If you scroll down the front page of this blog, it is evident that it has been the subject of neglect (I made the mistake of dating it through a Christmas Eve post). Much of this has been the result of my own personal crisis as to what to do with it.

The initial goal of Forty Years for Him was to see a pathway out of the postmodern swamp that our society currently exists in, creating a Christian framework for our nation in the next 40 years. That was a few years ago. I used different mediums: Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and actually used a website. A friend and I would make videos explaining scripture, and our Facebook friends who had accepted the Group request watched the video.

My friend and I stopped having free weekends and Facebook’s Groups changed severely, so I decided it would be better to start over with a clean slate, despite the success we had experienced with the videos.

In the limbo between those videos and today my perspective on the function of the Christian church in the next 40 years has changed considerably. Previously I had approached this project from a similar angle as Focus on the Family, believing our issues to be social ills curable by the right President, House and Senate, as you can probably guess, preferably Republican.

The revelation came when I realized that though God does work through men in politics, medicine and nearly every other career, His work was of a different nature. It is not crude and political, a bill paraded before Congress, a set of demands agreed to in exchange for a Yea vote on the next bill. God’s work is through the hearts of man.

With that realization also came the realization that the Christian church, the true one, difficult to discern by man but easy to discern for God, was in trouble in the next 40 years. The patterns found in the heretical Christian church (a large sect), immigration patterns, the state of social democracy, national debt, philosophy etc. etc. all point towards fascism returning in the West, except this time, the British, French, Greeks, Americans and many others will be its host.

It is true, I have the potential to be wrong, dead wrong, but I feel that if I prove my case with historical examples I might be able to sway you to my position.

For now I’ll end this post with a passage from 2 Samuel 15:

² Now Absalom would rise early and stand beside the way to the gate. So it was, whenever anyone who had a lawsuit came to the king for a decision, that Absalom would call to him and say, “What city are you from?” And he would say, “Your servant is from such and such a tribe of Israel.” ³ Then Absalom would say to him, “Look, your case is good and right; but there is no deputy of the king to hear you.” ⁴ Moreover Absalom would say, “Oh, that I were made judge in the land, and everyone who has any suit or cause would come to me; then I would give him justice.” ⁵ And so it was, whenever anyone came near to bow down to him, that he would put out his hand and take him and kiss him. ⁶ In this manner Absalom acted toward all Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

⁷ Now it came to pass after forty^[a] years that Absalom said to the king, “Please, let me go to Hebron and pay the vow which I made to the Lord. ⁸ For your servant took a vow while I dwelt at Geshur in Syria, saying, ‘If the Lord indeed brings me back to Jerusalem, then I will serve the Lord.’”

⁹ And the king said to him, “Go in peace.” So he arose and went to Hebron.

¹⁰ Then Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then you shall say, ‘Absalom reigns in Hebron!’” ¹¹ And with Absalom went two hundred men invited from Jerusalem, and they went along innocently and did not know anything. ¹² Then Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, from his city—from Giloh—while he offered sacrifices. And the conspiracy grew strong, for the people with Absalom continually increased in number.

¹³ Now a messenger came to David, saying, “The hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom.”

¹⁴ So David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, “Arise, and let us flee, or we shall not escape from Absalom. Make haste to depart, lest he overtake us suddenly and bring disaster upon us, and strike the city with the edge of the sword.”

David never expected Absalom to deceive his fellow Israelis, just as it is difficult for us to imagine anyone deceiving our own society to that point, or for the German Christians to see Hitler deceiving their people. As Christians, we should be on watch for deceivers, as Judas always lurks in our midst.

derekthornton:

Before Jesus utters a sermon. Before He puts mud on a blind man’s eye to restore his sight. He was worthy of worship even as a child.

via Reality San Francisco

I remember my Christmas Eves as a child: ignoring my father’s sermon and having visions of reindeer eating this corn that we had sprinkled on our lawn. As I grew up though, Christmas Eve became something much more special: a spiritual renewal. I felt that this year, and it is truly the reason for the season.  Happy Holidays and God Bless!