I try not to watch CNN and Fox News. I try not to watch any kind of news anymore. I guess to some that may not seem very adult or responsible. Shouldn’t I want to gobble up all that tragedy, violence and general mayhem going on in the world?

I walked into my parent’s house yesterday and they had the news on. Three more Baton Rouge police officers were gunned down by a “deranged” gunman. I think “deranged” is the new politically correct word for crazy. My dad asked me if I had heard about it. Surprisingly I had. Someone had mentioned it to me at church that morning. More tragedy, violence and mayhem.

On the TV screen in that moment was a quote from the local Baton Rouge Police Chief or Sheriff or something. The quote basically said that the problem is in the hearts of people. I thought, he’s got that right.

The prevailing idea of many people is that things aren’t going to change until there is a regime change in this country. It’d be nice if the fix was that simple. Half a century ago in this country, we decided that we did not value the gift of life enough to protect the unborn. Decades ago we invited God to leave our schools and began teaching theories to young people that go against the truths of scripture. Today, we have told Him that what He defined as marriage is not inclusive enough, and that we have redefined it. Now we are telling Him that his design of the human body is flawed, and that we know better who we are than He does. (Isn’t that kind of like the clock telling the clock maker where he went wrong in his design? But I digress…)

What we have today is the result of people telling God that He is no longer relevant in their lives. I mean it’s not like it hasn’t happened before. Israel was God’s chosen people. You can read for yourself how when the people of Israel followed God’s plan they prospered, and when they didn’t, well, they pretty much lost everything. In fact, they generally found themselves slaves to someone else. You see, we will belong to someone. We like to exert our independence in this country, but we will belong to someone. For two hundred years we belonged to God, and we quickly became the most powerful and wealthy nation ever to exist on the earth. Now we’ve made God irrelevant and we are surprised by what we see on CNN?

It would be easy to be all doomsday and want to hide in our homes. After all, it does seem that the world is going to hell in a hand basket. The threats of violence are more real today than ever before. Darkness is covering the earth. This will not change because of who is sitting in the Oval Office on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.  For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,  having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.” 2Timothy 3:1-5

There is no caveat to this that states… “…unless you elect the right person President…”

(I get points for using the word, caveat.)

I think about the times when I was growing up and how peaceful and prosperous they were. I could wish for that time again, but I won’t. Those times did little to draw people to Jesus. No, it’s during dark, treacherous times that people seek God. To be a part of the church at this time in history is like none other. You see, we have the hope. We have the answer for the ills of man. Jesus is the hope. Jesus is the answer. There has never been a better time to be alive and be a part of the church than right now. We weren’t put here in this time and in this place to sit around wringing our hands, watching CNN, and complaining about the government. This is not our home. Those are not our affairs.

The darker this world gets, the brighter the church will shine. Oh, it will bring us trouble, but the church has faced trouble before. Darkness doesn’t care too much for the light, but we are called to be that city on a hill that cannot be hidden. (Matthew 5:14). While the things happening around us are quite disturbing, we can take hope in the fact that it is all happening right on schedule. The harvest is great in these last days. Let’s turn off the news, and go light up the darkness.