Last Call...

I hope this very confessional blog will remove some of the fears I carry around.
I hope that by putting this out there and starting a conversation maybe I'll feel better about the prospects of this country and the world.
I really hope that I challenge my friends who claim the Faith to get serious about what really matters and "Redeem the time because these are evil days" (Eph 5:16).
I have been watching world events and for the first time in my life I am afraid. I fear what this country is going to look like if we see another Obama term. I fear the creep of Sharia law into our legal system. I fear the ignorance of the average citizen about important things like civics, citizenship, our heritage and history.
I fear most of all that one day too soon I am going to hear the promised trumpet blast and be "caught up together in the clouds" with those of the faith who have gone on before. And I fear...I dread...maybe looking down for just a nanosecond and realizing that, while this events opens the door of eternity for me, it slams it shut for billions of others.
Lately...for a few weeks now...I have been earnestly praying Ezekiel 22:30-31 "I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn't have to destroy the land, but I found no one. So now I will pour out my fury on them, consuming them with the fire of my anger. I will heap on their heads the full penalty for all their sins. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”
I pray this every morning before the sun comes up and my day begins. I pray it at night before I go to sleep.
When I pray, I beg God...beg Him...to stay His hand. I plead with him through tears to withhold His punishment and stop his anger. I reason with Him that there are still men standing in the gaps of righteousness in this land and in the Church. I tell him there are more who are willing if encouraged. I plead through sobs sometimes to give us more time. I remind Him of the words of His own Son that indeed  "The fields are white unto harvest" (John 4:35).
I beg Him for more time. I beg Him for opportunity. Because underneath the squawking of politics and underneath the attacks of Islamic hatred for Christianity and behind the anti-Americanism rampant in this current administration lies one immutable truth. We are in a battle. A battle for souls.
Those of the Christian Faith need to remember that we aren't in a battle for our souls. Jesus promised He would never lose even one of those His father gave to Him. The battle is for the lost.
I am as gung-ho American patriot as anyone who lives. I love this land and I will fight for her. But I have dual citizenship. I live here, but my final home...my homeland...is Heaven.
I am horribly guilty of forgetting this sometimes. I love all souls...not just American souls.
It's a hard balance to strike. It's not only our right to be patriotic and involved and active in politics but it's demanded. This is part of stewardship. We were blessed with the greatest form of government in history when this country was formed. Watching it dissolve into rampant, blatant communism is hard on my patriotic soul. I need to be involved and active and vocal and watchful.
But I need to remember that the final chapter of the Book was written about 1950 years ago and there is no changing it. The best I can hope for is to ask God for more time. Ask Him to slow down the approaching fulfillment of the few remaining prophecies that stand between now and Jesus return.
Because all the Facebook posts and Tweets and campaign ads and Youtube movies will not change the outcome one bit.
I take comfort in this but I also dread this. I know I am secure. I know my eternal destiny and that of my daughter and loved ones. But that doesn't relieve me of my duty to evangelize nor does it assuage the burning desire in my heart to spread the Gospel. People need to hear the Message. Loud and clear and not watered down or softened up. Face to face...a head-on collision with Jesus Christ that leaves them faced with a mandatory "Yes or No" to the offer of a Savior.
I dread hearing the trumpet sound and knowing...if only for a fleeting second...that this is it. That time has run out. That the final seven years has begun and the hellish Tribulation is upon them and I have no more opportunity to speak His name to a lost soul or open a Bible and show them the path to Christ.
I lost sleep at night because of the urgency of the hour. I weep in church thinking of those who are not there to hear the Word spoken. I think of the lost, racing toward a very real, very eternal, very literal Hell and I think how I want to be a roadblock in their way. I want them to have to step over my prayer-bent body.
The time is short. The lost are all around us. The hour is tragic and the command has never been more solemn..."YOU go into the highways and side alleys and convince them to come to me..." (Matt 22:9)
I can't sit back and concern myself with my own comforts anymore. America is a mission field as desperate as anything on any other continent. I can't sit back and watch the world go to Hell. I believe in Hell. I believe it's real, literal and more terrifying than anything our imaginations have concocted.
And I believe that the only thing standing between the lost and this dreadful place is the prayerful, effective witness of those who name the Name. That's me...and you.
I fear that our future on this Earth and especially in this country will be marked with increasing resistance and attack. I fear that even in this land, which was founded by Christians with the intent to be a launching pad for world evangelism and an incubator of perpetual Christian movements and revivals worldwide, we will face hardship for our Faith. I am convinced this President has in his heart to silence the great Voice of Christ's Church and install a emasculated non-religion at best...and an evil Islamic alternative at worst.
Either way, I am determined to stand my ground. I am determined to continue my pleading with God to stay His hand and withhold His judgment and grant us more time. I am begging Him to send revival. To get the Church off of it's embarrassing culture of tuning up the tractor only to leave it in the barn, and getting the darn thing out into the field!
Enough feeding of my spirit! Enough with "doing life together". I want to GIVE life! I want to PREACH life to the dead and freedom to the enslaved and sight to the blind.
I want to go out into the fields and work until sunset bringing in the harvest. Making a difference for eternity for those who live outside of Grace. All of them. All nations and peoples.
It's the last call. I don't think anybody but true amillenialists disagrees with me there.
It's time to put my hand to the plow and not look back.
Heaven is forever...but so is Hell.
The populace of both depend on our willingness to be used by God.
It's the last call...who will answer?