, the reality is often quite different. You see, you could look at any one of those building companies and have no idea of the reality of their situation. It is part of the game that must be played, for as soon as the hand is shown, the game is up. A soon as people catch wind of reality, that all is not well with that particular builder, they will lose much needed sales and the game will be over anyway.
I’m not sure about Australia, it’s a little harder to get the facts, but as for the US, in my humble summation, she is trading whilst insolvent. Someone, somewhere in the not too distant future will make a decision, perhaps some of her creditor nations, the banks, realizing that the game is up. Then their hand will be laid on on the table for all to see, it will be game over.
All of this when from the outside she looked successful, prosperous and a good investment. But that’s all part of the illusion which debt provides.
For now, let’s keep talking and hoping this thing up, let’s allow the illusion to continue lest anyone catch wind of the reality. It seems to me that we are going to wind this thing up so far, that at the time that that bluff hand is shown, it will be like deflating of an overinflated balloon.
Bang !
John 6:27″Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”
Optimism Opium
There is a drug that our western culture is distributing and using today which I believe to be very dangerous. It is pushed by the media, politicians and sadly, part of the church. In the video below, Gerald Celente calls it “Optimism Opium”. I’m not sure what I would call it, but it evokes a response in the user which manifests as DENIAL.
In keeping with the nature of other opiates it is designed with a specific purpose, to reduce the pain, to have a sedative effect, even putting the user to sleep. This use of this drug and the accompanying manifestation of DENIAL, is to be found in the the occupants of Western Christendom and pertains to the present economic circumstances that she faces, but can also be found amongst the Lukewarm church, who presumes that she is rich, clothed in righteousness and discerning. The very things Christ told her that she is not.
Clearly, clearly we are at the precipice of something BIG in Christendom, the West. But we the church, for what reason I do not know, except perhaps for our drug addiction, are so often of the opinion that everything is just rosy. We seem to have partaken of this optimism opium, fallen asleep, are untroubled, at peace, even supposing peace and safety, that God will just rapture us out of here any day now. Troubling days, for when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes …and they shall not escape. 1 Thessalonians 5:3
Perhaps a good biblical example of the manifestation of using optimism opium is seen in the example of the Kingdom of the Harlot, Babylon the Great, who indulges on the opiate of the masses and declares ” I sit as a queen, am no widow and will not see sorrow ” Rev 18:7. Clearly the harlot had a big habit, for her DENIAL as to reality is quite profound. For the word says, in one hour her judgment came, in one hour the supposedly impenetrable kingdom will be brought to it’s knees. For in one hour she is made desolate Rev 18:19.
The word of God tells us that the occupants of this Harlot kingdom are in DENIAL. They are delusional, having partaken of the drug induced comatose opiate that is being fed to the masses by the media and it’s deluded politicians. And now they suppose themselves to be something they are not, secure, strong, untroubled, safe, protected, invulnerable, impregnable, they are altogether in DENIAL, BIG time.
When I started writing this post I just wanted to make a simple point, one which is made on the video below. Don’t be fooled Christian by the messages that are coming from our media and politicians. All is not as it seems, and though they would like you to see through their eyes of optimism, it is a foolish notion, based on failed reason and a lack of any Godly wisdom. Their optimistic words are designed to create a false sense of reality, of comfort, a stupor, even blindness to the truth of these most perilous days.
Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy [fn] to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
Gerald Celente is not a Christian prophet, but a trend forecaster who uses current events to predict future trends. I find much of what he says to be at odds with what your politicians would prefer to tell you.
20 Attributes of Mystery Babylon
The following list of 20 attributes pertaining to the Kingdom of Babylon the great, mother of harlots, was taken from the website America, the Babylon.
The list is drawn from old and new testament scripture specifically relating to the End-Time Babylonian Kingdom that is destroyed at the commencement of the “Day of the Lord”. It pretty much lays to rest those out dated and bizarre teachings that she is the catholic church or Israel or the re-emergence of a Middle East Nation.
- It is the KEY Commercial Nation and Engine of Wealth for the World’s Economy.
- The chief city of Mystery Babylon is a “DEEP WATER PORT CITY”!!!
- Leading center of imports and consumption.
- She is also a manufacturing nation
- Center for Merchandising and Marketing
- Known as the World’s “policeman”
- Known for “showing the flag” or “gunboat diplomacy”
- Sensual, Materialistic lifestyle
- Intoxicating high-society lifestyle as a world example to emulate
- Elegant, Sumptuous lifestyle
- Noted for its bright gaudy-colored lights and nightlife with round the-clock partying.
- Noted for its Drugs and Drug use
- A land of immigrants
- Land of Rebels in its birth
- Land of Agriculture (when was the last time you saw wheat combines and corn-pickers harvesting crops in Vatican City? How about Hog farming? A cattle ranch?
- Described as a “Land” of many waters. “Land” is a term designating a nation not a city and not an organization or church.
- Where the world’s leaders “stream” to meet (Jer 51:44 — where they all come at once to get together on a regular basis… also Rev. 17:18)
- Last of the Super powers
- Defenses reach up to Outer Space
- AND LAST BUT BY NO MEANS THE LEAST… THE MOST LITERAL OF ALL: –A populated city named Babylon with deepwater port facilities and the city is considered the “chief city” or most important city of the nation. This is how people of the first century AD referred to a nation, by its chief city.
Signs of judgement on Babylon
In such a very short a time there has been a significant change in one particular area of our western culture, family values and relationships.
I’m not talking about the decline of the traditional marriage, or the increase in family breakdown, but rather the introduction of same sex relationships by the media, into our culture, particularly through television programming. In what seems to be a few short months, not years or decades, but in a very short period of time many family orientated shows in Australia have introduced same sex couples into their storylines.
I know that our culture has been pushing these boundaries for years, but the change to traditional TV viewing has been rapid, to say the least. We have stepped into new territory this past year with many producers pushing this value system into the lives of our families and children.
There is one positive aspect to this, well in my household anyway. The TV is getting less and less airtime. The idiot box which speaks an image of the world into the lives of my family may be coming to an end quicker than I had hoped. Idiot box! That’s what my mum used to call it 40 years ago. Maybe mum did have a prophetic gift after all!
Anyway the problem with all of this same sex relationship value system being imparted to our lives at warp speed is that it speaks of God’s judgement on this generation. Anyone who understands the scripture in Romans chapter 1, pertaining to the wrath of God, will know that God’s judgment on an unrighteous generation is to “hand us over”.
Rom 1:26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature.
The rampant increase in sexual immorality in this day is a clear sign that He, God, refuses to strive with men any longer, and the result of His wrath is to “hand us over”, or as the scripture above declares “God gave them up”. Then at the appointed time, when iniquity has reached it’s fullness, shall come the straw which breaks the camels back. Though sadly, it may well be a rather pointed straw containing nuclear warheads. Rev 17:16
Now you and I Christian need to be quite clear, that God is in our day, allowing men in our culture to “go after strange flesh”. Pastors, leaders, men in the church ought not be ignorant to this. Sexual immorality, lust of the flesh is like the prevailing spirit over much of our nation at this time. I’d liken it to spiritual swine flu, take precautions, or you might catch it.
But sadly it is I would say, a rather sobering sign as to where we are in the overall time span of God’s judgement on a kingdom. The western gentile nations are all in a similar position, all advancing the kingdom of unrighteousness with the same zeal. What we will shortly end up with is a kingdom that looks just like Sodom.
Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory of the Babylonians’ pride, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah. Isaiah 13:19
Yes, Babylon will be overthrown like Sodom. According to the highly regarded Scofield bible commentary, (read notes) the scripture above speaks of both Babylon of old, and prophetically of the future Babylon, Mystery Babylon of Revelation 17. Yes the very same Mystery Babylon of the Western gentile nations comprising apostate Christendom of our day.
No prizes for guessing why Isaiah likens it to the destruction of Sodom, for it will be a literal Sodom, in that day. Or should I say, in this day.
Even though with one hand God is allowing judgement to begin, at the very same time, with great mercy and long suffering He continues to reach out to an unrighteous generation, calling men out before the appointed day.
Come out of her My people?
