Global Warning

The world is full of prognosticators of doom, but before you dismiss this as just another one on the list, please consider this warning that goes out to all nations. Whether you believe in God or believe there is no God, I and many others, believe that there is a global crisis threatening every nation on earth. It is not a crisis for food or natural resources, even though many nations and groups are experiencing dearth in these areas. I believe it is a moral crisis. There is enough food thrown away in the wealthier nations to feed the world everyday. As crisis hits the poorer nations, people are forced to flee to safer havens. Unfortunately, there has been a spirit of domination and control operative on the earth that has allowed the more powerful nations to steal the resources and dominate the people, and the nations, from whom they have stolen through force, and chicanery. The vast disparities of wealth and power, coupled with economic and moral crisis worldwide, has caused the increasing polarization of people on all continents. The accusatory finger has found someone to blame in every country, for the problems we face in our world, only to leave the most powerful wielders of power and influence invisible to the public. Anger with bitterness and hatred is publicly prevalent in the most powerful as well as the weaker nations of the world.

We have become a world obsessed with pleasure, power, and our own personal well-being. Nations that at one time adhered to at least a facade of faith and belief in God, have abandoned those beliefs as obsolete relics of the past. More and more religious leaders of every faith are found to be guilty of violating their own moral and religious codes without shame or repentance. At the same time, many people of faith have adopted an attitude of conformity and complicity with those who feel that they must control and dominate, as if to say, “if you can’t beat them, join them.”

Just as one would seek higher ground from a tsunami, or inland safety from a hurricane because of a forecast, please heed this storm warning for our planet. There are yet teachers and leaders of all faiths, as well as those in the fields of science, economics, and medicine who are sounding the alarm that some catastrophic event seems to be on the horizon. As a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and of the Kingdom of God, along with leaders and teachers of other faiths, we have a mandate to issue a warning to the world. This warning is a call for repentance to every nation, tribe, city, household, and every faith around the world, even to atheists and agnostics.

The coming crisis is a judgement for our own actions and our ongoing failure to do what we said and knew to be right even from our own national, and religious codes of ethics. As I increasingly recognize my own complicity in the moral laxity and bitterness that pervades our world, I understand how easy it is to blame someone else, even God or the devil, for the trouble that is facing our world.

Just as there are many accounts in history of people and nations who changed their course from unrighteousness to righteousness, maybe we can change our present course also and avoid mass destruction in our world. As a student of the Bible, my own life, and of history, I have discovered that repentance and change often only occur during a time of crisis and desperation. I believe we are living out the words of the prophets and of Jesus in the Bible regarding the judgement of this world. Who knows? If we, in every nation, were to repent like the biblical city of Nineveh down to every man, woman, boy, and girl, maybe God will spare us of some of the severe suffering that seems to be inevitable for the nations of our world.

Someone may ask, what does this have to do with Disciplined For Success, and how can a message of doom be juxtaposed with a message of success? Well, I believe that if we judge ourselves and control ourselves, we will not fall under the judgement or control of others. If our repentance is sincere, perhaps God will be merciful. We are losing control as individuals and as nations, and I believe it is going to take a great deal of self-discipline and a great deal of help from God for us to restore sanity to our world. As I often say: “If we master ourselves, we cannot be mastered by anyone else or anything else, and if God is our master, we cannot be defeated.”

I believe the coming months are going to reveal ‘the handwriting on the wall’ for our world. Repentance involves fundamental and permanent change of heart and direction. My goal is to fundamentally change some things in my life to become more aligned with the will of God that I know and believe. Repentance means changing for the better!

Repent! Repent! Repent!
Change! Change! Change! For the sake of all of us!