The Frog In The Pot!

An old adage says that if you put a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will leap out right away to escape the danger. However, if you put that same frog into a kettle that is filled with water that is mild and pleasant, and then you gradually increase the heat in the kettle until it starts boiling, the frog will not become aware of the threat until it is too late (cooked frog!).

I'll have to admit I've never tried to "slow cook" a frog, but the tale makes for a good lesson. We have to be careful about slowly changing trends in our environment, not just the sudden changes. The story is a warning to encourage people to pay attention not just to obvious threats or influences, but also to the subtle, more slowly developing ones.(Doug Horchak, ucg.org/christian-living/are-you-frog-pot/)

In America each one of us has lived in our particular social/political environment for some time, the length of our lives. Some things have changed for the better, such as the technological improvements we all enjoy. Other things have changed for the worse:

• The spiritual environment
• The attitude of the culture toward Christian values
• What is taught our children in school
• What we see on television and advertising
• The epidemic of pornography
• The epidemic of drug use
• The invasion of illegal immigrants
• Wars that never end
• The out of control national debt
• The desperate printing of worthless money by the Federal Reserve
• The unemployment rate that plagues the nation and many families
• The polarization of our politics
• The out of control debt of most states in America
• The desperate out of control debt of other nations
• The political unrest in the nations of the world because of debt
• The advent of terrorism and jihad
• The increase of natural and unnatural disasters
  
  
  We are becoming more and more adapted to the above mentioned realities, just as the frog in the pot gets used to the ever increasing temperature in the pot. In the case of the frog, he finally expires. What will be the end of the matter for us as the wickedness all around us increases? The Lord Jesus warned of this situation and said that the love of most would grow cold. (Matthew 24:12 NIV)

He said:
Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, Drunkenness and the anxieties of life,
And that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap.
For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth.
Be always on the watch, and pray
That you may be able to escape all that is about to happen,
And that you may be able to stand before the Son of man.
(Luke 21:34-36 NIV)

In every generation Christians have had their obstacles to overcome to maintain their faith, this is ours. We too can overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony; not loving our lives so much as to shrink from death. 

(Revelation 12:11 NIV)

We must recognize the ever increasing temperature in the “pot” and get out before it is too late. The Lord said to come out of Babylon:

Come out of her my people so that you will not share in her sins,

So that you will not receive any of her plagues;

For her sins are piled up to Heaven,

And God has remembered her crimes. (Revelation 18:4-5 NIV)

Depart, depart, go out from there!

Touch no unclean thing!

Come out from it and be pure, you who carry the vessels of the Lord.

But you will not leave in haste or go in flight;

For the Lord will go before you,

The God of Israel will be your rear guard. (Isaiah 52:11-12 NIV)

I believe that this last statement from Isaiah is the Lord coming to rescue His people; the rapture if you will. We are to keep ourselves from being drawn into the dissipation that we see all around us; To keep our faith in the midst of what we see and experience all around us, for the Lord promised:

I will also keep you from the hour of trial

That is going to come upon the whole world

To test those who live on the earth. (Revelation 3:10 NIV)

The name of the Lord is a strong tower;

The righteous run into it and are safe. (Proverbs 18:10 NIV)

At this time, let us run to the Lord, the only place of safety!

Then we will not expire in the “pot.”