Over the last two weeks, as Afghanistan fell, I’ve received near miraculous healthcare. On August 9, I met with my Cardiologist. The appointment began with retrieving data from my pacemaker that has been keeping me alive for the past nine and a half years. The battery was reaching the end. I knew that I would be needing a new pacemaker sometime later this year. The next day, August 10, I received a phone call telling me that I was scheduled for surgery to replace my pacemaker on August 17. Pacemaker batteries are not replaceable, only the entire pacemaker. Because I am in total AV block, that is the upper part of the heart no longer beats on its own, I have been kept alive for the past nineteen years by pacemakers. This is my third. My new pacemaker now gives me nine-plus years of life.
Yesterday I had a follow-up appointment to check how my new pacemaker is doing. It is doing great and with a little tweaking, may even give me additional energy to live and do the things I want to do. I cannot express enough my gratitude to all the healthcare providers who literally saved my life when I went into a coma in 2015, my accident in 2019 when I broke my neck, to the present when my pacemaker was replaced.
This brings me to the point of this blog. I am conflicted about the world in which I live. I can, must, and do praise God for my good fortune. Yet I expressed to every healthcare professional yesterday, that I almost feel guilty receiving such wonderful healthcare while so many millions are caught in the vice of heathen false religions, corrupt governments, and barbaric fanatics who see no value in human life and are willing to destroy themselves to destroy others to gain martyrdom. What a contrast to life under the sun.
I have done nothing to earn the peace and safety I enjoy right now. Most of those who are literally under the guns of brutal fanatics have done nothing to warrant the persecution and certain death they are facing.
This was the perspective of King Solomon in Ecclesiastes. Note Solomon's description of life under the sun:
There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven —
A time to give birth, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to uproot what is planted.
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
A time to tear down, and a time to build up.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance.
A time to throw stones, and a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace, and a time to shun embracing.
A time to search, and a time to give up as lost;
A time to keep, and a time to throw away.
A time to tear apart, and a time to sew together;
A time to be silent, and a time to speak.
A time to love, and a time to hate;
A time for war, and a time for peace. (Eccl 3:1-8 NASB)
In the present Postmodern Woke culture, the reaction is to play the victim and blame everyone else for the chaos around the world and here at home. This absolves the victim of any responsibility.
Solomon anticipated this response as he continued:
What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils? I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves. (Eccl 3:9-10 NASB)
The Postmodern answer to this question is there is no profit in toiling because, as a victim, someone else will take it away. We should join cultural constructs, i.e., groups of other victims, and take what we want from those who are toiling and succeeding. This is nothing less than Marxist Communism.
Why is this happening? Solomon gives us a clue:
He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end. (Eccl 3:11 NASB).
In other words, God has had a plan and a purpose all along. Homo sapiens are the only creatures who have eternity in their hearts. But the ability to sense eternity does not guarantee wisdom nor an understanding of events taking place in our lives much less how to change circumstances and prevent human tragedies.
The Postmodernist Woke culture seeking to find objects to blame is now turning on anyone who will not accept their victimization perspective. This includes anyone who might believe in a creative and sustaining power outside of creation. This includes Christians. This is why I continue to write about and call upon Christians to get back into God’s Word. It is only a matter of time before we feel the wrath of this Cancel Culture.
I happen to be in the camp of those who believe that the Lord Jesus Christ will come back to set up His kingdom on earth. It will be preceded by a seven-year tribulation. I believe the church will not participate in the tribulation having been taken out of the world before it starts. To be sure, some will be saved during the tribulation. Many of those who will be saved will forfeit their lives because of their faith.
A key term popular in Existentialism since Soren Kierkegaard and is now rife in Postmodernism is angst, also known as Cognitive Dissonance. It is the tool being used to drive the movement called Critical Race Theory as well as other popular movements. It reeks of racism and feeds on creating angst, even where no angst exists.
As a believer in a great and loving God who has planned from the beginning salvation through the death of His Son, Jesus Christ, I refuse to lose hope. My hope is in Christ. My hope is certain to come to pass regardless of how cruel men become.
This blog is to call all of those who have this hope to join me in praising our God for His goodness to mankind, and to all who will call upon Him. Yes, there is a season to mourn. I just lowered my flag to half-mast. I am not waiting for the president or the governor to order it. I am weeping with those who weep. I am mourning with those who mourn. I will continue to love as God instructs us in His Word. And I am speaking out because it is a time to speak.
Solomon continued his evaluation of life under the sun:
I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one's lifetime; moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor — it is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should fear Him. That which is has been already, and that which will be has already been, for God seeks what has passed by. (Eccl 3:12-15 NASB)
Those of us who believe in the salvation of our God and His love for mankind must join in giving Him our praise and glorifying His name. If we have been given a life of pleasure and prosperity, we need to speak up and confess Him to a world that is so horribly messed up. He will bring peace to us even in the midst of hardship.
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your forbearing spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:4-7 NASB)
Praise the Lord.