Going Back To Our Roots

merits of dispensational thinking...

For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: if by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, the branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree? (Romans 11:13-24)

In case you haven't been paying attention, Christianity is in SERIOUS demise in the so-called Free World (e.g. USA, Canada, England, France, Germany... etc). This is a disturbing and distressing fact to most saints, but not to this one. You see, western nations are simply going back to their "normal" selves.

Throughout Scripture, we often encounter statements like:

" For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens." (Psalm 96:5)

"For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries" (1 Peter 4:3)

The "Gentiles" and "the nations" in the verses above... that's us Westerners, along with all other non-Jewish peoples. We are the "wild branches" grafted into the good olive tree of God's grace; and note from Romans 11, we have been grafted "contrary to nature". Israel, the Jewish people is the natural branch, which will ultimately, return to it's place on the olive tree. Every day that goes by, we get closer to "the fulness of the Gentiles be come in" (Romans 11:25).

Abortion, homosexuality, godlessness, violence... these terrible abominations that are thriving in the Free World, that's just "the nations being the nations". Oh! I'm not saying that we shouldn't be infuriated at the present state of the Free World, or that we shouldn't be hoping and praying for a return to godliness. The Bible clearly states:

"It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD." (Lamentations 3:26)

That being said, what is happening now, is actually normal. Yes, NORMAL. My country, along with it's western allies, are returning to their "wild branch" ways, leaving the grace and blessing of the Good Olive Tree (aka: the Lord Jesus Christ). Sad... terribly disappointing... but completely natural nonetheless. We have enjoyed, for a number of generations now, great spiritual blessing here in the West. For a long time, the branches called Canada and America, though contrary to nature, have enjoyed the root and fatness of the Olive Tree, but it would seem that time is coming to an end.

Should we panic? Should we crawl under a rock and wait for the Lord to return? No, and no. We shouldn't panic because what is happening is totally normal and biblical (2 Peter 3). We shouldn't become defeatists, for when the world gets darker, the light of Christians become brighter.

I don't let the politics, the social trends, the culture of my country shake me or distress me. If God blesses and revives Canada: praise His Holy Name! If he does not, I'll keep on truckin', or more specifically, preachin'. I hope for revival and spiritual prosperity, but I never lose sight of the fact that I am a Gentile in a Gentile land; and while this particular Gentile has been redeemed, my Gentile country hasn't been.

There is one redeemed nation, one redeemed people, and it isn't Canada:

"And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob" (Romans 11:26)


Rand