A Day Approaches

9/21/2019

“Oh, Island in the Sun, willed to me by my father’s hand….” Harry Belafonte’s title song of his 1957 movie “Island in the Sun” was the SIMH today. Interestingly, he was never a favorite singer of mine, though he had an excellent voice, great talent. Likewise, I never really liked the movie, either. But, somehow, those two things never kept that song from bouncing around in my head at 4am today. I went back to sleep wondering if it would still be in my head later: it was the same at 6 as it was at 4. Doh!

I watched, as perhaps some of you have, an autistic and blind 22 year old young man play the piano and sing a song on a YouTube version of America’s Got Talent, this morning. He was very good, and it is obvious he is exceptional and being made to understand he can do much with his life. However, the judges (who bestowed highest honors) fawned over him a bit too much for me, but especially one judge, as she hugged him and said, “You have changed the world today.” That’s just not true. Great talents have shown themselves all around the world on thousands of occasions, evoking great accolades from tens of thousands of admirers without making one iota of change in the world. 

That he was exceptional? Yes.

That he will influence many? Yes.

That it was a real treat to see and hear him? Yes.

But, change the world? No. Remember the Beatles song, “Nothing’s Gonna Change My World”? Well, nothing is going to change this world until the Lord’s will has come for the next prophesied event to become a reality. We will do well to remember and study out what will cause the next prophesied event to actually happen. Here’s what it is: “The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thess. 4:16-18)

That’s what is next, and that’s what will change this world. We have no clue as to when to expect this to happen outside of today. It is the only day we have. We will not stop it from coming, nor will we speed it up. He, the Lord Jesus Christ, already knows when it is going to occur. Until then, there’s a couple of things to remember: we support and furnish that which will bring this event about. When we preach the gospel of Christ, the “power of God unto salvation,” we allow for the fulfilling of this time to come. People anywhere, anytime, while this world-changing and expected event has not yet occurred, can be saved and a part of that “departing” I just quoted, simply by trusting the finished work of Christ. So long as others are going to trust Christ, we shall remain to preach it—“It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” Obviously, it’s that they believe what is preached, so we preach “how that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and was raised again for our justification” over and over and over again. 

Secondly, according to 2 Thess. 2, something is keeping the “anti-christ,” “that wicked one,” from showing up and taking over. But, there is another “He,” who is in the way of the anti-christ, He will be taken out of the way so that ol’ dude can do his thing. As far as I can tell, the church, which is the body of Christ, a He, is the only thing with a plan in place to be removed from the earth. When we go, all hell is gonna break loose on this earth, especially in the land that the Lord put His name on. So, “nothing’s gonna change (this) world” until these things occur. As I said, we only have today. It could happen today. “Yesterday is a cancelled check, tomorrow is a promissory note. Today is all the usable cash we hold.” Note: several people get credit for some version of this saying. The Apostle Paul said, “Today is the day of salvation.” Nuff said.

It’s going to be a busy next 17 days in my world, Lord willing. the Chattanooga Conference is under way, and the fellowship is grand. Looking forward to our bible class at our home tomorrow and hoping for more guests. Then, next Tuesday, I will go to Texas, first to see our newest Blue Jug in Greenville, TX, then attend and preside over a memorial for the dear friend of my grand-niece. Arriving back home on Friday. 

Sunday, Sept. 29, I will be doing both hours at Grace Bible Church, Chattanooga. Then, Saturday, Oct. 5th, I will go to North Carolina to fill in for Bro. Brian Sipes as he is recuperating from a pretty harsh illness. 

I love being this busy, just hope I don’t hit any snags along the way.

Thanks for reading, the Elder