HISTORY

PRAY WITH ME FOR AFRICA: I will be posting prayers for the countries of Africa but I want to give some general statistics on the continent of Africa over the next number of weeks. With a population of over 1.27 billion Africa has 16.6% of the world's population. Africa has 2500 ethnic groups and an average literacy rate of 61%. Pray that God will pour out His Spirit on African to convict of sin, righteousness and judgement (John 16.8-11)

I was reminded this week as I read Martyn Lloyd-Jones about how a Christian should view history. Before the two world wars, unbelievers tended to see history as progressing toward a utopia created by man through science and education and economic development. Since these two world wars the talk of man evolving toward a utopia has been muted but is slowly raising its head once again. A person would have to ignore much of what is going on in the world or assess the facts with a great deal of bias to conclude that man is evolving toward utopia, and yet that is being done. We are certainly advancing in technology but we are not developing in our humanity. Society is growing in self-love, greed, and immoral behavior. Mankind's slavery to sin is becoming more evident. Humanity is quickly losing the image of God in which it was created as God gives mankind over to its sins. 

Here are four things to remember as we evaluate our present circumstances. 1) History is under the control of God. In the midst of our present chaos and search for meaning and purpose in a world gone mad Christians can be certain that God is in control. God is Sovereign over all and is allowing what is taking place in this present evil world. The whole historical process is in the hands of God. 2) The key to understanding history is the fact of sin. Man has been seeking to rule himself and build his own kingdom since rebelling against God in Eden and since seeking to build the tower of Babel to make a name for himself. As long as mankind persists in being the enemy of God chaos and destruction, pain and suffering, greed and self-contentedness will prevail. 3) There is a history of salvation from sin. God promised salvation to mankind in the seed of the woman and in time Jesus provided salvation from sin through the cross and resurrection. God is redeeming a people for Himself in Christ. 4) There is an ultimate and final consummation of history. God will establish a righteous kingdom with a new heaven and a new earth. This end of history is a certain as the existence of God. Let us rejoice that God controls history and that we are part of that history.

Good articles I read this week: https://hormozshariat.com/2017/12/08/shiite-christianit