Ring around the EU,
Pocket full of lots of goo,
A Brexit! A Brexit!
Stocks all fall down!
There are many commentaries and emotions (and myths) all surrounding the latest decision of Great Britain to leave the European Union — the “Brexit”. Of course, this is no great shock to those in the COG, for this has been predicted in church circles for about as long as there has been a European Common Market, the original name of the union. What is shocking, however, is the death of truth or, if you prefer, the denial of reality, that always seems to accompany events that should wake people up but instead back them into an ideological corner of vicious denial.
A small example of this was just the day before the Brexit was official. On the way home, the news report I heard was that the stock market was rallying upon anticipation that the Brexit would fail. Once again, the “experts” were wrong. The only surprise I had over all of this was that they got it all wrong right up to the moment when it occurred.
37 But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
~ Mt 24:37-39
The media no longer is interested in objective facts. Instead, they are after ratings. They fawn over their favorites and rip apart those who clash with their worldview. They pander propaganda and are the stewards of the death of truth.
I remember the fall of the Berlin Wall. This was another monumental event. In fact, it very much had an effect on my own worldview. Here was prophecy unfolding! The “experts” said German reunification would take 15 years. However, the Germans were having none of it. The German authorities pushed for free travel back and forth. The experts revised their estimates to a decade for reunification. The Germans still were not having any part of taking that long. They pushed trading East German Marks for West German Marks one-for-one, which was hardly what the East German Mark was worth. The “experts” said it would take five years to reunify.
The “experts” were still wrong. It took about 18 months.
Will the Brexit be as fast? I don’t know. There is supposed to be a two year period where negotiators go over the details, but already the Germans, who are very resolute once they make up their minds, are already clamoring for a quick divorce.
One comment that always comes back to mind is about the Apostle John marveling at the woman in scarlet riding the beast. I always took for granted that he marveled at her splendor, her jewelry, the color of royalty, the power she had over the beast, etc. However, what if he was marveling over the speed of events instead? What if John was marveling over the speed in which she traveled?
Yet, a couple of years ago, I actually read part of an article that purported to show why German reunification was not proof that WCG had the correct prophetic interpretation. I read it, and it was my turn to marvel. I marveled, however, in just how ridiculous the arguments were. America was still around, Britain was still around, none of the events accompanying German reunification had come to pass. It was an absolute straw man argument. Of course those things had not yet occurred!
Do we expect any different from the Brexit? Won’t people wait and watch, for a short time, only to then start naysaying the Church because events don’t unfold when and how they believe it should if our prophetic understanding were correct? Will they not set up more straw man arguments — the opposite of objective reporting — in order to attack the Church?
It is not just the “news” media that promotes the death of truth. People themselves willingly go along with it because they do not love the truth themselves.
Interestingly, I was thinking about this very thing yesterday before services, and what was the first passage quoted in the sermon?
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
~ 2Th 2:9-10
When I say the death of truth, I’m not talking about people idly standing by watching it die a slow natural death. No, I mean people are going over to it, purposefully stomping on it, stabbing it and trying to kill it!
Why? Because the truth makes them uncomfortable. The truth denies them what they really want. Truth is inconvenient and gets in the way of what they want to achieve.
What passes for “reality” these days is pretty amazing. Just a few decades ago, people would have been locked up for their own good if they tried to promote what this politically correct landscape wants to promote. You are a woman if you “feel” like you are a woman today. The objective physical reality does not matter. What matters is if you wish upon a star, click your heels three times and engage in magical thinking.
Seriously, that is what I’ve come to call most of the stuff that comes out of politicians’ and commentators’ mouths these days: magical thinking. If you wish it or feel it, then that is your reality.
I am waiting for someone to dress up in a Superman suit, attempt to jump off the Empire State Building, get arrested and then successfully sue because they were interfering with that person’s “reality”. I’m not joking. We’ve become that stupid.
In reality, our politicians and our news media have let us down, but they are just a reflection of the culture at large. It is our fault. We are part of the problem, and until humanity comes to grips with its human nature, we will continue to both have and cause all sorts of problems.
We are witnessing the death of truth, and the murder weapon is in our hands.
Is the Church exempt? Have we learned anything since HWA’s death? If we have learned nothing else, it should be that any of us at any time can be deceived if we let our guard down. Why did Jesus admonish over and over again to “watch” and “be ready”? Because He knew! He knew there would come a time when the truth would be the enemy!
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
~ 2Ti 4:3-4
Ask yourself: Who are “they”? The world? Well, that might be part of the problem, but Paul is writing to Timothy, giving him advice on how to deal with various matters in the Church. In fact, verse 2 starts out, “Preach the word …”. Who is Timothy preaching to? The Church!
The sermon that started out with the verse on the love of the truth was not about the Brexit, though. It was about the Two Witnesses. Still, there obviously is some tie-in. People will not listen to the Two Witnesses. Why? People in general do not love the truth!
Will this be a problem within the Church at that time? Why is it that some are protected and others are chased by the dragon?
One comment in the sermon is that almost surely the Two Witnesses will not begin their message at the time of the 3-1/2 year mark in Revelation. No, it simply says that is when they will be given “power” (Rev 11:3). They will likely already be known by that point, but they will not be popular. They will admonish and exhort people to repent, and this could well mean the Church as well as the world!
I look at the COG landscape today, and I see the false teachers and prophets, and I understand why God’s Church needs correction. People follow and believe a person (or group of people, aka an organization) rather than the truth! The Two Witnesses will not be well liked in or out of the Church!
It is funny, then, that these false teachers and prophets want to distract you and I from the truth. If you belong to xyz organization, they claim, you will go to the place of safety. Because of a misunderstanding of prophecy, that is their own twist on prophecy, people will go into the Great Tribulation. Because people do this or that or the other, in spite of no clear biblical language to do so, people cannot understand and will not go to a place of protection. Notice how it is always about threats to your safety and well-being rather than focusing upon the love of the truth.
And so, people will be disinclined to go to a place of safety because they don’t like the message and/or the messenger. IOW, their own words will fall upon their own heads!
6 God “will repay each person according to what they have done.”
~ Ro 2:6 (NIV)
Israel said God sent them to Canaan so that they and their children would be killed. God paid them back by letting their children live and they themselves die in the wilderness. Has God changed?
One may well ask: If God wants to send correction, then why all of the false teachers and false prophets? If you are still asking that, then perhaps you haven’t been paying attention. God wants you and I to love the truth. How can we know the truth unless we are challenged on it?
In the days of HWA, it was often discouraged (and sometimes ridiculed) if someone read material from outside the Church. I believed then and still do that the original intent was to protect people from false teachings. However, by doing so, people were not prepared for when false teachings arose in the Church and eventually the entire organization broke up over what was truth and what was not. By testing our beliefs, we either become stronger or weaker, but by not testing our beliefs we always become weaker.
It is similar to the story about the butterfly. An observer saw the butterfly struggle to come out of its cocoon, so he stopped being an observer and tried to help the butterfly as he feared the butterfly would not make it. He cut open portions of the cocoon. Yes, the butterfly survived, but the wings never straightened out. It would know the end of its days by never flying because it was permanently deformed. By helping the butterfly, the observer was actually crippling it, for only through gaining strength in the struggle will it have enough strength to straighten out its wings.
So, by “forbidding” certain materials, critical thinking was cut-off. Worse, “Bible study” often meant looking at booklets and pamphlets instead of the Bible, so it was far too easy to transfer the practice to false materials by those who sneaked in to do damage to the organization.
Yes, some might have become poisoned and fallen away because of other materials. However, history shows that is what happened anyhow. The death of the truth became far too real for them. They had no natural immunity to false teachings.
And, that immunity, the antibodies, is the love of the truth.