Globalism

This is related to the “We are the world?” post, so read that one first. Like I touched on in that post, Globaslism began at the tower of Babel. Under the leadership of Nimrod, the people gathered together to unite as “one world” politically and spirtitually. This was done in direct defiance and prideful rebellion against God.

The same thing is happening today. The attitude with this worldview rejects God and says, “The earth is our world, we will unite politically and spiritually, we will create world peace, and we will rule the world ourselves!”

Though men of the world seek this goal, it is a fatally flawed goal, because just like at the tower of Babel, God will come down and put an end to this evil plan. He will show the world that, as it’s God, Creator and King, it is He who owns and rules the world. The Bible says that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming again in power and glory and will judge the world in righteousness.

“But the present heavens and earth by His word are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.” 1 Peter 3:7.

Universalism

Universalism says that salvation is “universal”, meaning for the whole entire world. The idea is “All faiths are one, all paths lead to heaven, all roads lead to God.” The idea is that you can get to God any way you want to. This is such a popular belief around the world now. This view forms the base for the growing “one world religion”. But God says there is only one way to Him, and that is by God’s grace, through repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. God sent Jesus to bring us to Him. He is the way.

Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father, but through Me.” John 14:6.

Relativism

Relativism is the core of Postmodernism. Relativism basically says, “Whatever”! The idea here is that truth is relative, and fluid (it changes). In this view, making a claim that something is actually true can be seen as arrogant. In this world view, everyone can have their own truth! It’s, “Whatever works for you is true for you”. They say, “It may be true for you, but it’s not true for me”. Logically, this makes no sense. And the truth is (pun intended!) that there is such thing as truth, and it is knowable. The issue really is, do we choose to believe it or reject it. So truth applies to all of us, whether we choose to admit that it exists. Gravity is an example of this. Someone may say, “I don’t believe in gravity, but if you want to, if it works for you, that’s cool for you.” Gravity is just much a reality for the one who chooses to not believe it exists. Challenge this relativist to jump out of an airplane without a parachute. He might acknowledge the truth of gravity after all. God says His Word is truth, and Jesus said He IS the truth.

“Thy Word is truth”. Psalm 119:160.

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father, but through Me.” John 14:6.

Materialism

Materialism is the idea that “he who dies with the most toys wins”: the idea that there is only the material physical world. The goal is to just enjoy the physical world and get as much stuff as you can. Another name for this is Naturalism. In this worldview, you are just a physical thing- there is no soul or life after death. In this view, there is no spiritual world, no God, no heaven or hell, only the natural world that is seen. This view ties in with the belief in evolution. This is also what makes people think they can do whatever they want with no consequence, for they think if there is no God, there must be no morality or higher Authority they must answer to.

Back when I was a kid, John Lennon sang his famous song, “Imagine there’s no heaven, it’s easy if you try, no hell below us, above us only sky.” He was promoting this worldview. But the bible tells us something entirely different. God’s word is clear that the spiritual realm, heaven, hell, the eternal soul, and personal accountability to a holy, moral God, all exist.

“Behold, all souls are Mine…the soul who sins will die.” Ezekiel 18:4.

“For what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? What can a man give in exchange for his soul?” Matt.16:26.

Earth Day

While we were celebrating the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is at Passover time in the spring, many others were celebrating Earth Day. When we have communion, we are remembering His death and sacrifice on our behalf, until He comes again. Whenever believers gather, we are celebrating His resurrection and victory over sin and death, on our behalf.

While we worship God, the world system, which is against Christ, is busy trying to cleanse our culture of any remaining symbol, influence or cultural event which may remind anyone of God and that the Son of God came in the flesh to redeem sinners.

So for a while our culture recognized that Jesus rose from the dead in the springtime. That has now been eliminated from the public view, and replaced with an alternate holiday: Earth Day. Earth Day was invented several years ago to replace celebrating Jesus. On Earth Day, people are supposed to do things to help “save the earth”. People pledge themselves to being devoted to the Earth. To many, the earth is something to worship.

The ironic thing is, many who see the things that God created like the land, the oceans, fish, trees, flowers, animals, birds and mankind, choose to worship these created things instead of the Creator who made it all. And the Bible teaches that it is actually Jesus Himself, who is the Creator of the earth, as well as it’s King.

“The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, the world, and all those who dwell in it.” Ps.24:1.

“Clap your hands all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy! For the Lord Most High, is to be feared, a great King over all the earth.” Ps.47:1.

Humanism

What’s a “worldview”? When I was in college, I would go to the library to study. Sometimes I would look at the various magazines, curious about the sophisticated sounding ideas promoted in them. I remember looking through The Humanist, and Omni magazines. They sure seemed intellectual and wise. I was a brand new Christian at the time, just beginning to be discipled in God’s Word. There was something about those magazines that I just could not agree with. What was happening was, the worldview of the magazines was completely different from the one I believed in, which was based on God’s Word. A worldview is a belief system; it’s how you see the world. The worldview of the magazines was Humanism, and it was in conflict with the Word of God. I decided I didn’t want to read those magazines anymore.

Everyone has a belief system (a worldview). People speak and act based on what they believe. How do you know if you are hearing or reading a worldview that is not true? You know when the ideas promoted are in conflict with what God’s Word says. That’s how you test ideas. This is one of the reasons why it is important to know what the Bible says. There are many worldviews that are popular now, and they all are in direct conflict with the Word of God.

Take Humanism. This is basically the “mother” of all the unbiblical worldviews. This says that man is the highest of all beings, and the center of the universe; the most important thing. Humanism is a kind of religion for some. Man is worshiped because Humanism makes man “god”. The Bible tells us who the real God is:

“I am the LORD, and there is no other; besides Me there is no God.” Isaiah 45:5.

We Are the World?

In Genesis 10 & 11, Nimrod, a rebellious “mighty hunter”, began his kingdom in what is now Babylon (in Iraq). This is where the plethora of the world’s Satanic religions officially began, with Nimrod, his wife and child all making themselves out to be gods. This is where “goddess” worship began (the “Queen of Heaven”), and the worship of all the false Babylonian gods. This worship of many gods and goddesses is really the worship of fallen angels. They began the “secret mystery religions” which have been passed down to this day. This is basically the worship of Satan as god.

The people of Babylon thought they were pretty great, and could do anything. They decided to build a city, and a tower reaching to the heavens so they could have power, and be famous. They all came together “as one” to accomplish this goal. This was their attempt at “global unity”. They were exalting themselves! This was pride and rebellion against God, because in Gen.9:1 God told them to fill the earth, not come together as one.

God came down and confused their language so they could not achieve their goal. He humbled them and put them in their place. He scattered them over the face of the earth and they had to stop building their tower and city. They brought their worship of many gods with them, and this is all the world’s religions. They brought their so called “secret” religion with them also; the worship of Satan as god. They passed these beliefs down through the ages.

The same thing is happening today. The world is trying to come together to unite as “one”, in defiance against God. And Satan would like the entire world, in unity, to worship him as god. The push for One World Government, and One World Religion began at the tower of Babel, and men are working for it today.

Back in the 1980’s when I was a teenager, I remember being at a dance or party for the local Catholic youth groups. There were several churches in attendance. I remember we all got in a huge circle, linked arms, swayed back and forth and sang, “We Are the World”. Even back then, the world was encouraging everyone to come together as “one world”. I don’t remember ever singing a worship song to Jesus in that youth group, but we sang, “We Are the World.”

We know God is in control. Just like in the days of the tower of Babel, one day God will come down again and put the smackdown on the world’s prideful worship of humanity, the worship of “the world”, and the worship of Satan.

“And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.” Gen.11:5.

The Rainbow

God promised Noah in Genesis 9 that He would never again judge the world by a flood of water. The sign of this promise which He made to Noah (and all of us) is the rainbow. Now if you go up to The City, you will find huge rainbow flags flying over many neighborhoods, and atop important buildings. They have used the rainbow to symbolize something quite different. They have stolen the symbol of the rainbow and have given it a wrong meaning. A meaning, in fact, that is intended to be purposely rebellious against God. But we know what the rainbow really means: it is God’s promise to Noah.

Another interesting thing the rainbow makes you think about, is that God did not say that He would never again judge the earth. He just promised that He would never again judge the earth with a flood of water. Reading the rest of the Bible, we know that God will indeed judge the earth again, just not by water. And another important thing to know is that God always keeps His promises. This fact is both a warning to the wicked, and a comfort to God’s children.

“And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”" Gen.9:17.

Safe in the Ark

Genesis 6 & 7. Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their wives entered the ark, the same day the floods and rains started. One thing I think is so interesting is that God Himself closed the door to the ark. See, it ’s right there in Gen.7:16. God had Noah’s back! Noah built the ark, but it was God who provided the way of protection; God told Noah how He would save Him, and told him what to do. God provided the ark for Noah, to save him. This was God’s grace and mercy. Noah entered the ark by faith.

Noah and his family were safe inside the ark while the flood raged outside. Jesus is just like the ark. This is called a “type”. So we say the ark is a “type” of Christ. It is like an example of what Jesus is to us. Noah was safe in the ark. Safe from God’s righteous judgment. In the same way, we are safe in Christ. Safe from God’s righteous judgment. The way you get “in Christ” is by faith. Then you are safe in Him.

“But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark…” Gen.6:18.

Superheroes, Giants and demigods

Why did God send the flood? Back in Noah’s day, things were pretty bad on earth. Check out Genesis 6. The fallen angels (those who rebelled with Satan against God) decided to go get themselves human wives down on earth. The fallen angels mated with the human women and children were born. It was wickedness and rebellion against God for the fallen angels to come down and have “demigod” children(meaning, half human, half fallen angel) with the human women. They shouldn’t have done that.

These were the giants that were on the earth in those days. (Another word is Nephilim). They were giant, mighty, powerful, men of “renown”. They were famous! Does this sound familiar? How about all the giants from the fairytales? How about the Greek and Roman demigods? How about modern superheroes? These “myths” all come from this little understood part of earth history. These were real beings who once were on the earth.

The earth and it’s inhabitants were pretty wicked. God saw that every intent of the thoughts of the heart were only evil continually (v.5). There was violence, murder, evil and sorcery. By the way, Jesus said that the coming of the Son of Man would be just like the days of Noah. It will be like a repeat of history. (Matt.24:37.) People would not believe that God’s judgment was coming (even though warned), until it was upon them.

So God decided to show His righteousness and judge the world for it’s wickedness by blotting out all mankind on earth. But! Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. God gave Noah grace. Noah walked with God. That means he was reverent towards God and loved and honored God. God saved Noah and his family. It is important to understand that God’s character includes His righteousness and justice, as well as His mercy and grace.

“But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.” Gen.6:8.