End-time events on fast track (part 2)

John the baptist began his career as a prophet, in the wilderness.  Last night in a tiny church in a lonely corner of a small town ~ in the wilderness, I heard the pastor of that little church say, with reference to the present interval between Donald Trump's victory and his upcoming inauguration : "Right now, we're in the calm before the storm; but, the storm is coming."

It is amazing that, in practically every case where the crowd says one thing, yet the Holy Ghost says something else.

It was the support of a desperate yet hopeful "crowd" that enabled Donald Trump to secure the Republican nomination and then the Presidency.  That same crowd ~ including the great majority (80%) of Evangelical voters, now is practically giddy with renewed hope for the future of America.  While the Holy Ghost says that a storm is coming.

Victor Davis Hanson, in a speech he delivered in November 2016 (source, here), in which he talked about Donald Trump's victorious campaign and his upcoming Presidency, said the following:

"[Trump] has to move very quickly, and if he thinks that he's going to reach out or be magnanimous, or stall, or trim, he's going to fail.  He's only got a very few hours."

Hanson was speaking with reference to the fierce opposition confronting Donald Trump.  Both Hanson and the pastor whom I quoted (above) have said essentially the same thing, namely: that a storm is coming to America.  That storm which even now is coming ~ that very storm, was predicted a generation ago (in 1982), by a (now) somewhat obscure prophet named Francis Schaeffer.  (Here is a video I have previously recommended.  It is well worth watching multiple times.)

In that video, Schaeffer repeated his warning, over and over again, saying: "with mathematical certainty," destruction must come to America ~ because that, throughout the better part of the twentieth-century, the Church abdicated its moral duty.  "We must recognize that this country [America] is close to being lost," Schaeffer warned in 1982.  Continuing, he said:

"Not first of all because of a Humanist conspiracy...  This country is almost lost, not because of a Humanist conspiracy, but because the Bible-believing Christians, in the last forty years ~ who have said that they know that the final Reality is this infinite, personal God who is the Creator (and all the rest); they said they have known it: and [yet] they have done nothing about it, as the consensus [of public opinion] has changed; there's been a vast silence. 

"It's not only been the Christian leaders [which have remained silent].  But where have the Christian lawyers been?  Why haven't they been challenging this change in what the First Amendment means?... Where have the Christian doctors been? speaking against the rise of the abortion clinics and all the other things.  Where have the Christian businessmen been? to put their lives and their work on the line, concerning these things which, they would say, as Christians, are central to them.  Where have the Christian educators been? as we've lost our educational system.  Where have we been?  Where have each of you been?  What's happened in the last forty years?... 

"We live ~ not ten years from now but tonight, in a Humanistic culture.  And we are rapidly moving, at express train speed, to a totally Humanistic culture: we're close to it!  We are in a Humanistic culture; as I point out, in the public schools and in all these other things.  But we're moving to a totally Humanistic culture; and moving very quickly.... 

"How stupid can we be?  Why can't everyone understand the change that has come?... We are not only immoral, but we're stupid for allowing ourselves to come to the place we've come to, without noticing....  There is no other word one can use for our present situation that I've just been describing, except, the word tyranny.  Tyranny!  That's what we face: we face a worldview ~ which never would have given us our freedoms ~ forced upon us by the courts and the government (the men holding this other worldview), whether we want it or not, and even though it's destroying the very freedoms which give the freedoms for the excesses and for the things which are wrong.  And we who are Christians ~ and others who love liberty, should be acting in our day as the Founding Fathers acted in their day.  Those who founded this country believed that they were facing tyranny: all you have to do is read their writings; that's why the War [of Independence] was fought; that's why this country was founded.  They believed that God never, never, never wanted people to be under tyrannical governments." 

I could not agree more with Schaeffer's analysis and opinion.  Except, concerning that last point, I must beg to differ with him.  It is not practical ~ because (I believe) it is not at all possible ~ that Christians, today, could act "as the Founding Fathers acted in their day;" by which Schaeffer of course alluded to the Founders' actions in the Revolution.  It is not today possible for Christians so to act, because, the very small number of truly Christian persons in America were incapable to carry out a successful Revolution in the manner suggested by Schaeffer's allusion to the American War of Independence.

Recall, too, that even that War ~ as numerous Christian historians have noted, may never have occurred and, almost certainly, would never have had the same outcome, except, the American War of Independence was preceded by many years of spiritual Revivals (during the so-called periods of "Great Awakenings," in the earlier part of the eighteenth century).  Not only that; but, the Colonists basically had to fight but one enemy, namely, the forces of (and aligned with) Great Britain.  Whereas, even if it were possible for a band of Christians to execute a successful coup against the federal government in Washington, D.C.; nevertheless, such an enterprise would have no chance of succeeding, thereafter, to withstand against the onslaught of resistance that would arise from every quarter of what Schaeffer correctly identified as a "totally Humanistic culture."

Perhaps (though I seriously doubt it), such a Revolution might still have been possible in 1982, when Schaeffer delivered his speech.  Although, I suspect that Schaeffer did not actually mean that the Christian Church should then have tried to overthrow the American government.  Rather, I suppose that Schaeffer meant that Christians ought to exhibit the same kind of moral courage that was demonstrated by the Founders, who were willing to risk all ~ their fortunes and even their own lives, for the sake of freedom, in principle and in fact.

Which brings me then to ask the question: If political Revolution is out of the question for Christians (which I am sure is the case); then, what can we do? what should we do? seeing, that this country has in fact now been "lost" to a "totally Humanistic" consensus amongst this society?

That is THE question I have been wrestling with for a number of years, now.  And I keep coming back to one ~ and only one ~ Answer.  Although, I must say that that Answer is lately appearing in my mind, as a more perfect, a more complete, Answer.  Whereas, until very recently, I insisted that the only Answer to the present dilemma involving the Church in America, centered upon praying and working for genuine Revival in this nation.  Now, however, I see that that Answer is insufficient, because, it fails to address the question of what must be done afterwards, that is, after that a spiritual awakening may occur in America.

It is to be expected that true Revival will always be attended by persecution.  But persecution consequent to Revival would likely be greatly intensified, by reason that great waves of anti-Christian sentiment would thus be revealed in the context of what is now a "totally Humanistic culture;" that is to say, that this hoped-for Revival would provoke persecution (of Christians) at the hands of a culture which has been demoralized, desensitized ~ in a word, dehumanized.

No, Revival alone is not the Answer; though it is an essential part of that.

The Church must not only pray and earnestly seek God for a great Revival, but the Church must furthermore begin ~ consciously and earnestly ~ to seek God for the return of Jesus Christ!  Do not suppose that the Church is already doing that; for the most part, it is not.

But why us? and why now? and why should we at all purposively pray and seek God for the Rapture to occur?  Isn't that in God's own hands to decide when to send Christ and to call the Church home?  Just as the Body of Christ consists entirely of those who have humbled themselves to pray and to seek God for forgiveness and for redemption ~ although, God is the one who both calls and convicts and saves; in that same sense must that same Body of Christ cry unto God for Christ to come ~ although, God is the one who moves world events to the very point at which time He intends to send Christ to receive the Church at the Rapture.  With God and the Church, it is ever a partnership at every step of the way.

And I am convinced that God has waited for a generation of Christians who preeminently desire to be with Christ, rather than to be content to live and die in this present world; and which, generation of Christians, demonstrates in every way that such is their supreme desire.

I will only mention, in this place (though I intend to elucidate the subject more fully in a subsequent essay), that the Rapture is vitally necessary to God's purposes in the Tribulation.  And the Body of Christ ~ not only in America but throughout the world, must needs be empowered by virtue of the Rapture, in order to the consummation of the Church Age ~ not prior to the Tribulation (as has long been supposed) but, indeed, through and by reason of, the Tribulation itself.

Not only, as Victor Davis Hanson put it, must Trump "move very quickly," because that "he's only got a very few hours."  But those same "few hours" appear to be the brief window of opportunity which God evidently is giving to the Church in America, to pray and to labor for souls, and to prepare ourselves and our loved ones for the Rapture.

It is interesting to see that, whereas before Trump won the election, many professing Christians (and other Conservatives) were scrambling to become full-blown "preppers;" but, now that the recent election has swung the pendulum the other way, multitudes of so-called Liberals ~ including a large number of professing liberal "Christians," are now preparing themselves for a Trumpian Armageddon.  That old saying, "Which ever way the wind blows," is now more relevant than ever ~ given, that the wind is already blowing with the force of an F-3 hurricane and is rapidly gaining strength.

It appears likely that Trump not only shall be able to institute his Administration.  But as a result of that, it also appears that there might then follow a brief period of time during which a widespread sense of hopefulness (or even of euphoria) may arise, due to an apparent uplift in the economy (signs of which are already appearing).  In which case, many professing Christians will return to the malls, which is to say, to indulge themselves in worldly affairs.  (I never saw so many people in the malls, as I saw this past couple of weeks ~ when taking my son back and forth to work.)  Whilst many other, professing Christians will finalize their "prepper" plans, by stockpiling food and ammunition, and by isolating themselves in a bunker, somewhere, at least in their minds.

But who will give themselves earnestly to pray, and to seek the Lord, and to labor, for Revival?  And who, really, will set their face like a flint to plead with God for Christ to come?  Those, who intend that one day soon they will stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ and hear Him say to them, "Well done, my good and faithful servant:" they will.  And, by God's grace, I will be among them.