The Storm Clouds are Building

Luke 12:54-56  And he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is. And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?

I am an optimist by nature, a cockeyed-optimist, my mom always called me.  In all of the games I ever played or coached in, we never lost.  At least that was the way I viewed it!  We didn’t lose, we just ran out of time.  If only we had a few more minutes on the clock…

I am not a conspiracy theorist, although I keep up on all of them.  I make it my job to read.  I trust the Holy Spirit to guide me unto all Truth.

I am not a proponent of doomsday-theology.  That thought process has crippled the Church.  The idea that the King of Kings and Lord of Lords is going to lose control of the world to the Prince of Darkness is anathema to me.  For some reason, modern Christianity has become obsessed with living out pre-written history.

“Things are only going to get worse,” I hear churchgoers lament all of the time.  “Jesus is coming to get us soon.”  I don’t want to turn this commentary into a theological debate, but let’s face it, the idea that things are only going to get worse makes it less likely that you would be willing to stand and fight.  To do so, in a sense, would be to fight against God.  “He said it would get worse, so why would I want to try and do anything about it?  Things are lining up just like the Bible says it will.”

American Christianity is end-time obsessed.  It is almost like we are watching a house burn to the ground and instead of grabbing a hose we stand around and muse over how long it will take for the dwelling to be fully destroyed.

What a slap in the face to the power of God.

Another one I hear a lot is this, “Well, I read the last chapter and we win,” the churchgoers regurgitate, mimicking a line from some it’s-too-late-to-do-anything church leader, who is really too yellow to do anything about what he sees going on.  Here’s the Truth.  If you think WE win in the end you better read the Book again.  No, my friends, we don’t win….HE wins.  We just get to be part of His team.

American Christianity is humanism-laced.  It is so much different than the Christianity preached in other areas of the world.  Do you really think that the persecuted church in China, or the Sudan, or in a myriad of places around the world are really focusing on end time prophesy?  Do you think in their clandestine, illegal Bible studies they are studying the blooming of the fig tree and eighty-eight reasons why the Rapture is coming in ’08?  While the fat, sassy, self-absorbed American Church is counting on the fact that God has “not appointed us unto wrath,” the persecuted Church around the world is praying to endure the wrath associated with worshipping Christ.

I don’t study End Times prophecy.  Call me a heretic, but I really couldn’t care less.  All I know is that evil seems to be descending all around us and that the Church spends much of the time trying to prove to one another that evil is descending all around us.  My God, friend, do you need a lesson in the book of Daniel, or an in-depth study of the nation of Israel to see that something is seriously amiss in America?  I’ll let others sit around and analyze the Biblical significance of what is happening and the ruminations over Bible-predicted events….sort of like watching the Doppler radar before a big storm hits. 

I don’t want to shock you back to reality, but the clouds are already forming.  Are we at the “End of the Age?”  I don’t know and honestly, I don’t care.  For me, and for you, the end could come tomorrow.  What a waste of time to continually try and figure out where we are on God’s time-line.  It is storming, can’t you see the clouds?  Isn’t it time we did more than just sit and review pictures of the storm’s devastation?

Here’s what I think Jesus would say…oops…I mean what He said regarding our plan of attack.

 John 9:4 “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.”  Or how about this one, “occupy until I return” Luke 19:13.

Look out your window. The sun may be shinning above you but the clouds are building.  Christians, it is time to put our hands to the plow.  As Kenny Rogers sang in The Gambler, “there’ll be time enough for counting, when the dealin’s done.”  Last I checked the game wasn’t over…despite what the End-of-the-Agers want to convince us.

Here is the question we must ask.  Is it possible that America, as we know it, could disappear from the face of the earth and Jesus would still not have returned?  Is a world without America possible?  Therein lays the delusion.  Much of what passes as end time prophecy today is based on the decadence that is swallowing up America.  We think that God’s time-table is based on what is happening in Land of the Free.  We are so arrogant and prideful, we Americans.  We think everything is centered around us.  Here’s the shocker, are you ready?  God is not an American.  He rules and reigns over all of the earth, not just “from sea to shining sea.”  America is not as important or necessary to God as we are convinced it is.  Kingdoms rise and kingdoms fall.  Did you ever hear of the Roman Empire?  Today it is on the ash-heap of history.  Is America soon to follow?

Which brings me to the storm clouds.

I often am accused of idolatry of America; that somehow I am putting America on co-equal footing with the Gospel.  That is ridiculous.  I am, however, very cognizant of the role that America has played in evangelizing the world.  Can we even begin to imagine what the world would be like if there had been no Christian-America?  God has truly “shed His grace on thee.” 

Has America used up her usefulness in God’s plan?  After having used this land for His great purpose, is it possible that the sun is setting on America?  If Jesus has not returned fifty years from today, and if the America we once loved is no longer recognizable, will we have to look back on history and see that the Church made a horrible miss-calculation of the signs of the times?  What the American Church saw as impending darkness was nothing more than a powerful approaching storm.  Convinced that as America goes, so goes God’s plan, the darkness of the approaching storm tells us that the dealin’ is about done and that the game is almost over.  “You got to know when to hold ‘em, and know when to fold ‘em.”  What a tragedy for our children and grandchildren if we folded a winning hand.

So the clouds are forming all around us.  Just in the past week, consider that:

·        Two Gideons were jailed for handing out Bibles.

·        A public school superintendent said there are no parental rights.

·        Grandmas go to jail for witnessing.

·        The Union tells a teacher to change religions if she doesn’t like union policy.

·        A Judge rules that the state has an interest in promoting the gay agenda.

The ante has just been raised.  Will the Church make the decision to call the bluff or will we toss in our cards?

Is God done with America?  I don’t know, but I am not willing to gamble the future of my family based on a pre-written event of which the Lord himself said no man knew the day or the hour.  Millions of souls are at risk.

Is it possible America’s best days are still ahead?  Is it possible that the Lord could send a powerful revival our way?  Is it possible that the greatest out-pouring of the Spirit the world has ever seen lies just over the horizon?  Are you sure that what you see in the sky is the end approaching rather than a storm that, when weathered, will lead to a new dawn?

And if the end is really so near, why are so many churches building bigger buildings?  Is it shelter from the storm or just a bus-stop to wait for the Rapture?

Acts 2:17  And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh…

I guess my mom was right.  I am a cockeyed-optimist.  I think it is getting ready to rain.  God is getting ready to do something BIG!  That may be the biggest surprise of all.

You wait for the bus… I’m going to dig a ditch.   I’m not quite ready to fold my hand.   I like our chances with the one who deals all the cards.

Anybody want to join me?

By Coach Dave Daubenmire Email: coach@ptsalt.com Click here for bio and archived articles