Convergence

Have you ever been in a life threatening situation? I have been involved in several; but two come to mind at the moment… in both, my situation was dire, and my survival or the survival of those with me did not look good. In books and movies when this happens they portray it as your life slowly passing before your eyes as you head towards disaster. In situations like these I have never experienced this, but what I have experienced is akin to seeing your circumstances play out like a slow motion movie. In both accidents everything happened very quickly, but in my minds eye it was like everything slowed down to a crawl, or at least that is how my memory plays it back to me. Today, I am having that same feeling as I watch the circumstances of our country and our world, play out before me. I feel like we are on a collision. There is an ominous feeling of merging or ‘convergence’ of time, place and circumstance all coming together at once. You see catastrophe approaching and are helpless to control the outcome. Not that we have to worry about the outcome, we have been told in advance how it will end. In fact Jesus said when speaking of the end times in Matthew 24:6; “…but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen…” Time will tell, but as each day passes I become more and more certain that this is it, we are on the verge of, or smack dab at the end of the last days. I also feel a certain sense of darkening and ineffectiveness in carrying out the work of God. I don’t know if I am alone in this or if there are others who see and feel the same thing, but it is almost like we are in a ministry maintenance mode. We can all still carry out Gods work, but His voice is becoming distant and aside from those who are already His, nobody else is listening. My only question in the midst of all this is; “God, what do you want me to do”? I have felt my whole life that there would be a time when it would all be put on the line… Growing up, I never really new what that meant. But as I look back on all the screwy coordinated events that have made up my life, I can almost see the purpose behind it. I am not sure what it all means yet, but I know that I have been honed and made ready for such a time as this… and I am ready. I have purposed in my heart and mind to serve Him at any cost. I know that this all sounds so fatalistic, but what if I am right. What if we are here… or there… or it is here? Are you ready for what Jesus said would come? All of this can all be found in Matthew chapter 24.

All these are the beginning of birth pains. "Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other

because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold

For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.

All the gospels have dire predictions of what we will suffer for our Christianity. If I understand it correctly, the Christians who were fed to the gladiators and lions in the Roman coliseums had a cake walk compared to what we face. Neither I, nor anyone else can know for certain if it is time or not, but the signs all seem to show that it is suspiciously close. If I am wrong then so be it. It’s not like I have abandoned my life or anything. God has told us to live out our lives just as we are, with what we have been give in the time and place that we live in. We still have and will continue to have responsibilities all the way up to the end. During Paul’s time he thought it was the last days, and the advice he gave then is the same advice we should follow today.

1 Corinthians 7:24-31 Brothers, each man, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation God called him to. Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy. Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for you to remain as you are. Are you married? Do not seek a divorce. Are you unmarried? Do not look for a wife. But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this. What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.

The bottom line is this. Whether it is our time or it is not, we should serve God with all that we have and all that we are. What you need to ask your self is this… IF BEING A CHRISTIAN COST YOU OR YOUR FAMILY YOUR LIVES… would you still profess to be His? And as far as the present time is concerned… if everything changed tomorrow and you WERE put on trial for being a Christian… would there be enough evidence to convict you? Attending Church won’t count during the trial. There have been as many people sitting in churches just warming pews throughout history as there are sands on the sea shore. Sitting in church no more makes you a Christian than sitting in the garage makes you a car. Let’s start by asking your children, your co-workers and friends to see if they have seen evidence of your Christianity. Let’s open your check book and see if the registry reflects your Christianity. Let’s see how many people attending church with you are there because you led them to Christ… these are the things that man will use to convict you and God will use to prove the condition of your heart…

We can all start by creating evidence and building their case against us today!