Encouragement For Christians

By Charlie Daniels

If you read this column very often you know the frustration and disgust I feel for our government, their profligate spending, their all consuming passion for self-preservation, and the inevitable fall at the end of the ruinous path they seem so determined to force this nation down.

You know I'm deeply concerned about the rapid erosion of personal liberty and our president's cavalier attitude toward the Constitution and consolidation of power into a monolithic central, federal government, a bureaucratic nightmare that makes and enforces the rules, controlling even the administration of health care and the curriculum our children will study in school.

I fear the rampant apathy and lackadaisical work ethic of the entitlement society will become so deeply ingrained in the coming generations that the nanny state policies of this president and others like him who are likely to be elected will gradually drain the wealth and the will of the population until the well is bone dry and the confusion and anger of those who are suddenly left to fend for themselves will overrun the streets of this nation resulting in chaos and bloodshed.

I fear that this nation and this planet are in the midst of a great apostasy, or falling away from belief and faith in God as cults, false prophets and faddish feel-good religions pop up and capture the attention of many.

Even some of the old-line Christian denominations have tried to modernize their doctrine, bending the curve to accept things that are forbidden in the Bible, conveniently ignoring or subverting scriptures that fly in the face of the new age dogma they now embrace.

Anti-Semitism is on the rise around the world and while Islamic fanatics scream about the destruction of the State of Israel, the dominos in the Middle East fall one by one, with only the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan preventing the fulfillment of the ancient biblical prophecy that Jerusalem would be surrounded by armies.

Yes, I am very concerned about Israel. It is not the land of my birth, but when I became a Christian I was grafted into the root of Israel like a wild olive branch grafted on to a full-grown tree. The Bible says that salvation comes to the world through the Jews, the race of people by which the Creator of all mankind chose to reveal Himself to the world, the race into which my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was born, the land where He would live and die on a cross for our sins.

How could any true Christian not be concerned?

Street gangs, flash mobs, drug cartels, incurable diseases, wholesale abortion the tearing down of traditional marriage and nuclear families, child molestation, the belittling of American exceptionalism, the export of manufacturing and jobs, murder, rape, home invasions, it's enough to give a person a nervous breakdown, but then I have to stop and think.

This world is just a short stop, only a testing ground on my eternal journey.

Any earthly leader or government, no matter how pervasive and powerful are only temporary place holders who will eventually pass into oblivion and be reduced to dust.

Israel will be battered and bloody but will never be completely destroyed and 85% of the vast armies allied against her in the final battle will be annihilated in the Jezreel Valley near Megiddo, known as Armageddon.

This earth with all its awesome military might, pompous politicians, mega-rich magnates and all the evil the powers of darkness can bring to bear are no more than a grain of sand compared to the indescribable power of the One who created the planets and flung them out across endless space, He who can part the sea and make the sun stand still.

Only One is Omnipresent, Omniscient and Omnipotent, He is everywhere, He knows everything and He can do anything. And yet in all His Majestic might, he cares for you to the point that He knows the number of hairs on your head.

His name is God, Jehovah, Yahweh, Dios to Spanish speakers, Gott to the Germans and so on, but He does have, always has had and always will have the last word and be the final judge in the affairs of mankind.

He will write the final pages of history.

We will all stand before Him and give account for our lives, every king, every president, every dictator, every super star, every human being.

Lord, please help me to keep my confidence in You and my mind on eternal things to come. Amen.

What do you think?

Pray for our troops and the peace of Jerusalem.

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels