The Big Issue
Satan loves confusion. He spins whatever comes along. People become disoriented with all there is to think about. What is the big issue? Is it gun control? Corrupt government politicians? Racism? Islamic terror? Immigration? Trade? Runaway inflation? Runaway national debt?
The Bible is timeless truth. Although post-modernists will tell us we are outdated for imagining there is any value in the Holy Scriptures, we must remind them of the biblical view of skeptics like them. The scoffers have come and gone, but the Word of God stands, forever. If we could take our eyes off of the news feed for just a moment, what does the Bible say is the big issue?
A mere three chapters into the first book of the Bible, Genesis, we have the origin of the problem. Sin entered. Adam and Eve were created by God, in order for people to understand they were made for God. How did they learn this lesson? They decided against obedience to God. In losing their state of sinlessness and by becoming slaves to sin, their progeny became hostile to God. Lawlessness became the predominant theme. What are you watching, today? Lawlessness.
All that we witness on our video screens each day is simply a magnification of what has been going on since the fall of humanity. Cain killed Abel (Gen 4), and now we get to watch repeat episodes via live streaming video. Not only is there no new thing under the sun, but there will only be irresolution to the plethora of problems until Jesus Christ comes again (1 Thess 4:13–5:11; Rev 19:11–21).
It will not be a good day for the god of this world, Satan, when Jesus returns to the earth (2 Cor 4:4). Therefore, the warfare we must endure, until then, is deceit. The devil is all about distraction. He wants us in consternation over politics, sports, economics, or any other subject, in order for us to miss the big issue.
When so many people die in front of us, one can only marvel at the media neglect of the subject of hell and eternal damnation (Mt 25:41, 46; Jude 7; Rev 20:14–15). Why are we not talking about eternal hell on TV psychology programs? Well, who controls the media?
Whoever controls the media, controls what we are thinking about and talking about. Imagine a politician under scrutiny for criminal activity. If public opinion soured against such a one, then it would be disastrous for the politician and the political machine driving its agenda. What is the best strategy? The answer is to get people looking at and talking about something else. That should take about…3 seconds…and we are back.
After years of programming us to have three second attention spans, the media has masterly control over the American people. They dictate what we will watch. We are media consuming zombies. A person will stand in front of us and say something like, “We flood communities with so many guns that it is easier for a teenager to buy a Glock than get his hands on a computer or even a book.” Now we know this is a blatant lie, but we absorb false claims as a diet for our minds. We allow liars to dictate to us whatever their twisted opinion wishes to promote. They wish to promote sin.
The Bible tells us it is the Holy Spirit who restrains the flood of evil that would be upon us, were it not for divine limitations (2 Thess 2:7). The pride and arrogance of humanity is mind boggling. The lust to usurp the position and power of God is inculcated into the human heart by the original usurper (Gen 3:5). The Bible says, “For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false (2 Thess 2:11).
Thus, the big issue facing us is sin and the deception associated with it. Sin puts us at odds with God. Most people claim they are not enemies with God, but when they are called out on their sin, they demonstrate it even more. Correct a Black Lives Matter or Antifa activist/terrorist, and you will understand how foolish you have been to enter his folly.
The message of the Bible will not change. The names and faces of the media puppets will soon change. Their causes will shift. They are just playing their part in the rebellion. The rebellion must go on, until the predetermined plan of God has come to its consummation. The full number of God’s elect must be brought into Christ’s sheepfold. This will be accomplished by the preaching of the Gospel to all nations (Mt 24:14; Mk 16:15). Then the end will come. We must ignore the end times gurus because they are just a distraction, too.
The big issue is Jesus Christ. He is the solution to man’s sin problem. He cuts through the deceit with the Word of truth. If this is not what you are discussing with family, friends, co-workers, today, then you have missed the big issue.
David E. Norczyk
Hillsboro, Oregon
May 16, 2021
