About Jesus  -  Steve Sweetman

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Not Invincible  

Many of us in the West, especially in America, tend to believe our nations are invincible.  This presupposition is a false premise to prepare for a nation's future.  Even an elementary introduction to history tells us that nations rise into prominence and nations fall into obscurity.  Daniel 2:21 and 4:17 declares God's involvement in both the rise and fall of nations.  Daniel 2:21 reads:  

 

"He [God] changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others.  He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning."

 

Daniel 4:17 reads: 

   

"The decision is announced by messengers, the holy ones declare the verdict, so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of people."

 

Ephesians 1:20 concurs with Daniel 2:21 and 4:17 when it states that God has authorized Jesus to be the supreme authority over all nations.  

 

"... he [God] raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come."

 

The Bible teaches that in this present age the Lord Jesus Christ is the final universal authority, as Jesus claimed in Matthew 28:18.

 

"Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.'"

 

With the above in mind, I refer you to Francis Schaeffer, a twentieth-century Christian philosopher/historian.  In his 1976 book entitled "How Should We Then Live," he documented the rise and fall of nations and civilizations as seen in Daniel 2:21.  What Schaeffer wrote on page 227 of his hard-cover edition can't be ignored.  There, he quoted Edward Gibbon and listed five attributes that preceded the fall of the Roman Empire. 

 

"Edward Gibbon (1737 - 1794) in his Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire (1776 - 1788) said that the following five attributes marked Rome at the end; first, a mounting love of show and luxury; second, a widening gap between the very rich and the very poor; third, an obsession with sex, fourth, freakishness in the arts, masquerading as originality, and enthusiasm pretending to be creativity; fifth, an increased desire to live off the state."

 

As I list these five cultural attributes again, note how they prevail in our western-world today.  The West is consumed with:
- a mounting love of show and luxury

- a widening gap between the very rich and the very poor
- an obsession with sex
- freakishness in the arts, masquerading as originality and enthusiasm pretending to be creativity
- an increased desire to live off the state

 

The above cultural attributes certainly portray the social reality of the West today.  They remind me of what Billy Graham said in a May 15, 2011, message.

 

"If God does not judge America, He must apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah."   

 

I conclude that God will never apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah , and, that He is supreme over all nations.  It is He who is ultimately responsible for the rise and fall of nations, and thus, the West, including America, is not invincible.  The title of Schaeffer's book must be asked again.  "How should we then live?"

 

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