REFLECTIONS
MENDING
BROKEN HEARTS
THROUGH JESUS
CHRIST OUR
LORD
February
Page 1
2012
KEEP LOOKING UP!
Is the world coming to an end in 2012?
Much ado is being made about the Mayan
calendar forecasting that all human
civilization dies December 21, 2012. Others
have noted that the Aztec’s calendar ends
in 2012. The Hindu calendar forecasts
global changes in 2012 and China’s “Book
of Changes” predicts the end in 2012.
Lately we have some professing Christians
jumping on the bandwagon and speaking
of hidden prophecies in Revelation. You
think maybe the motive for all of this
folderol is book sales? Listen carefully.
2012 may mark the end of a lot of things,
none of which will be the end of the
world.
The year 2012 may be as pivotal for
America as any year since the
Revolutionary War. Our way of life,
including our freedoms, may be altered as
never before. What we have been
accustomed to as a “normal way of life”
could easily depart from us without most
of the populace being aware that it was
even in danger. We have been schooled
to believe that at certain ages and certain
conditions, we are entitled to much, much
more than “life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness.” We are a culture who knows
“our rights,” but have totally overlooked
our wrongs. America has more attorneys
than any other nation and we live in an
era of litigation. We are a nation of
“victims.” Listen to some of the excuses,
“It was the tobacco company’s fault that I
developed lung cancer.” “It was the
police’s fault that I wrecked my car. If they
had not been chasing me, I would not
have been speeding and lost control of my
vehicle.” “I came from a dysfunctional
home” (as if most homes were perfect.)
We have barred Jesus Christ and the Bible
from our schools, leaving our kids to be
indoctrinated with lies from hell. Hell and
God are only slang words anymore and
carry no real meaning. Humanism
(atheism in a business suit) was legally
ruled a religion in the 1960’s and now has
taken over America’s daily life. The Ten
Commandments are banned in more
places than they are allowed. Perversion
is promoted as an “alternate lifestyle” and
anyone who tells the truth about
homosexuality is branded a homophobe.
God called homosexuality an
“abomination,” not once, but twice
(Leviticus 18:22, 20:13.) Paul said it was
unnatural, (Romans 1:26-27) and not one
time at any place in God’s Bible did He
recommend, endorse or accept the
practice as anything else.
Baby murder is camouflaged as some kind
of benevolent freedom for womankind. It
is hard to imagine people getting much
more twisted than they are in 2012. What
is so pathetic is that the leaders of all of
this trash are so-called educated people.
They hold important and impressive
positions in our world, yet they are so
deranged that they keep looking for a cure
for AIDS instead of working on prevention.
You would think that if cars kept running
off a cliff, someone would have sense
enough to put up a barrier instead of
placing an ambulance at the bottom.
Isaiah made an interesting comment that
certainly fits America in 2012:
“Surely your turning of things upside down
shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for
shall the work say of him that made it, He
made me not? or shall the thing framed
say of him that framed it, He had no
understanding?” Isaiah 29:16
Man is like the product the potter
made, he is denying his Maker. Even
more asinine is that the product
accuses the Producer of having no
understanding. The spin that man has
put on things, whether spiritual,
political or physical has produced an
upside down world. How many times
does something have to fail before we
try to do it differently? On the other
hand, if something is working, why
would we change it? Let me answer
the last question for you. The reason
we want to change what is working is
because we don’t want to have to do
the work to make it work. Whether in
church or in business, it takes work.
Man is basically lazy and keeps looking
for another way to invent the wheel, as
it were. Our labor saving devices are
great, but they only go so far. Work
must still be done. In the physical
realm, our athletes have much more
knowledge about training, diets are
improved and training programs are
much advanced. The athlete today is
larger, faster and stronger than he was
fifty years ago, but he has to work just
as hard. With all of the advanced
nutrition and training, there are no
short cuts to being a winner. Sweat and
pain play as big a part as they ever
have.
The same goes for the church. We have
much more technology to assist getting
the gospel out, but nothing will ever
substitute for prayer, personal
witnessing and gospel preaching. We
can reach more people by the multiple
communication methods that are
available to us, but we cannot improve
on God’s methods anymore than we
can improve His creatures. Man keeps
trying to improve on God’s words, but it
only depreciates in men’s hands. Man
never stops trying to improve God’s
Bible. You would think that once man
“corrected the errors” that he said
were in the Bible that the Bible would
be perfect, but no, man then tries to
improve upon the last improvement.
How many new translations came out
in 2011?
Yes, 2012 holds some new adventures
for us, but none of them will be the end
of humanity. The Bible gives us much
information on that subject and we do
not have to be in the dark about what
will occur, we just do not know when.
“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but
my words shall not pass away. [36] But
of that day and hour knoweth no man,
no, not the angels of heaven, but my
Father only. [37] But as the days of Noe
were, so shall also the coming of the
Son of man be. [38] For as in the days
that were before the flood they were
eating and drinking, marrying and
giving in marriage, until the day that
Noe entered into the ark, [39] And knew
not until the flood came, and took them
all away; so shall also the coming of
the Son of man be.”
Matthew 24:35-39
Keep Looking Up!
Leland Maples
LOOPS, Inc
P O Box 14953,
Odessa, TX 79768