The World's Greatest Challenge

     The Bible is very clear in defining the greatest challenges, facing not only America, but all nations on earth.

     Let’s review several indisputable Scripture passages leading up to the title statement.

     “…I am God, and there is no other…and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand…’”  Isaiah 46:9b-10

     God has consistently proclaimed His sovereignty and His total transparency by declaring future events millennia before bringing them to pass.  All His proclamations will become reality in His timing.

     “For the Father…has committed all judgment to the Son…”  John 5:22

     Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Redeemer of mankind, has been given all power and judgment over the earth.  However, not all mankind will accept God’s gracious gift of redemption and will consequently experience God’s required wrath and judgment.  Therefore, Jesus must be honored, or feared, equally as the Father, inasmuch as the Son and Father are one.

     “After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven.  And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, ‘Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.’”  Revelation 4:1

     The same John who announced that the Father had committed all judgment to the Son wrote the above words in the final book in the Bible.  John was told that he would see and hear ‘things which must take place after this.’ 

     The word ‘must’ means ‘of necessity’ and/or ‘needful.’  The words ‘after this’ mean events to take place after the removal of the Church from judgment.  Judgment for those who transgressed God’s commands and rejected redemption was/is required due to God’s very nature, i.e. holy, righteous and just.

     Many times this column has presented the Scripture passage that describes the return to earth of Jesus Christ to judge the world.

   

     “Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse.  And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war…Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations.  And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron.  And He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.”  Revelation 19:1, 15

      After Jesus destroys the enemy at the end of the tribulation He will establish His kingdom centered right in present day Jerusalem.  He will henceforth rule the surviving remnants from all nations with a rod of iron.

     Therefore, for all who place their trust in God’s immutable word, one would think their greatest priority would be to align their priorities to match known future history.

     America’s president has consistently stated that he considers the greatest threat/challenge facing not only America but the whole world is climate change. 

     The president’s thinking parallels that of the Pharisees.

     “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith…Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!”  Matthew 23:23-24

     The major issue in this passage is that pharisaical priorities were totally incongruent with Scriptural teachings.

     When a nation’s divinely appointed leader addresses the people proposing non-Scriptural issues and ends the speech with the words ‘…and may God bless America,’ one is reminded of Jesus’ words to the Pharisees quoting the words of Isaiah hundreds of years earlier.

     “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.”  Matthew 15:8

     This passage coined the popular contemporary phrase ‘lip service.’

     America’s president has stated repeatedly that the best thing this nation could do for the benefit of the next generation is to reduce carbon emissions. 

     The Bible states the best thing America could for the next generation is to humbly return to God’s revealed standard of righteousness and justice.  That appears to be excellent advice seeing that judgment by those standards is inevitable.

     Let’s be candid, do are leaders really believe the Bible?

     Share your thoughts walt.thrun@gmail.com