SBC 2010- Orlando

Between now and when the Orlando SBC meets, my cry to God is visit us, awaken us, let thy presence overwhelm us. Let thy awesomeness utterly overwhelm the gods of the earth (Zeph.2:10,11 NKJV). Financial disaster is staring the world in the face due to the fact that there are no jobs in the future and will be none, because automation, computerization, and robotics have taken away the necessity for practically every kind of worker that has been needed. A paper I wrote in 90-91 underscored the nature of this reality coming upon us, and we are now having to struggle with it. No worker of hardly any kind is needed any more. The changes that must come now will be predicated in the light of that reality. What we need in order to face such a bleak future is a visitation from Heaven of God Himself. We must see the value God bestows upon the individual, an imputed, extrinsic value, by the work of Christ, while the reality of the person is intrinsically worthless due to the fallen human condition. The truths presented in the Gospel are the Divine Paradoxical Intervention that is supreme in comparison to any human pradoxical interventions devised by psychiatrists, psychologists, or other professional counsellors. Man’s fallen condition requires extreme measures to bring him to terms with his need. Total depravity, total inability, and, yes, even reprobation are the basis of human need and the essence of what one must plead in calling upoon the Lord for help. As the man said, “Lord, help my unbelief.”(Mk.9:24). That is surely short hand for saying, “Help me. Overcome my unbelief as I cannot do it myself.” David had an interesting prayer, “Lord, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.”(Ps.25:11). Hmmm! An interesting reason for being forgiven, don’t you think? When Jesus wanted to win a soul, He brought up the issue of the person’s depravity and reprobation. That person thought so much of His dealing with the problem, that the individual made it into a basis for an appeal as in, “Truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters; table.”(Mt.15:27) or, “Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs.”(Mk.7:28). I suspect the latter remark was said with laughter, for whoever heard of a child giving a pet dog a mere microscopic crumb. More likely, he or she would give the dog the biggest piece and keep the smallest for himself or herself (the latter in the case of the woman). Nevertheless, the woman recognizes the awesome nature of God’s grace in that a mere microscopic will more than amply meet her needs. Our need today is but for the most infinitesimal smidgin of His gracious glory. Such a zero point of gracious energy can flood the whole earth more surely than a goof with the zero point energies can destroy half of the earth as Nick Cook implied in his work on the most scary of the German discoveries (The Hunt for Zero Point). What is even more scary is to realize that Mr. Cook was the Aviation Editor for Jane’s Defense Weekly, the Bible on the military of the world and all of their weapons. Life is even more scary than when the man with whom I rode to Youth for Christ the night of my conversion (12–7-57) committed suicide (Jan., 58), because he thought the Russians were going to win (they put Sputnik up in Dec., 57, the month of my coversion). Today is more scary. Don’t forget the nanotechnology where some one can turn on the duplicating process (doubling every time) and turn the whole world into gray goo in 48 hrs. But my hope is in Zeph.2:10,11; Isa.11:9; Hab.2:14; Ps.72:19. to mention a few verses that have a more hopeful outlook, like as in, Jesus wins the day with His message and even in our garbled versions of it. He strikes straight blows with crooked sticks (we are all crooked sticks as are our conceptions of His Gospel). Mr. Spurgeon insisted, rightly so I think, on Particular Redemption, the elect, etc., and he defined the number for who Christ died as “a number which no man can number.”(Rev.7:9). My prayer is for an awakening to reach the whole earth in one generation and then for a 1000 more generations as in 1001 generations in order to have a literal fulfillment of Rev. 7:9; Rev.20:8; Gen.13:16; 15:5; et.al. You folks need to read the promises Jonathan Edwards listed in his Humble Attempt to be pleaded for such visitations, the same ones pleaded by the way by William Carey and others. Everyone loves a success. A Victory has many parents. Failures are always orphans. Even the Arminians will join with us in the Third Great Awakening and all of the others following it. And we will be glad to have their company. Maybe we will even be liberal enough to have one preach our funeral as George Whitefield did in having John Welsey. Both were big enough to say, that neither would see the other in Heaven as the other would be so close to God and the neither so far away that the one could not be seen by the other. (You all can straighten out the English on that). The Heavenly Presence is drawing nigh. Jesus said, Jn.14:18b, 28b, “I am coming to you.”(literal rendering of the present tense verb). Just think: Right this very moment, He is coming to you, upon you, in you, and what more could you want or need or we want or need? Tell me,”Is the Awakening close,even nigh to each and everyone of us and even all of us?” And what will it be like for the Gospel to win the day by gentle, tender, kindly, compassionate caring and truth? Will Jesus be even more glorified by winning in a suffering, winsome way or by violent, physical victory? I think the former, but such is daunting, to say the least. But since He paid such a price for me and thee, surely we ought to be willing for Him to accomplish His final sufferings in us to win the whole world. Let us pray that His will be done in this matter, whatever it is.
.-= Dr. James Willingham´s last blog ..The Climax of the Reformation =-.

Dear Stan:
I am very much aware of what has been said in times past about the end of the need for workers. What I did not add, and what is even worse, is that there are those who intended for such a financial collapse to come about. Suggest you read Carroll Quigley’s Tragedy and Hope and his The Anglo American Establishment, Cleon Skousen’s The Naked Capitalist (a review of Quigley’s Tragedy and Hope), C.S. Lewis’ That Hideous Strength in which he acutally nmes a liteal conspirator, The Great Divorce, and Letters to An American Lady. Also The Beast From Jekyll Island (author’s name slips me), Taylor Caldwells, Captains and the Kings. There is more, but I forbear. Of course, we have some reason for hope that God will not allow such to succeed and will open up jobs for His people as well as the general need of mankind.
.-= Dr. James Willingham´s last blog ..The Climax of the Reformation =-.