“The day will come when your enemies will lay a trench around your walls, and hem you in on every side. They will hurl you to the dust, and your children with you, and will not leave one stone standing upon another, all this because you failed to recognize the appointed time when God himself moved among you.” —­­Jesus Christ, Messiah, Son of God

“You can choose your behavior
but you cannot choose your consequences. ” ­­—The quiet admonition of a friend to her children

Recently, a Canadian friend posted a comment about her favorable opinion of Barack Obama after listening to his audio version of “The Audacity of Hope.” This sparked an animated discussion on whether a “good” person can author bad public policy. One commentator tried to make the case for his moral leadership by stating, “Obama’s bad policy decisions are less bad than George W. Bush’s!”

Social media allows us to air our opinions with more frequency and to a greater audience than at any time in the world’s history. But is the human race any more capable of discerning goodness than at any time in human history? Can we see the “God­ness” in a particular event or person any more clearly than when God himself moved among us?

For some reason nearly every U.S. President is scrutinized by the public to determine their qualifications as saint or satan. For instance, because Ronald Wilson Reagan had six letters in each of his names — ­­666­­ — some were convinced it made him the Anti­-Christ. On the other hand Barbara Walters, venerated journalist, has referred to Barack Obama as Messiah. She’s not alone in her adoration…

“Obama’s finest speeches do not excite. They do not inform. They don’t even really inspire. They elevate. … He is not the Word made flesh, but the triumph of word over flesh … Obama is, at his best, able to call us back to our highest selves.” —Ezra Klein

Had the Jewish nation embraced Jesus as their King in the first century, how would the world be different today? The obvious answer is we “Gentiles” would not be here to consider the question! Their egregious rejection of God himself became our opportunity to be born — and born again! It also helps us understand God’s willingness to allow his Will to be thwarted, at least temporarily, if not tragically, to subserve his greater purposes!

If the challenge to first century humanity was to recognize God moving among men ­­— and the reaction to his birth indicates that centuries-old prophecies had accomplished at the very least (for some) an awareness of the possibility of a heavenly visitation and (for others) an earnest anticipation ­­— is the challenge any less for modern mankind to avoid the same tragic mistake?

If we don’t have a certainty about Jesus, the Man we are invited to believe in, and those qualities that make him the great I Am, how will we withstand the onslaught of false messiahs with their promises of hope or threats of change for a world on fire?

If you are putting your trust in doctrinal positions or theology, you will be swept up in the delusion that Jesus warned would impact even genuine believers.

Will He find faith in Him on earth? What is faith in Him?

“The leaving of your way, your objects, yourself, and the taking of His and Him; the leaving of your trust in men, in money, in opinion, in character, in atonement itself, and doing as He tells you! To do His words is to enter into vital relation with Him, to obey Him is the only way to be One with Him! The relation between Him and us is an absolute one; it can nohow begin to live but in obedience: it is obedience!” ­—George MacDonald

The day has come, as demonstrated in the Umpqua Community College targeting/killing of Christians and the worldwide persecution of followers of Jesus, including beheadings carried out by the satanic group ISIS, when we must choose our allegiance between Jesus and this world order. However , we make that choice daily by choosing to obey Him. If you cannot think of one thing this day you have done because Jesus said do this or one thing you have not done because He said don’t do this, you have good reason to fear you won’t make the correct choice when it may cost you all!

Triumph or tragedy. It’s all in a choice. Choose today whom you will serve.