“Everyone then who hears these words of Mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And when the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them will be like the foolish man who built his house on the sand. And when the rain, and the floods came, and the winds blew against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it” – Matthew 7:24-27.

OVER THE LAST few years we have lived in dire disillusionment over our government; the deception and the lies have never been as blatant as they are now. With such defrauding of people’s trust, one cannot refrain from asking how many decades of government corruption have bewitched the people in the name of patriotism. It wouldn’t be conspiratorial to question and call into account the motives, as far back as the Second World War, as to why the most powerful nation made Nagasaki and Hiroshima the ‘experiment’ of lethal atomic power. Why did America really go to war with Vietnam when veterans still cannot tell you exactly why they were deployed there? Why all those years in Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan? Is it to ‘counter’ terrorism, or is it incorporating such ideological trends into our civilisations in the name of ‘multiculturalism’ that breaches human security and safety protocol? How cleverly our political-aristocrats have discreetly depleted the resources of foreign countries and all in the name of what? In the name of war for the ‘greater’ good? It behoves us to seriously wonder as to how long it has really been since we have raised our flags with true honour, justice and glory.

To trust and honour any elite power or authority is seriously questionable nowadays, especially when such hierarchical figures enforce lawlessness. How fitting are the words of the late David Wilkerson, “Our nation is being led astray by ungodly judges, mayors and governors, who are given to change, defying the Constitution and substituting their own wicked agendas.” Crimes that were once lied about and denied by leaders are now flaunted before the public eye with such audacity and immunity from true justice, no one need waste their money at a movie theatre anymore; the action and all the explosive ‘debris’ have become a reality stranger than fiction.

One of the innumerable aspects I hold the Bible in great admiration for is its honest and accurate diagnosis of the world’s state and condition. Without God, man is hopelessly dark, lost and on the road to inextinguishable destruction. As Christians we are to biblically construe the world by the same blueprint. However, so many that profess faith in Christ are comfortable in this world, not so much in an immoral way, but just enough to blunt a self-denying Christianity; to have a form of godliness while detrimentally lacking its power. A Christian who has pitched (settled) their tent in this world reveals how unprepared they are for heaven; a Christian who is in love with this present world is one who does not truly love God; a Christian who is obsessed with insuring earthly possessions does not possess the assurance of heavenly treasure.

To some degree, insurance and savings have their place of importance but to the Christian they are never imperative for his or her eternal welfare; guns and other forms of self-defence may have their purpose, but the Christian’s trust and hope is in God – their eternal Shield and Protector. How far do we as Christians draw the line? I’ll rephrase that question: where exactly does our security lie and in what and who do we trust in? Where is our treasure? These are serious questions that the time for smirking has long gone. We need to seriously decide what side of the fence we are on. Where our heart is will determine that factor. It is no use just refraining from immoral living – that is not Christianity; the rich young ruler would put many professing Christians to shame today and yet, despite all his moral living, remains shut out from the kingdom of God.

We hear many rumours of how a dictatorial government will one day sweep and control the streets of every American citizen under the ‘protection’ of Martial Law. However which way events may turn, for Christians, the coming days are not promised to look too bright to say the least, but for those who have been born of God and not of the flesh will always know, that in Christ, there is always a future and a hope. No matter what our earthly governments incorporate, the Christian’s eternal future (that includes the present) is as fixed as much as God remains to be Who He is (Hebrews 13:8).

For westernised Christians to joyfully accept the plundering of their property would be a total absurdity sounding from our pulpits today, but for the early Christians this was the norm (Hebrews 10:34) because eternity was more real to them than this life. They knew where their unfading treasure lay; how far we have wondered from the true joy of Christianity. In light of such profundity, would it be wrong to state that one of the vital hallmarks lacking in our generation is authentic Christianity? Unless our Christianity is genuine it will never withstand a cruel governmental dictatorship. America, being renowned as the freest nation ever, is in danger of becoming the most tyrannical – and we think North Korea’s regime is horrifying. America has traded her liberty for licentiousness and then we bewail the fact as to why the Constitution is being compromised and corroded by a system of corruption.

Nevertheless, I tremble when I look at world elite leaders who grossly monopolise global finances and puppeteer the somewhat professing ‘intelligent’ politicians in order to control the rest of civilisation – I fear for the judgement awaiting them. Some of these aged leaders are on the last page of their lives (maybe the last paragraph), that if they were to perish this day and face the agonies of hell, they would wish to forewarn their corrupt-minded colleagues to avoid the coming eternal torment. How great their fall will be; all will be revealed as to how they established their lives on foundations that are doomed to give way; that while temporarily ‘gaining’ the whole world, they eternally forfeited their souls.

The greater judgement, however, will fall upon those who profess to possess the Truth while failing to be possessed by it. “Not every one who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven…” has to be one of the most alarming and heart searching Scriptures a Christian can ever contemplate; anyone that is complacent when considering these words either proves the invalidity of their confession of faith, or a decaying  condition of straying from their first love.

For those of us who profess faith in Christ, are we building our lives on the Rock? Have His commands become wearisome or do they remain a delight to carry out? Is anything we have too costly to part with when we are called to obey?

 “Let your days be Mine to order;
 Where I lead, obedient be.
   Let your own desires be nothing;
           Only seek to follow Me.” —Anon.

I hear a number of Christians almost glorying in the ownership of self-defence arms, as if that were the reason as to why they can sleep peacefully at night. You may have all the arms, ammunition and artillery your hands can find; you might have acquired immense capital gain, but none of these amounts to true security; that will not ensure your ‘safety’ for long. This is not decrying the use of arms or the position of wealth; it becomes an issue when our trust is in ‘gunpowder’ or the economy instead of God. When God is your Provider, you have all that you need; when God is your Protector, you have all the safety in the world. That, however, is not always a guarantee you will be blessed with life full of days to a ripe old age; God in His wisdom permits what we cannot explain in this life, but the fact we have committed all our ways to God, that our trust is solid in Him and that He Himself is our treasure, confirms our eternal security. If it is God’s will to physically preserve us through a great possible coming war and tyranny, then He will keep us and no man shall touch or break us.

In the meantime, God will disillusion us out of every false security in this world; He will shake everything that can be shaken saving the one thing of our trust in Him, that no matter what occurs and whatever may collapse around us, we will find our feet firmly established on the Rock.