Overcoming in the Great Tribulation

I’ve just finished reading the book Dead Wake, The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Eric Larson. It is a well-written and detailed account of the sinking of an ocean liner carrying innocent men, women, and children during World War One. The Lusitania was one of the largest and fastest civilian steam ships of its day. Like the Titanic, it was considered nearly unsinkable. In spite of warnings by the German navy that any ship entering a war zone would be sunk, hubris drove the ship owners, passengers, and crew into thinking they would complete their voyage through perilous waters teaming with German U-Boats. The ship sank in 20 minutes after being hit with only one torpedo killing nearly thirteen hundred people. Humanity is veiled in a cloud of delusion. We have come to accept our circumstances, whether good or bad, as the “hand that we have been delt.” And so we must deal with it. It’s like we are living in our own personal anthills bustling with busyness. The national and world news isn’t good. Daily we are warned that our demise lies just ahead by any number of possibilities: climate change, artificial intelligence, social media, cell phones, genetic engineering, weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, the instantaneous disruption of our electrical grid, and even World War Three. We say, “But what can we do about it anyway?” And so we simply keep calm and carry on. Most of us don’t want to acknowledge that there is a source of evil energy behind these threats. We are able to look the other way and go on with our busy lives within our tiny ant hills. But evil is real and it is powerful. The Bible gives us a much larger view of our existence, though it is veiled by the fact that we are not able to fully comprehend things that are eternal as we are restrained by our finite, physical reality. There is a portal that gives us better understanding if we only look beyond our physical senses and open our spiritual eyes. Throughout the Bible, we are given specific clues regarding the purpose of the creation of heaven and earth. Like an intricate treasure map strewn with insightful gems and gold nuggets of understanding, it reveals to us why humanity has been placed here on this tiny planet hidden within a massive and inhospitable universe – how and why it all began – and how it will end. Because the Bible is the Word of an eternal God, it must be translated and interpreted by someone who understands it completely: the Holy Spirit of Christ, our mediator who can counsel, comfort, and communicate to us in our temporal state until we are brought into the fullness of eternity. But we must be willing to invest in our relationship with Him. We must want the intimacy this relationship can bring. We must really want to know. Two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ was born in an obscure barn in the tiny town of Bethlehem. He grew up in a normal Jewish family as a carpenter’s son. He began his ministry at age thirty, and in the short span of three years he covered little more than three thousand square miles, roughly the size of the state of Connecticut. There was virtually no technology. Communication was primarily by word of mouth. He died the disgraceful death of a criminal on a Roman cross as all His disciples fled in fear. Just fifty days later, these same disciples reorganized in Jerusalem and fearlessly began to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. After three hundred years of severe persecution at the hands of the Roman Empire, Emperor Constantine declared Christianity to be the official religion of Rome . One hundred years later, Rome was overrun by multiple pagan barbarian tribes leaving all of Europe smoldering in the ashes of the dark ages. And yet, Christianity continued to thrive as the followers of Jesus were enabled to lay the solid rock foundation of the most advanced society the world has ever known: Western Civilization. What source of power could have enabled this astonishing feat? And now, after two thousand years, why does it appear to be lost? There are more than 350,000 Christian churches in America. That’s at least 7,000 per state. And yet, the moral fabric in America is suffering as American’s faith in the Christian God is fading. The name of Jesus Christ is the power source. He is God’s Word. Through Him all things were created. During His three year ministry on earth, He was God’s Word in the flesh living and breathing among us. Today, as members of the Body of Christ, we have the Holy Bible (God’s Word in print) and the Holy Spirit of Christ as our interpreter, comforter, and guide. After hundreds of years of canonizing, translating, and through the birth of the printing press, this power source is available to all who desire to connect with it. Like the processed plutonium of a nuclear power plant, the Holy Bible empowers the Body of Christ, filling each member with goodness, enlightenment, love, and life. It is the Bread of Life missing from America’s mainstream churches. It is our greatest hope – for America, and for our eternal destiny. The purpose of this writing is to open our spiritual minds to an expanded view of humanity. I hope to expose our awareness to the importance of embracing the marvelous gift of the Holy Bible, the redemptive blood of Jesus Christ, and the splendor of the Holy Spirit that move us past the threshold, from our anthill existence into the light, life, and love of an eternity with our Heavenly Father. It is a story of how evil came into being and why humanity must join with its Creator in bringing it to an end.