The God of This Age
2 Corinthians 4:3 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
Memorial Day
This weekend my wife and I watched a wonderful program on the public broadcasting channel. It was the nation’s memorial to all of the soldiers who have fought in all of our wars. It showcased the living and the dead. But mostly it reminded us that war is the cause of sorrow and death. I kept asking myself, “Why is it that we must see so many young people die in the prime of life as one nation fights another or as one tribe fights another or as one gang in our cities fights another?” And while I am a believer in the God of the Bible who demonstrates both grace and truth, I know that most wars have a religious component. The principals who instigate these wars may not even believe in God, but they use religion to control those who do. Thus, they do the will of the god of this age.
The Effects of War
War has caused death and destruction down through the ages. I have not researched how many people have died in wars but the numbers are incomprehensible. We had about 3,000 people die in the World Trade Center bombings on 9/11/01. Then we had about 4,000 soldiers die in Iraq as a result of that bombing. Depending on the organization that did the research, they report that somewhere between 100,000 and 1,000,000 deaths occurred in Iraq as a result of that war. And that doesn’t include the number of people lost in Afghanistan, both civilian and military, as a result of that bombing of the Trade Center. Then there was the Arab Spring and the war in Syria, and the current war in the Ukraine. These are just some of the places where people are fighting one another at the present time.
Who wins in these wars? The answer is the god of this age.
The Importance of the Soul
Mankind is composed of a body, a soul and a spirit. Some say we are just body and soul which includes the spirit. But the point is that when the body dies, the real person contained in that body still exists. God says that those who come to Him and trust in the redemptive work of His Son on the cross go to be with the Lord when they die. He went up to heaven. Those who reject God and His Son go to hell. War may be hell on earth, but that is not the end for the real person inside that body. Since most people try to explain away their accountability to the Living God who has revealed Himself through creation, through the Bible and through the Lord Jesus, the majority of people who die in these wars go to hell. Does the diabolic god of this age love them? Is he going to comfort them when they miss out on the glories of heaven? NO! Instead I believe He will be laughing at them for believing in him rather than in the Living God of the Bible.
So who wins as a result of war? Satan wins. I understand why people have difficulty believing in a God that they cannot see and who used Satan’s tool called war to cleanse the earth of people who had turned away from Him in the Old Testament. But I don’t understand why people cannot see that war proves that man is being deceived by a real god called the god of this age into destroying souls eternally. Satan is a liar and a murderer. He deceived Eve so that she couldn’t glorify God in the Garden of Eden and he deceives us into believing that war and violence are the answer to man’s problems. As a result he causes great grief and sorrow on this earth and ushers multitudes into the eternal burnings when they are still in the prime of life.
Satan is Cunning
As I watched the nation’s memorial this Memorial Day weekend, my heart ached for those families that have given the lives of their family members to keep us free. But I realized that we are not really free if we have to keep fighting and killing to stay free. I know that there is no earthly answer to this problem until the Lord returns as the Prince of Peace to set up his kingdom. Until then, Satan will continue to make sure that as many as possible are killed in war and then will laugh at those of us who think that we are winning when in fact everyone is losing.
The Solution
The only solution is found in Christ. Since Satan is cunning and powerful and since he is obviously controlling the world during this present age, we need to make sure that we are prepared should the ravages of war affect us. When we have trusted in Christ our redeemer and our savior who forgives the sins of those who trust Him, we are prepared for anything Satan can throw at us. When we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, the god of this age loses and the angels in heaven rejoice. Yes, there is a battle going on. Let’s make sure that we are ready for it.
Bruce Collins
Meditation for the week of May 27, 2014