pull

Gravity dictates that every object on the earth that rises will soon retrace its path impacting the inevitable, hard ground. History reveals over and over that man rises closer and closer to Plato's "good," then is overtaken by the forces he was able to overcome just years before. The last two hundred years have been marked by massive leaps in industrial, technilogical, governmental, and social capabilities that have almost doubled the human lifespan, and have made living unimaginably easier for most people on this earth. Knowledge has been multiplied upon the earth, and moves upon the information superhighways. Travel, culture, and art have flourished as much as any other period of progress and enlightenment.

But in all this we are powerless to make any true and lasting blemish upon the basic nature of man-duplicity. We know the good we ought to do, and masters of duplicity that we are, we do it, and soar high in that beautiful form. Or, we do something that is indistinguishable as anything else but good in the light for everyone to see. But it is the evil we hide in the darkness that pulls us back into the abysmal, seemingly inescapable miry pit.

The desire to do well exists universally in all people of the earth. No matter where one is born, what language is spoken, what culture one is brought up in, the desire for success in our efforts and to be percieved as "good," we all strive for. It's when those ideals are met with difficulty that other ways of retrieving satisfaction are conjured. Deceit heightens, as barriers to the good we ought to do are encountered, and the goal morphs from doing good into doing what might be seen as good. Control tactics follow, the art of manipulation overtakes the arts of virtue. Truth becomes twisted, cast off, and even lost. Well meaning leaders become tyrrants, villains their confidantes. What was meant for good becomes evil. What is good is called evil. And the pure way is overgrown and lost to the masses.

But at the end of every dark spot in human history, there is a light that begins to shine and leads the human soul out of the darkness toward its original intent. That purpose is to glorify God, to point to Him, and to enjoy His purposes in us, as we enjoy knowing and growing in the knowledge of Him. But, when the light within us is darkness, how great is that darkness, as the Light, Himself, has said. This accurately describes where we are in human history. We think we have light with all the knowledge and technology we enjoy. But in truth, our nature shows its true need for a Savior in that we perpetually dupe ourselves into thinking we are great as gods, even as God. So what we percieve as light is actually leading the human race farther and farther away from The Way, The Truth, and The Light. I used to think it ludicrous that man could really forget God. But, now I am witnessing it with my own eyes.

As with the laws of nature, the farther away we pull from the knowledge of the Truth, the farther we have to fall. Man's decadance heightened upon the earth is a gravity for God's justice. Those who are convinced of man's ability to save himself are accelerating the arrival of that justice. God has shed His grace upon us in the form of His Son, Jesus Christ. His virgin birth, sinless life, and atoning death are God's covering and pardon for those who will believe in Him. As in the days of Noah, who was obedient to God in the face of ridicule and persecution, we who believe in Christ's work will be saved in the Ark of Christ, if we are obedient. Watching the unfolding of events on the world's stage, I am pulled more and more to my knees for sorrow of things to come. I pray my life has such a pull God-ward on those around me. We all should be pulling away from the things of this world, which would pull us into oblivion.

Here in the United States of America we are sheltered from the persecutions that Christians are enduring in most of the rest of the world. And if God delays His imminent return, such persecutions will be dealt upon this blessed and wayward nation. There's no reason why they should not be, God's blessings on us spent. Those who are truly in Christ will be pulled closer by these events. Those who are pretending will be pulled, even ripped away violently. There is a shuddering across the land, even now, a groaning.

1Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. 4You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit[a] of truth and the spirit of falsehood. (1st John 4.1-6)