“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”

The church needs to be prepared for the increasing cultural pressure to redefine what faithful Christianity means.

Faithfulness to our Lord requires more than just the right answers. It requires “speaking the Truth in love.”

The coming challenge may be competing definitions of Christianity and “Christlikeness.”

The culture may admire some aspects of Jesus. It may appreciate:

• compassion,

• feeding the hungry,

• helping immigrants,

• caring for the poor,

• forgiving people,

• opposing hypocrisy,

• loving enemies.

It rejects other things Jesus said:

• that He is the only way to the Father,

• that repentance is necessary,

• that sin is real,

• that truth is objective,

• that human identity is ultimately received from God,

• that sexual morality matters,

• that worship belongs to God alone,

• that Jesus—not the state, culture, self, or humanity—is Lord.

One of the first cultural pushbacks: “We don’t like your version of Jesus.” And the church will have to resist the temptation to present a culturally edited Christ.

Pushbacks we should prepare to encounter:

1. “Your faith is fine—as long as it stays private.”

This may be one of the strongest pressures. The culture may tolerate Christianity as:

“Your personal spiritual practice.” But become increasingly uneasy when Christians say: “The Gospel is true for everyone.” That's the difference between private spirituality and public truth.

The Great Commission doesn't give us permission to keep the Gospel private. “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations...” — Matthew 28:19

Disciples need to understand that Gospel witness isn't cultural war. It's obedience.

2. “You cannot claim that Jesus is the only way.”

This will put enormous pressure on evangelism. The statement: “Jesus is Lord.” isn't merely a personal preference. It is an exclusive claim. Jesus didn't say: “I am one possible way. ”He said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” And Acts 4:12 says: “Neither is there salvation in any other.”

A disciple who has never considered why Christianity makes exclusive truth claims will be vulnerable when challenged.

We need to teach our people: How to be absolutely convinced without becoming arrogant. That's a major discipleship skill.

3. “Your beliefs are harmful.”

This may be more powerful than simply calling Christianity false. Culture can move from: “I disagree with you.” to: “Your beliefs harm people.” Once that happens, the Christian faces a completely different dilemma.

Because the natural Christian response is:  “I'm supposed to love people.” Exactly.

And here's where discipleship needs to become skillful. We must teach: Love does not require affirmation. Love requires Truth.

Jesus loved people He also called to repentance. The church must learn how to say: “I love you too much to lie to you.” without becoming combative or self-righteous.

4. “Christlikeness means affirming people.”

This one could become particularly subtle. The culture may say: “If you really want to be like Jesus, affirm all identities, choices, beliefs and lifestyles.” But that's not the Jesus of Scripture. Jesus was extraordinarily compassionate.

And Jesus repeatedly called people to change. He said: “Go, and sin no more.” Christlikeness therefore cannot be reduced to: kindness + tolerance + affirmation.

Biblical Christlikeness is: truth + holiness + compassion + courage + humility + sacrificial love.

5. “You must choose between Christianity and being a good citizen.”

This one may become particularly significant.

The culture is becoming increasingly secular; Christians may eventually face situations where: biblical obedience and cultural expectations collide. And disciples need to know the difference between: Romans 13: obedience to legitimate authority and Acts 5:29: obedience to God when human authority commands what God forbids.

Christians shouldn’t be reflexively rebellious. We should be faithfully submissive until obedience to government conflicts with obedience to God.

That's a much harder—and much more biblical—position.

6. “You don't really need evangelism.”

This one concerns me greatly. A disciple can become deeply involved in:

• church,

• Bible study,

• worship,

• missions,

• serving,

• Christian fellowship,

and still never actually tell another person about Jesus. This is where the majority of Christians are today.

But the Great Commission is not: “Make Christians comfortable.” It is: “Make disciples.” Our emphasis on Christlikeness and Gospel presentation is therefore exactly right.

Without Gospel witness our faith becomes moral Christianity; and, Gospel proclamation without Christlikeness becomes hypocrisy. We need both.

7. “You are the problem.”

This may be one of the hardest pressures emotionally.

If the culture increasingly views biblical Christianity as intolerant, Christians tend to feel ashamed of being Christians. Then something subtle happens: We stop witnessing. Not because we stop believing; but because we're embarrassed.

That's why discipleship must develop holy courage. Not anger, Not defensiveness, Not political combativeness. Courage.

Peter's first-century environment was not culturally friendly to Christianity either. His instruction was fascinating: “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer...” 1 Peter 3:15 Notice the order:

Christ first in the heart. Then: readiness to explain the hope. That's discipleship.

8. “You must hate us if you disagree with us.”

This may be the most emotionally powerful weapon against Christian witness.

A believer says: “I disagree because Scripture teaches something different.” The culture responds: “Then you hate me.” Now the Christian feels forced into one of two bad choices: Compromise truth or become defensive and hostile. But Jesus gives us a third option: Truth spoken in love.

We need to teach disagreement and hatred are not synonyms. We need to model it ourselves.

There's an even deeper pushback coming:

The culture will increasingly demand allegiance.

This connects directly to our Revelation discussion.

The question eventually, may not be: “Are you a Christian?” but: “Where is your first allegiance?” Does it belong to: Christ? nation? political ideology? economic system? Social identity? human autonomy? The global order? personal security?

That's where Revelation becomes profoundly relevant.

The Beast ultimately doesn't merely ask people to agree with him. He demands worship.

And that means the church must teach believers now: “Jesus is not merely part of my identity. Jesus is my Lord.” That's a radically different level of discipleship.

 Our Discipleship Pathway must emphasize:

Taking our next steps.

I think one of those directional steps needs to be:

Living faithfully in a culture that does not share our convictions. Not: “How do we defeat the culture?” But: “How do we faithfully represent Christ within the culture?” That is very New Testament.

Peter calls believers: “strangers and pilgrims” Paul says: “Be not conformed to this world.”

Jesus says: “Ye are the salt of the earth.” Notice: Salt doesn't escape the world. It enters it.

 Discipleship development has six key capacities:

1. Conviction Know what we believe and why.

2. Character Become increasingly like Christ.

3. Courage Remain faithful when obedience becomes costly.

4. Compassion Love people who disagree with us.

5. Communication Explain the Gospel clearly and graciously.

6. Commitment Remain faithful when faithfulness costs something.

The challenge:  Stop preparing Christians to attend church in a Christian culture.

We need to prepare disciples to: follow Jesus in a culture that increasingly does not understand—or accept—the lordship of Jesus.

That changes what we teach. It changes what we practice. And it changes what we celebrate.

A disciple who can quote Scripture but cannot lovingly explain the Gospel to a skeptical neighbor isn't fully prepared. A disciple who can defend Christianity but cannot love the person attacking Christianity isn't fully prepared.

A disciple who loves people but is afraid to tell them the truth isn't fully prepared. And a disciple who knows the truth but has never learned to obey Christ when obedience costs something isn't fully prepared.

The goal isn't to produce Christians who can survive a hostile culture.

It's to produce Christians who can faithfully witness for Christ within it. That is the discipleship challenge sitting directly in front of us.

We must not be either surprised nor shocked at how the unsaved world perceives us. Jesus and the Apostles warned “the world will hate you.”

For several decades, Christians have been obsessed with the need to explain ourselves to the secular world; believing that if the world understands our mindset the world will be won over to our way of life.

This flawed idea is nothing short of Satanic deception masked by our own vain need to be understood and accepted.

Jesus rarely explained himself. He spoke Truth. He often spoke Truth bluntly. He wasn’t unloving; yet he had no compulsion to provide a soft landing to his message.

We have forgotten that speaking Truth is in fact, loving our neighbors who are in danger of eternal separation from God, and all things good. Impassioned warnings are called for when the danger is dire and threatening.

Apostasy is the process of saying we haven’t changed what we believe while actually changing what we have historically believed.

Modern Christianity prefers to replace words like sin, repentance, new birth and holiness with more socially accommodating, politically correct alternatives. These word replacements dilute, water down, weaken the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Truth diluted is no longer pure truth.

We must understand the reason the world rejects the Bible, rejects Jesus Christ is because the human is not basically good. It is in fact, totally depraved and desperately wicked. Jer. 17:9

Now, we are not naturally any better than the most depraved person alive today. If we have born from above by the blood of Jesus we have been regenerated transformed, born again this time from above through Christ.

We have not saved ourselves. We have been delivered by the very blood Jesus shed on the cross. Christianity is not our idea. If you are redeemed today; there was a time when you came under Holy Spirit conviction that you are a sinner hopelessly lost and condemned. You believed the Truth of the Gospel message and placed your complete trust in the person of Jesus Christ. He saved you. You did not save yourself.

You are even this very day continuing to be changed more and more into the likeness of Jesus Christ.

This is the very reason the unsaved world hates us. There are only two possibilities when someone is confronted with the Gospel: that person believes and receives God’s forgiveness and salvation in Jesus or that person chooses to reject Jesus and his gift of salvation and forgiveness. No other option exists.

Jesus identifies us with himself in John 17. He says that now, we are not any longer of this world even as he is not of this world. The Apostle Paul says we have been “translated” into the Kingdom of Christ. Col. 1:13

From the very moment we believe upon Jesus to save us God separates us from the unsaved world positionally. There is no going back.

Salvation is a new birth experience and it cannot be undone.

From the moment we believe we are effectively living counter culturally. It is like walking on a crowded sidewalk moving against the flow of pedestrian traffic.

We look strange, out of sync. People treat us differently than they did before our salvation. We feel awkward when around the unsaved world. We think differently and our views and values are no longer the same as our unsaved family and friends.

The unsaved craves acceptance of anything and everything that appeals to their bodily cravings. They demand that we accept them as they are and demand we must not draw attention to the differences between us and them.

Over the past two decades the unsaved have chosen to weaponize words. It’s referred to as hate speech. They believe we are literally attacking them when we speak Bible Truth in the public domain.

They have created “safe zones” on campuses where free speech is infringed upon so they are protected from absolute truth.

We must heed the biblical warnings the unsaved world will not stop at created safe zones from truth. Full blown persecution is coming.

Many American Christians refuse to believe such a thing will happen here.

Refusing to believe what the Bible says is to deny the truth of the Bible.

We crave acceptance. Yet, the unsaved world crucified a perfect man in Jesus of Nazareth.They hated him then. They hate the biblical version of him now.

We cannot stand with both the unsaved world and stand with Jesus. Jesus said we are either with him, or against him. If we are ashamed to identify ourselves with him we are in fact no better than Judas.

The trail of blood runs from the cross to the present day. Even now there are Christian martyrs who refuse to deny their faith in Jesus Christ.

The coming Antichrist will demand universal loyalty from every person on earth. Death will be the penalty for opposing him. The infamous Mark of the Beast is itself a mark displaying loyalty and exposing those who reject him.

Our time here is limited. It has always been limited. No one can avoid physical death. Eternity is forever.

How utterly foolish to choose embracing the culture of the unsaved world temporarily and be lost forever.

Revelation chapter 7 reveals masses of martyrs who refuse the Mark of the Beast. It plainly states they come from every nation.

The unsaved world is never going to understand us. Our ways are foolish to them 1 Corinthians 2. What the Scriptures declare is going to happen. It cannot be otherwise.

If you are saved. Get your mindset completely focused upon the person of Jesus. Commit yourself wholly to him. Build up your faith. Get deeper roots into the Scriptures. Stop trying to live in both cultures. You belong with the redeemed. You have nothing left in common with the secular world.

The world crucified the One who came to save it. That mindset hasn’t changed in nearly 2,000 years and it never will.

There is a little chorus that says exactly what we all must decide. It goes like this:

“I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back.”

“The world behind me, the cross before me. The world behind me, the cross before me. The world behind me, the cross before me: no turning back, no turning back.”

I usually avoid writing when in this frame of mind because I fear I will say things I shouldn’t say. Yet, I feel drawn to my IPad and Substack.

I am no novice. This is my 55th year of local church ministry. I love my Lord. I love the local church. I love serving in our community and around the world.

My life has been a long journey of physical challenges. I was born breech and have cerebral palsy. I am also deaf and have a cochlear implant which allows me to hear and continue ministry. I am a frequent fall risk. I fell again day before yesterday.

Today, though I have no serious injuries I am extremely sore all over my body from the impact of my fall on Tuesday. Pain wears me down physically, emotionally and sometimes like today, I feel depleted spiritually as well.

Next month I will turn 71 years old. A lot of people who know me advise me to retire and rest my feeble body.

I just don’t know how to quit. No, I’m not some type A, driven personality. I just see lostness everywhere I turn. My beloved nation is self destructing right before my eyes. Families are besieged with every sort of pressure known to mankind and they are loosing the battle for their own children.

There are more than 200 clinically recognized addictions/compulsive behaviors. Mental illness is epidemic.

Postmodernism, democratic socialism, radical environmentalism, globalization and AI are redrawing the boundaries of American life in all the wrong places.

The “question everything,” mentality coupled with scandals of the worst sort have trust in our national government, institutions, and even the Church at never- before -seen lows.

This is the absolute worst election cycle in my lifetime. No party, no candidates are speaking the truth anymore. Our trust in our elected officials stands at 8%. How can any politician even look into a camera and address us with that statistic?

We have a lot of professing Christians but suspiciously few faithful disciples of Jesus Christ in America in 2026. Doctrinal compromises abound in every major denomination. Apostasy is now a stage four cancer killing doctrinal integrity.

There is much more I could say about the state of the world in 2026. All of it makes me feel small, insignificant and quite overwhelmed.

No follower of Jesus, and especially one of his servants ought to feel the way I feel today. I have read the last chapter of the Bible. I live, holding onto the promises of God. I know better than I feel today.

Noah suffered deep depression after the ark came to rest after the global flood. His little family was the only human beings left alive on the entire planet.

Moses was both depressed and angry as he felt beseiged by the very people he liberated from Egyptian bondage.

Elijah wanted to die After his victory on top of Mount Carmel.

Even Jesus was so burdened by both his love for humanity and the awareness of their rejection of him that his soul was exceedingly sorrowful and his sweat became drops of blood.

Great preachers throughout history suffered with depression, anxiety and bouts of deep despair trying to carry the burdens of their own limitations and human lostness.

Even as I write this I am very aware there are other precious Christians suffering deep despair and shouldering burdens no human being is meant to carry alone.

The Apostle Peter wrote to the scattered believers fleeing intense persecution. The Apostle Paul wrote to his fellow prisoners, pilgrims, and co-laborers hoping to encourage them as they bore up under intense challenges and cares.

Today there are pastors, ministry leaders struggling against formidable forces and dire limitations even as the realities of massive human lostness overwhelms them. They have no adequate resources for the massive needs they encounter.

Some try to console us with, “You know we cannot win everyone.” Or, “You are doing the best you can with what you have to work with.”

Everyday a minimum of 150,000 people die worldwide. The overwhelming majority of those people die without saving faith in Jesus Christ. Our best, Simply is not enough to reach them.

I honestly don’t know what I expect to accomplish by writing this. I’m just venting I suppose. Everyday, I get closer to my last day of service in this world. My aging body and mind makes each of those days more challenging than the day before.

I don’t want to die in the stands, nor do I want to finish on the sidelines. I want to be serving my Savior with the last breath I take in this world.

We desperately need young believers and disciples of Jesus Christ to step into this spiritual war for the souls of humanity right now. We need to redouble our commitment and efforts to take the Gospel to every person everywhere.

What if every Christian in America committed to sharing the Gospel to one person each day? This certainly is not an unreasonable expectation.

What if every Christian got involved in some facet of community ministry? We can be the spiritual light and salt Jesus commissioned us to be in the world.

Will you pray for me? Will you pray for all who are struggling with heavy loads? Will you commit to sharing the Gospel with one person today and everyday from now on?

Change is rarely accepted willingly. Yet, like the white water current in a raging river; it just comes, and keeps on coming until it has altered even the hardest rocks. The current even changes the path of the river itself and alters the surrounding landscape.

Change simply cannot be stopped.

Most of us would contend change is not just a reality; it is essential to our lives and the world around us.

Evangelical Christians particularly, tend to be theologically conservative, with an uncompromising worldview. Our biblical faith provides very little room for maneuvering around and through the cultural currents of contemporary American life.

We are like the rocks embedded in the rushing river. The current is destined to alter our appearance. Yet we shall never lose our identity as formed from the solid Rock, our Lord Jesus Christ.

The face of the New Testament Church has undergone continuous change in her nearly 2,000 years of life in this world. Still she remains unshakable and indescribable: exactly as Jesus declared she would.

Evangelicals have never been the majority in modern America.

While many critics accuse conservative evangelicals of being Christian nationalists; it is only a baseless accusation.

Biblical Christians have never placed either our identity nor our hope in a Christianized nation.

The New Testament both encourages and commands us to pray for our nation, its leaders and its culture. Nowhere does the. Bible call us to win elections, or establish Christian monarchies.

Faithful students of the inspired, error free word of Gods know every nation on earth will abandon God and his word. The Faith of many will erode into apostasy as time goes on and the world moves towards the return of Christ to the earth.

The Church was birthed under intense pressure and persecution. So will be be in our latter years. We are decidedly moving even now towards diminishing freedoms and more intense opposition to our faith and our way of life.

An Occasion of Faith’s Affirmation:

The present times ought not weaken our faith in God and the Scriptures. It actually ought to intensify and underpin our faith as we become eyewitnesses to biblical fulfillment.

This ancient book is more up to date and more relevant than tomorrow’s newscasts.

God is at least as active, and possibly more active in this present time than he has been in centuries.His fingerprints and footprints are everywhere we look these days.

Faith in the Scriptures is becoming SIGHT everyday we live.

I think of Noah and his family as they witnessed dark, heavy clouds roll in. Breezes become stern winds. God ordered them onto the ark and shut the door.

Yes the faith of Noah was immediately validated. Still, he must have experienced anxiety, fear, and dread for what would come next.

Although he was safe; the ark would rock too and fro on the violent, rising waters.

God did not deliver Noah and his family from the global flood. He delivered them through it.

THE STORMS AHEAD OF US AND THE VIOLENT CURRENTS:

Every born again believer knows we are eternally safe. Hell has no power over us. We are safe in the arms of Jesus.

Jesus actually warned us to brace ourselves for the global turbulence ahead. “In this world you will have trouble…” John 16:33

All the New Testament writers warned us. We should neither be shocked nor moved by the world’s hostilities.

Rivers are in continual motion. Rivers move through limited, and often shallow boundaries. Their movements are sometimes quite violent. Sometimes they cause danger, destruction and even physical death.

Rivers eventually empty themselves into oceans and seas. Their constraints are gone. They become free.

THE WORLD’s MOVEMENTS WILL NOT DESTROY US. THEY WILL STRENGTHEN US

But how can this possibly happen when the world’s resources are so formidable and we feel so feeble.

As I often say to my students and church family: “This is not rocket science. It is simple. Yet simple is not always easy.”

Being Rocks in rivers that are raging:

1. Understand who Jesus is. He is the ROCK OF ALL AGES, THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE.

2. YOU and I are the Little rocks tucked securely beneath the ROCK OF AGES.

3. STAY EMBEDDED IN THE WORD OF GOD. Become a serious student of the Scriptures.

4. BECOME A MIGHTY PRAYER WARRIOR. “Pray without ceasing.” (I Thess. 5:17)

5. BUILD A STRONG SUPPORT SYSTEM OF FELLOW BELIEVERS. (The entire book of Acts)

These five intentional steps are keys to facing the tides of change in America and the world.

We tend to expect the answers we need are going to be complicated and possibly unaffordable.

God has always used simple things with which to do his mighty works in our world. (1 Corinthians 1:26-29)

We do not need to build bigger, better, more advanced church campuses or ministries. We do not need millions and millions of dollars to carryout the Great Commission.

The greatest movements and growth in Church history came when there were minimal resources and severe persecution. Even today the Church is growing in China, Iran, even impoverished Africa.

Here, in the greatest, freest, most affluent country per capita on earth; the church is shrinking in both numbers and influence.

My son in law recently found himself in an overturned kayak, upside down in white water currents. He struggled to simply raise himself up to grasp one single breath at a time: desperately trying to avoid drowning.

After his near death experience he appreciates the little, normal things of daily life far more than before his existential crisis.

Fellow believers, let’s just take one breath at a time. Let’s do the necessary things this moment in time. Our Lord will intervene for us, just as he intervened for our son in law last weekend.

This world cannot destroy God’s Church. We are perfectly safe in Christ. (Luke 21:18 KJV)

Now, let’s do what rocks do. Let’s continue to stay unmovable regardless of the currents.

We can be terribly hard on both ourselves and others when frustrations set in.

Frustrations provoke a feeling of helplessness and powerlessness.

I have watched grown men cry like a small child simply because they could no longer do the basic things for themselves.

Physically, mentally we are destined to get weaker. Our capabilities will diminish as we age.

This is inevitable for everyone of us.

I was totally oblivious to the frustrations of aging as a younger man.

Now Personal frustrations are a formidable challenge everyday.

Frustrations lead to anger, then bitterness which hardens us.

Proverbs warns against making friends with an angry man. Angry people are almost always frustrated people.

Our God given gift of volition often deceives us into believing we can do anything we make our minds up to be or do.

The truth is, we are absolutely limited. The limits life impose become the source of our frustrations.

Is there a remedy for frustrations? I'm happy to say there is indeed a remedy for our frustrations.

It's not easy and it goes against everything we want to do.

1. Confess your limitations.

2. Surrender your will to God's will each moment of your life.

3. Allow yourself to be humbled by your limitations.

4. See your limitations as gifts rather than obstacles and burdens.

5. Yield results into God's

Hands not your own.

6. Be patient with yourself and others.

7. Accept the challenges as tools God uses to shape and grow you.

8. Make peace with God's management of your life.

9. Be thankful your limitations are themselves limited. Your limits could be more severe.

10. Show empathy and compassion towards others in their limitations and frustrations.

None of these things just happen on their own.

Just remember the alternative to handling your frustrations better is becoming bitter and hard. That’s not a pleasant outcome.

And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;

7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:5-8)

Frustrations.

We want them to go away. But if God allows them we need to believe they serve an important role in our life.

In 2 Corinthians 12 Paul asked God to remove his "thorn in the flesh."

I'm assuming he want to be rid of the frustrations that came with that issue.

God said no. Yet, God was not insensitive to Paul's struggles with that thorn in his flesh.

God isn't oblivious nor insensitive to our struggles with frustration either.

While it is true: he could instantly remove every struggle with have; he chooses not to do so.

The truth is: there are benefits to our struggles. From God's perspective they are good not bad for us.

That's tough to see sometimes. It's even harder to admit and submit to.

Frustrations and struggles humble us. They draw attention to our weaknesses and limitations.

This is never pleasant.

Submission is the outcome only for three possible reasons:

1. We submit because we are overwhelmed by a greater power.

2. We submit because we trust the outcome does not depend upon us.

3. We submit because we trust God to carry us through.

Think on these reasons.

God allows our struggles and frustrations to humble us and to lead us to greater dependence on him.

Faith in him followed by submission to him are always the wisest responses.

12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

2 Tim. 1:12

Frustrations.

No one appreciates frustrations. No one likes to wait for God to answer our prayers.

Everybody waits. Everybody experiences frustration. These are universal human experiences. No one is exempt from these unpleasant experiences.

Yet, those of us who belong to our Lord Jesus Christ cannot be forever stuck in either our waiting nor our frustrations. These eventually pass. But they never come without divine purpose fueled by divine love for us.

Our personal limitations will stay with us as long as we live in this world.

Yet, the very limitations we loathe are tools God uses to perfect us and use us to show his love and power to people around us.

As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12 our weaknesses are occasions for God to lend us his strength.

We need our limitations to provoke us to lean into and depend upon the Lord.

Frustrations remind us we are not in control.

For us, who know the Lord; our frustrations are not chaotic or useless. There is divine purpose in every one of them.

We try to avoid being clingy and dependent. God loves for us to lean into him and hold tightly to him.

If you are a parent you well understand how he feels when we depend upon him in our frustrations.

He loves for us to run to him. He enjoys doing things for us.

He takes great delight in calming our mind and emotions.

Our dependence upon him is a gift we can continually give to him everyday.

When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

3 For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.

4 Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.

5 Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west;

6 I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth;

7 Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him. (Isaiah 43:2-7)

Americans, and especially Christian Americans, want to believe the numbers announcing the collapse of the Judeo-Christian worldview are being manipulated, and dramatized.

Denial is not a River in Egypt. It’s a lie we keep telling ourselves because reality has become too uncomfortable to accept.

Now, I am not remotely saying we who love, serve, and follow Jesus Christ have lost the war for souls. If we are honest; the Church never held the soul of the nation.

Sure there were Christians who helped build this nation on the principles of religious freedom and Christian faith. Yet ours was not the only agenda at work in our nation’s inception. There were those quite influential people with an agenda to build a new world order controlled by a powerful, elite minority.

When we study the Word of God, we come to understand God raised up this nation to usher in two great prophetic movements.

1. Worldwide Gospel Evangelization

1. The final form of human government before our Lord’s return to earth

Fact: God never loses any battles with evil. Evil is on a leash. Evil cannot win.The Church Jesus built cannot lose. “The gates of Hell cannot prevail against it.”

Evil is not winning in 2026. God’s sovereign purpose for this world is coming together just as he planned it. God is not running behind schedule. He is right on time.

This is not a time for followers of Christ to panic. It is not a depressing time. It is time to align ourselves with the heart of God and the mindset of Christ.

Today everyone wants to sound like a prophetic expert. There are many just as there were in Jeremiah’s day who want to proclaim we are sitting on the brink of global revival. Others say we are only moments away from total ruin.

Actually, we are exactly where we are supposed to be according to God’s timing.

What is next will be difficult. It will be unlike anything history has seen before. Yet, the outcome has never been in doubt.

We write with clean, articulate sentences created within the framework of our own reasonings. This is why we have it all wrong. (Proverbs 3:5,6)

What is ahead will be hard. It will be messy. There will be casualties. Shocking things will happen. Jesus said if it were possible even the elect would be deceived.

Every single event. Every single experience has been anticipated and understood by our sovereign God.

The Scriptures contain everything we will need to not only survive but thrive. The abundant life Jesus promised in John 10 has no expiration date. But let’s understand the abundant life was never about material possessions or wealth or even health.

What if we enacted a moratorium on evangelism and church building books and programs and just went to the Scriptures until Jesus calls us home? What if we committed ourselves to listening to and obeying the Holy Spirit rather than motivational speakers?

What if we starting viewing world events from Heaven’s perspective?

Instead of building ministry campuses we share the Gospel every day every where we go. Instead of critiquing politicians and political agendas we love people and show compassion.

I am so weary of plans and programs. I am disgusted with politicians and politics. Everyday I see human lostness all around me. I just want to share Jesus with others around me, and around the world.

We must narrow our minds. Yes, I know that statement is politically incorrect. That doesn’t make it wrong.

The only agenda any followers of Christ should have is sharing the Gospel where we live to those around us. His story - He came to save us

Our story - Jesus rescued me

Their story - Jesus can change them too

Oh that’s too simple! Tell that to Jesus and those who followed him in the first century.

Winning the next election will not save America. Financially supporting our favorite candidates will not save America. Sharing the Gospel will lead to saving people from Hell. Showing love and compassion will make a difference in lives everyday.

The Apocalypse is coming. We are not going to prevent it. We can prepare for others to be rescued from it. Now this is an agenda I can get excited about!

Rev. 2:11

God warned Adam and Eve there was a state of existence beyond life. He did not reveal what that existence is like. Yet, clearly, God meant for humanity to avoid death.

There is now known to us through the written word of God two kinds of death.

There is physical death, which is separation of life from the physical body

There is spiritual death, which is separation from the Giver of all life. This is the second death.

In the entire volume of Scripture there are only four direct passages that speak of the second death. All of them are found in Revelation. (2:11; 20:6; 20:14 and 21:8)

We learn through Bible study, the human being is created in the image and likeness of God our Creator. (Genesis 1:26)

God created humans to live forever. This being created in the image and likeness of God cannot simply cease to exist.

So, what can be known about this second death?

Most people think of human existence after life leaves the physical body as existing in either Heaven or Hell. Of course Hell is a broad term understood as Hell the temporary holding facility (a literal place of suffering and flame) and broader,the place revealed in the Revelation as “the lake of fire.” (Also a literal place of eternal suffering in fire)

Some refer to earth, as “the land of the living.” More accurately,earth is the land of the dying. Heaven is the land of the living. The second death is the existence of those eternally dying yet never actually dead.

Eternal human torment is so abhorrent to human sensibilities, that many theologians; and naturally all agnostics and unbelievers must conjure up some better explanations.

Now it is wise to assume that God says what he means in the Scripture. Our understanding of it is not required. Whatever abhorrence one may have towards a good God creating a place of eternal suffering is irrelevant to the truth.

There is a place known as Hell. Every unsaved human being who died unrepentant is there right now. The Bible reveals they will exist in eternal suffering and separation from the Creator of life forever.

At the occasion of the Great White Throne judgement, all who are in Hell will be called out to appear at the White Throne. The final verdict is already certain. All appearing at the White Throne judgement will be cast alive into the lake of fire eternally separated from the Creator of all life.

The Bible has more to say about the place we call Hell, than it says about the eternal dying of the second death. This ought not surprise us.

God is unwilling for anyone to exist eternally separated from him. Let’s remember he created us for himself. (Col. 1:16,17)

I am careful about making assumptions on topics God has not spoken specifically. He has certainly revealed enough about being eternally separated from him to warn us to avoid that destiny.

Yet, there are things we can clearly discern about the place known as the lake of fire which is specifically named as the eternal location of those suffering the second death.

1. It is an existence in darkness.

Jesus described it as “outer darkness.” God is light. John writes, “in him is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5)

2. It is an existence of suffering.

Jesus said there, “is weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Mt. 8:12)

3. It is an existence in liquid fire. (Rev. 21:8)

4. It is an unrepentant existence. (Rev. 9:20; 16:9)

5. It is an existence of personal isolation.

The rich man was unaware of anyone else where he was. He did not say, “we are tormented in this place.” He said, “I am tormented in this flame.”

Our accountability before God has always been personal. The Apostle Paul speaks of personal accountability before God. John reveals eternal destiny is measured based on personal works.

6. It is an existence of eternal hopelessness.

The Scriptures offers absolutely no hope for those who experience the second death.

7. It is an avoidable existence to all who place their faith in Jesus Christ.

The Bible is wholly evangelical. From Genesis to Revelation God seeks and calls sinners to believe and repent.

How can we who are redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ be oblivious to lostness? We are saved to serve. Serving is going, living, sharing the Gospel everywhere we go with everyone we can share.

The second death cannot touch the followers of Christ whose sins have been forgiven. (Rev. 2:11)

Do you know your sins are forgiven? Are you one of us who need not fear the second death?