Friday, January 31, 2014

Is This The End?

By Reverend Mark Hunnemann

"And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction." (Mal. 4:6)

"And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold." (Matt.24:12) 

Suppose a leading candidate in an election year, who espoused all the main convictions you hold, suddenly announced that he supported a return to the practice of segregation--blacks and whites,"separate but equal". Further, it was uncovered that he was (for certain) an active member of a KKK group that had lynched a dozen black men over the years, but justice had never been done (no witnesses). Would he have any chance of becoming president in the 21st century? Would you vote for him? "None....and hell no!" are most certainly your collective reply. The media would rip him to shreds.

Some facts simply disqualify a man for office, right?

Remember.... in my own lifetime, we DID vote folks in office who espoused segregation. Why was it stopped? Because it was patently abusive and unjust.

While not minimizing the seriousness of segregation policies, would we all not agree that murder is worse than abuse or shaming people by making them drink from a different water fountain? There are gradations of sin, and murder is more serious in God's eyes than public shaming--as horrible as that is. (I did an entire blog on gradations of sin).

"I thought this newsletter/blog was about the paranormal?" you may be thinking. Okay, if in your backyard there is massive oak tree upon which dozens of black folks were hung and murdered 100 years ago, do you not think that that spot almost certainly is "haunted"...an intense demonic presence? And if we did something similar, or worse, today, then wouldn't that shed light on why overt demonic activity has skyrocketed? I WANT TO KNOW WHY WE ARE EXPERIENCING SUCH AN EXPLOSION OF OBSERVABLE DEMONIC CARNAGE!

For those of you who do not know me personally, I am a gentle guy....a man of peace who dislikes arguing....I have a deep aversion for TV preachers who are mean-spirited. I cling to grace and  know that Jesus showed His most tender compassion for folks deeply mired in horrible sin and guilt.Truthfully, I am so damaged by past cruel realities in my life that most days I have trouble putting one foot in front of the other. But God won't let me just lie down.....especially regarding one or two particular issues.

January 22 marked the 41st anniversary of Roe V Wade...55 million unborn babies have been killed in the US alone since then. In Russia, abortions outnumber live births  (no wonder that it is such an oppressive country in every way). Where is the outrage? If we would be offended by segregation...and especially lynching, then why not with the killing of the most defenseless? The bible SCREAMS in its insistence that life begins at conception, as does biology and common sense. The second the Holy Spirit caused the virginal conception of our Savior,  Jesus was both fully God and fully man. From conception, He was God incarnate..Don't you think Satan was feverishly trying to abort that Baby, only to be smacked to the ground by our sovereign King? While only a few months along in her pregnancy, Elizabeth's baby (John the Baptist) leaped in joyful worship of his cousin, The King who had created him! Read Psalm 139...personally knit together in mom's womb, and every page of the bible. An important early Christian document, The Didache (AD 81-110) states, "You shall not murder a child by abortion nor kill them when born." This is not just my humble opinion....God says it, that settles it, I believe it. Let me quote from RC Sproul, one of my theologians.

"I'm convinced that the matter of abortion facing the American public right now is the greatest wickedness in our nations history. It makes me almost ashamed to be an American. I'm ashamed of the medical profession, but I'm most deeply ashamed of the church for its failure to scream literally, "Bloody murder" about abortion. Abortion is a monstrous evil, and if I know anything about the character of God, I am totally convinced that this is an outrage to Him. ...(pg.451  Now, That's a Good Question)

I have been thinking lately about what could possibly occur to indicate that Satan was loosed and that we were in the last days of demonic delirium. The text is too long to quote here but read 2 Thess 2:1-12...In God's sovereignty, He will temporarily drop the restraints and all hell will break loose before Christ's victorious return. It made me feel physically ill to realize that we are likely experiencing the most wicked time in the history of mankind. Due to technology advances, we can slaughter more infants, with more efficiency. Nearly 60 million babies (just in US) in 41 years, plus the many millions worldwide, is a feat of evil unparalleled in human history.

There are other reasons (this is a series) why I think Jesus' return is near, but how our love has grown cold to the plight of the unborn is sickening and indicative that we are far more advanced in evil than many of us suspect. We are waiting for the hammer to fall on Christians before we take seriously that the lion has been loosed. I think that is a mistake.

The issue of abortion on demand is distinct from the issue of exceptional scenarios, which I cannot address. The vast majority of abortions don't involve any real threat, so I am tired of this being thrown out immediately and used to water down the urgency and seriousness of the issue.

My heart aches for the women reading this who have been scarred by abortion. Please accept God's full forgiveness. Like Adam hiding behind Eve, I think the men are most at fault, but hide....But only a demonic logic would force us to keep quiet out of fear. What of the children? Indeed ,by keeping silent, we have prevented men/women who are riddled with guilt from feeling the full weight of their guilt, and to then to experience the full beauty of real forgiveness. We have done nobody a favor by remaining silent.

I recently read War by war correspondent Sebastian Junger, in which he chronicles his days with an Army outfit that was engaged in the most vicious fighting of the ongoing Afghan war. Some of you may have seen the documentary based on these events called, Restrepo...named after a beloved medic who was killed in an ambush. Junger mentions the importance of knowing the terrain in effective warfare, and that he who occupies the highest hill has the military advantage. You're shooting down...I am convinced that the killing of unborn children is the "highest hill" for Satan in his destruction of our country.

He has captured the hill of "truth" by relativizing it.....the hill of worldview, which was once Christian in general, has been overrun by the occult/New Age/Gnosticism..... The hill of academia has been napalmed by post-Christian and post-modern deconstructionism....... Even the hill of the spirit realm--considered the forbidden zone for millenia--has fallen into enemy hands, as we rush headlong into it. But the highest hill of them all is the profound sacredness of human life., made in God's image. It, too, has been overrun.

If we lined up 55 million people today and slaughtered them, do we not think there would be a HUGE effect in the spirit realm? There is a cause and effect between the natural and the supernatural. Our actions here give demons a foothold...I know the history of abortion, and that it has always existed. However, in the fullness of time, ours is the first generation that has had the means to surgically destroy so many babies...so easily...and so cheaply.....and supposedly so safely.

The highest hill...we (humans alone) are made in God's image from conception through the grave and unto eternity. If demons are drawn to cemeteries and battlefields because the blood soaked land, and moldering remains draws them like flies to honey....due to their sheer, irrationally intense hatred of us--then what of abortion clinics? There is a demonic darkness that surrounds these places. I know--I was arrested at one 30 years ago along with 2 other seminarians, and some others as well.

One of the main signs of the imminence of Jesus' return (see Matt.24) is the INTENSIFICATION of evil. Nothing really new, just old evil (apparently) accelerated by the use of modern technology. That is where we are--right now.

We are rightly repulsed by images of infants being laid in the white-hot, outstretched arms of the demonic god Molech. Unto the demonic god of selfishness we have killed 55-60 million precious babies. We have opened the floodgates for the lawless one to come. I am sick to my stomach, as I contemplate this monstrous evil in our midst, and we hardly give it a second thought. What in the hell is wrong with us?

What do we do? Pray that this holocaust will end...and ask God how you personally can help. Preach and teach on it. Call your local crisis pregnancy center and get involved. Google "National Right to Life" and get on their mailing list to be educated, as well as World magazine which reports news from a biblical worldview. The first step is overcoming this monstrous silence and talking about it. We have the most pro-abortion president ever in office. There is a time for a righteous anger....and if we as individuals and as a church will not take a stand for human life, what will we stand for?

Forty years ago, the young adults of our nation resonated to the lyrics of "four dead in Ohio", but our generation of the summer of love is a bunch of hypocrites --we are so focused on the pursuit of happiness and personal fulfillment that the right to life has died. I think the end is near. (next week, Jews and Jerusalem).