THE DARK AGE OF MILLENNIUM MADNESS

MIKE CUNNINGHAM

SEPTEMBER 13, 2009

My hatred of Satan has intensified enormously ever since I learned of the kidnapping eighteen years ago of a little eleven year old girl named Jaycee Degard. When I think of some of the horrible things that poor child was subjected to during her captivity I’m at a loss for words. But those unspeakable evils certainly didn’t hinder her “alleged” abductor, a convicted chronic sex-offender named Phillip Garido who told told authorities, “Wait until you hear the story of what took place in that house. You are going to be impressed.” (A) It seemed to me those remarks were coming out of the mouth of a puppet controlled by a bragging demonic ventriloquist because Satan couldn’t have said them any better. Thoughts of similar evils being inflicted on my eleven year old granddaughter Amanda, or any of my hopefully soon to be sixteen grandchildren or any of those other folks whom I care about the most are what drive me to daily prayer pleading with the Lord to deliver each of them from all evil. And before I fall asleep at night I thank Him for granting my heart’s desire on this major concern.

I really hate Satan with a passion and it isn’t only because of the innumerable evils he accomplishes through his human slaves such as Garido, but also the ones he achieves with the help of Bible believing Christians. For instance, he has successfully deceived and powerfully inclined these folks to participate in his evil works of darkness; works such as those manifested in one of the most radically bizarre expressions of Millennialism. Allow me to explain. In a recent sermon I quoted Gary DeMar, President of American Vision as saying, “…Christians were using last-days theology as a way to explain the state of the world and why Christians can’t do anything to reverse present trends. [John] MacArthur is representative of this view when he writes, “‘Reclaiming’ the culture is a pointless, futile exercise. I am convinced,” he writes, “we are living in a post-Christian society—a civilization that exists under God’s judgment.” (B)

Try telling that to the loved ones of the woman who was abducted eighteen long agonizing years ago when she was a little eleven year old girl. Try giving that excuse to the two innocent children she gave birth to after she had been repeatedly raped, children held in captivity their entire life. Try telling them it’s a waste of time for folks such as you and me to get involved to whatever extent they are able and demand their legislators enact tough laws which would have protected them and the rest of society from fiends such as Garido! Try reminding them that we are living in “a civilization that exists under God’s judgment” and it would be an effort in futility to attempt to change society because time has run out! And try using the Bible to justify that kind of perverted rational to explain to someone who is sincerely searching it looking for the meaning of life. Try overcoming the person’s hesitancy to embrace Christianity because of such a heartless world view currently being promoted by millions of very vocal Christians in our country, Christians who are actually praying for “The Rapture” and for Christ to return and bring about the end of the world as we know it through a nuclear holocaust. The only thing you may succeed in is being an accomplice in is the person’s condemning him or herself to eternal torment in Hell. Think about that!

This morning I would also like to throw some light on another one of Satan’s works of darkness. Last year the Baptist Press reported there was a bill which was “… proposed in Congress in 2000 after congregational testimony was heard describing an abortion method in which newborns who survive are allowed to die. The procedure, which nurses testified is used at Christ Hospital in Chicago, is called live-birth abortion. In the method, delivery is induced, and if the baby survives the procedure, he is left unattended to die. The bill had such wide support that NARAL Pro-Choice America, one of the nation’s leading abortion rights groups, chose not to take a position on it.” “…the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, passed the Senate in 2002 by unanimous consent and was signed into law by President Bush.” Now how do you suppose that such a bill came about being introduced in Congress in the first place? If a Bible believing Christian can’t connect those dots, I’m not going to waste my time trying to show him or her how. Convincing Christians it’s a waste of time to become involved in trying to influence society to embrace Christ honoring principles because we are living in the “last days” is a satanic masterpiece of deception. It reminds me of a horror movie featuring the slaughter of millions of tiny defenseless unborn babies, a movie scripted from twisting the Scriptures to make them say exactly what the producer desires. O how it must sadden Jesus that His church in our country is so gullible and feeble today.

Years ago when a bill similar to the “Born-Alive Infants Protection Act” was introduced in a state legislature, one of its members spoke against it. According to “Philip Gailey, editor of editorials for the St. Petersburg Times, [who] wrote in a column that the man argued that “… “whenever we define a pre-viable fetus as a person that is protected by the Equal Protection Clause or the other elements in the Constitution, what we’re really saying is, in fact, that they are persons that are entitled to the kinds of protections that would be provided to a child, a 9-month-old child that was delivered to term. That determination then, essentially, if it was accepted by a court, would forbid abortions to take place. I mean, it — it would essentially bar abortions, because the Equal Protection Clause does not allow somebody to kill a child, and if this were a child, this would be an anti-abortion statute.” Later the man “…said he would have supported the federal version of the bill, because it made clear it wasn’t attacking abortion rights, Gailey said.” However, “when a second bill was introduced with pro-abortion rights language, the committee he chaired failed to consider it.” I can’t help wondering how many born-again Christians in one way or another were persuaded by Satan to help put that “piece of work” into the Oval Office. Although with rare exceptions abortion is evil, all too many Christians won’t try to advocate for anti-abortion statues because they believe it’s a waste of time. What do you suppose God thinks about their decision and how is He apt to respond?

John 13:12-17 (ESV) ¹² When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? ¹³ You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. ¹⁴ If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. ¹⁶ Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

Jesus once told a parable in which He mentioned a certain man who was a faithful servant and wise manager, a man who was always prepared for his master’s return and how blessed he was for having done so. Now look at what Jesus had to say about the ones who weren’t: “And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating, Luke 12:47 (ESV).

Can you really imagine Jesus telling His disciples that conditions in their world were so awful that they might as well throw in the towel and give up on trying to exert a Godly influence, and instead just concentrate on trying to convert sinners and disciple them and then wait for Him to return and beam them all up into the clouds before He cleans house and destroys the world as they knew it? Or do you suppose He meant exactly what He just told them? I would suggest that’s the same conclusion any mentally unimpaired person would arrive at from studying the Bible on their own in a sincere quest for truth; providing they didn’t allow any of those so called Bible prophecy experts with their lawyerly double talk to confuse their thinking. Ask a non-Christian friend who is unfamiliar with the Bible to do you a favor and read the following passages and then give you their opinion of what they mean. (Incidentally, I believe this could be a great non threatening door opener you can use to share your faith.)

John 13:15-16 (ESV) Likewise: “you also ought to wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.

Luke 12:47 (ESV) And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his [revealed] will, will receive a severe beating.

James 4:17 (ESV) ¹⁷ So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

I’ll bet you dollars to Pixie Sticks you will find that your friend doesn’t have to be a spiritually alive believer or English major to understand the most obvious meaning of those verses. Those prophecy experts and their followers understand them as well. However, just as many genuine Christians have had difficulty in comprehending all aspects of what the former Constitutional lawyer was saying, in various ways they helped the man become president of the United States. And just as many sincere Bible believing Christians have difficulty following all the double talk of what another former lawyer named C. I. Scofield, a man who reinvented himself into becoming an expert on Bible prophecy was teaching, they speak and act as thought that man’s teaching is infallible. Some of them are apt to insist “Reclaiming the culture is a pointless, futile exercise,” because “we are living in a post-Christian society- a civilization that exists under God’s judgment.” Bottom line-it’s an effort in futility to attempt to influence society in areas where it’s needed the most, i.e. to expose phony Christian Churches with their false teachings and/or evil systems, or do their best to attempt to exert a Christ-like influence upon all levels of government, such as our education system, the media, as well as the arts and entertainment industry because time has run out. It’s too late! I can’t help wondering what the Judge will say to them when they try copping that kind of plea on the day they have to give an accounting to Him. But how about all those gullible sheep who blindly followed the shepherd and honestly didn’t know the Lord’s revealed will in these matters? How do you suppose the Judge is apt to deal with them? Do you think He might buy into a, “I was blind but now I see” plea?

Luke 12:48 (ESV) “But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.

I’m glad it isn’t my responsibility to judge another person’s heart because I can’t, and neither can anyone else. It’s impossible! However, it’s clear from these passages that those Christians I have been speaking about whose blindness was not self induced will suffer the consequences of their decision not to scrutinize the teachings of the Bible and instead followed the teachings of a mere man or church instead of those of the “Infallible Teacher” revealed in “His Word.” And we can be certain the punishment will not occur in the place where God “…will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away,” Revelation 21:4 (ESV). I can’t help wondering if perhaps “some” of the seemingly never ending heart breaking difficulties and frustrations many of us Christians experience would end or ease up if we would truly try to put Him and His wishes ahead of our own. In other words, in humble reliance on Him for the strength, sincerely struggle to make Him Lord and Master in all areas of our lives. If we truly are children of God who have gone astray, then in one way or another, He will bring us back to the straight and narrow just as He did King David. Even though he suffered greatly, David was grateful for all the good the Lord brought out of it.

“You have dealt well with your servant, O Lord, according to your word. ⁶⁶ Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments. ⁶⁷ Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word. ⁶⁸ You are good and do good; teach me your statutes. ⁶⁹ The insolent smear me with lies, but with my whole heart I keep your precepts; ⁷⁰ their heart is unfeeling like fat, but [now] I delight in your law. ⁷¹ It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes, Psalms 119:65 (ESV).

It would be very profitable if each of us gave a lot of prayerful thought to the painful things King David brought upon himself and had to experience until God’s revealed will finally sunk in and he decided to follow Him. You and I ought to exercise self discipline and make the time to honestly take a close look at ourselves and, using the Bible as a measuring rod assess how we measure up in His eyes.

Many people would like us to believe Jesus never got involved in the politics of protesting against the self-serving leaders of His day such as American citizens have been doing at Town Hall meetings with our political leaders. Well how are these for sound-bites!

“…Beware of the scribes,” Luke 20:46. “…practice and observe whatever they tell you— but not what they do,” Matthew 23:3; “Woe to you, blind guides, vs. 16; and then four times what appears to have been His favorite, “…woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” Jesus concluded by giving them His seventh and final warning that day.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, ³⁰ saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹ Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. ³² Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. ³³ You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? ³⁴ Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, ³⁵ so that on you may come all the righteous bloodshed on earth, from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. ³⁶ Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation,” Matthew 23:29-36 (ESV).

And as we saw in my last message, those unrepentant Jews who were still alive experienced the horrible fulfillment of that prophecy when the Roman general Titus lay siege to Jerusalem, destroyed the temple and ended the “Old Covenant” world in A. D. 70.

Can you really imagine a Man with such a tender heart as Jesus, a Person who is the very embodiment of love, the Man whom we have been created to emulate; can you picture Him not becoming involved in religious politics because the current signs of the times in which He lived pointed to the end of their world? Can you imagine how such a godly Person could not speak out in protest against the practices of what was “the most evil generation of Jews?” I can visualize Him drawing a line in the sand and defiantly saying, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone,” (John 8:7). Everyone knew how this god-fearing Jewish activist felt about the phony religious leaders during those truly “end times” because He was deeply involved with the culture in which His Father planned for Him to live.

In closing I would like to remind you once again to search the Scriptures for yourselves to see if what I’m teaching is indeed true. And don’t forget the advice of the author I quoted in previous sermons concerning what his readers were about to read. He cautioned them to “read this material prayerfully, asking Yahweh to guide you into His truth. And read it with an open Bible, an open heart and an open mind. Be skeptical of my conclusions, and of preachers, teachers and religious authors, all.” (A) In other words, don’t allow yourself to be deceived by any of those guys, including me!

It may not occur in my lifetime, but I believe the day will eventually come when Church historians will look back at the times we’re living in and conclude we were foreordained and predestined by God to live during “The Dark Age of Millennium Madness.” Lord willing, next week…

(A) NEWSWEEK, Sept. 7, 2009.

(B) http://s128601634.onlinehome.us/sermons/silence.htm