| Alice in Wonderland muses, "Somewhere over the rainbow skies are blue and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true." |
| Alice further declares ... in lullabies bluebirds fly, wishing upon a star, troubles melt like lemon drops above the chimney tops, all over the rainbow. This fanciful story has many and varied interpretations of the surface and underlying meanings, yet one observation remains ... exclusively "wishing away" the cares of the present and fantasizing about better things to come. Such escapism is to be expected in fictional fantasy, yet can be greatly over emphasized in politics and religion. |
| If we listened carefully to the political rhetoric in many 'stump preaches' during the 2008 presidential primary races and the electioneering ran-up to the nominating process, we heard a spate of 'wishful promises', better tomorrows, and some angry retorts. Nothing new here, political huckstering is replete with calls to rally for 'better times' and more honest/accountable government. The old adage of 'the best way to rally the boys around the flagpole is to identify an external enemy, be it real or imaginary, still works even today. |
| Nevertheless, America is in search of new horizons, which are free from seemingly unstoppable cost escalations for petroleum byproducts, a quivering economy, overwhelming national debt, war-weariness, envisioned cutbacks in entitlements, immigration, and rancorous civil/moral/religious issue disputes. However, the more things are coerced to change, the more they seem to stay the same. |
| Mankind appears to be creeping up to a virtual end-point in its effort to resolve age-old, as well as, present-day conundrums for settling international differences and engineering peacefully ways to with neighbors, domestic and foreign. The secular jury is still out, but animus from the caucus room is becoming undeniable as they struggle to gain wisdom and understanding of the times at hand. . The coming endpoint of this age will be God's beginning point for His Millennial Reign. Secular will not be able to conceptualize such a parallax shift, until the beginning of the second half of the tribulation Period. |
| Christ's coming reign from the Throne of David, in Jerusalem, is not something over the rainbow, but rather the culmination of God's Plan for this present dispensation and all those to come. We read in Eph. 1:10, "That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; [even] in him." |
| God's purpose/plan for the church, as well as for the individual believer and unrepentant alike, is to "gather in one all things in Christ." Many many have been gathered into His Kingdom, may more are yet to come, and as many will never submit to The Lordship of Christ. This is in part what the Tribulation Period is about, as well as closing the day of the gentiles and preparing the Jewish peoples, which remain, for their coming restoration. |
| Question: Is one able pass under a rainbow's arch and come out the other side? Not according to the laws of physics. Answer: A rainbow is all light and water. It is always in the front of you while your back is to the sun. Moral of the story is, we must address that which is in the forefront before us and stop wishing away the obvious, even though it requires strenuous effort and perseverance, albeit to Alice. As the endtimes rapidly advance, fictional escapism will become ubiquitous. |
| The political arena in America has become more and more gladiator-driven and is essentially no longer issue/policy-centered. As the March Hare instructs Alice: "Say what you mean and mean what you say." Those words might very well be the real gnome behind Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the touchstone for honesty in contemporary American politics. Without too much of a stretch, 'Religion' in America can be viewed as skewing-left and becoming obliquitous to a biblical-centered Gospel. The ever-burgeoning psychosocial gospel is becoming the text of choice in many a denominational and nondenominational church alike and easily seen and heard in more than just a few "Christian" television ministry broadcasts. |
| The Apostle Paul gave us a great revelation when he penned in 2 Ths. 3, "Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin (lawlessness) is revealed, the son of perdition". [NKJ] Extended debate still rages as to whether the 'falling away' is a rebellious departure of weakened (unrighteous) Christians from Truth of the Gospe,l or is it the "Rapture" itself. |
| For our discussion here, the apostasia will be considered as a falling away from the Truth of the Gospel viz. a cleansing of the bride-in-waiting[v.12] and not 1 Ths. 4:17 "... who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air ...". (Vis-a-vis the Rapture). |
| If the bride-of-Christ (the radiant church) is to be [Eph. 5:27] without spot, wrinkle or blemish,but holy and blameless ... how does she become that way in today's carnal hedonism? As we read in Ezek. 20:37, "And I will cause you to pass under the rod (Shepherd?s Rod), and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant:" God was purging ancient Israel and separating those of which he approved from those which he disapproved. The falling away is a New Testament form of the Shepherd's Rod of old. |
| Secular mankind is/has placed its confidence in political solidarities, economic solvency, military power/might, and especially today, technological advancements to rescue itself from the vagaries of the 'endtimes'. Fanciful rainbows boasting serendipitous escapisms will surely multiply in these last days as God's judgments continue to manifest and increase in their frequency and intensity. |
| There are those today who preach a sinless gospel, an all-inclusive redemption/pardon regardless of confession in Christ, and works-over-faith to gain God's favor. These same religious-horns will ultimately trumpet and advance an ecumenical church which will endeavor to usher in a universal-type religious clamoring among all religious persuasions. (See Rev. 19:20). |
| The enemy of God has had 6000± yrs. to perfect and hone his diabolical strategies and deceptions in his effort to lead the Church astray from God's Kingdom to Come. Empty promises, convoluted religious theology, daemon empowered mysticisms, and formless water-particle religious rainbows are becoming ubiquitous. Know well the doctrine from which you are taught, the spiritual authority to which you are submitted, and the Holy Spirit who inhabits your home church. These are not times to be sleeping watchmen on the walls. |
| Those that chase religious-type rainbows in the sky, hoping to lay-hold of that imagined pot of gold, will not find gold, and no pot either. Become ever so vigilant that you do not become a spoil to the enemy nor a victim of the processes he uses to deceive, for they are very crafty, cunning, and wily. "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." [Eph. 6:11] There is no reason anyone should ever take off the armor of God, so be prepared to sleep in it. |
| The coming times may become very tumultuous, even though many preach only happy days are here to stay! We read in Rev. 12:11, we shall overcome by the blood of The Lamb (the atonement of Christ) and (our) testimony concerning His sacrifice, and not love our life to the shrinking from death. (See Job 13:15 - regarding faith/life unto death). Our overcoming, sanctification, and perseverance to serve His purpose are in the Blood of Christ, and not in any of the various contemporary religious elixirs or counterfeit 'gospels' being voiced, as Christ said there would be in the last days. |
| What's over the Rainbow has no relationship with what welcomes at the foot of the Cross. A rainbow is utterly transitory in nature, while the benefits of the Cross are eternally enduring. |
| There are those in America, which are profiteering almost without constraint, while a multitude of others is teetering on the brink of economic insolvency. America is divided almost 49% to 51% on so many seminal issues facing this great nation ... issues on "life", war, partisan politics, foreign policy, domestic entitlements, immigration, ecology, and a host of others. A divided nation, city, country cannot stand for very long. The signs of the times(Matt. 16:3) are upon us, yet so many are cavalier and nonchalant about God's pending wrath and His judgment of, and on, unrepentant Sin. Falling down a NewAge-type rabbit hole is no pathway to salvation, nor an escape from endtime calamities. |
| If one does not believe we are well into the beginning of the endtimes then much of the above for them, is moot. However, for those which do recognize the signs of the times, it is incumbent to share The Gospel with whomever and wherever we can, while there is daylight left to work by! Impending darkness looms upon the near-far horizon and hangs like wet Spanish moss on a Cyprus tree of time, dense and weighty. This is not doomsday rhetoric, but rather an out-reading of endtime eschatological prophecy coming to fruition. Stay close to the foot of The Cross, avoid chasing transient rainbows (counterfeit ministries) and speak His Word in season and out of season. Amen |
| Jon D. Hannum, Ph.D. |
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