Stephen Schmutzer
On again – off again. Go. Stop. Go again.The breaking news yesterday is the US is waiving sanctions on Iran. The score is Iran 1, America 0. Is anyone really surprised?Somehow – in the warped minds of our nation’s present leadership – this decision is perceived as a productive return to a nuclear deal with the world’s greatest sponsor of terrorism. The way this administration sees it, showing weakness encourages security. All the evidence says the world suddenly got a whole lot more dangerous instead. When obvious facts have no bearing on important decisions, one’s path becomes bumpy and altogether perilous. When one refuses to embrace the truth, then instability is their constant companion.The little book of James cuts to the chase. James 1:8 calls this kind of person “a double-minded man,” and the same verse says such a person will be “unstable in all their ways.” Nothing they do or say will make any sense because they lack the sort of wisdom which is sourced in a right reverence for God (Prov. 9:10).In the circus of current politics, this is the sort of person who makes one ridiculous decision after another. It’s embodied by an egocentric and tyrannical doctor with short man syndrome who says, “Masks work,” then he says, “Masks don’t work,” and then back and forth he goes again. It’s the claim by so-called health governing bodies, “If you get the vaccine, you won’t get the virus,” followed by, “You’re going to need a booster…..no, wait, two boosters, er….uh….I think you’ll need three or even FOUR boosters now.” It’s the decision by those same institutions to change the definition of a ‘vaccine’ since this one clearly isn’t.This double-mindedness and instability is highlighted too by a bumbling, and decrepit President who abandons Americans behind enemy lines, then unabashedly claims he did a great job. It’s seen in his decision to stop building a wall, then blaming the prior administration for a record surge in illegal immigration.We live in strange and turbulent times indeed. What’s becoming routine is we not only see the double-mindedness and instability of our leaders with their “depraved minds” (Romans 1:28), but we are also seeing the same qualities in those who blindly follow them.Where I live here in northern Colorado, the COVID-19 virus is especially virulent on this western side of the state’s main north-south interstate. Go east, on the other side of that highway though, and the virus has no impact at all. There are different leaders in that county.In fact – as I step back and look at the bigger picture – the COVID-19 virus never seemed to touch the antifa and BLM crowd at all, or liquor and pot stores for that matter. But it was especially virulent in churches, motorcycle rallies, and those aisles of grocery stores where essentials were bought.It makes no sense. Here’s the kicker – it’s not supposed to. None of all we are seeing is meant to add up. It’s all about suppressing the truth, elevating deception, imposing control, introducing chaos, and then re-engineering how societies function.We’re already seeing the convergence of a series of trends that portend the final seven years of human history which the Bible calls the Tribulation. We’re not there yet, but we can see it coming. It’s a horrific time when the tyrannies of socialism will reach a global zenith. God’s Word specifies this will be a future timeframe when people will be forced to conform to ‘the state’s’ rules, when those who speak the truth will be killed for it, when everyone will be united behind a single world leader, and when nation’s borders will mean less than they do now. It’ll be a time when the difference between the “have’s” and the “have-not’s” will have never been greater. For Christians who are spiritually discerning and wise, they see all of this starting to take shape now. They know their time is short on this earth, and they await their ‘blessed hope’ (Titus 2:13). For these faithful folks, the present times are seen as little more than a prelude to a glorious exit plan.For Christians who are not spiritually discerning and wise, they don’t know what to think about all of this. Some of these folks still support these fraudulent leaders who are making these foolish decisions, and – sadly – many of them defend these bureaucrats who clearly show their deceptive agenda. They even support social engineering mandates that are designed to condition the masses for a dark new world order.Sorry – but that’s just plain wrong. It’s an oil and water thing. As 2 Corinthians 6:14 asks, “How can light have fellowship with darkness?” The two positions don’t mix. Just because you live in a world where the facts don’t matter, where truth is squashed, where lies are elevated, and where double-mindedness is on full display – doesn’t mean you have to go along with the whole foolish charade. Paul reminds us in Philippians 3:20 that, for believers, “our citizenship is in heaven.” In other words, we are supposed to behave, think, and speak in a way that is foreign to this fallen world’s system.If we claim to believe in Jesus Christ, but we approve of the world’s foolish rules, we are talking out of both sides of our mouth. If we claim to be in the faith, and if we support and defend a socialist system’s lies, and if we march in step with a globalist agenda that the Bible specifies as depraved – then we are doubleminded and unstable. We have a really serious spiritual problem. I have come to the point where I think true believers should be noted for their opposition to such evil as much as they are known for being people of ‘love and grace’ (2 Corinthians 13:14). Just as it was those who ‘knew their God’ that ‘firmly resisted’ corruption and corrupt leaders before (Daniel 11:32), so it is still those who ‘know their God’ that ‘firmly resist’ the same sort of depravities today.It boils down to who you really are and where you really belong. You cannot be two different people at once, just as you cannot be two places at once. Larry Norman sang it best, “This world is not my home, I’m just passing through.”Visit the COVID-19 Information Center for vaccine resources.Get Vaccine Info