Living in Insane Times Part 3 By Rayola Kelley

Last month I talked about the generations. We have always been wondering if we are in the last generation. For me this will be MY last generation. It is the generation I grew up in and it is dying out and will never pass this way again. Each generation leaves a legacy, but whether it is one that causes inspiration like those of WWII or one that causes you to choke on it and spit it out depends on the attitudes displayed towards God and life by the general consensus of that generation. A generation that begins to slide down into the slime pit of godlessness will be prone to adopt philosophies that prove a fool’s game in the end. They will become proponents of certain and often godless lifestyles, while profaning forms of art and literature that corrupts real beauty and talent as they get caught up with empty trends of godless fashions, and graduate from being agnostic to atheist. In studying decaying civilizations, the one thing historians noted is that many of the discontent were expressing their rebellion and anger with graffiti that marked and tainted beautiful structures.

As I stated before, the two things that stop this type of slide is judgment that comes in the form of death and God’s grace that comes with repentance, forgiveness, and salvation. Otherwise, there is no end as to the evil that a generation can become embroiled in. After all, any type of wickedness, perversion, rebellion, anger, hatred, indifference, etc. opens the “d” door. People sliding down past the “a” door of acknowledging the one true God, the “b” door of believing Him about, sin, His Word, and the need for salvation, and the “c” door of converting to His righteous ways, are brought to the “d” door of evil. You see all that happens at the “d” door is that it opens as one slides in beside “evil” revealing the author behind all such activities: the devil, himself. I must point out that there is THE One and Only True DOOR to life, the person of Jesus, but one must enter through this door, but the other “d” door is the one many slide into because of rebellion, unbelief, and stiff-neckedness (John 10:7).

After one slides in through the “d” door, evil follows, failure becomes the reality for God is clearly missing, and the way to hell broadens (Matthew 7:13-14). One insult after the other follows because life does not play fair, showing us that without Jesus nothing makes any sense. However, we must face the real knowledge about our spiritual plight as the Apostle Paul sets forth in Romans 3. We must know that only our Lord can make things right.

There is nobody and no one mere person we can turn to to right a world that has gone mad. We need to be quickened in the Spirit and that has been made possible by redemption. Our savior will not be found in this world, for only God can save us from the four “t’s” of this present age: its endless temptations, traps, treachery, and transgressions. The truth is without a change of masters from the tyrants of our time to the Lordship of Jesus, all we do will be deemed unprofitable, useless, and vain before God. We will find ourselves castaways, infidels, and reprobates ever missing the mark of excellency as we constantly come under the heavy yoke of bondage that will cause us to miss the promises of future Zion.

As you can see, our alphabet has established the presentation above. This is to remind us that past God’s promises there is nothing of value or worth except grave darkness (Matthew 22:13). I am also reminded this present generation is the “Z” generation. Where will they go from here as far as naming the next generation? Clearly, without God at the end, there is no future hope.

In Proverbs 30:11-14, Agur actually describes four different generations. According to Smith’s Bible Dictionary, Agur was the son of Jaketh, an unknown Hebrew sage. He collected the sayings of wisdom recorded in Proverbs 30. His name means “a gatherer, i.e. together of wise men.” The wisdom of his writings shows the digression each generation will follow in its downward spiral. In 30:12, he states there is a generation that curses their father and refuses to bless their mother. From there he describes a generation that is pure in their own eyes but has not been washed from their filth, followed by a generation that is lofty in their own eyes, and then there is a generation who will devour the poor and needy.

When one curses their parents, it shows they have no regard or respect for authority that has been established by wisdom. They are not open for instruction. In fact, they will mock both authority and wise instruction, deeming it archaic. It is clear in the commandments that such an individual will not be a recipient to the promise of a prolonged life and if a whole generation has taken on such an attitude, it will also have a short lifespan (Exodus 20:12; Ephesians 6:1-3).

Have you considered the attitudes of the present generation that has reached a stage of accountability? They have no respect for authority or the desire to possess real wisdom. The Apostle Paul makes reference to this as well in 2 Timothy 3:2 that there will be those who are disobedient to parents. In the end these individuals will be playing the fool when calamity suddenly falls upon them (Proverbs 6:15).

The next level of digression has to do with deception. Sin carries various deceptions which always downplay transgression, the wages and consequences of it (Hebrews 3:13). In the deception of sin people think that they are right in their own eyes whether it is true, wise, righteous, or holy. Delusion is always a big part of the slime pit many become stuck in. They think more highly of themselves than they should which puffs them up according to what they know and not whether they know God. They become wise in their own conceits even though what they perceive is proven to be foolishness, but they refuse to see it because they want their own reality. They think they are standing when they are about to fall headlong into complete spiritual ruin. Since they think their best is acceptable, they refuse to see that in God’s sight it is all filthy rags that emit the stench of the decaying rags of grave clothes of those who are dead in their sin (Judges 21:25; Proverbs 16:2; Isaiah 64:6 Romans 12:3, 16; 1 Corinthians 8:1-2; 10:12).

The Apostle Paul said in the end days that there will be seducing spirits and doctrines of demons that would cause people to have itching ears that would prefer to believe fables, revealing the abominations and wretchedness of their compromises and sins (1 Timothy 4:1-2; 2 Timothy 4:3-4). So many times, you find yourself walking in the mine field because nowadays every cult declares they are Christian and it does not take much to insult them when Scriptural truth shakes their fragile realities. Your unwillingness to give sin a pass finds them unmercifully judging you as being hateful to silence you. They come out charging like a raging bull or a wounded lion to devour you. Ultimately, they prove to be the culprit, the abuser, and their fruits tell on them (Matthew 7:16, 20).

These individuals can’t be reasoned with as they yell over you, threaten you, or bury you with their foul curses. It is clear that many have been seduced by the false light of an anti-Christ spirit and are falling prey to doctrines of demons. Sadly, the environment has conditioned people to look for the wrong signs or interpret them according to their limited theology. It has made many predators. The wolves that perpetuate these demonic doctrines often spew out flatteries or flash their many shining “degrees” to the extent it blinds those who are looking for greater enlightenment instead of the simple truths of God. They can’t see the trap, hear the warnings and instruction of Scriptures or perceive that destruction awaits to take them captive for the god of this age, Satan, has successfully blinded them to the light of Jesus that can only be found in the one and only true Gospel (Job 32:21-22; Psalm 12:3; Proverbs 29:5; Matthew 10:16; 2 Corinthians 4:3-6; 1 Thessalonians 2:5; 1 John 4:1).

Right now, we are becoming aware of seeds of heresy that were planted decades ago. This heresy was known as the Manifested Sons of God when I was new in my Christian walk. We haven’t heard about this heresy for a while, but it is raising its head once again and it is part of the radical right. The initial belief these people maintained is that they could work their way to immortality without Jesus’ redemption. In a militant way they would speak of ushering in the millennium after the evil was put down by them, but there is no mention of the rapture or Jesus’ reigning from Jerusalem during that period of time. Let me make it clear, Jesus is the only One who will set up His millennium kingdom and He alone will rule from Jerusalem. It is important to point out that some of these people are militant enough that if you do not agree or pose any challenge to their agenda, they will kill you and declare they are doing God’s bidding. Keep in mind when man says “peace, peace,” beware because that is when all hell will break loose (1 Thessalonians 5:2-3; Revelation 20). The only One who can bring peace back to this world is the Prince of Peace.

The problem with all of these different approaches to the end days is the confusion that it causes with many people. Even though we have the Bible, our interpretations vary. Based on what particular theology we have adopted, it determines how we look at, or present, Jesus’ coming. Some already believe He has come in spite of the fact there is no peace. Some base His coming on events and are not concerned about the instructions that are explicitly given that regardless of when He comes, we must be ready. As stated before, there are those who think they will usher in the millennium. It is true God uses people to bring judgment on evil but Jesus’ will bring His enemies under His feet including death, not man. I could go on and on about the endless debates but these debates have not brought understanding or peace, but division, fruit that is contrary to the fruit of the Spirit and unprofitable instead of edifying. In many ways it is majoring in the minors and minoring in the majors while missing what the Spirit is truly saying about these end days (Matthew 7:16, 20; Luke 21:36; 1 Corinthians 3:1-3; 14:33; 15:25-28; Galatians 5:22-23; Titus 3:9).

The only way we can keep our sanity is know the real God and be firmly planted on Him. Daniel 11:32c declares, “but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.” We need to learn and adhere to pure doctrine. Jesus said in John 7:16b-17, “My doctrine is not mine but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” Pure doctrine is tied up with doing His will.

We must learn to always come to rest in the complete work of His redemption. We must avoid the trap of enlightenment according to the latest philosophies of this age, the fickle, fleshly trends of this generation, and the heretical teachings of the wolves that are infiltrating our churches under the guise of being sheep, as well as under the darkness of spiritual ignorance. We need to learn to test the Spirit, ever remain contrite (humble) in spirit, quick to repent and turn back to God when in error or sin, discern what is truth, ever remain teachable when it comes to truth and knowing that the fruit of something will be revealed in the end (Psalm 34:18; Acts 17:30-31; 1 Corinthians 2:12-14; Colossians 4:8; 1 John 4:1).

Through it all we must keep our sense of humor so that we can enjoy who we are in Christ and what we have in Him, and by keeping the joy of our salvation intact, our worship pure, our hope alive, and our focus on our future home clear. After all, a merry heart does good like a medicine, while a broken spirit dries the bones. Such a heart also changes the countenance and points to a continual feasting on the good things of God (Proverbs 15:13, 15; 17:22). In summary whether our soul is bitter or sweet during this time will come down to what we are feasting on. Regardless of the times we live in, as Christians we must choose to feast on the goodness, the hope, and the promises of God. This is the only way we can keep our soul sweet and our spirit discerning, while effectively maintaining our Christian life in such insane times.