The Basis of Our Beliefs

Week 37, 2011  

     An often quoted Barna study revealed that more than 90 percent of Americans believe in God and about 80 percent consider themselves Christians. That is encouraging, but what has to be a challenge is that only 6 percent who claim to be Christians have a biblical worldview. The obvious conclusion we must draw from this is that we may have done well making converts, but we are not making disciples. The Great Commission is to make disciples, and this is defined as teaching them to observe everything that He commanded. How can we be a true disciple and not see the world as He does or from a biblical worldview?

     Charles Spurgeon once lamented that he could find ten men who would die for the Bible for every one that would read it. Tragically, few Christians are having their perspective of the world changed by seeking God’s perspective through the Scriptures. As we draw closer to the end of this age, this spiritual blindness will become increasingly costly. To have the light is to have God’s perspective. He gave us the Bible for this and few are using it.

     In Matthew 11:20-24, the Lord Jesus gives us a basic understanding of His standard for judgment:

           Then He began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent.

             “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which      occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

             “Nevertheless I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for you.

            “And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You shall descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day.

            “Nevertheless I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.”
 
      This is a profound revelation of the Lord’s basis for judgment. The cities of Israel that the Lord chastises here were some of the most righteous in the world at the time, and possibly of all time. If a person was even caught in adultery, they would be stoned, and yet here Jesus said that some of the most perverted and evil cities in history would have it better in the judgment than these righteous cities of Israel. How could this be? Obviously, the severity of the judgment is not as dependent on the depth of evil as much as it is on the degree of light that is rejected. These would have it even more severe in the judgment because they had rejected the greater light, the Son of God Himself. How much light have we been given, and what will we be held accountable for?

     Now let’s apply this to the present. We may think that some of the most evil nations certainly deserve judgment more than our nation, but what if we use this measure of the amount of light that has been rejected? Has any nation been given more light, grace, great teachers, preachers, Christian television, and even such a righteous foundation of government built on biblical principles? By the standard the Lord used in Matthew 11, we may be the nation most deserving of judgment in the world.

     After stating again what the Lord had shown me was coming upon the West Coast, I received many protests about how there were many great churches and ministries on the West Coast, so why would God bring His judgments there? According to the standard the Lord revealed in Matthew 11, maybe that is one reason why it is coming there. I agree that some of the great churches and ministries that are perhaps in the world are there at this time, but this can be a basis for an even stronger judgment.

     So won’t those churches and ministries come under the same judgment? They can if they have become more ingrained and in sympathy for the culture there more than the kingdom. If they have built solidly on kingdom principles, we are assured in Hebrews 12 that the kingdom cannot be shaken.

     Even so, the one who Scripture calls “righteous Lot” (see II Peter 2:7) had to be forcefully delivered from Sodom before the Lord destroyed it. There will be some “Goshens” who are exempted and preserved and will be the basis for reaping a great harvest. There will be “cities of refuge,” but judgment is coming. There may also be many who could not hear the Lord’s warnings to get out, and hopefully these will be given the grace that Lot was.

     Some understandably ask why I am not receiving words like this for the East Coast where I live. When I first received a revelation about this, I was living in Mississippi on neither coast. Also, I have seen and written about things coming on the East Coast, as well as the Mississippi River area in the middle of the country. Even so, I would not presume that I may be as dull about what is pending for my own home region as I think many are on the West Coast. However, the only thing I saw linked to another was what would come upon the West Coast after the Japan earthquake, which I began sharing as early as 1987.

      I have heard many new and old reasonings why the words myself and other prophetic people have given are not true. Some have come from people I highly respect. Even so, these words are true. My hope is that Christian leaders would hear them and start bringing warnings which might cause the repentance to lessen what is pending, and this does not seem to be happening. However, business and government leaders have been remarkably open to these words, and maybe they are the ones who really need to anyway. I am often accused of putting too much hope in the church, and maybe I am at this time. However, I am sure that ultimately the church will be the one so in touch with the Lord and what He is doing in the earth that the world will beat a path to her door for guidance.

     Now let’s back up briefly and remember that there are many kinds of judgment revealed in Scripture and only one is condemnation or destruction—all of the rest are discipline from the Lord for those He loves. Ancient Israel experienced far more severe judgments from God because of their calling and purpose and because the Lord loved Israel. Israel could not get away with what other nations might. Neither can America. We do have a special calling and purpose, but even if we did not, we would be more accountable because we have been given so much more.

     If you are just trying to escape a more severe judgment, then you may be sorry that we were given so much more. More responsibility and more accountability are good, not bad. Even so, America is in danger of severe judgment if we do not repent and turn to the Lord. We cannot measure ourselves by what other nations can get away with; we can only measure ourselves by how we have fallen so far from His grace and His purpose, and use that knowledge to return to Him and His purposes.