Episode 25 emphasizes that we live in a time of both great threat and great opportunity, and that such times bring new revelation. It outlines how we should conduct ourselves in such difficult times.

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Transcript
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14. We Live in a Time of Great Threat and Great Opportunity
The Promise of New Revelation and Our Reaction to Difficult Times (Ep. 25)

The struggle between Jesus and secularism is ultimately a spiritual struggle between the way of self and the way of God. Episode 24 emphasized that the great struggle of modern times between the teachings of Jesus and the way of secularism is in reality a spiritual conflict. Ultimately it comes down to a spiritual choice between doing to do the will of God or following the ways of self and the secular humanism that dominates modern society. Will we conduct our lives in the exclusive service of self, or will we put God first, and the self second? Will we follow Jesus in praying throughout our lives, “your will be done” (Mt. 6:10) and “not my will but yours be done,” (Lk. 22:42) or will we yield to exclusive service of self and the secular ways of the world?

This will be a time of great testing and a time of great decision. Secularism has declared war on spiritual religion and this war rages on with no particular resolution in sight. It will continue into the future and grow ever more acute. For the world at large this is and will be a time of great testing and a time of great decision. This time of testing and decision will intensify and continue into the foreseeable future. We will all be called upon to decide which way we will go, the way of God or the way of self, the way of Jesus or the way of secularism.

How can the teachings of Jesus grow and expand in our secular world? This spiritual conflict between the teachings of Jesus and the teachings of secularism has been growing for over 300 years. Like most religious and spiritual conflicts, it will also be fought out on material and philosophic planes as secular social groups, parties, organizations, and institutions seek to coerce the religious to abandon their spiritual beliefs and follow secular totalitarian dictates. How can the teachings of Jesus and his direction to put God first in our lives grow and expand in an increasingly secular world which denies human freedom and seeks to force all to follow in its secular ways?

Times of great testing and threatened defeat are always times of great revelation. We who live in such an environment should realize that such times of great testing and threatened defeat are always times of great revelation. This becomes more obvious when we consider some of the past revelations of truth. For example, Moses taught advanced concepts of God and revealed the Ten Commandments after he had led the downcast, forlorn, and idol worshiping Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt and while they wandered in the wilderness. Elijah appeared and taught at a time of great spiritual decadence and while he was under the threat of death at the hands of the evil and idolatrous monarchs, Ahab and Jezebel. Jeremiah appeared at a time when the Hebrews were threatened with immanent conquest and destruction by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar. And during their ensuing captivity in Babylon there appeared three great prophets: Daniel, Ezekiel, and the second Isaiah. Also, most of the Old Testament was written by the Jewish scribes during this Babylonian captivity. Jesus appeared while the Jews were ruled by the Romans and many of his teachings were proclaimed while he was threatened by both the fierce opposition of the Pharisees and possible arrest by the Romans. Many of his highest teachings came in his latter days as he faced the prospect of impending arrest and crucifixion. So, although we live in a time of troubles with the constant threat of secular oppression and the many evil consequences brought by the widespread adherence to secular humanism, we may take heart in the knowledge that such difficult and threatening times tend to bring forth great new revelations of spiritual truth.

We live in a time of great threat and opportunity. This then is the time of great threat and great opportunity in which we live. The new teachers of Jesus’ religion will not be deterred by the materialism, mechanism, and secularism of modern times. Rather they will be inspired and energized by the conviction that a return to Jesus and his original teachings is necessary if we are to survive the growth of evil and the modern secular threat. They will be inspired and impelled by our dark and difficult times to bring forth a new and advanced revelation of the actual teachings of Jesus. This new revelation of Jesus and the return to his personal religion will appear concurrently with the ever-present threat of persecution from evil forces and the secular idealogues, parties, groups, organizations, and institutions that oppose the religious way of life. Just as in past revelations of truth, modern teachers and livers of Jesus’ religion will carry out their work in the face of great opposition and the ever-present threat of religious persecution.

Faith, discretion, courage, wisdom, and patient endurance are called for. For the new teachers and followers of Jesus, faith, discretion, courage, wisdom, and patient endurance are called for. Like Jesus, we should seek to carry out our new revelation employing peaceful tactics and so far as possible look to avoid conflict. However, when we are called to defend our beliefs, we should stand strong in our defense of righteousness. Let us ever remember that our work is to bring new spiritual light and hope to the hearts and minds of those who must endure the dark and evil times in which we live.

 

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