"So what are you saying?"

The Boss straightens his shoulders. "I repeat, I think the Bible is important but I think that it is even more important to have a relationship with Jesus and let the spirit lead. That is what I do."

Bad News who is holding a little recording machine in his hand can't contain a look of surprise. "I can hardly believe my ears. This is not what the said you were like."

The Boss continues, "That is what I am telling you. I have been misrepresented. Why would I want to be against God? Now I recognize that some people have done some pretty terrible things and have said that I was to blame, but this is not fair. This may surprise you but to show where my heart is I have actually decided to joined the church."

Bad New had been with the Boss for a long time but this was the first time in a long while that he has been able to have a private conversation. "You have joined the church? What about all the pagan religions and the persecutions and all the rest?

" You will just have to trust me. The Boss emphasizes the word trust. He goes on "I told you that there have been some things in the past but it wasn't me and besides we are not living in the past. Aren't we suppose to be forgiving and accepting? Now I don't mind you asking me all of these questions but with some of the things that you are saying I am beginning to wonder if you are not a Pharisee and a legalist. Please don't be so judgmental."

"Please forgive me. Bad News begins to look uncomfortable. "You said that you have joined the church?"

"Yes"

"Why did you do that?"

The Boss leans forward, "Because I think I can do more good as a member of the church than I could not being a member. Here at the beginning of the 21st century I want to dedicate my time and talents to the church."

"So what do you intend to do? What is your strategy?" Bad News likes to use the word strategy. It make him sound important.

"Well in the first place, as I have mentioned, I intend to do all I can to unite the church. After all Jesus prayed that the church would be united. I believe, though, that to unite the church we should give attention to the special needs of its members. One of my special projects will be ministry to the young people and I am going to promote the idea of a youth church. I think that if we will organized into separate groups and celebrate our diversity and stick up for our rights it will help all of us to be compassionate and caring."

Bad News wants to make sure he understands the point. "So by separating into special interest groups we will be united?

"Yes."

Bad News feels extremely pleased. So far in spite of having passed some personally embarrassing moments he believes he is getting an excellent interview. "Do you have any suggestions as to how we might improve our evangelistic outreach?"

" I surely do. I am glad you ask because as you remember Jesus said that he didn't come for the saved but for the lost." I am presently promoting a great campaign to reach the unchurched. You know that the society is become more and more secular so I believe that if the church is going to be effective we are going to have reach the people where they are."

"You have some suggestions to make in order to accomplish this."

"Yes, I do"

"Could you share some of these with us?" Bad News is beginning to get excited. Just wait until the others see the article that he is going to be able to put together. He is on to some real "insider" information.

Almost appearing to be formal, the boss begins, "Thank you. I would be glad to." Then, " First let me say that I think we can learn a lot of things from the world. You know that the Bible says that the children of the world are wiser in their generation than the children of God and of course you know what the Bible has to say about the importance of wisdom, and besides we know that all truth, where ever you find it, is God's truth."

That was a long sentence. Bad News believes he needs to flesh the concepts out a little more, "Please be more specific."

"Well in the first place, we can learn a lot from Madison Avenue. Madison Avenue is about advertising. When Jesus said that we ought to go to all the world and preach the gospel, what he was asking us to do in modern terms was to market the gospel and if we are going to market something successfully we have to use what have been discovered to be successful marketing techniques. As they say, everything has to do with the packaging."

"You are saying then", Bad News chooses his words, " that the preaching of the gospel has to do with marketing it, or as you just said with how we are going to package it?"

"Of course. You can have a product that is very attractive but if it is not packaged right the people won' buy it. And by the way it is not only the packaging but the spin that you put on something. Sometimes you even have to do what is called a little spin doctoring."

Hi Linda,

You may find it interesting to know that he has also registered and is now a member of MSDAOL.

I don't believe he has posted anywhere yet.

_________________________
It is more blessed to give
than to receive. (Acts 20:35)

Daryl

Bad News knows what spin doctoring is."But don't we run the risk of misrepresenting the gospel this way."

"I don't think so. Jesus wants as many to be saved as possible. Remember that Mrs. White said that Jesus met people where they were. This means that we should be creative and flexible in the presentation of the message."

"You say that we must be flexible and creative. Isn't there the risk that in the process we could alter the message?" Bad News can hardly believe how intelligent he sounds.

"There is always that possibility but we must remember that the gospel can be reduced to just one phrase, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.' I and those who are my associates have never failed to believe in Jesus. But then you were asking about some ways in which we can be flexible and creative. I think that one of the most creative gospel outreach methods that has come along in recent times is what is mistakenly called Gospel Rock."

"You say, Mistakenly called?"

The Boss sets his jaw and clenches his fist, "Before I answer that I need to remind you that I used to be the minister of music in heaven. But to answer your question. Yes. You must understand that music itself is neutral. It is the words that make something acceptable or unacceptable. When you put religious words to rock rythmns what you get is not rock music but religious music and besides don't forget Jesus met people's needs. If we are going to get the maximum number of people in the 21st century to accept the gospel we are going to have to meet them where they are and I don't need to convince you that music is what holds the youth subculture together."

Bad News decides to ask a personal question now. "May I digress for a moment? Earlier you mentioned, Mrs. White. Do you believe in her?"

"Of course, I think she is a wonderful devotional writer and you can get a great blessing from her writings. But we need to realize the times in which she wrote. Like they say these days, we need to understand where she was coming from. I even think that is the way that we can get the greatest blessing from the Bible."

"Please explain what you mean."

"Well, the Bible was completed approximately 2000 years ago. I don't need to tell you that there is not much in common between living in 30 AD and the times in which we live now."

"Go ahead."

The boss's voice assumes the tone of a teacher, "This means that when we read the Bible we must understand that we are not to take it literally. Have you noticed the Bible has a lot to say about how to treat your slaves. Paul even sent a slave back to his master. Do you think that this is what God wants us to do in the 21st century? There are many more instances similar to that can be found throughout the Bible."

"So you don't think we need to follow what the Bible says?"

I didn't say that. The Boss frowns but then instantly smiles," But you really want to know something, God speaks to our hearts more these days than he even speaks in the Scriptures. This is why to be really revelant in your spiritual life you need to let God speak to your heart."

"But isn't that rather subjective?" Bad News knows that a lot of people were going to be reading his article and he wants to make sure that he has covered all of the bases.

"Some might think so, but we are all different aren't we? and God's will for each person, inasmuch as we are different, if it is going to be relevant, must be different too. But generally speaking you will be safe if you follow this course of action. ‘Its right if its right for you' ,and of course the converse is also true."

"By the way, earlier you said that you had joined the Church. Which one?"

The Boss lowers his voice and says, almost as if he was revealing a secret, "This may sound strange to you but I don't belong to any particular church, but although I don't have my membership in any particular church I try to get around to all of them as much as possible or if I happen to have another appointment I try to have one or more of my associates in attendance every week."

"I heard someone say that when you go to church you make the people go to sleep. Is that true?" Bad News has a grin on his face.

"You have got to be joking. I can't help it if people work sixty hour weeks. But then come to think of it if the Sabbath is going to truly be a day of rest then wouldn't sleeping in church be an ideal atmosphere to rest in? Besides haven't you heard of subliminal learning? Seriously though I think that you will find that if you spruce up the worship service with a band, some puppets, a good drama team and keep the sermon short, you will find that the people will be more inclined to attend and will also be less prone to sleep."

Now how is that for a play on words. Bad News can keep back laughing out loud. " Less prone to sleep. I like that! Then serious again, "I would like to change the subject now for a moment. I have heard that more and more Chrisitans are beginning to accept what is called Thesistic Evolution."

"Those are big words."

As if the Boss might not know what he meant, Bad News explains, "You know what I mean. It is a philosophy that teaches that God didn't create the word in seven days but he started life and everything since then has just evolved."

"You want to know something. The Boss interrupts, "Listen to me now, The Boss's voice takes on a sound that it hadn't had before, It doesn't make any difference whether God created the earth in seven days or seven weeks or for that matter seven thousand years. The important think is that we believe that Jesus died on the Cross. We have got to begin to understand that the stories in the Book of Genesis are not actually history but simply symbols of how much God loves each one of us. Look at it this way, the Bible is not a history book or a science book, it is simply the book that tells us about the gospel."

"So you don't think that it is important to believe in Creation?"

The boss's voice relaxes a little. "What I think is most important is that the Christian church stop arguing about docrines that we can't prove one way or another and simply begin to love each other. When Christians begin to really love each other they won't need doctrines anymore."

"May I ask you a question about what are called Christian standards. There is quite a lot of debate about that these days. Some years ago the church was really strict about how a person lived."

"I am glad that you brought that up."

Bad News is relieved to know that the boss is still with him. Trying to set the context of the question he continues,"As you are aware there is a trend in many churches these days to play down or even ignore things like jewelry, immodest dress styles, to say nothing of winking at what used to be absolutely forbidden entertainments. How do you feel about these trends?"

" Well, in the first place, The Boss seems to get a far away look in his eye." One thing is certain and that is that there will always be change and the church must be aware of this. In the past the church has tended to be behind the times and not relevant. This is probably the reason that we are losing so many of our youth."

"Then you are saying that you agree with lowering Christian standards."

" I wouldn't put it that way. I don't see it as lowering the standards but rather of updating them."

"What do you mean, updating them?" Bad News looks down at the little glass on the hand-held recorder to make sure that it was still running.

"What I mean is that what we call Christian standards is very subjective. All cultures are different and beside that cultures change with the times. What might be acceptable at one time may be unacceptable at another and vis a versa."

1"But aren't there certain principles that apply to all cultures?"

The Boss continues his line of thought, "If we agree that all cultures are different how can we make one size fit all? I believe we have set ourselves back by setting values that had to do with the outward appearance. The Bible says that man looks on the outward appearance but God looks on the heart. I am glad that we aren't worried about externals anymore. This will definitely attract more people to the church. What was being done before was simply driving our youth away."

"But isn't there a danger that when we begin to dress like the world and do the things that the world does, that we will begin to lose our distinctiveness and become like the world." Bad News had never used these words before but he had gotten some idea of what they meant and besides he wanted to impress the Boss with how savy he was.

"I think that is a selfish way to look at it." The Boss looks Bad News right in the eye and Bad News can't help but avert his gaze. "Our mission is to take the gospel to the lost. How can we do that unless they can see that we are not something weird and fanatical but something that they can identify with? When we insisted on Christian standards we were shooting ourselves in the foot."

"So you don't think we ought to worry about Christian standards?"

"No, I don't. As I said earlier all we need to do is to invite the people to have a relationship with Jesus."

Bad News decides to use a case in point. "Once I heard about a person who had been baptized and who had become a member of the church. She stopped coming to church and she definitely begin to return to a worldly lifestyle. I heard her tell someone onetime that the important thing was that she still had a relationship with Jesus."

Suddenly the expression on the Boss's face changes, "So you object to that? Surely you don't believe that you have to go to church to have a relationship with Jesus. I hope you don't think that everyone who goes to church automatically has a relationship with him. I think that you must be careful or you will find yourself becoming a Pharisee. It is not hard for people who say they are Christians to become legalists and judgmental of other people who are not like them."

"Surely I don't want to be a Pharisee or to judge others." Bad News feels his face getting red.

"Then you need to become more open minded. The church has tended to be close minded and dogmatic and the culture of the 21st century is not going to put up with it."

Trying to take the heat off himself, Bad News adds,"This may be why we are beginning to hear more and more about legislating laws against what they call hate-crimes."

"Exactly. Some people are going to require a little motivation if they are going to be reminded that we must be compassionate and accepting of everyone just the way that they are."

"Speaking of the word acceptance." Bad News is feeling better now, "That is a word that we hear a lot these days. In the old days, the sermons called on people to repent, these days the sermons tend to emphasis that we ought to accept each other. How do you feel about this?"

"I am definitely in favor of it. I will tell you why. In the first place the word repent is really a put down. When you tell people that they ought to repent you are judging them. You are saying they are wrong. This is why you are going to find that when they stop mentioning the word repent it will be much more affirming to the people's self esteem and they will be more inclined to come to church."

"You mention self esteem?"

"Yes," The Boss shakes his finger at Bad News to make his point, "The purpose of the gospel is to build self esteem. How can we encourage people to come to Jesus if we insult them by calling them sinners. The people of this age are well educated and well informed. If we are going to be effective in bringing the gospel to them we must appeal to them in terms that they can identify with. That is why I said earlier in this interview that we would do well to go back and study the principles of successful marketing."

Wanting to make sure that he understood, Bad News continues,"Please explain where you are coming from."

"Well, Since the beginning of the 20th century I have been encouraging a new emphasis in the preaching of the gospel. In the 19th century the emphasis was to threaten the people by telling them that they were lost and that if they didn't come to Jesus they would go to hell. Now that may have worked in those days and it was especially effective with the weak and superstitious."

"With the weak and superstitious?"

"Yes, but nowadays times have definitely changed. But what I am saying has even more importance if we are going to be effective in reaching the ones that are called "unchurched Harry". We will get no where if we think we can scare unchurched Harry into coming to church."

"So then how do we reach him" Bad News isn't quite sure who unchurched Harry is. He must be somebody like John Q Public.

"We reach "unchurched Harry" the same way that Madison avenue reaches him. Madison avenue appeals to his desire to improve himself, to make a better living- even get rich and it even throws in the matter of sex appeal."

Bad News is almost shocked. "You are suggesting that we do that when we preach the gospel?"

"Yes indeed, Why not. Before Jesus preached the gospel he met the peoples needs. This generation needs more self esteem, more financial security and if you will excuse me, needs to feel that it is still sexy."

"You are saying that we should use sex appeal to bring people into the church? How would we do that?"

"With music. The Boss answers almost before Bad News has finished what he was saying " I mentioned earlier that I probably know more about music than anyone in the universe. I believe that what is called gospel rock ,which by the way is increasingly gaining in popularity and even being used by more and more churches in their worship services, will be just what we need." The Boss grins.

Bad News notices the grin, "How is that?"

"Well, the words are now religious so it is less and less objectionable. But of course, there is the music which has a sensual beat, but that is ok because the beat will subtly add physical stimulation that will enhance the truth of the words that are being sung. We must remember that though the sun can burn it is, after all, how we keep warm. We should not condemn something just because it is misused. After all God invented sex."

Bad News hadn't given it much thought before. It was like a bulb was going on in his head, " I have never heard these things put this way before, but I must admit that you must be telling the truth because seeing is believing and surely all the things that you mention are happening right before our eyes."

"Now you are getting smart. We must test a tree by its fruit. Churches that have upbeat contemporary services are full while the traditional churches are dying out. If we don't use every way possible to win souls we will have to give account to God someday. We must empower people to think for themselves. We have put too much emphasis on the externals. Now is the time to loosen up a little."

"Loosen up a little?" Bad News wants to make sure that he understand what the Boss means.

"Yes, Don't forget Jesus was considered a revolutionary in his time. He did things in new and different ways that the people were used to. If we are going to be successful we must feel free to color outside the lines."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well", bringing up one arm to emphasis what he is about to say, "I have already referred to some things but basically we must stop telling people what they must do to be saved. God will tell them what to do. If they have a relationship with Jesus that is all that matters and we are going to be surprised what it is going to look like when people let the spirit lead as they understand it."

"Where does the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy fit it to all of this?" Bad News figures that some of his readers will be bound to ask this question as they read his article.

"Why not ask me where does the Bible fit it to all of this. In the past the church has used the Spirit of Prophecy as a club and even held it above the Bible. Then he said." I don't think that a person needs to believe in the Spirit of Prophecy to be saved and I might add we even need to be careful how we use the Bible."

"What are you saying?"

"A person who uses the Bible all the time is usually a legalist. The Pharisees knew all about the Bible but they weren't into relationships. I don't like having to say this but it might be necessary for us now to do a midcourse correction and steer more towards relationships than the cold hard facts."

"Could you explain what you mean by that" Bad News doesn't want to miss this one.

"By that I mean that if I have to choose between love and obedience I will choose love."

"But some say that love and obedience are complimentary concepts."

" That is just their opinion and besides remember what I told you. Whatever is right for you is right and whatever is right for me is right. The Boss's eyes narrow as he speaks, "I have cautioned you before that if you are not careful you will become a pharisee and I am beginning to suspect from some of your questions that you tend to be judgmental and you are probably a legalist. Well, time has flown by", The Boss slaps his hand on his knee, " I must get on with my work now."

"Get on with your work?"

"Yes", The Boss seems to be looking out into space, "the signs indicate that the coming of Jesus is nearing. The Holy Spirit will soon be outpoured on His people in a mighty way. I have a lot to do between now and then.

"Well, thank you for the interview."

"It was nothing."

{Not the end. There's a little more to come}

And so the imaginary interview is closed. I am sure that you understood the concepts that were expressed. Just in case I would like to remind us of a few texts of scripture that help us to understand where the devil is coming from in the 21st century. The first is II Corinthians 11:14. " And no marvel" for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Then there is one in Revelation 16: 13-14. " And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils working miracles, which go for unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of the great day of God almighty.

And then also II Thessalonians 2:8-12. "And then shall that wicked be reavealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming. Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceiveableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved."

"And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie. That they might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness." There is also the one in John 8:44 "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it."

And finally 1 Peter 5:8 "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." For some reason that escapes me we seem to be in spiritual la la land. This generation seems to be so hung up on itself that it seems to be totally ignorant that Jesus himself has warned us that in the last days there would be delusions that would, if possible, deceive the very elect.

Friends, we seem to think that we are in charge in this planet and have forgotten that there is a great war going on here between the forces of supernatural beings. Between God and Satan. We seem to have forgotten that Satan started this fire of sin in the hearts of our first parents with lies and that lies are the foundation of his strategy.

The point is that Satan's interest in this planet is that as many as possible miss the salvation that Jesus so graciously provides or lose the salvation that they already have. Of course from a strictly strategic point of view if he can deceive and overthrown those who have salvation he will own the farm inasmuch as he already has the rest.

My dad told me one time the we need to understand that even if the Devil were to heal someone who was dying of a terrible disease it would be an evil act because whatever the devil does he does for the wrong reasons. The devil will actually do what appears to be the right things but he will always do it for the wrong reasons.

When you do the right thing for the wrong reasons then over the long haul the net result is error rather than truth. On the other hand the devil will also turn things around and try to get us to do the wrong things for the right reasons. When you do the wrong things for the right reasons over the long haul the result is the same as doing the right things for the wrong reasons.

The point is that in the 21st century the devil is where you would expect him to be and he is also where we don't expect him to be. I remember once when I was a ministerial intern in Columbus Ohio the phone rang one night at about 10:30 pm. There was a series of meetings being conducted and we had gone to the meetings that night and were just getting ready to go to bed.

I picked up the phone and could hear hysterical crying in the background. The voice on the line introduced herself. She was a member of the church who cared for her teen age granddaughter. The subject of the meeting that evening had been on what we call the state of the dead. Or in other words where to people go when they die.

Of course the Bible teaches that death is like a sleep and all of those who have died since Adam until now with the exception of Jesus, Moses and those who were resurrected with Jesus are as it were asleep until the coming of Jesus wakes them up and this mortal puts on immortality and this corruptible puts on incorruption.

When the grandmother and her granddaughter got home the granddaughter said that she didn't believe what the minister had preached that night. She told her grandma that as they were on the way home aunt Nora had appeared to her. Aunt Nora had died not long before. The supposed spirit of aunt Nora had come to tell the girl that she was in heaven now. But the point of this experience that I have never forgotten is that in the course of the conversation that the young girl had with the spirit she told the spirit that she was going to the meetings because she wanted to be saved. The so-called spirit of Aunt Nora had responded to the effect, "Honey I want you to be saved."

Do you get the point? Somehow we seem to have forgotten that the devil has only one purpose for living now that his doom is sealed and that is to see us all lost and dead with no hope for the first resurrection.

There is no doubt in my mind. Satan has for all intents and purposes joined the church. He is now committed to the "finishing of the work". But his idea of finishing the work is not our idea of finishing the work. So unfortunately when we hear the words "save the lost" or "save our young people" or "have a relationship with Jesus", we sign on the dotted line no questions asked.

There is a text in Revelation 22:15 that describes those who will be lost. It says, " For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." In plain language people who were in the habit of telling lies will be lost, but notice also those who loved lies though they might not have told them themselves.

We are in a generation that likes to be lied to. The point is not that we hear the truth or we hear lies the point is that is what we are hearing what we want to hear. We are not interested if something is true or false, rather we are more interested in if it builds our self esteem or makes us think we are going to get rich or maybe is sexually titillating.

Listen to this description of how things will look among those who profess to be Christians in the last days. 2 Timothy 3:1 "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despises of those that are good, Traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,"

"Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was. But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience,"

"Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;"

"And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works."

Personally I am much more concerned about what is going on among those who profess to be Christians than I am about hurricanes, earthquakes, meteors or a host of other signs of the end. I am not so concerned about attacks against the church from the outside as I am about the viruses with we are allowing to destroy our spiritual hard drives from the inside.

Jesus said that in the last days there would be deceptions the deceptions are here and most of us are waiting for them to begin. Even inside the church there are great differences of opinion over what is right and what is wrong. We have chosen not to call this a split rather we call it pluralism. In case you haven't thought what that word means. It means that we though we are members of the same church we no longer have to believe in the same things or to have the same convictions.

If we are going to adopt a modus operandi that accepts pluralism then we have in effect subscribed to the philosophy that whatever is right for you is right. You will notice in the interview that it is in the interest of the devil to encourage this concept because what it is doing in effect is putting the opinion of men above the word of God.

We must never forget that this church was not established on an ideology that taught that whatever you thought was right was right but rather that we would agree that the Bible would be our rule of faith no matter what anyone might think and that even then it would not be a matter of everyone giving the Bible their own particular spin.

If in the past we were doing the right things for the wrong reasons. We now run the risk of doing the wrong things for whatever reason. The devil is a liar. He is telling us in effect that he wants us to be saved. He is telling us that he has a relationship with Jesus and of course he does but he doesn't go on to tell you that he hates him and you too. The devil wants us to believe that he wants us to be happy but that is a lie. He is telling us that he wants our youth to be saved but that is a lie too.

My brother and my sister. We are in the last days. The last days are about lies. How thankful I am that God has given us his word to be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. The Scriptures call us to be lights in a time of darkness. In Isaiah 60:1 "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee." Those who reject the word of God or who try to reverse engineer it will pay an eternal price. Matthew 15:14 says, "Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch."

Everyone has a relationship with Jesus. But those who will have a saving relationship with Him will be those who see Him as revealed in his word and this relationship will be sustained and nurtured by an ongoing desire to obey him in every aspect of our lives after all he himself has said that if we love him we will keep his commandments.

I am going to close with a text from I Thessalonians 5; 1-9; "But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief."

"Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober."

"For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,"