It has long since become a political year, but now it is a political era. Decisions made on the local, national, or international levels of government are instantly recorded and evaluated by everybody, whatever their nationality. Choices made in Phoenix, New York, or Illinois are soon on the table in Russia, Israel, and hundreds of other places that may take advantage of decisions being made anywhere today. More and more local choices are made that have international implications.

This new kind of internationalism is also greatly influenced by the Internet. Decisions are not made in isolation anymore—for anyone can know almost anything else on an instantaneous basis. We now notice that small children are often smarter than their parents computer-wise. They confuse or even bankrupt Mom and Dad if the situation in their immature minds seems to call for it. The world of the future will certainly be the great call to young people in today’s culture. Along with it, people everywhere will be asked to join a unitized society, a “one-world” type of culture.

We are fast, therefore, seeing brought to pass within our society the prophecy of the book of Daniel in which he said, “knowledge shall be increased” (Daniel 12:4). As we think again concerning this prophecy of the Old Testament relating to the end times, we are left very thoughtful. It is at least provocative that in the midst of the promise of increased knowledge, the president announces that government will become more and more the controller of the educational process. Indeed, already the government is moving into the control of schools of many kinds.

But the question remains, what are America’s youth being taught? Who decides what subjects and material will be used and what facts will be presented. Something further needs to be said about this fetish of education. It centers around the question, “What are we teaching our young people?” If it is evolution, materialism, atheism, or things like this, what good is it for us to have schools or conduct an educational program?

For instance, when a teacher stands before our freshman classes and announces that this will be the teaching of science, he takes to himself a sacred responsibility. If he answers the question, “Who am I?”, he had better give the right answer. If he tells students that they are the result of an evolutionary process and that makes them simply atoms in motion, he has done a great disservice to the students. He has denied the existence of God. If there is no God, then there is no foundation for truth. If he suggests any other foundation, the teacher will make impossible the teaching of truth for the entire educational career for the student. This because, if there is no God, then truth goes a glimmering. Evolution is atheism and with it the educational process is destroyed. So we can see that to accept the claim that Christ meant it when He said, “I am the truth,” is to make possible a rational life. To refuse to accept this claim is to destroy the possibility of valid knowledge in any field, so we see that the world is in a battle for truth. This is a most serious contention because to win is to preserve the future of mankind and to lose is to make rational living impossible. Each one of us, therefore, must find the way in which God has ordained that we should join the battle for truth.

This being the case, it’s good to remind ourselves that there are two or three main characteristics of our society which we do well to remember. The first is that we live in a world of opportunity. Jesus Christ spoke to the Church of our time and made to our generation of Christians a great promise. He said, “behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it” (Rev. 3:8). In making this statement, Christ promises us one of the most marvelous gifts that a person can know in this world. What is that? It is the gift of opportunity. This certainly means that before us there are doors that are open wide through which we can pass. We instantly see that there is before us a scene of ever-widening privilege. We can travel farther, think faster, and know more quickly than ever has been the case in days gone by. With the machines in our offices, we can communicate with almost anyone anywhere. We can travel to those places by jet aircraft rather than by covered wagons. We can invoke the wisdom of the ages with the press of a button. We are virtually at the place where nothing will be hidden from the scholarly inquirer or even the average man. Yes, we can know and do things that a very short time ago were beyond human imagination. Yes, much is given to the thoughtful people of our time, but especially, much is given to the Church of our age. Yes, the Christians of the world must revise their estimate of the possibilities before them. They must take the field with a bright, new, young army of talented communicators.

The Scripture says, “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required” (Luke 12:48). No generation of Christians has been given more by way of spacious, Spiritual opportunity than has this generation. To fail has always been sad. To fail today in the face of an unimaginable opportunity would be tragic indeed.

We also need to remember that the future will be characterized by danger. The Scripture informs us that “the whole world lies in wickedness” (1 John 5:19). We are carefully informed by the Scripture which says, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). So, there is a deadly enemy that dogs our footsteps seeking any advantage whereby he may destroy an individual life or ruin the world-wide work of God. Satan is no friend. He is the vile adversary of the work of Christ in our generation.

There are many evidences of the frightening success of Satan in the culture of our time. Young people by the millions are yielding to evil and Satanic subversion. In ever greater numbers, they are giving in to temptation—physical, mental, and spiritual—and ruining the bright possibilities of a young life. We must warn our young people of judgment to come, and that judgment could be very soon.

We can, therefore, state that the future will be characterized by great challenge. Challenge, by today’s parlance, means there is a hill to climb and that someone is trying to get there first. Challenge means that we are not here to play, dream, and drift, but rather to do the will of our great captain, the Lord Jesus Christ. Living in a time like this is a great challenge and should be appreciated by us all. God has entrusted this generation of Christians to produce a significant testimony for Christ across the world while there is still time. Yes, there is coming a day when the battle in the lives of people will be won or lost for each individual. What we must never forget is that Jesus Christ is coming again. He has not forgotten a single detail about this world and is planning an exact moment when He will return. He will return for Christians in that wonderful event which we have come to call “the Rapture of the Church.” That being the case, we Christians should live every moment with the possibility that that may be the moment of the return of Christ.

Remember also that Jesus Christ is coming to bring judgment upon the world. Every person who lives will one day appear at the great white throne and listen to the judgment of God. One of the most frightening verses of the Bible announces this event by saying, “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:15).

In the face of all of this, we ought not to be surprised that there are many working in our society who would like to deny or obscure these great truths. Religious liberalism, which denies the inspiration of the Bible, the deity of Christ, and other precious truths, is continuing to work in our world. Other aberrant philosophies are working their way into many of our churches. When leaders turn from the Gospel to another heretical form of Christianity, it is not long before total deterioration sets in. In America in our time, there are thousands of empty churches where once the Gospel sounded, but now there is a haunting silence. An eerie irresponsibility has settled upon the minds of many who should be giving a loud and forceful presentation of the Gospel. We must pray for them before their institutions move beyond hope.

Considering the moral discussion of our time, we should also consider the attitude of God, an activity such as is very uncommon in the world today. Speaking about God’s response to iniquity, the Scripture says, “Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient” (Romans 1:24-28).

Anyone who would understand the world in which we live and the divine attitude toward the world should read again these verses. In fact, a studied reading of Romans 1 would be the best analysis possible of the trend of our times. While we are at it, let me suggest what Martin Luther said. He admonished that every Christian should know the book of Romans by heart. The only final way we will be able to understand the trend of our times or participate in any discussion concerning it is to do so in the light of the Word of God. It is idiotic to say, “The public is tired of these discussions. We should settle them and move on.” The very survival of humanity is dependent on the truths that are taught in this passage of Scripture. Notice also that virtually all of the sins of mankind are named here. Wide and serious attention to the Word of God represents the only activity that will help in these days.

From the writings of Dave Breese

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