David Jeremiah can't believe cultural trends, still offers hope
"I can't believe this is happening in America!" Admit it. You have thought it. I grew up in a culture in which the alignment of the society, the church, the world of entertainment, and (to a large extent) government revolved around the teachings of scripture. The orbits, however, seem to be decaying rapidly.
Among the changes Dr. Jeremiah sees are marriages becoming obsolete, the Bible being marginalized, America turning its back on Israel, and atheists aggressively attacking religion. Much more telling, though, are the dying embers of the spiritual fire in the nation, in the Church, and in the individual believer.
Dr. Jeremiah builds an airtight case that we are being conformed to this world, rather than being transformed by the renewing of our minds. The apostle Paul issued a similar caution in Romans 12:2. Why, you may ask. From beginning to end, the Bible tells the story of a world heading from order to chaos to ultimate destruction. But the biblical story's grand theme is that there is a way to transfer from the train bound for destruction to the train bound for glory.
The author speaks of the "good old days." We all remember them. He reminds us, though, that we tend to selectively remember the good and forget the bad. In the decade of the 1950s, his and my "good old days" were marked by the end of World War II, families reuniting, children being born into families with love and not a lot of commercial distraction. We were getting back to the basics of life. We remember the happy times. But we tend to forget such things as the Cold War, Korea, the fact that we and the Soviet Union had enough nuclear weapons pointed purposely at each other to destroy the world several times over. The Last Days will be marked by the idea that if Christ does not return the world will self-destruct.
Okay. That's the bad news. The good news is still the Good News: Christ came to set us free from the fear of the future.
There is great encouragement in Dr. Jeremiah's book. If we follow Paul's admonition found in Romans 12:2 concerning the renewing of our minds, we can escape the coming destruction. If we allow the Holy Spirit to resynchronize the orbit of our spiritual life around His Word, we can better understand and emotionally cope with the world as it spins. In the end, it comes down to a choice. We get to choose whether to be conformed ... or to be transformed. If we choose to be transformed, David Jeremiah offers us some guidance in helping the Holy Spirit to do His work in us.
I highly recommend I Never Thought I'd See the Day! But then, I always recommend David Jeremiah's books and messages to others.
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