davidbowerkingwood

The Problem is Not Environmental!

Frequently, one hears of the imagined environmental impact on behavior; if only the environment, the life situations people faced, could be improved or corrected to some arbitrary standard then everything would be just perfect. People would behave, society could finally work as it should and all would be well.

The truth of the matter is the problem is not external, it is internal, the dead spirit, the fallen nature of man inherited from Adam is the root cause of the matter! We read in the Bible:

⁹ “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? Jeremiah 17:9

This has been the fatal fallacy intrinsic to all the socialist experiments; communism or socialism both stumble and fall over their refusal to acknowledge the fallen nature of man. Man is not inherently good; he is inherently evil and is born with a dead spirit and a fallen nature to sin; any plan that doesn’t factor in this basic reality of humanity is doomed to failure. While no one is saying capitalism is perfect, it does, however, work best with the fallen nature of man.

The Perversity of the Human Condition

I was born in this country and have lived through many national emergencies; I was born in the Great Depression and grew up during the Second World War. I served my country in the United States Navy during the Korean War and have lived through various plagues, diseases and assorted wars that impacted our nation. There were actually times when the American people were unified in their devotion to the United States, sadly this unity seems to have disappeared.

Although the United States still offers the very best opportunity to develop one’s personal goals and achieve some degree of happiness; an increasingly large segment finds the freedoms and the opportunities available in this country to be grossly inadequate. Numbers of unhappy people protest and riot, tearing down symbols of tradition and destroying that which belongs to others.

An Environmental Mystery

As I reflect on the situation today, I’m reminded of something that has always puzzled me. At the close of the Millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ, Satan is released from his confinement and is then free to deceive the people of the earth once more.

Let us think, for a moment, on the Millennial environment. The Lord Jesus Christ has been reigning from Jerusalem for the last 1,000 years and the entire world is enjoying an unprecedented time of peace in perfect conditions in all regards.

Then, at the very end of the 1,000 years, Satan is released and begins to deceive the people of the world on a massive scale; this is described in Revelation 20:7-10 where it is written:

⁷ When the thousand years come to an end, Satan will be let out of his prison. ⁸ He will go out to deceive the nations—called Gog and Magog—in every corner of the earth. He will gather them together for battle—a mighty army, as numberless as sand along the seashore. ⁹ And I saw them as they went up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded God’s people and the beloved city. But fire from heaven came down on the attacking armies and consumed them.

¹⁰ Then the devil, who had deceived them, was thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

What is happening here, after 1,000 years of perfection, Satan is able to gather a mighty army of people who have always lived in perfect environment, and lead them to attack Jerusalem and its King, the Lord Jesus Christ.

How can that happen? Although initially, the world will only be populated by born again believers, these believers will have children who will in turn, have more children until over the 1,000 years a huge population will have been born to mortal parents. Life during the Millennium will be glorious beyond our ability to imagine and even then, the fallen nature of man will not be satisfied.

While many will receive Jesus Christ as Savior, many will not in spite of perfect environment! When Satan is released, the unbelievers will flock to Satan and join the attacking army.

Enough is Enough!

Today, God is still patient with the attacking mob, they appear to be having their way as they destroy and riot with seeming impunity. At the end of the Millennium, God’s patience will have run out and fire from heaven will come down on the attacking armies and consume them.

While this age of grace is coming to an end, the door of opportunity to be born again into God’s family is still open, the Welcome mat is still out! Please, please, please don’t let this opportunity to benefit from God’s grace pass you by; when this age of God’s grace comes to a close, God’s judgment is coming with absolute certainty!

I make this point to re-emphasize the true nature of the problem; mankind’s problem is not external, it is internal; every human being, with a mortal father, is born spiritually dead and must be born again by faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The only solution to man’s problem is the new birth by faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and God!

You Must be Born Again!