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Continuing our discussion from part three, I daresay that there are very few countries left in the world today, if in fact there are any at all, where at least some of the people have not heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ at some point in their lives. Christian beliefs are now so well known, and have been so widely propagated by so many different means, and in so many different languages, that it is almost next to impossible to escape hearing about them altogether. No country is so repressive, or so tightly controlled, that it can block out the Light entirely. I think that there are at least a few pinholes where the Light of the Gospel has been able to penetrate into the remaining pockets of spiritual darkness, no matter how hard their evil leaders have tried to block it out. As I explain in "Are You a Burning Ember for the Lord?", that is all that is required to ignite the spiritual fire. I'm reminded of verses such as the following:

"The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it."


"The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined."


"Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein: I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house."


"In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world."


"Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."


"As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."


"Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth . . . I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness."


In similar fashion, I seriously doubt that there are very many leaders left in the world today, if any at all, who have not heard the Good News of Salvation. As I was writing this series, the thought occurred to me how many government officials have been exposed to our Western culture. In some cases, this has been due to their diplomatic missions to the West, or else due to Western government officials visiting their country. In other instances, there are certain world leaders who have received several years of military training or schooling in the West, such as in Great Britain, or else in the United States of America. And yet other leaders have come to the West for medical treatment. All of this presents opportunities for them to be exposed to our Christian faith to varying degrees. Even if they just happen to see a church building during a tour, it is still a reminder of our Christian beliefs.

To take this a step further, even if a certain world leader has never ever left his own country, Christian missionaries and Christian shortwave radio programs have penetrated the vast majority of the world's nations. In addition to this, many Christians have served as English teachers in foreign countries, and all world leaders must surely keep a personal eye on international news and world developments in order to decide their national and international policies.

Throughout all of this activity and these opportunities, said leaders are exposed to some form of Christianity. As I point out in other BBB articles, even if it were possible to somehow ignore the Christian witness through these various opportunities, no one can possibly miss the witness that God provides for them directly, the minute that they go outside and look at His wonderful natural Creation. As the Apostle Paul wrote in his Epistle to the Romans:

"For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:"


In short then, I believe that both the world's leaders, and the people they govern, are all accountable to God. As Paul states, we are living in a world without excuse. It is truly sad then, when certain powerful leaders make such a wrong choice by not only personally rejecting the Gospel, but also by intentionally repressing any efforts to share the Good News of Salvation with their own people. In fact, as you may know, in his Epistles, the Apostle Paul accuses the Jews of doing this very thing, as did Jesus in the Gospels. Consider the following Bible verses:

"But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in."


"And when they had brought them [the Apostles], they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them, Saying, DID NOT WE STRAITLY COMMAND YOU THAT YE SHOULD NOT TEACH IN THIS NAME? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us."


"For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: FORBIDDING US TO SPEAK TO THE GENTILES THAT THEY MIGHT BE SAVED, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost."


"Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done [meaning Christ's Resurrection]. And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him, and secure you. So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day."


At any rate, think of how much good these rebellious leaders could do if they were to simply accept the Lord into their lives. They could influence their entire country in a very positive way. They could be extremely instrumental in the Salvation of their entire nation, and the Lord would surely bless them for it. I am reminded of the wonderful story of the Ethiopian eunuch which we find in Acts chapter eight:

"And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet. Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth. And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing."


As I relate in other articles, it is believed by some Bible scholars that it was due in part to this man's faithfulness to return to his native land, and to witness to the royal court of the Ethiopian Queen Candace, that Ethiopia became one of the first Christianized nations in Africa. In His Divine Wisdom, the Lord made this eunuch a steward of His Word, and this man was found faithful. As the Apostle Paul wrote, and as Jesus also said:

"Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful."


"His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord."


"And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities."


On the other hand, we have the sad, sad case of foolish King Agrippa, also found in the Book of Acts. We are all familiar with the sad lament "If I only had". In this case, after Paul had faithfully witnessed to this Jewish king, we find this worldly leader responding in the following manner:

"Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian."


What a tragedy, and what a disappointment to the Lord! If I may be so bold, what the king was really saying to Paul was "Almost Paul, but not quite. You've almost convinced me to accept your Jesus and become a Christian, but I just can't do it. You have delivered one powerful testimony here today, but this worldly position of power and wealth is just too difficult for me to give up."

Remember again what I shared with you earlier in this series. Why did Jesus say that His followers would be made to appear before kings and other powerful people who were in positions of authority? In order to be a testimony against them. You see, when they reject our witness, when they reject the light of the Gospel, they not only no longer have a cloak for their sin and rebellion, but they likewise condemn themselves, as we can see by this set of Bible verses:

"If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin."


"And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved."


So as you can see, we don't even have to do it for them. All we have to do is to be faithful to deliver God's message to them, and then they are the ones who choose either life or death, and justification or condemnation. It's their choice. This very same principle applies to every single person to whom we witness. In the case of King Agrippa, and other men like him, you may recall that Jesus also said the following in the Gospels:

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."


". . . Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."


". . . Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!"


As I point out in other BBB articles, in their Epistles, the Apostles Paul and James likewise inform us how not only will the rich and the elite experience problems in this life due to their accumulated wealth, but their very same wealth -- which they sometimes obtain by less than honorable means -- will actually serve as a testimony against them in the Day of Judgment. Consider the following group of verses which verify these points:

"For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."


"Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain."


Unless I am mistaken, this king in Acts chapter eight was Herod Agrippa II, whose father -- who was known as Agrippa I or Herod Antipas -- was eaten up by worms, as I mentioned in part one. Antipas had already angered the Lord by severely persecuting the Church. His wicked actions included beheading James, and imprisoning Peter and other of the Disciples. When Antipas failed to give the Lord the credit for his position of earthly power, similar to foolish King Nebuchadnezzar who we find discussed in various books of the Old Testament, who was also severely humbled by the Lord, apparently God felt that Antipas had gone too far. Thus he became a meal for the worms.

As I explain in a number of my BBB articles, the Scriptures make it very clear that no earthly leader can rise to power, unless God permits him to do so, in order to accomplish His own Divine Purposes. Please consider the following verses:

"Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck. For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another."


"Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:"


"This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men."


"The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will."


"For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king. And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice. Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD. And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD hath rejected thee from being king over Israel."


What may be difficult for some of you to understand, is that the Scriptures plainly tell us that God will purposely raise up certain leaders to be His vessels of wrath. As I point out in other articles, such as in the series "The Fruits of Disobedience" and "The Children of God and Politics", this was surely the case with Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar, who served as the Lord's scourge against apostate Israel. We see the same thing happening with other enemies of the ancient Israelite nation, such as the Egyptians, the Philistines, the Midianites, the Assyrians, the Romans, etc.

If you read the Old Testament carefully, you will discover a number of clear examples where the Lord -- speaking through the mouths of His Prophets -- tells the rebellious nation of Israel, that He is going to send a certain king and nation upon them, in order to punish them for their sins. Once said nations accomplished their purpose, the Lord then destroyed those nations as well through their enemies. In his Epistle to the Romans, the Apostle Paul explains the case of the Egyptian pharaoh who enslaved the descendants of Jacob:

"For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,"


Please notice that the Apostle Paul states that some vessels are in fact "fitted to destruction". In other words, just as I said a moment ago, these "vessels of wrath" were meant for destruction from the very start. God used the Egyptian king to fulfill His divine purposes when He revealed His mighty power through the Ten Plagues which were sent upon the land of Egypt. As many of us already know, these events occurred after pharaoh hardened his heart and absolutely refused to free the Hebrew slaves. Of course, it was God Himself who hardened the Egyptian king's heart, as we can determine by the following group of verses:

"The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will."


"And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go."


"And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt."


"And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so . . . And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen."


But following the Ten Plagues and the pharaoh's heart being hardened by Lord, and the Hebrew slaves being liberated from Egyptian bondage, what happened next? As most Christians -- and even many worldly people -- know, the Egyptian army was destroyed in the Red Sea. According to what Paul wrote about vessels of wrath being fitted to destruction, as I said, it would seem that drowning in the Red Sea had always been the destiny of the Egyptian army from the very start.

Regarding the Babylonian invasions of Israel centuries later, it might interest you to know that even though Nebuchadnezzar was a pagan, conquering king, in the Scriptures, three times the Lord referred to him as "my servant". Why would the Lord do this? Quite simply, because Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilling God's Will by invading Israel, and serving as God's scourge against the apostate Israelites who were even engaged in the practice of sacrificing their very own children to the false gods. Consider the following group of verses which verify this point:

"Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, MY SERVANT, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations."


"And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, MY SERVANT; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him."


"Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying, Take great stones in thine hand, and hide them in the clay in the brickkiln, which is at the entry of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah; And say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, MY SERVANT, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them. And when he cometh, he shall smite the land of Egypt, and deliver such as are for death to death; and such as are for captivity to captivity; and such as are for the sword to the sword."


Of course, just as I described earlier, once Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians had fulfilled God's Will against the Israelites, with time, the Babylonians lost power to the Medes and the Persians. Thus, the cycle of vessels "fitted to destruction" continued.

In light of all of this revelatory information, you may be interested in reading my article "The Holocaust: Did God Make a Mistake?". I present some challenging Scriptural views which you will not often hear within the churches of organized religion.

Returning to Paul's exhortation to pray for worldly rulers, we need to realize that at the time that Paul wrote those lines in his letter to Timothy, Christianity was still very young and was just getting underway. In fact, it was only a few decades old. As such, it needed all of the help that it could get, particularly from worldly rulers and others in positions of authority who could facilitate the opening up of their countries to the Gospel.

While it was definitely no easy task to promote this strange new doctrine of the resurrection from the dead, first with the hard-hearted, unbelieving Jews, and then later with the Gentiles as well, we do know that there were a lot of open hearts which were receptive to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This even included people amongst the royalty in Caesar's very own household. We find some evidence of Paul's success in the following verse which is found at the conclusion of his Epistle to the brethren at Philippi:

"All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar's household."


It's evident from the Scriptures that the Apostle Paul was a man driven by his vision for world evangelism, which he had received from the Lord. While we too should carry this very same burning desire in our hearts to reach the lost with the message of Salvation, as I briefly mentioned in part three, we must acknowledge the fact that the tide has changed, and the situation has changed dramatically. Clearly, the world is turning much more antichrist by the year, and the windows of witnessing opportunities are closing. Reception has in large part been replaced by spiritual apathy and blatant rejection. In some cases, we are even witnessing outright Devil worship, such as in the United States where music and halftime shows mock God as if it is some kind of a joke.

Those of us who try to remain faithful witnesses in some way have certainly seen these things. Concerning many of this world's selfish leaders, as I mentioned earlier, maintaining their positions of power, and hoarding great wealth, is what matters most to them. You can be sure that accepting Christ is not on their list of priorities. As such, while it would be absolutely wonderful if many of the world's leaders were to adopt our Christian faith, as we discussed in part two of this series, we need to be realists, and simply accept that increasing persecution against Christians, and even societal ostracization seem to be the order of the day. As the Apostle Paul wrote:

"Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."


In a figurative sense, we might say that Christians today are trying to squeeze the last bit of stuffing into the turkey before it finally explodes. To put it another way, you can only eat so much chocolate or ice cream before you finally get sick of it. In this case, the antichrist world at large has reached a point where many people no longer even want to hear about the Lord Jesus Christ. As a result, the more we try to share our Christian beliefs with others, the more many people seem to be resisting it. Sadly, even in the Christian USA. Allow me to again encourage you to read articles such as the series "Civil Disobedience and Christian Persecution".

Please go to part five for the conclusion of this series.

⇒ Go To The Next Part . . .

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