|
TRUE AND FALSE PEACE IN A TROUBLED WORLD! |
|
|
The world as we know it today is filled with great turbulence, disorder, and uproar.
We see a world that, despite its amazing advancements, seems to be deteriorating at a rapid pace. This downward spiral continues even as institutions such as the United Nations promise the world peace and safety. On 21 September 2016, the United Nations observed the 35th annual International Day of Peace. In the days leading up to this event, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, urged the world to adopt its 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development insisting that these ambitious goals, which essentially amount to the establishment of a one world government, are the "building blocks" for peace. "Sustainable development is essential for lasting peace, and both depend on respect for human rights. All of us can be sustainable development advo-cates," Mr Ki-moon declared. He went on to say, "On this International Day of Peace, express your commitment to peace by becoming a champion for the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals.)" Earlier, the soon to be outgoing American President Barack Obama gave his final address before the United Nations on 20 September 2016. In his speech, Obama urged the world to embrace a globalist agenda. "And so I believe that at this moment we all face a choice. We can choose to press forward with a better model of cooperation and integration. Or we can retreat into a world sharply divided, and ultimately in conflict, along age-old lines of nation and tribe and race and religion," Obama said. In another portion of the speech, Obama told his audience that "young people need a global education in order to thrive." It is interesting to note that rumours have circulated in recent months that claim Barack Obama would like to be the next Secretary-General of the United Nations. Perhaps this speech by Obama was an audition for the part. His goals certainly align with the United Nations, and we know that the UN is continually working to establish a global government. As it turns out, Barack Obama was not the only notable figure who was busy on 20 September 2016. On this day, Pope Francis joined other religious leaders in the town of Assisi, Italy, to take part in an event called the World Day of Prayer for Peace. The event was also attended by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of the Eastern Orthodox religion, and Justin Welby, who is the Archbishop of Canterbury. Also present at the assembly were leaders of Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism. At this event, the Pope declared that "the world thirsts for peace." From what I have seen and heard of Pope Francis, I do believe that he is a man who is determined to unite the religions of the world. Yet, religious leaders have been gathering each year in Assisi for the last thirty years, and there is still a profound lack of peace in the world. The United Nations has been observing an International Day of Peace for thirty-five years and still has not wrought peace in the world. There is no peace in Syria, no peace in Iraq, no peace in Israel, no peace in Afghanistan, no peace in numerous regions of Africa, no peace in Venezuela, and there is not even peace in the United States right now! How can we have peace? Uniting the religions of the world is not the answer, nor is establishing a one world government. Yet, there is a genuine peace of God that is unlike the highly sought-after peace of the world. In John 14:27, Jesus tells us, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be trou-bled, neither let it be afraid." If you have not yet found this peace, I urge you to turn to God, repent of your sins, and dedicate your life to Him! - oOo - oOo - oOo - "THOUGH THOU SET THY NEST AMONG THE STARS" We live in a world today that is continually advancing by way of extraordinary technology and amazing capabilities. However, sometimes a society can advance too far. In the eleventh chapter of the book of Genesis, we learn that a one world government once existed. This was an advanced society where everyone spoke the same language, and the people assumed that there was nothing that could stop them. It was at this time that these people decided to build the Tower of Babel which they said would reach the heavens and thus prevent God from destroying them with another flood such as the one He had caused in Noah's day. It was at this point that God looked down at the endeavours of man, and His reaction is found in Genesis 11:6 which tells us, "And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do." It was at this point that God made the decision to scatter the people by confounding their languages and thus they were dispersed all over the Earth. We live in a world today where technology is reuniting the world and removing language barriers. Once again, man is "reaching for the stars", so to speak, with the expectation that even the ave-rage man or woman will soon be able to visit outer space. In fact, Jeff Bezos, who is the well-known founder of the famous Internet retailer known as Amazon.com, has ambitions that go far beyond selling books, electronics, appliances, groce-ries, and household items. In addition to Amazon, Mr Bezos also owns a space exploration company known as Blue Origin. This company has already been launching rockets into space, and plans are underway to develop special transport capsules suitable for space travel that will allow tourists to venture beyond our planet for the first time. Incredibly, it is expected that Blue Origin will have these space vehicles ready by the year 2018. It is the hope of Mr Bezos that the human race will someday expand beyond the constraints of Earth. "I wish there were a trillion humans in the solar system. Think how cool that would be. You'd have a thousand Einsteins at any given moment - and more. There would be so much dynamism with all of that human intelligence. But you can't do that with the resources on Earth or the energy on Earth. So if you really want to see that kind of dynamic civilization as we expand through the solar system, you have to figure out how to safely move around and use resources that you get in space," Bezos said. This plan is obviously quite ambitious, and it sounds too fantastic to believe, yet men such as Jeff Bezos believe such plans will really be possible someday. Could this be another attempt by man to outsmart God? Perhaps they think that if the Earth is destroyed, they can simply move into space. Considering the inability of the human race to live peacefully on Earth, perhaps ambitions to expand into space are not such a good idea. When I ponder this thought, I cannot help but think of the words we find in Obadiah 1:4 which de-clares, "Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord." [Last Trumpet Newsletter, Vol. XXXV, Issue X, October 2016]. www.lasttrumpetministries.org |
|
