It's The End of the World As We Know It (Do You Know Christ?) (song)

We all wish for world peace and hope that we might really see the world come together, especially at times like Christmas. Then we turn on the news and that quickly dashes those hopes as we see the cruelty and wickedness of man's heart on full display. Jesus said that we would hear of wars and rumours of wars but the end is not yet. He said to not be alarmed because these things must come before the time of the end. We shouldn't lose REM sleep over it because the God who never sleeps is always watching over all of us. And no matter what happens in world events, He still holds the world in His hands and everything is still running according to His timetable alone. As Ecclesiastes 3 says, there is a time and season for everything under the sun, certainly including the return of the Son. For those of us in Christ, we look forward to that day when He will put a final end to evil and make everything sad come untrue. Until that day, we look to Him in faith and seek to fulfill the Great Commission He gave us, making the salvation from sin and Hell only available through faith in Jesus' death and Resurrection known to all who will hear. It's good to know that God is in control through it all and because of this, we can endure it all, as the book of Revelation commands us so many times. As I've said before when people ask, yes- we are in the end times. We've been in the end times since Jesus ascended to Heaven. With that in mind, we should continue to be about our Father's business and rest easy in Him no matter what happens- and then we can truthfully say, "It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine."

"It's The End of the World As We Know It (Do You Know Christ?)"
(parody of "It's The End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" by REM; copyright by Nathan Ludwick 7/18/2019)
(the book of Revelation, Romans 10:9-13, 2 Corinthians 6:2, 2 Peter 3:8-9)

Revelation starts when God dictates
Words to say to houses of faith
And Johnny dude is much afraid
"I have the keys of Hades, seven stars and lampstands"
Lord Jesus (is) on scene
"Don't desert first love, please
Fear thou not of what you'll suffer- strength!
Balaam's yeast in batter
Nicolaitians strike down- Hike!
Wire Thyatira - and present to all 7 churches
That The Saviour searches all hearts and minds- pays back deeds
Jezebel woman- sins in adultery
Whip up your few believing and repent
Team Philly- keep enduring- fast hold faith- got your crown
Lukewarm that Laodicea
Uh, oh- hot or cold- those I love them I reprove
Let Me just save yourselves- turn yourselves
Rev. verse 3:20- listen to Christ's knock please"
Johnny is enraptured there in Heaven and he writes sights
Four living creatures prostrate falling glorify all time
Him seated enthroned on high

It's written in The Word- they cry "Holy"
Ever is, was, will be- they cry "Holy"
We exist for The Lord- they cry "Holy"- all glory's Thine!

Scroll is locked- Weeping louder- No distraught- The Lion's power
Has opened seals 'cause God's Son is Worthy Lamb
Conquering white horse comes- bright red bloodletting
Black horse holding some scales and pale horse- a fourth exterminate
Five- an altar, cry of martyrs- Sixth- stuff thrown down
All tribes are sealed- 144,000 (one four four oh, oh, oh)
Crowd seen- some here from all spheres- Jesus saves! Here's seventh seal
Opens trumpets of judgments- in turn seven let fly
All these bring destruction- angel, scroll and two witnesses- a mighty sign

A dragon chases this girl's Babe to kill Him [Background vocal: Dragon wanted Christ to be gone]
The dragon's tail did hurl third of angels [Background vocal: They chose their side- demons]
There's a ten horned beast from the ocean- the antiChrist [Background vocal: Time for endurance- be bold!]
Blasphemes Christ! [Background vocal: Gives healing sign]
A dragon-tongued beast rises from earth [Background vocal: Signs done- antiChrist enthrones]
666 (six sixty six)- all the world must take his number [Background vocal: Christ's own will resist it though]
God judges sin of the world- angels tell it- with harps praise God [Background vocal: Time for seven wrath-filled bowls]

Another sign- God's wrath-filled bowls- all torrential plagues inside
Woman sits on a beast- Babylon burns- feast!
Lamb's own marriage dinner- guests are blessed- Thanks!
Riding party- Lord of Lords, King of Kings rules!
He beats beast, et. al. - Takes devil- locks him- 1000 years reign with Christ

The dragon leads the world against Jesus [BGV: Time that ancient snake was gone!]
Armageddon- the war's won by Jesus [BGV: Devil's beat- to fire he goes]
It's the end in sulfur always ongoing in lake of fire [BGV: Line Rev. 20:10 shows]
At the end of the world there is judgment
How we lived in this world is exposed there
And if anyone's name's not in Life book- (they) go to lake of fire [BGV: How'll you stand at great white throne?]
Then beginning new world and new Heaven [BGV: Time to abscond things of old]
It's the end of death, pain and all tears flowing [BGV: Christ makes all things new- Behold!]
Hell burning for the world and they chose it- they denied Christ [BGV: Time we have will soon be gone]
It's Heaven through The Lord for those who know Him [BGV: Christ be praised for all time alone!]
The Spirit and the Bride still are calling [BGV: Sins paid- have faith- Christ died and rose]
At the end of the world, Jesus is coming- please come soon, Christ! [BGV: Christ be praised for all time alone!]
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Separated- I cut myself clean

[Another (slightly updated) entry from the archives- March 17, 2008 to be exact. Some of the references in here are from one of my previous workplaces- and the experiences related here are fairly typical of me. LOL. :-) And yes- of course that's a DC Talk reference in the subject line. :-)]

Another weekend has ended and another week has begun. Tomorrow is our prayer meeting at work. I always look forward to that! :-) I managed to get lost not once, but twice this weekend!!! LOL- Friday night I wound up driving all through Maudlin and Simpsonville and out towards Belton and Honea Path before I finally turned around and got back home.  So that was an interesting drive.  Then on Sunday afternoon/evening/night I drove way out towards Marietta and Cleveland (the one in SC, apparently- not Ohio!) and eventually out by Table Rock- which is a beautiful state park, by the way.  My uncle and aunt’s family go there for vacation fairly often.  And so I wound up going to Rocky Creek Baptist Church Sunday morning and had a great sermon taken mainly from Joshua 23, all about following God’s call to be holy and separate from the world.  And then in the evening, in a totally different county (I was somewhere near Pickens or Pumpkintown or something by this point)- I visited at Holly Springs Baptist Church and heard a great sermon taken mainly from 1 Peter 1:13-16, all about following God’s call to be holy and separate from the world.  Talk about deja vu, huh?
Wow! I just find it so awesome how God weaves together stuff like that to flow together so smoothly- even though I wasn’t even at the church I’d intended to go to that evening- but instead got way lost and went to a church in another county- and yet both messages I’d heard that day were very much on the same lines of being holy.  It was also interesting talking about being separate from the world- note that Jesus said we were to be "in the world- but not of". (See John 17:15-17)  We don’t have a choice about being in the world, obviously (I mean, unless you’re dead or you volunteer for that NASA mission to Mars or something ;-)) - BUT, we don’t have to be of the world- and if you’re in Christ, then you’re not of this world! (as Petra pointed out in an awesome 1983 album and song! :-))
In fact, as both sermons talked about, Christians need to be separate from the world and its influence and instead surround ourselves with friends who will help build us up in the faith.  But there is a slight caveat here.  This verse came to mind during church on Sunday- and I’ve just now been able to track down where it’s located (as I’d been trying to remember and racking through the New Testament)-
"I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people- not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world." (1 Corinthians 5:9-10)   Right- there’s no way you can fully get away from the immoral people in the world because as it says here, you’d have to leave this world to do that!  But if you read on in verse 11, it says to not associate with someone who calls himself a "brother" (i.e. Christian) but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. In fact, it says with such a man, do not even eat.  God will judge those outside the church- but expel the wicked man from among you (within the church).  But as one pastor pointed out, we should love everyone because God loves everyone.  The example of homosexuals was brought up, as it’s continuing to be a big issue in America today- yes, we should love those who identify as homosexual because God loves them [and of course, we should love everyone because God loves everyone] - but we can’t condone their lifestyle because God doesn’t. [i.e. Just to clarify, while I do believe, due to our fallen world, people can be and are born with homosexual tendencies- but the sin comes in when people choose to act on these tendencies and engage in lust, same sex relationships and sexual encounters.] And we should definitely befriend unsaved gay people and all lost people so that we can share the Gospel with them. [Also to note: I specifically mentioned gay people here because of the example raised in the service, but also to address a tendency some Christians have of avoiding those with particular temptations to sins that we perhaps may not deal with nearly as strongly or just don't understand and perhaps feel uncertain of how to relate with them as a friend. Of course, I think this is exactly how we should relate to all people- in a manner of friendship driven by a sincere love of Christ, which in turn drives us to sincerely love one another.]  (Now I know my brother Kevin would probably interject at this point- so let me clarify. I don’t think that you should ever establish a superficial relationship for the sole reason of "converting" someone to Christ. People can (and will) see right through that. People are people- not prizes. Establish friendships with people to be friends with them- and through that window, by all means show the love of Christ to them- and as God opens up opportunities- share with them about Christ.  And always remember that it’s the Holy Spirit who does the work of converting- we just share the Good News.)
Anyway- I just thought both sermons were great- and that it was cool to hear some of the things that one pastor mentioned- because it’s some that I must admit don’t always get addressed very often in Southern Baptist churches- but at least one pastor went there!  We looked at 1 Corinthians 6:17-20 to focus on sexual purity in particular, and also the Biblical prohibitions we have in place via The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17 or Deuteronomy 5:1-21 - it’s in both places!) - And it’s also good to remember that they are prohibitions in some aspects, but there’s also things that we should do as well.  And ultimately, the laws enable us to truly live the good life that God wants us to live if we follow them as we should.  So they only prohibit us from destruction and woe.
We also hit on 1 Corinthians 8:8-13 (talking about being careful not to be a stumbling block to a weaker brother) and 1 Peter 5:8-9 (watch out for the devil- a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour!)
And we looked at 2 Corinthians 6:14-18- and here, let me get back to what the pastor mentioned that doesn’t always get addressed too often.  Smoking is harmful to the body- so don’t do it!  God tells us to take care of our bodies because they’re His temple- so smoking, drugs, alcohol and any other substances or lifestyles that are destructive to our bodies should be avoided. (The pastor said- "I know some of you will say, ’I have an uncle who smoked all his life and he lived to be 90.’  Well, he might have lived to be 100 if he hadn’t smoked!"- :-))  And the pastor also talked about gluttony- which is eating too much.  And it’s a sin just as much as anything else. Americans are killing themselves because of eating too much.  People are getting heart attacks because they’re too fat. I know that sounds harsh, but it’s the truth- and that’s why I need to be careful myself of being gluttonous and making sure to get out and get some exercise!
Well- I know I’ve been going on for a while here- I just thought there was a lot of good stuff in there.
So anyway- be separate from the world- not by "shunning all evildoers"- but by not allowing the world’s influence to be your main influence- that should be God and His Word.  Let your life stand out so starkly from the rest of the world that people take notice- and as the Sanhedrin noted of Peter and John, let the world take note that "these men had been with Jesus".  I trust that everyone can say of us who follow Christ that we have been with Jesus and are walking with Him

Sacred Mountain High (Song)

It’s easy to forget sometimes that even the disciples struggled with doubts, worries and fears. Even though they had the pleasure of basking in the Sonshine on their shoulders, they still didn’t quite get it all. One day Jesus took Peter, James and John and showed that all the poems, prayers and promises they had heard about Him from The Scriptures were true. They took a camping trip to the mountains and had a real rocky mountain high- and a sacred mountain high, when they got an awesome picture of Jesus in all His splendor and glory. This is one experience that helped it all sink in for them and helped them understand just Who it was who called to them, “Follow Me.”

“Sacred Mountain High”
(Parody of “Rocky Mountain High” by John Denver)
(Matthew 16:13-20, Matthew 17:1-13, Mark 8:27-9:13, Luke 9:18-36, 2 Peter 1:12-21)
(parody copyright by Nathan Ludwick 2/19/2014)

Jesus polled His disciples- Mark 8:27^th. verse
“Tell Me, Who do they say I AM?” asked The Lord
“The Baptizer John, Elijah, and some say a prophet come again”
“What do you say?”- Pronounced Peter, “He’s Christ The Lord”

An excursion to the mountains- ‘cause Christ wants to go pray
Only goes with James and Peter and John
And the things that He had spoken that they didn’t really catch
They’ll believe at last and this will help them along

It’s called in The Bible- Transfiguration of Christ
A scene of His reigning high and glorified
Foreshadows by the bright light, the luster of His holy light
God is glorified! (all around, yo!)
Sacred mountain high (high up down in Israel)

They climbed a high, tall mountain- and left city crowds below
They saw Jesus’ clothes whiter than you can bleach
17 Matt. says His face just shone with a light just like the sun
Mark and Luke 9, friends, recount the memories

Now He talks on all He’s gonna do with Moses and Elijah
Leaving grace in every step He takes
Disciples are beside themselves to try and understand
Christ’s divinity- how more clear can it be made?

And a cloud surrounds them- rocks their world, alright?
They’re hearing Father’s voice from the sky
Talk from God says, “Listen to My beloved Son Christ”
God is glorified! (all around- whoa!)
Sacred mountain high (high up out in Israel)

Now their eyes are full of wonder but their hearts still know some fear
Bowed down fearfully- Then The Master touches them
When they pry their eyes back open now, it’s just them and Christ The Lord
Now Peter and James and John must ask

Why the law profs. say first must come Eli(jah)
Christ said he came- they didn’t recognize
And just like The Son of Man- He will suffer by their hands in time

God sent Christ to die
For desperadoes- every girl and guy
Christ’s rise obtaining us eternal life
Friend Christ now with candor and everything’s alright!
Got eternal life! (Life in Paradise- yo!)
All through Jesus Christ! (Life and Way and Truth- yo!)
God is glorified! (2 [Two] Peter 1:17 [one seventeen], yo!)
Sacred mountain high (high up out in Israel)
Sacred mountain high (high up out in Israel)
God is glorified! (on high for all time- yo!)

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