WHO WILL BE A WATCHMAN?

I received an e-mail from a loyal radio listener today that troubles me.  She spoke to me in kind words and in good faith.  She backed up her point with Scripture.  Maybe I am way off track in this ministry.  I report on the news.  I talk about things that go wrong in the culture and the church.  But I always point to our "blessed hope" and our glorious future so that no one need despair.

The listener stated, "As Christians, we belong to a different kingdom. We are in the world, not of the world. The things that you are discussing are inevitable and must come to pass before Christ comes, which means this is the will of God. Our job as Christians is to spread the news that Jesus Christ shed his blood and died on the cross for our sins, and anyone who receives him will be saved from God's judgment that is coming to the earth."

My concern is that there might be legions of people who think this way and that is why so much truth is not being spread.  That may be why there are so few "watchmen on the wall." Our first assignment is to spread the gospel, but there is just a small minority of us reporting on issues and events to wake up and shake up an apathetic world and church.

Someone once said that there are those who focus only on current events and downplay the Bible, and there are those who read the Bible but haven't a clue what is happening in our world.  I think there should be a balance.

This ministry is committed to helping people understand the times, contend for the faith, and become watchmen on the wall.  The Bible says, "But if the watchman sees the sword coming, and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people, and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood" (Ezekiel 33:6).  Thank you, but I don't want blood on my hands!  And I long for every reader and radio listener to become watchmen as well!

She is right that it is the prayers of God's people that change this world! But how do we know how to pray if the various scenarios playing out today aren't explained? Will you hear about them in your pulpit? Will you hear about them from the CBS Evening News? The mainstream media and even some conservative media may report the facts, but they will either be twisted or insufficient.  And they will not be from a biblical perspective!

So in this day of apostasy, false teachers, Mid-East madness, and much more, please shout the truth from the rooftops. People are being hurt - and destroyed - for a lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6). Few will tell the inconvenient truth.  What is happening today may be the "will of God" as the woman who e-mailed me said, but I would find it terribly troubling if all of us sat back with that approach and let destruction run amok with few understanding the circumstances involved and no one doing anything to alter those circumstances.