| It is almost passé to say these are momentous days.
As we enter a new decade – the 2020’s– we are at a new tipping point of history.
Some years ago, I made the statement that 2025 would be a turning point for the Kingdom of God.
I said that the period of 1950 to 2025 was a hinge on which a door to kingdom increase was swinging.
The second half of the twentieth century witnessed an unprecedented global outpouring of the Holy Spirit across the whole church.
Breaking out from the confines of the classical Pentecostal movement, the Holy Spirit invaded every denomination with fresh manifestations of his power and grace.
Despite this extraordinary activity of the Spirit the cultural decline of Christianity has continued at break-neck speed.
The church has not been exempt. Indeed, as “the pillar and support of truth”, she has led the head-on rush, joyriding on the downgrade of Scripture and all things biblically orthodox.
As the church goes, so goes the world.
The flight of Christians from biblical orthodoxy – from the God of the Bible – has led the world’s flight from reality—the flight from objective fact, from the God-created categories of right and wrong, of male and female, of truth and error.
So, where are we and what does the future hold?
A phenomenon of God’s activity in history is that his judgement and his mercy travel together. As the prophet cried out, “In your wrath, remember mercy!”
And so, in this hinge time we have not only experienced unparalleled blessing in the renewal of the Holy Spirit but also, and increasingly, God’s judgements upon an apostate church and culture.
The twentieth century witnessed two world wars of unprecedented horror, and is now recognised as the bloodiest of human history:
- 203 million deaths from state sponsored mass-murder (genocide, war-time blanket bombing of civilians etc.),
- 35 million military deaths, and
- 61 million deaths from abortion since 1973 in the USA alone!
But we have not learned the lesson.
As a church and culture, the West has refused to return to the Lord, despite his judgements. Until we fall on the rock, the rock will, therefore, continue to fall on us.
But not without God calling out a “remnant according to the election of grace” (Rom. 11:15).
The purpose of the outpouring of the Spirit has been to call a people to himself. A people who will stand in the earth as a prophetic statement of hope.
Who are so imbued with a vision of the majesty of God that they see a world turning to him and worshiping at his footstool. A world where every enemy of Christ is subdued, every idol and false belief system, before he comes again.
We are committed to facilitating biblical teaching that speaks into both church and culture.
Please stand with us, in partnership, to reach more people with Kingdom answers for today’s dilemmas, as together we chart a new way forward.
We covet your prayers!
Sincerely,
David Orton
lifemessenger.org |
