See To It

     I began this blog on March 22, the day Tracy died. Not surprisingly, I have had other priorities since then, but I wanted to get back to this topic because it is so common in our current Christian media. In March we were studying Matthew 24 in BSF. The disciples had asked Jesus what would be the sign of his coming and of the end of the age. He starts by talking about false Messiahs and wars, but that is just the appetizer, the entree, sides and dessert are progressively more terrifying in this dual fulfillment prophecy. But in the way God has of making me notice verses that must have been in scripture all along, this time through I keyed in to verse 6, ". . .but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come." I found it interesting that amidst prophecy that makes modern doomscrolling look like the Sunday comics, our Savior says, "see to it that you are not alarmed." He is so out of touch with our current culture. 

    Panic pays. People who are not alarmed do not give money to programs that search world news, internet rumors, and arcane knowledge to provide fresh material to be alarmed about. People at peace do not pay to hear guest speakers divulge the latest list of things to stress about. These influencers seem to believe that if they pile the world's woes into a high enough stack, Jesus will look down from heaven, see our tower of terror, realize the planet has gotten out of control, and come back to Earth. Acting not as a sovereign Savior, but as a parent threatening, don't make me come down there. We are attempting to build a reverse Tower of Babel that Christ can use as a stairway to earth. There are a number of problems with this tower of trouble theory. 

Jesus is not coming back because:

• The world is out of control.  He knows He is in control.
• We have cut and pasted prophecy to fit current events.  God wants us to apply His Word, not edit it.
  
• We do not want to face upcoming difficult situations or death.  Those are the materials He uses to build our faith, character, and testimony as Christians.
• Morals are lax and the government is corrupt.  He could have looped right back to Rome for those reasons.
• American Christians are being persecuted.  He told all believers to expect persecution. U.S. believers are neither exempt from, nor unworthy of, the privilege of suffering for Christ.
• Ungodly American culture. The U.S. is not prophetically significant. Jesus' ETA is about fulfilling prophesies regarding the restoration of Israel and the fullness of Gentile salvation.
• Secret conspiracies and worldly agendas.  Jesus has unlimited access to our secrets and laughs at humanistic agendas.

     Rather than considering it a Christian duty to spread speculation and alarm, it is, in view of Mt. 24:6, disobedience to a command of the Lord. If our testimony to unbelievers is that we are not quite sure God is in control and we radiate worry instead of peace, we have the power to change where our eyes are focused. See to it.