[Biblemat] A) THE WORLD IN WHICH CHRISTIANS LIVE TODAY

[J5827Sasser at wmconnect.com]

Brethren and Friends, Jim Sasser here.  A very good Thursday
morning to each and everyone.  May God bless you and yours.
Here is an article from my files:

THE WORLD IN WHICH CHRISTIANS LIVE TODAY

     The immediate world of Christians in various communities
is as varied as those communities are.  Christians in different
nations live under varying and sometimes extremely different
circumstances -- some very favorable and some very unfavor-
able.  We can ascertain the lot of Christians everywhere only
by personal reports from travelers, news media reports, and
rarely by our own travels and experiences.  We must not make the mistake of 
supposing that all Christians live in an
environment similar to our own.  However, we should also
understand that the fundamental nature of the struggle of 
Christians to maintain faith and godly standards of behavior
is basically the same throughout the world.  It is this struggle
and relationship to the world that I wish to address in this
piece of writing.

     The world in which we live is largely under the sway of the
adversary, Satan.  All of the nations are ruled by people who 
are not Christians.  A few of the leaders of nations profess a
loose form of belief in God.  Fewer believe in Jesus as the
Christ in any degree.  None of whom we are aware practice
real New Testament Christianity.  Thus, Christians in all nat-
ions bear the same fundamental relationship to civil authorit-
ies, as such is taught in Rom. 13 and in 1 Pet. 2:9-17.

     Christians everywhere have to resist the desire for confor-
mity to those around them (Rom. 12:1,2).  Materialism is  pre-
valent in much of the modern world as it was in apostolic
times.  Love of self, leading to selfishness, self-centered be-
havior, and self-exaltation, is a universal danger that can be
overcome only by complete, humble submission to the rule
of Jesus Christ (Matt. 16:24-27).  The inclination to comprom-
ise principles of faith in order to avoid persecution, isolation,
or ridicule must be faced everywhere.  Threats to financial
ruin are real and imminent for Christians in certain communit-
ies around the world.  Even the benefits of citizenship are re-
duced for Christians under Muslim governments.  We have
much in common with apostolic era Christians in these things. 

     Ours is a wicked world.  This we must recognize (1 Jno. 5:
19).  Absence of faith in God leads to licentiousness, immoral-
ity, corruption of marriage, dishonesty, devaluing of human
life, and rejection of all standards of ethics and right behavior
as taught by God.  Europe gives the United States a graphic
picture of where we will be in a few short years and where
large metropolitan areas already are with regard to lawless-
ess.  As our nation adopts multiculturalism in all of its aspects, we will 
see a continual decline in the quality of soc-
iety and a loss of religious liberty -- a situation that will chall-
enge the faith of the hardiest of the saints.

     The picture is gloomy, I know, but we still are not like anci-
ent Corinth, Rome, Herculaneum and Pompeii.  Christians are
still the salt of the earth, setting forth the hope of the world.
This is our lot and our mission in the wicked world of our time.  "Let us not 
grow weary in well-doing, for in due season
we shall reap if we faint not" (Gal. 6:9).  Herein are wisdom,
consolation, assurance, and strength for endurance ----------
Gilbert Alexander.   </HTML>
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