Cortland Trinity Baptist Church

     Unrest and violence against the United States has flared up world wide around the Anniversary date of 9-11. U.S. marines are in Yemen after our U.S. Embassy was attacked by angry mobs of Muslims. This comes four days after an American Ambassador and four other Americans were killed in an attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. There are reports of protestors jumping over U.S. Embassy walls in Sudan and Tunisia.

     Meanwhile the economic news here and abroad is unsettling. The Census Bureau reported this week that the number of Americans living below the official poverty line, 46.2 million people, was the highest number in the 52 years the bureau has been publishing figures on it. And there are new signs of distress among the middle class. Median household incomes fell last year to levels last seen in 1996. It was the first time since the Great Depression that median household income, adjusted for inflation, had not risen over such a long period, said Lawrence Katz, an economics professor at Harvard.

     Add to this the fact that several European Countries are in serious financial crisis with Greece close to declaring bankruptcy recently and America is on the road to insolvency—our national debt exceeds our national worth! No one can deny that our country is in serious trouble. And the nations of the world are in turmoil. That’s enough bad news to depress anybody.

     Is there any good news? Yes, there is!

     First, God is in control. Indeed as we read Bible prophecy we realize that Jesus told us that things would wax worse and worse leading up to the consummation in the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. However, if we read the Bible carefully we also see that in the midst of the very worst time for planet earth—the time called the Tribulation period—”a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations” will be saved (Revelation 7:9-10). It also seems that God is even now bringing people to Himself in unprecedented numbers in what some believe will be the greatest harvest of souls in the history of the church. In Africa alone 16,000 Muslims are leaving Islam to follow Jesus Christ every day. That’s 6 million every year. Some estimate that worldwide in all the nations as many as 30 to 40 thousand people are coming to Christ every day. If anyone asks you, ’what is the fastest growing religion in the world,” you can tell them the correct answer—Christianity!

     An honest appraisal shows that America is way behind the rest of the world in regards to people coming to Christ. This deeply disturbs me yet I am hopeful that God is going to do something similar here. The primary reason I believe this is the way He has stirred the hearts of so many believers to prayer. And I believe a great harvest of souls is coming to the church in America. Furthermore, I believe He is bringing a great harvest of souls to our church and our region. I know because He told me.

      I challenge you then, in the midst of all the turmoil and unrest to see that these are exciting days to live. I pray the Lord will give to you and to all His people a strong sense of destiny; that we are here for such a time as this. I remind us all that Jesus said, “I will build My church” and when we hear of how He is going after Muslins and appearing to them in their dreams and millions are being saved worldwide we take heart. Don’t be depressed. Don’t fall into the pit of despair. Look up my brothers and sisters! Our redemption draws near. And until then, we are privileged to be part of the generation that will see the greatest harvest in church history.

     That’s enough good news to uplift anybody. Praise the Lord!