Everyone wants peace today, and in some cases, they want peace more than they want justice. They want peace more than they want what is right. They just want peace and safety. It’s the great cry of humanity that we hear so much about today. There is talk about the global family and how the world is one, big village. The assertion is that we all just need to learn to get along and set aside our differences. It seems as though the only thing lacking now is a charismatic leader to tell us what to do next. With the incredible advances in technology and the ability to communicate globally in an instant, the world is just waiting for that leader. And that leader is coming. Some will think he is the Messiah, but he won’t be. He will be the Antichrist. The prefix anti- not only means “against”; it also means “instead of.” And when this world leader emerges on the scene, he will be a false messiah, the devil’s version of the real thing. Many people will follow him because he will temporarily usher in a three-and-a-half-year reign of global peace, something no one else has been able to do. He will bring about an end, temporarily, to the conflict in Israel as he helps them build their temple in Jerusalem. Yet those who believe we can get along as one global family and live together in peace are those who believe humanity is essentially good. And they are not dealing with reality. That is why the Bible tells us to be sober. In 1 Peter 5:8 we read, “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” (NLT). And writing to the believers in Ephesus, the apostle Paul said, “So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days” (Ephesians 5:15–16 NLT). Nonbelievers claim that Christians are not realists, that we’re living in an altered state of reality. But we are realists, more than anyone else today. A Christian is someone who simply believes what the Bible is saying. And the Bible tells us that humanity is not basically good; it’s wicked. That explains a lot of the horrid, perverse, and unthinkable things that people do today. When the Bible says that at the core, our hearts are “desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9), everything makes sense. On the other hand, if someone believes that we are all essentially good, that is hard to explain. Not only are Christians realistic about our problems, but we’re also realistic about the solution. We know that government will not solve our problems and there is no system on earth that can solve the social ills of today. We know the only real hope is a change in the human heart. And the only One who can change a human heart is God. | 
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