“Justifying Yourself” (Racism part 3)

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Mark McMillion

There’s an incredible Bible verse from the book of Job, check this out. Job said, “If I justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me. If I say I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.” (Job 9:20) About 1800 years later Jesus told one man to love his neighbor. Here’s what it says was the man’s response. “But he, willing to justify himself, said to Jesus, ‘Who is my neighbor?’” (Luke 10:29)

It’s just the hellish, inborn sinful nature of man to “justify himself” and struggle mightily to ever be able to admit guilt and confess sins. Adam did it. “It was the woman that You gave me!” Eve did it. “The serpent beguiled me!” King Saul did it. “The people made me do it!”

And it’s probably worse today that it’s ever been. But right now it may be that the Lord is dealing with a lot of people here in America and perhaps around the world with racism, as a result of the mass murder of the 9 African-Americans in South Carolina recently.

If you’re already a Christian, then some of these concepts shouldn’t really be new to you. The Bible says, “He that covers his sins shall not prosper but he that confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy.” (Proverbs 28:13) There may be some right now who know in their hearts they’ve harbored racism and nurtured racism all their lives. They know it’s not of God; but it’s just something some hold on to, for whatever reason.

And here’s what can happen. “But Mark! What about the liberals, Mark! Look at the evil Muslims, Mark!” “I’m actually a really good person! I go to church! I…” This is just the nature of sin and it’s something we all do. We all want to turn the spotlight to someone or something else. We want to say how good we actually are. “Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness.” (Proverbs 20:6) But what does the Bible say? “He that covers his sins shall not prosper but he that confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy.”

But some may say, and I’ll admit I’ve said this, “But I just can’t forsake it. It’s a part of me; it’s who I am and what I am, even if I know it’s wrong!” I even quoted a verse to justify myself, “Can a leopard change his spots?” (Jeremiah 13:23)

I’ve been there and been through that. There was a time in my life when the Lord exposed a deeply-rooted sin and I knew it was true. But I just honesty didn’t know how to get over it. It wasn’t like drinking, drugs or violence. It was a deeper thing and not something I could just stop doing physically or by an act of my will. So the Lord gave me this verse as a promise.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:9)

When the Lord opened my eyes to that verse, it was like a new beginning in my life; it gave me hope when I had none. It was like a contract between me and God. In so many words God said to me through that verse, “If you confess it, I’ll cleanse it.” And that happened. I confessed my sin and the Lord did the work of cleansing me of it. It was a process but I’ve moved on from that very dark period in my life. And I should add that Proverbs 28:13 says, “…he that confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy.” You’ve got to not only confess it, you have to forsake it. You have to hate it and really turn away from it.

And perhaps millions of people today need to do this. They don’t need to justify themselves. They don’t need to tell everyone how wonderful the Confederate flag is. They don’t need to point fingers at all their old enemies on the Left or beyond our shores. Like another Bible verse that many of you know, “Judgment must being at the house of God” (I Peter 4:17). He will start with His own children before He deals with those not His. Jesus told us “to get the beam out” of our own eyes. (Matthew 7:5) And let’s face it, there are a lot of beams in the eyes of many Christians today. Racism and hatred may be near the top of the list for some.

Don’t justify yourself. “The jig is up”, as they say. Confess it, just like you would if it was adultery or some other sin that’s more censured in Christian circles today. Racial hatred has been a blight and a plague on the soul of Christians, especially those from the southern States, for centuries. And I know what I’m talking about because my family lived in Alabama and Mississippi before they migrated to Texas in the 1870’s.

How can God bless hatred of our fellow man? “Ye were sometimes darkness but now are you light in the Lord; walk as children of light.” (Ephesians 5:8) The deliverance is there. But if you go with the prevailing tide of self righteously justifying yourself which is still so common, you’ll never get the deliverance you desperately need. “He that covers his sin shall not prosper.” (Proverbs 28:13) “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:9)

We’ve all got something like this. I’ve sure had to do this many times. “The times of this ignorance God winked at but now commands all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30) Get right with Him (and with others) today. You’ll be glad you did.

Rainbow White House?

Posted on June 29, 2015 by Mark McMillion

A lot of folks feel some real serious stuff is going on right now. One very surprising thing has been that the White House, one of the most iconic symbols of the United States of America, was suddenly seen a few days ago to be illuminated in “rainbow” colors.

I don’t like to get into politics, that’s the background I come from and I feel it can be a dead-end street, a “tar baby” for many Christians. If you don’t know what a tar baby is, you can read about that here. But some pretty noteworthy things are going on and the dust hasn’t settled yet at all.

Of courses almost everyone by now knows that the rainbow has been taken by the homosexual movement as part of their imagery. But I’m pretty sure I can say without a doubt that it’s unprecedented in the history of the United States that some political or cultural movement has been allowed to display their “victory colors” on the White House. I’m almost certain this is unique in the history of the United States.

So coming from a family of journalists and political activists, I’ve just really wondered if someone out there will be following this up and getting the objective story about how this came to pass. Obviously it was planned and prepared for days in advance. There must have been discussions, decisions, agreements, the whole thing that goes into something as significant and ground-breaking as this.

I mean to write this without sarcasm or innuendo but, really, if any of you find a story online somewhere, done by reputable and balanced journalists who give us the story on how this happened, please do let me know about it. Was this President Obama’s inspiration and doing? Was it presented to him by others and he agreed? Who were those people? How did this happen? Was there any pressure or trade-offs? Did anyone raise questions about the implications and the message it sent to the world? Just from an objective and detached perspective, I can say I’ve never heard of something like this and I’ve talked with others, some of whom who favor the President, and they too say it seems unique to them.

At the same time, I would like to say that this is not a direction or theme I’m intending to stay on. It reminds me of another post I wrote a while back called “Cannot Come Down”. Nehemiah in the Bible was called by God to direct the rebuilding of the derelict city of Jerusalem. But his enemies and the enemies of God’s people at the time wanted Nehemiah to “Come down to the plain of Ono and talk to us” (Nehemiah 6:2). They wanted to get him away from his calling, into some distracting controversy.

But Nehemiah told them, “I’m doing a great work and cannot come down. Why should I come down to you and the work cease?” (Nehemiah 6:3) I feel that’s how it is for me. Personally I’ve got more to do that get embroiled with political turmoil here in the US. And actually, if you’re a Christian, you too might consider if the Lord has more for you to do with your life than be inflamed with secular, political controversies. We’re called to serve the Lord on the wall of His will, wherever He has placed you. We have a great work to do and it’s not centered on secular politics.

But we are here in this world, many of us here in this nation, and some pretty big things are happening that are clear, unmistakable signs that this nation is moving rapidly in the opposite direction of a Godly nation. How the White House was turned into a billboard for homosexuality is a story some journalist would do well to investigate and tell us about. If you read something about this, please let me know. God bless you and help us all in these times.

The real “Supreme Court”

Posted on June 27, 2015 by Mark McMillion

Most people, at least here in the States, have heard about the Supreme Court ruling clarifying that homosexual and lesbian marriage is legal under United States law. Needless to say, it’s a very big news item and a very big issue in these times, almost everywhere.

As a Christian and someone who has aspired to Christian discipleship and service for all my adult life, this subject is one I have strong feelings about. Almost all born again Christians here in America see this as a shocking, ominous day for their nation. I can certainly see how they feel that way and in some ways I do too. But also I feel some good things can come out of this for the cause of Christ and humanity.

First, to be clear, I’m not a homosexual. Also, as provocative and incendiary as some may find this, I will say that there’s no place in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, where homosexuality is condoned or tolerated at all. So for those whose faith is in the Bible, Old or New Testament or both, this issue comes down to whether we hold on to the Word of God or not.

I think that’s one of the reasons why, for me, I somewhat renounced my earthly citizenship some 45 years ago at the time I received Jesus as my Savior and took up the call of a missionary. Paul told the Philippians, “Our citizenship is in heaven.” (Phil. 3:20) And that’s the way I’ve had to look at things in order to have the freedom and peace in my heart to “forsake …lands” (Matthew 19:29), as Jesus said we should do in order to “go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15)

As I’m sure you know, in these days that’s a rather unusual, even “extreme” form of faith and Christianity. Some surely would call it fanatical. But one of the many advantages I’ve gained from this is that the to and fro of political events and tussles have lost the impact they once had on me. Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now is my kingdom not from hence.” (John 18:36)

But sadly and very significantly for most American Christians, their ties to this world and this nation are totally wrapped up together with their Christianity. They talk of “bringing the nation to repentance” when I’m personally almost sure that just isn’t going to happen. “Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.” (II Timothy 3:13) So if the Supreme Court of this worldly, physical nation declares that homosexuality is accepted, I’m all the more confident that there’s a higher court than that: the court of heaven that now is and is to come, “the Judgment Seat of Christ” (II Corinthians 5:10) and “the Great White Throne Judgment” (Revelation 20:11).

Christians and believers for millennia have struggled with this but often they pretty much saw the eternal truth in it all. Solomon said, “I council you to keep the king’s commandment and that in regard to the oath of God.” (Ecclesiastes 8:2) Yes, keep the laws of the land. But keep the laws of God before that. The apostle Peter had to stand up to the Jewish rulers of his day when he told them, “We ought to obey God, rather than men.” (Acts 5:29)

But here’s what I see as some real good in all this. So very many Christians have tried to rock along in what’s mostly a compromised limbo relationship between themselves and God and the Godless world we live in. That’s getting harder to do. This Supreme Court ruling is going to cause more Christians to be forced to a decision. Will I allow my children to go to school where “gender choice” is taught to little children and where basically homosexual teaching is presented to children as a requirement in public schools? Will you go against your conscience as homosexual activists force you into business decisions that to you are clearly a sin?

As the darkness deepens in these times, the lines in the sand have become much more distinct and many millions are finding they have to come down more clearly and strongly for the Lord. Or just declare their allegiance to the morals, ethics and gods of this present evil world and abandon their Christian convictions, their relationship with the Lord and faith in His Word.

ca. 1850 --- An illustration from a mid-19th century copy of Grand Catechisme des Familles (Christian Doctrine for Families). --- Image by © Stefano Bianchetti/Corbis

Lot & family flee Sodom

This recent Supreme Court ruling is just another road marker, howbeit a very clear one, that we are now where Jesus said things would be shortly before His return, “As the days of Lot…” (who the angels pulled out of Sodom and Gomorrah shortly before its destruction) “…so shall also the days of the coming of the Son of Man be.” (Luke 17:28-30)

As Joshua of old told his people and followers, “Chose you this day whom you shall serve”, meaning the gods of the Egyptians they’d been delivered from or the God of Abraham. And then he said, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15) Straddling the fence with our heads in the sand is becoming less of an option.

Raised Racist? (Part 2)

Posted on June 27, 2015 by Mark McMillion

If anyone tries to tell you, “Oh, it really wasn’t so bad in the South”, I can tell you from experience, yes it was. Did any of my friends ever do anything violent towards blacks? No, but that wasn’t the kind of thing that was done. They were all from pretty good families, looking towards a future at some university and job. We didn’t know any African-Americans and would probably have felt uncomfortable around them. Heck, we were a little uncomfortable around Catholics! There were no Hispanics on our side of the city, no Vietnamese were really in the States yet, India might as well have been Mars and it was just a white, white world.

It’s not that racism filed our minds at all times; but it was just “par for the course”, as they say in golf. All my friends had “colored ladies” who came to their house each day to help their moms with the cooking, washing and ironing. Everyone’s mom, mine included, stayed home while the dads worked and the “maids” got on buses and went across to the white part of town to work.

A sign on buses

They weren’t slaves at all but it was a totally segregated society. There were white schools and then there were “negro” schools. The facilities for African-Americans were supposed to be “separate but equal”. But of course, truly they were not. This was just the way it was and virtually no one said anything against it.

Blacks sat at the back.

When you got on a city bus to take you across town, there was a little sign that said “coloreds to the rear”. African-Americans were required to sit in the back of the bus. If you were at the bus station or some other public place, there were not 2 public toilets but 4: “white men” and “colored men”, “white women” and “colored women”.

They couldn’t eat in the restaurants that my family could. They couldn’t use the public restrooms I could or drink at the same water fountain. Need a sip of water? Make sure you go to the right water fountain, the one for whites, not “coloreds”. This was just life, a fully segregated life and this is what I grew up in, over 100 years after the Civil War was over.

I don’t know how my life as a missionary would have been if I’d been brought up as a racist. I’ve lived in many countries and a lot of them have not been “white folks”. But I was never taught to think and feel that way and I’m really glad for that. I’d already been taught to love my fellow human beings, even though I wasn’t raised a Christian.

And just in case any of you non-Americans out there are feeling a little smug right now, thinking how horrible these hate-filled Americans are, you might want to take a look around where you are. Yes, things have been bad here and in many ways still are. But I’ve seen some pretty bad cases of racism in my travels around Europe and also in other places. Some of you probably know what I mean.

I guess the only real solution in the long run is the love of God.

And salvation by Grace, I might add. It takes the love of God to really love people. And if you say you can do it without the love of God, ok, I’ll admit some people seem to be able to resist racism without the power of God. But then they often end up like I used to be when I was a kid. My family and I were self-righteousness because we weren’t racists when we had other problems and sins, lots of them. Just that for me, racism wasn’t one of the big problems I had.

I’ve just come to find out and experience that it takes a reborn heart through the love of God in Jesus to help us to love and be all that we need to be. If you’re a Christian but still think it’s OK to be a racist, (shall I be blunt here?) I strongly suggest you read God’s Word and let it change your heart. Here’s something from the laws of Moses, “Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart.” (Leviticus 19:17)

And on the other hand, if you’re smugly satisfied with yourself like I used to be because you think you’re better than some Christians because you’re not racist, that’s just another dead-end, going-nowhere viewpoint. There are a lot of other evils in the world besides racism and you too need the power and love of God to overcome your weaknesses and vices. And we’ve all got them. That’s what I found out by hard, bitter experience. Lord help us all, Amen? God deliver us from hatred and racism. And smug, self-righteous unbelief as well.

Raised Racist? (Part 1)

Posted on June 25, 2015 by Mark McMillion

A major subject in the news now is the aftereffects of the mass murder in Charleston, South Carolina of 9 African-Americans. One focus has been on the continuing use of the Confederate flag, used by the Confederate States during the American Civil War 150 years ago. It’s now beginning to be banned in some places but much talked about everywhere.

Racism is not just something I’ve read about, I grew up with it. In fact it had a major impact on my life. I went the first 10 years to school in a small city in central Texas that was very evangelical, fundamentalist Christian. And it was also virtually totally racist.

Nowadays we have the phrase, “the N word”. You probably know what that is. If not, I’ll let you look it up. But I can tell you that every single one of my friends (all of whom were white and almost all were Christian) used that word. But my family didn’t. I was taught that it was wrong and mean to use that word. My parents taught me to say “negro”, the more proper and acceptable, non-racist word back then for the people we now call African-Americans.

Some people reading this are from outside the States. So for those who don’t know it, “the N word” was and is an extremely powerful, extremely hate-filled word. I can’t think of anything to compare it to. Back at the time of World War II Americans would call Germans “Krauts” or the Japanese would be called “Chinks” (or maybe that was the Chinese). And there were some for Mexicans which also were racists and hate-filled.

But none of those equaled or got near “the N word”. And, believe me because I was there, virtually everyone, over 99%, regularly used “the N word”. And this was in central Texas in the 1950’s and early 60’s. So you can just imagine how much worse it got the further east you traveled towards what’s called “the Old South”.

The use of “the N word” was based on a strong hatred of African-Americans. “Give ‘em an inch and they’ll take a mile” was a phrase I heard countless times from my friends, speaking of African-Americans. But my parents were different. And the irony of all this was that my parents weren’t Christians, they were Unitarians. They didn’t believe that Jesus was the Son of God. But all my friends who used “the N word” were all Christians of one kind or the other. This is just the way it all was.

So in a strong way, this racism and hatred I saw in my friends caused me to disrespect them and thus disrespect Christianity. And my parents encouraged that view. I was taught that we were better than the Christians because we didn’t hate black people. We weren’t Christians but we were better than the Christians because we weren’t racists. And we weren’t.

It goes way back in the history of my family. My great-grandfather over 100 years ago was a wealthy landowner in northeast Texas who sheltered a black man in his house when a lynch mob came there to take him and lynch him after he had gotten into a fight with a white man. My great-grandfather stood up to the lynch mob in front of his house and refused to hand over the “negro” to them. That’s a pretty unusual story for northeast Texas from 100 years ago.

In my heart I just always felt that I and my family were better. We were more righteous because we weren’t racists like all the Christians I knew when I was growing up. Of course that didn’t really help me in my spiritual life because, in spite of the bad sample I saw of racial hatred from Christians as I grew up, the fact remained that actually Jesus was and is the Son of God. I was “throwing the Baby out with the bathwater”. I was rejecting Christ because of the bad example of hatred I saw from His people. So when I finally came to Him, it was after some really rough times as I had come to just be sure, I thought, that there was no God and no Jesus. I was wrong on that. But I think my parents and my upbringing was right in that we didn’t accept or take part in the totally racist society that was around us.

Well, in some ways, that was long ago. I remember the first day my school “integrated”, when I was 17. All the white kids were looking at the African American kids that were now beginning to go to our school. Everyone was a little on edge. But also by that time it was the strong “prevailing wind” in America in the later 1960’s and it just wasn’t cool anymore to be racists, at least not overtly. So school integration went ok and the USA made some strides toward a less racist society.

Credit where credit is due, it really isn’t as racist as it used to be. But on the other hand, the cancer’s still there. Like a cancer victim who has to endure operation after operation to try to root out the malignancy, racial hatred is still around, 50 years after the schools were integrated and 150 years after the South lost the Civil War.

Like the Bible says, “Brethren, these things ought not so to be.” (James 3:10) It says of the barrier between the Jews and Gentiles of old, “He has broken down the middle wall of partition between us.” (Ephesians 2:14) In another place it says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, bond or free but we are all one in Christ.” (I Corinthians 12:13) At least, if nothing else, the love of Christ and the Spirit of God should help us overcome this entrenched hatred that’s so besmirched the people of God, especially in the southern USA for so long. God help us and have mercy.

“God is not the author of confusion.”

Posted on June 23, 2015 by Mark McMillion

Umm, I’m a little bit mad. Truth is important to me, I believe there is truth. It’s not always clear and there can be subtleties and all that. But fundamentally some things are true and some are not. Jesus said, “Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice“. (John 18:37) He said that He was the truth.(John 14:6) He said the Holy Spirit is “the spirit of Truth”. (John 16:13) If you’re a Christian (or perhaps just a believer in the God of Abraham), then truth really should be important to you.

Emmanuel Church; Charleston, South Carolina

Here’s why this has come up for me. At the moment, one of the main things in the news is the murder of 9 African-Americans in a historic church in Charleston, South Carolina. But in the last few days, numerous web sites and articles are popping up to tell us “it ain’t necessarily so.” “Those murders didn’t happen at all. It was all staged by sinister forces. Actors were used!” This was also said in the same way at the time of the murder of the 20 children and 6 adults in Connecticut in 2012.

The Bible says, “God is not the author of confusion.” (I Corinthians 14:33)

One thing I believe about this: either those murders happened or they didn’t. If the main stream media is being used to deceive the multitudes and the hoax-callers are right, then I firmly believe that some grass roots reporter for a local newspaper or TV station could be able to sift out the evidence on this pretty easy.

Folks, truth is not that hard to find out. Nine people were killed a few days ago. You say that didn’t happen? Someone go interview the relatives. Go to the morgue. This truly isn’t rocket science. Will the caskets be open at the funerals? Come on!

It just gets my goat that someone is really telling us a whopper. And sadly very many Americans are likely to be affected by this. Very many now feel that the main stream media has zero credibility. They say they don’t believe anything they see on the main media outlets anymore. I’m certainly not unsympathetic to some of those views. So much is just tripe and hogwash, “brought to you by” unscrupulous mega-powerful folks with agendas that are not for the best of society.

But then, what are you going to do? Are you going to believe the plethora of websites that have sprung up offering you what they say as “really the truth”? And you think those sites are going to tell you the truth? They don’t have an agenda? My experience with many of those sites is that they’re actually usually worse than the main stream media that they’re supposed to be the alternative to.

Do you know how easy it is to set up a web site and then suddenly become some acclaimed pundit? All you need is Microsoft Word, maybe a little Photoshop experience, the basics of a WordPress web site and… presto! You are an international commentator! And if you’re sensational enough, you’re articles will go viral and you’ll really be making believers of people, no matter how loony and “out there” your ideas are.

May God truly help us all. The Bible says, “Be not carried about with every wind of doctrine.” (Ephesians 4:14) How very much so many people here are exactly in that condition. They don’t know what to believe. “There was a mass murder!” “No, there wasn’t! It was all staged!” “There is a crisis!” “No, there’s not! It’s just a fiction made up by the folks on the other side!” Like the Bible says of the days of old, “Truth is perished.” (Jeremiah 7:28)

It’s heart breaking. It’s infuriating. “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psalms 11:3) But when we don’t even know what the truth is anymore, we don’t know who, if anyone, we can believe, then we are ripe for the picking of the Grim Reaper, in whatever fashion he may come.

Our local newspaper here has what they call a “truth-o-meter”. It seems to be something nationally syndicated and it investigates what’s being said by noted figures, usually politicians. The worst rating is “pants on fire”, just something that is utterly false, like the saying, “Liar, liar, pants on fire.” But then they do find some things to be true. Certainly we don’t have to be thrown into confusion by a question of whether or not this recent mass murder in South Carolina actually happened.

For me, I’ve come to find that just because the main stream media say something, I can’t just utterly discount that. And when some two-bit, fly-by-night website tells me some alarmist, extremist “news”, I certainly should take that with a huge grain of salt, if at all. I sure hope other people are doing the same. Actually a lot of times we should be calling a solid “BS” on some of these extremist sites that are just disseminating alarmist, often racist or some other hate-filled screed. May it not be said of us, as it was said of Israel of old, “My people love to have it so” (Jeremiah 5:31), when falsehood and deceit were loved and they ruled so rampantly that Israel back then was ultimately destroyed for her sins.

And just to be clear, I’m certainly not saying the main stream media is always right. At times some “voice in the wilderness” tells us the truth that others won’t. Like with Watergate, the Pentagon Papers or Edward Snowden. Or John the Baptist.

Demand truth. Resist confusion. Get to the bottom of the thing. Don’t be “carried about with every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14) but “speak the truth in love” (Eph. 4:15) . Don’t let these false websites play to your prejudices, your fears and hatreds. When we lose our love for, and recognition of the truth, there really isn’t much left before our final surrender and defeat, as an individual or a nation.

How “the End” may begin (Part 1)

Posted on June 22, 2015 by Mark McMillion

Some of my friends feel it’s ludicrous and in very poor taste to talk about anything having to do with “the end”. They feel is smacks of religious insanity. I have other friends who are ardent students of Bible prophecy and followers of current events. Some of them are preparing for a breakdown of society on perhaps a worldwide level. They feel I’m not alarmed enough at the signs they see that the very Last Days are now upon us. I’ll try to address this subject of how “the end” may begin without probably satisfying either edge of that spectrum of my friends’ views.

At a Bible study recently I was asked what I saw happening in the world on the short term and how it all fits into the final endtime picture that we see in Scripture. This is a huge subject. There are oodles of people writing their opinions on how we’re already utterly within the very words of the book of Revelation. They say the Antichrist of Scriptures is President Obama. Or that the current Pope is the embodiment of Lucifer. Or that the President of Turkey is. And it goes on. What could I add to any of this?

While I believe in the return of Jesus and I believe we’re already in “the last days” in many ways, I don’t feel I can identify the Antichrist of Daniel and Revelation in the headlines we read today. But perhaps a look at earlier figures in history who were strong forerunners of the ultimate Antichrist could give us some idea of how the final one will arise.

In trying to answer my friends at the Bible study about how “the end” could begin, I told them how two forerunner, prototypes of the final Antichrist came to power in their day. Perhaps the greatest antichrist in modern history was Adolf Hitler. Another was Napoleon Bonaparte. Joseph Stalin could be added to the list. (And hopefully my German, French and Russian friends will find no reason to be offended in any of this.)

What conditions preceded the rise of those 3 men who came to dominate so utterly their people and even the world of their times in many ways? One common condition these earlier antichrists arose in was the extreme instability of their times. Their countries had already been in a period of prolonged chaos, leaderless and rudderless. There was a vast vacuum, an emptiness of certainty and direction; people were starving literally, desperate to find a way out of the morass their nations had fallen into. When things are generally sailing along and all’s well for many if not most, you don’t usually see Antichrist-like figures taking over.

So I told my friends at the Bible study that I personally feel we won’t really see the final events of the endtime as long as the overall stability of the national and world order is intact. Some will say that things are very bad now, lots of folks say that. But a background of history will show that the way things are at the moment is not nearly as bad as how things have been at times, even in the last 100 years. The Great Depression of the 1930’s was virtually world-wide and was very serious stuff; what we have today is not to be compared to that. The Ukrainian famine, the “Holodomor” of the 1930’s was so bad, with 1 to 3 million people starving to death, that many Ukrainians at that time welcomed in the Nazis, believing that they would be saved that way. World War I, World War II and other such events make our times today look like the Easter Parade.

But what could begin the end? Societal collapse, internationally. Economic collapse, worldwide. Prolonged martial law, virtually everywhere. Vast international financial ruin. I believe that for a real “New World Order” to arise, it will not happen by evolution, osmosis or from the major international leaders we see on the scene at the moment.

I expect that a time of social disorder, most likely on an international scale, will make it so that the peoples of the world will willingly accept some form of dictatorship, just to stop the anarchy and chaos that the world will have descended into. This has happened many times before.

So many here complain about the government. But times will come when there will be a cry out for some form of strong government to protect the masses from roving bands, gangs and the loss of ever vestige of civilization that we now enjoy. This is the atmosphere in which ones like Hitler and Napoleon arose in. And I feel that it will take something like that to set the stage and provide the atmosphere within which the final Antichrist will be able to seem to be the savior of the world, bringing back civilization from the chaos it will have descended to.

(More on this in Part 2 of “How ‘the End’ May Begin”)

Divisions

Posted on June 5, 2015 by Mark McMillion

Pardon me but I may rant a little here. It was just almost overwhelming this morning to see how much division is pushed at what seems like almost every level and subset of society. Blacks against whites, women against men, old against young, rich against poor. And on and on it goes.

Like Rodney King said after the horrific Los Angeles riots of 1992, “Can’t we just get along?” I really don’t think most people realize the dangers of hatred, intolerance and division; what a black hole and bottomless precipice these things can be.

It’s so much more “natural” to tear down than it is to build; the default position for so many is to find fault, rather than to value virtue. Yes, God told Jeremiah to “root out, pull down, destroy, and throw down.” But He also told him to “build and plant” (Jeremiah 1:10). And in Jeremiah’s case he was dealing with a nation so far gone in its apostasy that it was to receive God’s strongest judgments in Jeremiah’s lifetime.

Yes, there are a lot of things to criticize, there are a lot of wrongs to be righted and there are a lot of people who need to have things pointed out in their lives. But how can we do that constructively, rather than just venting our criticism and getting things off our chest? First, and last, it comes down to love.

If you love that person, or nation, or society or racial group, you’ll instinctively want to try to help them, even if you feel you need to point out something that’s lacking. Love has creative power. “Love never fails” (I Corinthians 13:8). And with love comes wisdom.

I’ve had times in my life where it’s been so frustrating because I felt I had something to say that was legitimate and had substance. I was trying to help someone or a situation. But then somehow, in my delivery or choice of words, it was rejected by the one I was speaking to. Or it even made things worse. Of course some people, or societies or any group can be what’s called “sensitive”. They can’t take the slightest hint of criticism. They just never get the idea of being able to be admonished and to learn from others.

But the Bible says, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful” (Proverbs 27:6). It says, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.” (Proverbs 25:11) “To the councilors of peace there is joy.” (Proverbs 12:20) There’s much more like that in the Proverbs of Solomon, how to talk to people, how to say something that needs to be said in love and in truth, kind of like what people nowadays call “tough love.”

It saddens me and perhaps even scares me a little how much division there is in society nowadays. Maybe it’s a sign of the times we live in. Pew Research here in the States said recently that this nation is more polarized than at any time since the Civil War, 150 years ago. One of the things Jesus said about the very last days was “Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” (Matthew 24:12)

If there was more humility, we’d more easily accept an admonition from others. If there was more wisdom, folks would be better at how to say things in a constructive way. This verse has always been a goal for me,

“The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakens morning by morning, he wakens mine ear to hear as the learned.” (Isiah 50:4)

So poignant, so significant:”the tongue of the learned to know how to speak a word in season”. But that seems so rare now. Everyone seems to have a chip on their shoulder. Everyone’s “not going to take it anymore”. Everyone’s quick to belligerence and a kind of independence that’s so divisive and cold.

Independence is great, “being your own person”, holding your head up; great and wonderful. But there’s also something to be said for old fashion unity. The Bible says, “Behold how good and how precious it is for the brethren to dwell together in unity”. (Psalm 133:1) Some of the most joyous, fulfilling moments in my life have been in the unbridled liberty and joyous fellowship I’ve experienced with my fellow Christian missionary disciples in places I’ve been around the world. But Paul warned, “Now I implore you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” (I Corinthians 1:10)

Shouldn’t we “call a spade a spade”? Shouldn’t we “reprove, rebuke and exhort“? (II Timothy 4:2) Shouldn’t we “have not fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them”? (Ephesian 5:11) Yes, yes and yes. But how does God’s Word teach us to do that? “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, you which are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of meekness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted”. (Galatians 6:1) The Bible even says God has “committed to us the ministry of reconciliation”. (II Corinthians 5:18)

People who can build bridges, people who can close gaps, people who can restore friendships, people who can unite and rally others to fight for the common goal and lead others to fight the real and greater enemies are few and far between. Love is needed. Great wisdom is needed. So many today are tossed to and fro, battling each other or in some little skirmish that’s actually not as important as the much greater battles that the world is facing today.

Like the guy said long ago, “While I was busy here and there, the man was gone.” (I Kings 20:40) Many are busy here and there with what they perceive as some injustice that needs to be addressed; many fight brush-fire wars when the greater needs of both individuals and mankind press upon us. The greater good is lost while we are “busy here and there.”

A solution? I don’t know. It’s always the same but its popularity seems to have really waned. “Love God. Love your neighbor. Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness“. (Matthew 22:37-39; Matthew 6:33) As Jesus said, “If you continue in My Word, then are you My disciples in deed. And you shall know the truth. And the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31 & 32)

Hearing from God, like your life depended on it

Posted on April 27, 2015 by Mark McMillion

Last month I was in a situation where it was desperately important that I heard from God right then. My friend and I were driving the next morning to visit a school in Reyhanli, Turkey, about 200 meters from the border with Syria. I wrote about this visit in my blog post “Visiting Syria part 1”.

But we were realistic enough to know that real danger was possible. We’d phoned ahead to several ones who knew the situation and were involved and they all said that it was safe to make the trip. But in the final analysis, as believers in God and in Jesus, the most important guidance and green light, or red, needed to come from Him.

So we really prayed. And for both of us we just kept getting the witness of the Spirit in our hearts and Bible verses that it was His Will that we go, verses like “When He puts forth His sheep, He goes before them”. (John 10:4) And “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.” (Exodus 33:14)

We took these from the Lord and we made the trip. Of course we were aware that the radical religionists right across the border in Syria would gladly pay a very large bounty for someone to kidnap us and turn us over to them. So we were keeping a good watch out on our way there for any funny business. But it all went really well and there was miraculous protection and blessing.

It reminds me of another situation, almost exactly 10 years earlier, when I was in Jakarta, Indonesia, immediately after one of the worst natural disasters of the last hundred years when the Asia Tsunami swept across the Indian Ocean.

The city that suffered the worst was Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province on the northern tip of Sumatra. The friends who I was working with at the time in Jakarta knew immediately that some of us would have to go there to help. And I knew strongly in my heart that one of the first ones who needed to go was me.

Teaching kids at a refugee camp in Aceh, 2005

But this was again a place where very serious, life and death prayer was a necessity. Probably there was more danger in this recent trip to the Syrian border. But in going to Banda Aceh, we were going to be faced with over 150,000 dead who were still left to be found, bagged up and carried off to mass burial grounds.

The infrastructure of the city of 450,000 was virtually gone. The fact that it was one of the strictest Muslim parts of Indonesia didn’t seem to be as big a deal as just the overall danger of aftershocks, extreme living conditions and would we be able to live with the shock to our emotions that all the devastation had wrought? It was a time when we needed to be certain we were in the will of God; otherwise it would be extremely unwise to go there.

But also in that situation the Lord came through clearly and blessed our time there immensely. Here’s a newsletter I sent to friends while I was in Banda Aceh 10 years ago, called “With Muslims in Tragedy“. God hears all our prayers, including the simple little ones that we often pray throughout the day. But at times we must be desperate and get answers from Him, sometimes as a matter of life and death.

I’m thinking about this a lot currently as I’m at something of a personal crossroads. I’m facing some decisions involved with possibly pulling up roots and going to a new country I’ve very seldom ever been in before, more or less starting out from scratch in what would be a major change of direction and a completely new chapter in my life.

I really need to know what God’s will is. Like Paul said, “Be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.” (Ephesian 5:17) Common sense doesn’t help a lot in these situations. Common sense would not have agreed with the trip to Reyhanli, Turkey or the time spent in Banda Aceh. But the life of faith and following the directions from God almost always goes contrary to common sense. “By faith Moses forsook Egypt”. (Hebrews 11:27) “Abraham went out not knowing whether he went”. (Hebrews 11:8)

For me it’s a time I need to know that I’m on the right track, moving with the flow of His Spirit, having no will of my own and that my thoughts and leadings are of Him. Otherwise it could be a real disaster. Thanks for your prayers for me in these decisions at this time.

Why study the book of Daniel?

Posted on April 22, 2015 by Mark McMillion

With the way the world is in these times, more and more people have at least some curiosity about Bible prophecy and the future it tells us of. But once you start searching around, you can really find some different, even opposing ideas about it all. So much of it can even engender fear or confusion.

Often folks just give up trying to grasp any constants or absolutes that can be found about the subject of Bible prophecy. Some have even said, “Hasn’t the book of Daniel already been fulfilled? Isn’t it only written for Jewish people?” That’s what some say.

Recently I was meeting with a group of people who are studying the subject of prophecy in the Bible. The main thing we were reading was from the book of Ezekiel. It’s being taught in this group that Ezekiel chapter 38 is in the process of being fulfilled right now in currents events playing out in the Middle East, as a precursor to the final events leading up to the coming of God’s kingdom on earth. Then I have other friends talk to me about verses in Isaiah which they say predict a soon coming atomic annihilation the city of Damascus, Syria. Others in recent times have come to see Psalm 83 (written by King David as a prayer against the nations he was battling with in 900 BC) as being a specific endtime prophecy which is about to be fulfilled in current events in the Middle East

So, why am I doing a series on the book of Daniel? Shouldn’t we be studying Ezekiel or Isaiah? Or Psalm 83? Here’s why. If you’re looking for authority in the Bible, there’s no greater than Jesus Himself. Did He talk about the future, the time before His return and His coming Kingdom? Absolutely. The two main chapters where He talked about this were Matthew 24 and Mark 13. He’s quoted as saying this in both chapters but I’ll quote from Matthew 24:15. “When you shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (whoever reads, let him understand).”

Matthew 24:15

When asked about the future, Jesus didn’t refer to Ezekiel, or Isaiah, or any other book in the Bible. But He did refer specifically to the book of Daniel and even to a specific passage of Scripture in that book. Then He went on to say, “Whoever reads, let him understand.” Jesus both emphases that book and made it unusually clear, highlighting the importance of understanding that particular passage.

Admittedly, that verse, Matthew 24:15, is not very easy to understand at first glance. That’s one of the reasons why, in my series on Daniel, I start with the first prophetic chapter in Daniel and then build on it. The series begins with Daniel chapter 2, then goes on to chapters 7 and 8, before we are really ready to look at this emphasized statement that Jesus made about certain passages in what turns out to be Daniel 9 and 11.

Then, if we look at what is considered the most specifically prophetic book in the New Testament, Revelation, it is full of material that refers back to characters and events first introduced in Daniel’s visions and prophecies some 600 or more years earlier than the date of Revelation.

It reminds me of what Paul said, “I as a wise master builder have laid the foundation and another builds thereupon. But let every man take heed how he builds thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid.” (I Corinthians 3:10) Paul was not speaking here about Bible prophecy and the book of Daniel. But what he said can very much apply to the foundation of endtime prophecy that the Lord revealed to Daniel and which Jesus pointed us toward. It just seems like so many today are busy building edifices of endtime prophetic interpretation on little, if any, solid foundation. Simply finding some passage in the Old Testament that seems conveniently to match some aspect of today’s world and then proclaiming that as our major insight into current events and the future is a pretty shaky way to portray the events of the future according to prophetic Scripture.

With so much being wondered about nowadays having to do with fulfilled prophecy and possible events to come, I’m convinced that an understanding of Daniel’s prophecies offers the best hope of establishing a foundation for understanding future certainties. And no, definitely it’s not all been fulfilled. Numerous things that are first clearly spoken of in Daniel, and further clarified in Revelation, just haven’t happened yet. And it seems Jesus Himself pointed us to this beginning point when He referred to specifics in Daniel yet to be fulfilled and said, “Whoever reads, let him understand.”

Mark McMillion

Creeds and Deeds, Facts and Acts

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