This blog post is about the Federal Government using
strong arm tactics to try to force North Carolina (and every other state) to
allow men who feel like women to share bathrooms, locker rooms, and showers
with our daughters and granddaughters.
Specifically, I will relate this to the “mark of the beast” in the book
of Revelation. Have I lost my mind? Please read to the end of the post to find
out.
If you keep reading after that introduction, here is what
you will find:
1. Some brief
thoughts about how to understand the book of Revelation.
2. A brief review
of what is happening related to “transgenders”, the State of NC, and the
Federal Government.
3. An explanation
of how the first two points relate to each other.
4. The main point.
Understanding
Revelation
When it comes to details about how the prophecies found
in Revelation will be fulfilled (pretrib?, posttrib?, premellinnial?, amellinnial?)
I practice “epistemological humility”.
That’s a fancy way of saying “I don’t know”.
Does that mean I don’t understand the message of
Revelation? Of course I do not
understand it fully or perfectly, but by God’s grace I feel I actually have a profound
understanding of the last book in the Bible.
I don’t know who said it first, but there is a lot of
truth in the statement that “the purpose of prophecy is motivation, not
speculation.”
The book of Revelation contains a special application of
one of the main purposes of all Scripture. Namely, it is designed to give
Christians encouragement, endurance, and hope (Romans 15:4). Specifically, Revelation gives us
encouragement, endurance, and hope when we are facing the following painful
realities in this dark world:
1. Government that
is supposed to do us good and to punish evil, instead is twisted into an instrument
to promote evil and persecute those who do good.
2. Religion which
is supposed to lead people towards God’s truth, instead is hijacked by evil
forces and used to deceive and confuse.
The book of Revelation helps us face these two monsters
(which appear in John’s vision as “the beast” and “the false prophet”) with
courage and strength. Revelation helps
us by:
1. Reminding us
that these two manifestations of evil are temporary. They will soon be utterly destroyed by God.
2. Reminding us
that we who persevere through dark days will be rewarded beyond what we can
imagine.
3. Warning us that
those who give in to the darkness will suffer God’s wrath.
4. Showing us the
way to win the fight:
NIV Revelation 12:11 They triumphed over
him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not
love their lives so much as to shrink from death.
If you read the book of Revelation, you’ll be blessed
(Revelation 1:3).
Bathroom
Battles
Most of you are probably already aware of the battle
between the NC State Government and the Federal Government. It’s a top story in the news ( you can read a
CNN article here,
a similar Fox News article here,
and a helpful article in the Christian Post here). Very briefly:
After liberal lawmakers in Charlotte, NC passed a law
requiring public restrooms to allow men who claim to feel like women to use
women’s bathrooms, the NC State government passed a law which basically says
that businesses can make their own bathroom rules and in government public
bathrooms biological males have to use the men’s room.
The Federal Government is trying to force NC to repeal
this very common sense law. The Federal
government is threatening to withdraw potentially hundreds of millions of
dollars in education money if NC keeps and enforces this righteous law.
Many people have rightly noted that allowing biological
males to use women’s bathrooms, changing rooms, locker rooms, and showers
endangers our daughters and granddaughters.
There are a lot of twisted perverts out there.
The Mark of
Beast
The Book of Revelation includes images and visions where
government authority is being wrongly used to persecute Christians and to
spread evil. The most dramatic method
used is cutting off people’s heads (Revelation 20:4). But, evil governments have another weapon
they use which is less severe, but nevertheless effective: economic penalties. In John’s vision he sees an example of this:
Revelation 13: 16 It also forced all people, great and small, rich
and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their
foreheads, 17 so that they
could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast
or the number of its name.
In a similar way, the Federal Government is using
economic threats and pressure to try to force NC to do something that is wrong.
Is it legitimate to compare the examples of extreme evil
government in Revelation to the less severe examples in our lives today?
I don’t think it is helpful to call Obama, Hillary, or
Trump “the Antichrist”. But, the Bible
does teach that something similar to what the “capital A” Antichrist will do is
already occurring on a smaller scale in our lives:
NIV 1 John 2:18 Dear children, this is
the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many
antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.
So, no, I don’t believe Obama is “the Antichirst”. But, yes, I do believe that the book of
Revelation (and the rest of the Bible) can give us the encouragement,
endurance, and hope that we need when facing a government which is increasingly
misusing its authority by promoting evil and punishing good.
The Main Point
We have been blessed in American to have a situation where, relatively
speaking, the government has fulfilled (imperfectly) it’s God given
responsibility to promote good and punish evil (Romans 13:4). Compared to most human governments throughout
history, our government is still doing well.
But we are seeing more and more examples of the abuse and misuse of
government power.
This trend might get worse. One
possible scenario is that due to deep divisions in the conservative movement,
liberal Democrats will win the Presidency again and also make major gains in
the House and Senate. Despite the weaknesses
of our current Congress, the Republican majority have acted as a significant
check on the liberal agenda. The liberal
agenda includes very aggressively advancing the radical homosexual agenda. If a Democrat is President and the Republicans
lose the House and/or Senate, what we’ve been seeing recently is likely to
continue and to get worse.
Because of our blessings, American Christians have not been accustomed to
significant, wide spread suffering for righteousness and the gospel. This might change. I hope it doesn’t, but it might. So what should we do? How should we prepare?
What we need is God given courage, wisdom, comfort, peace, and strength to
endure. How do we get these things? The key
is to be close to Jesus and filled with the Holy Spirit. Practically speaking,
what can we “do”? We can experience more
of God through His appointed means of grace (also called the “Spiritual
Disciplines”). Very simply put, we
should:
1. Read the Bible a lot. We should
memorize it, study it, talk about, and meditate on it.
2. Pray a lot. We should pray by ourselves in our prayer
closets and together with other Christians.
We should pray for ourselves and for others. Pray especially for Joy’s generation, as they
are likely to bear the brunt of any coming storm (our daughter Joy is 17).
3. Go to church. Be active in church and in small group
fellowships and in ministries where you use your God given gifts to build up
the Church.
So am I saying that since the Federal Government is trying to force NC to
let men who claim to feel like women into the bathroom with our daughters that
we should read the Bible, pray, and go to church more? Yes, you got it!
Grace and Peace,
Mark (with Hope and Joy!)
Hebrews 13:16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others . . .
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