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Home Bible Prophecy Global Crisis and Continuity of a Christian Life
Global Crisis and Continuity of a Christian Life

Kato Mivule February 3rd 2009

There was a time when the Jews in Palestine were carried away captive by a foreign power to a land that was not their own. They were deported to Babylon because of the sins they had committed before The Lord. Jeremiah the Prophet had prophesied against their sins and evil and warned them that they would be carried into exile in Babylon for 70 years. The Jews did not heed to Jeremiah but instead persecuted him until the day that Babylonian armies came and raided Jerusalem and took the Jews captive in Babylon.


Jeremiah 29:4-11(4) Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon;(5) Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them;(6) Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished.(7) And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.


(8) For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.(9) For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the LORD.(10) For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.(11) For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.Interestingly enough, as if to add ‘salt to the wound’, The Lord commanded the Jews not to ‘Rebel’ against the Babylonians but to have a ‘normal life’ even in captivity...the Jews were to ‘have a life’ even in captivity…it was not the end of the world…


We must remember that the Babylonians had defiled the Temple and carried the vessels of The Lord into captivity also. The Jews did not at any one time appreciate the Babylonians because of what they had done to Jerusalem. However, The Lord commands them of all things to have what I call a “Continuity of Life” even in the midst of adversity. The Lord displayed His Sovereignty at least in two fold here, one to the Jews, by showing them that The Lord was using this situation to discipline His people and cause them to cry out to Him and Seek His Face, and turning away from sin and evil… Secondly, The Lord displayed His Sovereignty to Babylon and its kings… We all know of the stories of Daniel and his three friends and how The Lord displayed His Glory through them. The Lord also ‘made a statement’ to the Babylonians that The Lord was still in control of the destiny of His people…


Therefore, there had to be a ‘Continuity of Life’ even in captivity – The Lord was not yet done with His people…He alone controlled their Future… It is in this context that The Lord tells the Jews through Jeremiah the Prophet that they were to pray for the peace of NOT Jerusalem this time but Babylon… They were to pray that The Lord grant peace in Babylon, if there was peace in Babylon then they too would enjoy the peace. Wow! What an incredible spiritual journey… The Jews were to have children, marry, and live a normal life…’Continuity of Life’ had to take place even in adversity. Today we Christians, especially in the USA and Western World are very sad and unhappy with the political state of events in our nations that contradict the Bible. I must state that it is right to feel sorrowful for the evils that are going on in society today.


However, Jesus Christ was very clear that His Kingdom is not of this World and we know that we are citizens of Heaven and pilgrims through this world. There is not going to be a ‘Christian Utopia’ on this planet until Jesus Christ comes back. There is not going to be a “Christian Nation” or even a “Christian City” free of evil… Therefore we must live faithfully for Jesus Christ in this current state of affairs. The Lord calls us to remain faithful to Him regardless. There has to be a ‘Continuity of Life’ in a Christian sense and yet in the midst of our present “Babylon”. Just like the Jews found themselves in a nation that worshiped foreign gods and sacrificed babies to their gods on altars, a nation that was violent, as the Babylonians demonstrated unrestricted violence is destroying Jerusalem, today we find ourselves living as Christians in a secular world totally opposed to our “Christian Values”…Yet we do not see the Jews try to “overthrow” Babylon and install a “Jewish King”.


We don’t see a Jewish “Coalition” on the rise trying to stop the sacrifice of Babies in Babylon… Instead we see Jews living a life faithfully to The Lord. We see Daniel and his three friends refusing to eat food sacrificed to idols and we see them refuse to worship the gods of Babylon…and it was through this obedience to The Lord that God showed forth His glory to the Gentiles… This is the same calling to which we are called today as Christians, not to overthrow nations and install ‘Christian Kings’ but to live a life fully committed and surrendered to Jesus Christ and obeying His Holy Word…for us to Live Is Christ… When the world demands that we worship their gods, we don’t bow; we instead worship Jesus Christ…


So, rather than simply stomping Abortionists, let Christians begin a campaign to adopt babies across America… It is not a time to give into despair, defeat-ism, fatalism, and hopelessness because of the current economic crisis. Part of the despair among Christians today is because of so-called Watchmen who claim to have “prophetic eyes” and all they see is the “end of the world”… All they write about is fear, fatalism, defeat-ism, and paranoia. This is not to trivialize the current economic situation. It is real, tough, many people are loosing their jobs, and families are going hungry, people are living in fear and not knowing what is coming next.Some ‘clever’ so-called prophetic watchmen are using this current state of affairs to inject their false teachings and inject fear into the people, like telling people to “flee Babylon…” to of course “no where…” since the economic crisis is global and affecting every nation…


However, it is in such times that The Lord commends us to pray for the peace of the nations we dwell, not because they are righteous or because The Lord has winked His eye past the gross sins of that nation, no, but because of His people who still dwell there. Just like the Jews were told to pray for the peace of Babylon, likewise, we can learn from that lesson and pray for the current leadership in the USA as they consider on how to fix the economy. If Babylon is Peaceful then The Lord’s people will be peaceful… There has to be a ‘Continuity of the Christian’ life regardless of if “Liberals” rule in the White House. There has to be a ‘Continuity of the Christian Life” regardless of the economic down turn. There has to be a ‘Continuity of the Christian Life’ even in the midst of the strongest persecution.


Let us stop the fear mongering and paranoia but rather let us seek to see how we can minister to fellow Christians who have lost jobs, cannot afford rent, have their utilities turned off etc… Let us find ways to minister and glorify The Lord even in this economic down turn. This is NOT the end of the World… We must not forget that it was during the time of captivity that The Lord showed His glory through Daniel and his three friends in Babylon… The Lord is not so much interested in simply judging Babylon but disciplining His people and cleansing them from the filth of this world. The question we can ask of The Lord, What are you teaching me Lord through this economic Down turn? It is perhaps that during this time as we minister to the weakest among us that The Lord will show forth His Glory by His Love, Mercy and Grace… Fear Not! This is not the End of the World… There has to be a ‘Continuity of the Christian Life’ until Jesus Christ returns… FEAR NOT!Kato Mivule



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