Wake Up, Folks: It’s time to get right with God

What is evil? A philosophy professor and proficient author at Saint Mary’s University in Canada, wrote that the concept of evil was the most morally despicable sorts of actions, characters, and events that induce suffering and pain.¹ And where do these evil things originate? They are the inappropriate acts produced or influenced by Satan and his agents (human or spiritual) to disrupt and control people, society, and the whole planet.

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As a Christian, we are aware of evil for what it is, we understand that Satan is trying to manipulate and deceive us for his own purposes. But most nonreligious people don’t understand these attacks. They just chalk it up to random bad decisions or influence from outside circumstances. They think they are too smart to believe in God or the devil; to them, Christians are mostly uneducated or of lower I.Q.

Besides today’s young ‘woke’ generation, you’ll find most of the nonreligious as business and political professionals, or as university professors and other intellectuals. They have a superior manner and look down upon religious people as inferior. I once wrote an article about the arrogance of such attitudes at the university level. (See: “A Letter from an Atheist about the 12 Commandments!” listed in References & Notes).²

These nonreligious people just don’t get it, but that is because they have their own ‘group-think’ situation. Even if they have occasionally thought about a possibility of a spiritual world outside their own reality, they would actually be afraid to admit it to their peers. Once upon a time, in my youth, I was such a person. Christians however, as a whole, are neither uneducated, nor of lower I.Q., and those who believe we are, are just proving their own ignorance when implying so.

We, as Christians, have the best of both worlds. We see and understand how the physical world operates, as well as have insight into the spiritual world, its battle between good and evil, and how it affects us. Not only that, but our written guide — the Holy Bible — explains how these two worlds interact, gives us instruction on maintaining our ethics and morals, and gives us hope for a better future.

 

There are problems with Christians, too.

Considering all that I have just written, it should be mentioned that I’ve discovered there is a ‘group-think’ problem within the Christian community, too. Too many of us are taught some important scriptural ideas, but don’t believe them. For instance, some have become complacent and don’t understand or trust that the prophetical end days and Jesus’ return are imminent. These are the congregational members who only think that it will be some day far into the future, but just not now in our own lifetime.

It is too unnerving, I guess, for them to believe the end of the age is now upon them. That is too bad, because Christ’s description of the end of this age is now playing out just as he said it would. There is not much time left to get their spiritual lives together for themselves and their families. For those Christians who understand there is a spiritual world, but don’t see how it is infecting the physical world around us, well all I have to say at this point is, “Wake up, folks!”

There are dark forces scattered all through this world that are exploitative of other people; there are a lot of narcissists and psychopaths who are callously insensitive and immune to the feelings of others.³ Look around you. How many politicians, corporate professionals, even church leaders, who have one or more of these traits? We should view them as to what the outcomes of their actions are, not only by what they say. When someone smiles and says things we want to hear, we tend to believe them, but these evil types know it isn’t true and will lie and blame others for their bad results. They don’t really care about you or me; they are agents for the devil.

In the Old Testament, King Solomon draws on a host of pictures from everyday life to warn against believing the wrong people.⁴ Scripture quotes him saying, “A lying tongue hates its victims, and a flattering mouth works ruin,” (Proverbs 26:28, NRSV).⁵ A Bible commentator explains that scripture this way. “Fervent lips with a wicked heart are like earthenware covered with silver dross [glaze]. A shining silvery finish disguises the worthlessness and drabness of the earthenware pottery underneath. So lips burning with pretended love often cover a heart full of hatred.”⁶

That author continues, “The chronic hater tries to hide his enmity with gracious words, at the same time storing up deceit within. Though he may speak graciously, you can’t trust him.”⁷ Avoid those people and commune with the Lord instead. “Fear God, and keep his commandments; for that is the whole duty of everyone. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil,” (Ecclesiastes 12:13b-14).

Yes, it is time to wake up and see the evil and hypocrisy in the world. It is time to take part in the great awakening that is evident as people are beginning to see the unspeakable iniquity that has been taking place right before their very own eyes. No one should think they can get away with some evil thing just because they hide it from the public. God sees everything; nothing is concealed that will not be revealed and nothing is secret that will not be known.

That time is drawing near. It will sneak up on most everyone that doesn’t understand, just as the flood of Noah snuck up on the masses. When the people finally figured out what was happening, the door to the ark was already shut and they perished. “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so too it will be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking, and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed all of them” (Luke 17:26-27).

Another example was the warning given to the people of Sodom, but they didn’t listen, either. “Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot: they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day that Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from heaven and destroyed all of them — it will be like that on the day that the Son of Man is revealed” (Luke 28-30).

At the end of this age, we will all be judged and held accountable, so evil doers should not be surprised when all is exposed for the world to see.⁸ “For nothing is hidden that will not be disclosed, nor is anything secret that will not become known and come to light. Then pay attention to how you listen; for to those who have, more will be given; and from those who do not have, even what they seem to have will be taken away” (Luke 8:17-18).

We must all realize that it is not God who should be blamed for allowing today’s evil to happen, as it was Satan who started this mess back in the Garden of Eden. For six thousand years God has instructed us how to live in goodness and treat each other with love, but the vast majority of people have rejected his instruction. We have been given two major examples of the end of days in scripture, and it will happen again. God said it would. We are now being given our very last warning.

All during this time, God has been keeping score and remembering who has been fighting against evil and trying to live good clean lives by loving God, loving our neighbors, and living by his rules. And those people will be rewarded, as promised. But, those that haven’t will find a payment for services not rendered, and it will be a punishment instead. Wake up! It is time to get right with God.

 

Conclusion

Yes, most people are in either ignorance or denial, they just don’t see or understand how close we are to the end of the present age. They don’t believe they will be left to suffer and partake in the death of an evil civilization. This group includes pseudo-Christians, too. And, those that believe “once saved, always saved” are going to find out that belief isn’t true.

Even though there is current debate about what kind of resurrected life we will have — one of a physical nature in a renewed earthly paradise, or one of a spiritual nature in the heavenly realm of angels — it doesn’t really matter what you believe. For this article, what you believe your ‘saved’ future life will be like is unimportant; our study is about a decision you must make before you get to that resurrection point. If you make the wrong decision while in this present life, any hope of resurrection is questionable.

It is not because lack of information is the problem, it is just as the Bible says it is. It is a lack of motivation to understand what is going on around us that is the problem. Our Lord quoted the Book of Isaiah when he said the following.

“You will indeed listen, but never understand, and you will indeed look, but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; so that they might not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and understand with their heart,” (Matthew 13:14-15).

If this article seems like a sermon, it is. But I am not the only one that thinks this way, because there are others preaching the same thoughts. One author wrote, “People, the day we are living in is so serious, it is not a joke. It looks like so many Christians are just not getting it, in the day we are living. Too many believers are slumbering and paying no attention to what is going on in the world; too many are not watching, and too many are not observing the signs of the time. Too many are complacent and slothful, and lazily passing through life with little commitment to serving Christ.”⁹

So take heart in advice from scripture, “You know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy,” (Romans 13:11-13).

There are efforts to overthrow our governments, invade our privacy, corrupt financial systems, introduce cryptocurrency laundering schemes, vaccination scams, depopulation programs, a new world government, a one-world religion. And they continue pushing LGBTQ, transgenderism, fear, hate, and division; all are just evil attempts to reorganize and enslave our modern society under Satanic control. I don’t have to explain further about these evil things, because there is plenty of information and proof out there if one wants to know more. Most don’t want to know, or they are afraid to do so, or they just don’t care, but to God there is no excuse not to express our disgust and change our ways. At the very least, we should educate our families about what is going on.

God has a plan to end the evil ways of our current world and he will soon take back control of this planet. He has proven his point that humans cannot survive without divine guidance and law. Think about it; God created a wonderful place for living our lives, but humankind has become corrupted, because of the evil actions of Satan. That will change soon when Satan and his associates, both human and spiritual, will be deleted from his wonderful system.

 

Song

The song selected for this article is ‘How Great Thou Art’, a Christian hymn, based upon a Swedish song of praise written in 1885. Supposedly a paraphrase of Psalm 8, it was inspired when the author heard church bells playing to the tune of ‘When eternity’s clock calls my saved soul to its Sabbath rest’.¹⁰

In the music video, ‘How Great Thou Art’ is performed by Wynonna Judd, Larry Strickland, and the Gaither Vocal Band, at an encore tribute to American country singer Loretta Lynn on Country Music Television (CMT); she died in October 2022. For eleven years of her early married life, Loretta lived in Whatcom county Washington (USA), just a few miles from where I now live. It was up here where she began her professional singing career with her band called Loretta’s Trailblazers.¹¹ Selected lyrics are below and the music video is listed in References & Notes.¹²

O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

When through the woods, and forest glades I wander,
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees.
When I look down, from lofty mountain grandeur,
And see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.

Copyright © 2022, Dr. Ray Hermann
OutlawBibleStudent.org

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References & Notes

1. Calder, Todd, “The Concept of Evil”, (The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2020 Edition, [first published 2013]), https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/concept-evil/
2. Hermann, Ray, “A Letter from an Atheist about the 12 Commandments!” (The Outlaw Bible Student, OBS, 25 July 2021), https://outlawbiblestudent.org/a-letter-from-an-atheist-about-the-12-commandments/
3. Robson, David, “Why are some people extraordinarily selfish, manipulative, and unkind?” (BBC Future, British Broadcasting Corp., UK, 30 January 2015), https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20150130-the-man-who-studies-evil
4. Knowles, Andrew, The Bible Guide: An all-in-one Introduction to the Book of Books, (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress, 2001), p. 256.
5. All scripture quoted is from The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989). Used with permission.
6. MacDonald, William, Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments, (Ed.) Arthur Farstad, (Nashville TN: Thomas Nelson, 1995), p. 858-859.
7. Ibid.
8. Goertz, Greg, “There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed”, (The Way, 20 October 2017), https://sfathewayjc.weebly.com/blog/there-is-nothing-concealed-that-will-not-be-revealed-nor-secret-that-will-not-be-known-lk-121-7
9. Barrier, Brian, “It’s Time to Wake Up Christians”, (Blue Ridge Christian News, 17 August 2020), https://blueridgechristiannews.com/its-time-to-wake-up-christians/
10. “How Great Thou Art”, (Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 18 November 2022), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Great_Thou_Art
11. Bratt, Cal, “Loretta Lynn’s career began in Whatcom County”, (Lynden Tribune Newspaper, 12 October 2022), https://www.lyndentribune.com/news/loretta-lynn-s-career-began-in-whatcom-county/article_a44db226-4a38-11ed-9f76-7354ce87acba.html
12. “How Great Thou Art”, Artists: Wynonna Judd, Larry Strickland, and the Gaither Vocal Band; songwriter: Carl Boberg in 1885; tribute to Loretta Lynn performed on CMT, November 2022, (no copyright listed, but assumed to be CMT and Gaither Music Group; no YouTube licenses listed), Used under ‘fair use copyright’ for teaching under Section 107 of the United States Copyright Act of 1976 — MUSIC VIDEO: https://youtu.be/kY2Z2L1MJkQ