(Note: Many, many thanks to those of you who have been praying for me and writing to encourage me. I realize how much my podcasting effort meant to many of you and I am profoundly grateful to God for His blessing on my efforts. I hope to get back to podcasting in the near future, so please stay tuned and keep praying.
There is no “sand in the hourglass” as far as I can see. I believe we can be snatched literally at any time, so while attempting to calculate a “likely” date for the rapture is fun, it is now a distraction. The Biblical FACT is that we are on the threshold of our transition, and there will be no makeup classes. What we are when His trumpet sounds – mature or immature, spiritually rich or poor, virtuous or otherwise – is what we will be FOREVER. I don’t anticipate a broad-based spiritual revival, but I do believe each of us can be powerfully revived if we choose to be.)
Belle Ringer of the “Salvation And Survival” blog posted an item entitled Rethinking My Prepper Mindset that leads nicely into the topic I broached in my note above. Arguably, the biggest problem in the visible church today is the idolatry of materialism. We get comfortable with our “stuff” and convince ourselves that having lots of nice things and, more importantly, having funds and resources for the future, is responsible Christian stewardship and in no way in conflict with discipleship.
Apparently, the Laodiceans felt so, too. “I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing …” and we know how that story goes. According to a story in the telegraph on October 14th, “If you have $3,650, you’re among the wealthiest half of people in the world, according to Credit Suisse’s new report on global wealth.”
Scripture does not say there is anything wrong with being wealthy. However, scripture does say that we, as disciples, are to be distributors of wealth, NOT accumulators. I have discussed this previously in the context of Roger Hertzler’s book, Through the Eye of a Needle and that is the direction I will be going in forthcoming blog postings, and also (by God’s grace) on future podcasts.
We need to get this right. Hertzler asserts that a return to a rigorous and radical non-accumulation lifestyle on the part of Christ’s disciples has historically triggered revival, and that a return to a compromise with materialism has always ended it.
I WANT REVIVAL. I want to be totally, radically transformed and I want to be outrageously rich in heaven. Let’s make this transition together.
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