Have you ever heard of the children’s poem about Chicken Little? The main character in this fable in the form of a cumulative tale is a chicken who believes the world is coming to an end. The phrase, “the sky is falling,” is repeated often in the story. This poem has passed onto our English language as a common idiom for a hysterical or mistaken belief that disaster is around the corner.
Just in case you’ve never read the story, Chicken Little has an acorn that drops on her head and she runs to tell her friends, Goosey Loosey, Ducky Lucky, and Turkey Lurkey, that the sky is falling! The panicked group runs off to tell the king what has happened. Before they get to the king, the cunning Foxy Loxy invites them into his den—but they never leave.
I believe the poet, whoever wrote it, wanted to make fun of those who speak or preach about the end of the world.
I believe Chicken Little was right!
When I survey church history, I am reminded of godly men and women who believed the second coming of Jesus was imminent. For example, John Wesley said, “The spirit in the heart of the true believer says with earnest desire, ‘Come Lord Jesus.’” D. L. Moody said, “I never preach a sermon without thinking that possibly the Lord might use that sermon to call out the last of the saints who should go to make up the full number of God’s elect and to bring about the Lord’s coming.”
Dr. G. Campbell Morgan (one of my favorite pastors) said, “I never began my work in the morning without thinking that perhaps He may interrupt my work and begin His own. I am not looking for death. I am looking for Him.”
Ruth Graham, wife of Billy Graham, offered many years before she died, that she expected the soon return of Jesus.
Of course, all of these saints were wrong.
But I believe, like Chicken Little, that the world will come to an end someday. The Bible teaches this.
When I was a young man in a small Southern Baptist Church, I heard frequent sermons on the end of the world—with a fiery judgment. The preachers painted a picture of intense fire, suffering, and judgment.
If you check your Bible, God sent a judgment similar to this in Noah’s day, but it was with water. 2 Peter 3:5-7 tells us that in the end times, because of the wickedness and sinfulness of people, the world will end with fire. “But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the Day of Judgment and destruction of the ungodly.”
God knows how to preserve us even when the earth and the cosmos are being destroyed. How can He destroy the earth and at the same time save and preserve us? That’s what 2 Peter 3:10-16 answers. “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.”
“Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.”
“So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.”
Several applications follow:
1. What type of people should we be if our world will soon disappear with fire and judgment?
2. What do we hold onto that is not permanent? What needs to be given over to God?
3. Should we lose our hold on earth if He will soon destroy it?
4. Perhaps today you will start to dedicate your time, life, and possessions to that which will not end! What does that mean to you?
God Bless,
Woody
P.S. Chicken Little was telling us that truth—but her timing was wrong.
They are perhaps the most hated family in the nation! I’m talking about the family that makes up the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. This group of church members (primarily one family) has 50-75 members.
They were sued and their case went to the U.S. Supreme Court. At issue in winning their free-speech case before the court was about all their placards and hate speech. They ranted at funerals of many of our U.S. soldiers killed in combat, stating they were glad the soldiers were dead. Their signs read, “Thank God for 9/11,” “Fag the Troops.” Other signs I can’t or won’t print because they are in language that the Bible forbids.
The Westboro Baptist Church is an independent Baptist church known for its stance against homosexuality. The church’s protest activities include picketing funerals and desecrating the American flag; their protest is very anti-Jewish vitriol.
The founder of this church (family) is Fred Phelps, a disbarred lawyer. He is a past civil rights activist in Kansas and ran for public office five times. His preaching and protest theme seems to be to warn others of God’s anger. He and his family church have participated in at least 40 protests per week over the past ten years.
President George Bush signed into law in May 2006, the Respect for America’s Fallen Heroes Act to counter Phelps and his family church. Kansas Governor, Kathleen Sebelius, in 2007 signed into law a bill that keeps protesters 150 feet away from funerals—a kind of buffer zone.
Phelps is primarily known for his hate speech against people who sin. All their propaganda is monitored by the Anti-Defamation League.
The children in this family church are taught lullabies about people going to hell. Pause for a minute and think about these 3-5 year-olds learning not about how to sing “This Little Light of Mine, I’m going to Let It Shine,” or “Jesus Loves Me This I know, For The Bible Tells Me So,” but rather songs that condemn people to hell who are homosexual (can’t use their other words), Catholics, Jews etc.
As a pastor and counselor, I would call this family church a cult. The church members are prisoners to the pastor and his ideas. They are enslaved to hate and to the opposite of all that I know about the Triune God and our Bible.
Good theology can bless and benefit us. We can grow in our relationship with God and become like His Son. Bad theology can harm both our relationships with God and with other people.
I am saddened about this cult and its leadership. The Bible I read talks of God’s love for sinners. He hates sin in both non-Christians and Christians. His Son died and was buried and rose from the dead (the Gospel) in order that we people might have forgiveness of sins, abundant life, peace with God, and eternal life.
If we are believers, we are a changed people and our language changes too. In Paul’s letter to the Ephesian believers (Eph 4:22-24), he talks about how to grow and change in Christ. In chapter 4:25-32, he talks about “putting off the old self” and “putting on the new self” in Christ. In this he gives us four rules for communicating:
1. Be honest (vs 25)
2. Keep current (vs 26-27)
3. Attack problems, not people (vs 29-30; 4:15)
4. Act, don’t react (vs 31-32)
By the way, disrespect is a sin (Eph 6:2). So is name calling (John 4:11; Pro 30:11); so is an angry countenance (Gen 4:6) and all ungracious speech (Eph 4:29; Col 4:6).
Don’t hate the pastor or people of Westboro Baptist church. Pray that God will send true Christians to witness to them. God’s mercy has been granted to us, and even in rebellion to God, we should come down on God’s side—hate the sin, but love the sinner. One of the watershed moments in the OT is this:
“But he's already made it plain how to live, what to do,
what God is looking for in men and women.
It's quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor,
be compassionate and loyal in your love,
And don't take yourself too seriously— take God seriously.”
–Micah 6:8
God Bless,
Woody
P.S. Romans 12 reminds us to overcome evil with good.
Are you convinced now? “Change you can believe in” was the campaign promise. Don’t ask, don’t tell (DADT) is the military language adopted in 1993 that mandated discharge of openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual service members. I believe approximately 14000 service members were fired from 1993 til May 27, 2010 when congress, under President Obama, changed the law.
Many in military leadership believe this will undermine moral and readiness. Most polls (72%) indicate the majority of Americans wanted this repealed.
Last week the other shoe dropped when the President refused to uphold marriage between a man and a woman. DOMA is code for Defense of Marriage Act, passed in congress in 1996 as a effort to keep marriage between man and a woman and not two men or two women.
It is always interesting to see this move in light of politics, when the nation and world is focused on Wisconsin and the tension between balancing the budget and unions. When at the same time, we hear about all the demonstration in the Middle East. This has to be politically a good strategic move for the President.
However, I am not looking at this through the lens of politics. I am focused on what the Bible says about the decision. Laws have consequences. When you argue that two consenting adults should not be deprived of their constitutional rights for “spouses” you’ve taken the bait. They are not “spouses.”
Political correctness and polling what people want, has replaced what God says He will bless. Not everyone believes or cares what Christians think or believe.
Politicians declare they favor a marriage between a man and a woman, but don’t have convictions to back it up because of the homosexual lobbyists. Secretary Sebelius professes to be a practicing Catholic but allows abortion legislation. Notre Dame professes to be a stronghold for Christian families, but awards our President, who is antifamily, an honorary doctorate in law.
In Luke 6:43-45 – Jesus declared “For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor, on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush. The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasurer brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.”
I am not endorsing Mike Huckabee for any office, but I do believe he is right in his latest book “Simple Government”. His first chapter says it all. He writes, “By fighting for marriage and the traditional family, we’re also fighting against poverty and crime.” He also wrote “unless society as a whole is committed to moral behavior, everything we build for our families can be destroyed in an instant.”
Righteous fruit comes from a good tree but unrighteous fruit comes from whom and what? You answer the question. Your answer will shape your life and many others for the future.
