6 Ways to Be a Responsible News Junkie - Larry Tomczak

6 Ways to Be a Responsible News Junkie

7/31/2015 LARRY TOMCZAK  charisma news

World representatives participate in the Iran negotiations. (Reuters)

This is part two of a two-part series. For part one, click here.

Do not hear what I'm not saying. I teach and live a reasonable work/life balance, keeping healthy priorities while staying engaged with the issues facing us today. What I am appealing for is a purposeful refusal to withdraw from the cultural battle in light of the cascading string of defeats we've been experiencing with this present presidential administration. Stay in faith that "where sin increased, grace abounded much more" (Rom. 5:20). God has plans for those who remain steadfast in this urgent hour of history and purpose to look not at that which is seen but rather that which is unseen (see 2 Cor.4:18).

My longtime friend Mike Bickle recently texted me that I'm a "son of Issachar who understood the times and knew what Israel should do" (1 Chr. 12:32). I want to be able to help people. I invite you to join me.

Here are six realities that should keep us sober and engaged while the Lord outworks His purposes. The situation is too serious to clam up, shut down and simply hope Jesus comes back quickly. Look what's happening! People need the gospel and biblical truth to counter these occurrences. There's just too much at stake for us to unplug. We have got to stay informed and vigilant.

1. About $500 million of our tax dollars support Planned Parenthood as both an abortion mill and retail outlet of human baby body parts. This is gruesome, barbaric and reprehensible. Their president openly lies on national television while Hillary Rodham Clinton defends the factual video expose as an "attack on a woman's right to choose."

2. President Obama celebrates a deal with Iran allowing them to eventually have the nuclear weapons he promised he would never allow. Comparing himself to Ronald Reagan who dealt decisively with the Soviet Union as an "evil empire" that would end up "on the ash heap of history," President Obama accommodates the world's primary state supporter of terrorism that regards us as "satanic" and deserving of being eradicated along with Israel to usher in the Islamic "messiah" and global domination. This "deal" places us on a path to the destructive holocaust prophesied in Revelation 6, where a third of mankind is killed—over 2/3 of a billion people.

3. Our illegal immigration debacle escalates to staggering proportions with sanctuary cities brazenly violating federal law, while states like Virginia (from which I just returned) is being transformed from 1 in 100 Virginians born outside the US in 1970 to now 1 in 9. Stats on illegal aliens' crimes in Texas from 2008–2014: 611,234 crimes, 2,993 homicides, 7,695 sexual assaults! Over 175,588 criminal aliens were booked into Texas jails in this period. Obama administration executive actions shield more than 80 percent of the 11.3 million aliens from deportation. Astonishing and alarming! (See PJ media.com).

4. African leaders strongly beseech President Obama not to push gay and lesbian issues in his visit to their nation but respect their biblical values on marriage and family. He defies the Christian Kenyan President Kenyatta with veiled threats, lecturing on the LGBTQ theme and forces the Kenyan president to correct our frowning President in a tense press conference. Globally, Christians lament our President's conduct among the precious African Christians trying to stop the spread of AIDS coming primarily from homosexual activity.

5. A lesbian senator and a gay congressman have introduced what is being called "the next gay rights fight" for America, the "Equality Act." It specifically prohibits claims of religious belief under the "Religious Freedom Restoration Act" as a defense for "discrimination" against gays. The Heritage Foundation stated that this measure would "endanger" constitutionally protected religious freedoms and free-speech rights. The real agenda all along was not bringing equality in marriage to homosexuals, but a satanic one of marginalizing Christians by legally exposing them to persecution if they follow their faith. Remember what the pattern was with the Jews in Nazi Germany?

6. After 105 years upholding godly standards and boys reciting an oath to remain "morally straight," the Boy Scouts of America leadership caved to welcome adult homosexual scout leaders. For the present time, church-sponsored units can have an exemption (until the inevitable lawsuit comes to obliterate even this provision). Parents and grandparents, pay close attention as a "news junkie" on this one (see article by this author on this topic at larrytomczak.com).

Conclusion

Over 30 years ago, Francis Schaeffer said, "We can expect the future to be a further disaster if the evangelical world does not take a stand for biblical truth and morality in the full spectrum of life... we represent the last barrier against the breakdown of our culture. And with the final removal of this barrier will come social chaos and the rise of authoritarianism in some form to restore order."

In this urgent hour, we need all hands on deck. We must remain prayerful and informed biblically to winsomely speak the truth to those in our sphere of influence. Consider what was shared recently by a former pastor and one of the Republican presidential candidates, former governor Mike Huckabee.

"There are 80 million evangelicals in America. Those registered to vote—half. Those who voted in the last presidential election—half of that number. Those who voted in the off-year election—half of that number. If just 4 percent had voted differently in the last presidential election, we would have a different Administration in office today."

Here's the deal: Don't retreat. Stay in the game! Remain a responsible and reasonable news junkie so you can pray intelligently and engage people effectively as a "salt" and "light" Christian prior to the Return of Jesus Christ.

 "An uninformed populace is in danger of slavery." - George Washington

Larry Tomczak is a best-selling author of eight books with 43 years of trusted ministry experience. He is a cultural commentator whose weekly articles appear on sites reaching 26 million monthly. Connect and view short video commentaries at larrytomczak.com.

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'40 More Days and the Nation Will Be Destroyed'

5/27/2015 LARRY TOMCZAK  charisma News

Can we avoid calamity if we repent? (Flickr/Creative Commons)

Use your sanctified imagination to envision the following make-believe scenario.

Joel Osteen, Andy Stanley, Joyce Meyer, Ed Young Jr., Dave Ramsey, James Robison, Ken Copeland, Pat Robertson, Matt Crouch and other high-profile Christian leaders all begin their programs with an agreed-upon in-advance, sober warning to their collective millions of listeners.

"The following message is completely uncharacteristic of our normal broadcast. But we are not living in normal times. We can't keep pretending God's judgments aren't real. What's happening currently can't be dismissed as coincidental but providential. We have come to the conclusion that God has directed leaders across this nation to simply communicate eight words: '40 more days and America will be destroyed.' That's what He instructed us to say. But there still is hope if we believe that God will have mercy on us if we humbly turn back to Him and the ways of our Founding Fathers."

"Larry, that's unrealistic and too far fetched!"

Do you know that the greatest awakening in world history took place when an obedient servant of God echoed those exact words in a different location? The leader and the people were so shaken by the severity of the message that they turned from their sinful ways and returned to God.

"When God saw their actions, that they turned from their evil ways, He changed His mind about the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it" (Jonah 3:10).

Read the entire account of this amazing, historical event in Jonah 3:3–10.

What Will It Take to Awaken Us?

On an individual basis, scores of people say their conversion took place after a series of events jolted them to humble themselves and turn to God. Should we not expect something similar needful for a nation at large?

"Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses" (Ps. 107:5-6).

An amalgam of unexpected, swift events exploding in tandem with each other would certainly get the attention of millions in America. The following are real and within the realm of possibility very shortly: devastating economic collapse; horrific drought, gas and food shortages; Middle East war; a series of coordinated Islamic terrorist attacks; outbreak of new AIDS-like virus; racial riots erupting nationwide; multiple massive earthquakes, EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) Internet-crippling attack; assassinations and political chaos.

David Stockman, Ronald Reagan's former Budget Director, says of the economy, "All hell is about to break loose!"

ISIS just released a statement, as reported in Charisma News, that they have over 70 trained terrorists in 15 U.S. states now.

To picture what it could be like when some of these events explode on the scene, picture a segment from the film "Mad Max" or the TV show "Walking Dead." [I don't watch these but have seen pictures from them.] Or visualize a city like those in the Ukraine—once-thriving cities now lawless centers of desperate people who've become marauders and looters carrying out criminal acts with impunity.

Our parent's generation exhibited patience, sacrifice, discipline and civility in difficult times. Being realistic (recall Ferguson or Baltimore recently?) and not dismissing all of this as nonsensical conspiracy theories, do we really expect people in a crisis today to let others go ahead of them in lines and folks patiently serve one another amid shortages, curfews and roving vigilantes?

God hasn't given us a spirit of fear, but it might wake people up to pause and ponder some of these coming realities. Just read afresh what Jesus said would be taking place prior to His Return.

How Should We Then Live?

In the '60s, theologian and prophet Francis Schaeffer posed this question to Christians. Analyzing events in history and foretelling what was coming to our nation, he warned us of this implosion while calling us to engage our culture and beseech God for divine intervention.

Christians can no longer settle for "status quo" religion with neatly packaged, sanitized, inspirational programs and services while ignoring the epidemic of Christians being persecuted and Western civilization crumbling. In England, the former Archbishop of Canterbury said, "Christianity is facing extinction in Great Britain."

We are currently engaged in a titanic, unprecedented struggle with forces of evil and must categorically reject wishful thinking that this is simply temporary, cyclical or manageable. We are at a tipping point where either we experience a divine intervention of God in a Third Great Awakening or we will witness the fulfillment of A.W. Tozer's prophetic warning: "Historians will conclude that we of the 20th century had the genius to create a great civilization but we lacked the moral wisdom to preserve it."

One Word Captures Our Charge

In Matthew 24 and Mark 13, Jesus told us the signs of the end of the age. He basically summed everything up with these words, "He who perseveres till the end will be saved. " (Mt.24:13; Mk.13:13). And in Romans 5:3 God tells us, "...suffering produces perseverance."

There simply are no shortcuts in difficult days. We must draw upon the grace of God and make a quality decision that we will persevere.

Presently I'm reading a book called The Churchill Factor - How One Man Made History. This biography of the towering figure of the 20th century who saved Western civilization from extinction demonstrated one overarching quality: perseverance.

When his fellow countrymen and Cabinet were capitulating to Hitler and his war machine, Winston Churchill told them to persevere, to fight and not to negotiate. "If this long island story of ours is to end at last, let it end only when each one of us lies choking in his own blood upon the ground!" With this almost Shakespearean climax, he rallied them to press on till victory was theirs.

Days ago I spent some time with my wife in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, called the "Secret City" during World War II. Here 75,000 citizens worked tirelessly to develop the atomic bomb to ultimately defeat Japan and bring about their surrender. These patriots, alongside of our servicemen and women who gave their lives on battlefields, and the D-Day invasion persevered to secure our freedom.

During these turbulent times, if you need a fresh read to bolster your perseverance, let me suggest a book called Staying Power by my year friend of 33 years, Ken Roberts (kenlroberts.com).

Ken faced incredible adversity when his wife of 25 years was killed in a car accident, a church building project and pastoral team imploded and he resigned his ministry in a mudslide of despair.

Yet Ken Roberts drew upon the grace of God and discovered lessons to sustainability. He persevered and today has new life, a new wife and a new ministry impacting multitudes. I highly suggest readers check it out.

As we await the Supreme Court ruling that may tip the scales in a way that may accelerate judgment on our land, may perseverance be our watchword.

Remember the words of the prophet Jeremiah, "If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?" (Jer. 12:5).

Larry Tomczak is a best-selling author of 8 books with 43 years of trusted ministry experience. He is a cultural commentator whose weekly articles appear on sites reaching 26 million monthly. Connect and view short video commentaries at larrytomczak.com.

Visit Larry at larrytomczak.com, his Facebook page , and follow him on Twitter @larrytomczak.

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