On his recent radio shows around the nation Glenn Beck has been telling his listeners to study the Bible. It is refreshing to hear someone who is not a pastor or evangelist calling America to the Book and we can almost hear some saying: it’s about time.
Everyone in America and the world has what is known as a worldview. If you start to read the Bible systematically your worldview will change radically and completely. The biblical worldview is almost diametrically opposite the worldview on every level.
If you start reading the four gospels then move on to the rest of the New Testament before tackling the Old Testament you will change your view long before you get to Genesis.
Glenn Beck’s views will change and even Bill O’Reilly’s view would change if he began a search of scripture. The nonchalant attitudes about gays and other prurient practices in this nation would not be something laughed about on the evening news. James Carville’s famous saying from the 1992 Clinton campaign “It’s the economy stupid,” would fade away and be replaced by the far more honest, “It’s the immorality, stupid.”
Here is a list of things that will change. It is a short list because almost every facet of your worldview changes with constant attention to Bible reading. This is the list that will change the way we look at the direction America has been taking for almost an entire generation.
I will not veer into specifics like how we got the Bible in studies of epistemology or apologetics which shows us why we can trust the Bible. I won’t get homiletical (preachy) and I won’t resort to breaking down the vast portions of scripture that are prophetic.
The very first prophecy called the protvangelium (Gen 3:15) passed on to ancient prophecies and up through pre, mid and post exilic prophecies. (Judgments and captivity of Israel) They are followed by the Messianic prophecies (first coming of Christ) which Christ has already fulfilled. In just the last 24 hours of his life on earth Christ fulfilled dozens of Messianic prophecies against the odds of 53,000,000 to one against the idea that it could have been something that happened by mere chance.
All the remaining prophecies are concerning the second coming of Christ and they are generally referred to as pre-millennial prophecies. They constitute almost 25 percent of the Bible. It is here I must begin the discussion about a changed worldview.
The first view that would change is your assessment of time. Almost every pre-millennial prophecy that warns of the second coming of Christ has been fulfilled in this generation. That is one of the greatest prophecies of all. It is in that generation where all prophecy converges, that Christ returns. In a list of signs in Matthew’s gospel Christ said, “Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” (Mt 24: 34) There is no doubt whatsoever that Christ was not referring to his own generation but of the one in which the signs were all coming together.
The second view that will change is the lightness with which we approach the gay agenda in America. The most conservative commentators and politicians have passed it all off as an emerging social change that we just have to live with. It too is part of Bible prophecy and although we may have to live with it, promoting it will lead to the demise of any nation. This is a Biblical surety not just an opinion. It along with other moral decline is the source and the very reason for America’s decline as a world power.
Same sex marriages will come as number three in the world view change you will experience. This is what we might call the high perversion of the modern era. While there were always Sodomites (homosexuals) throughout history in varying degrees no one in the ancient times or in recent history carried it so far that they wanted to get married to same sex partners.
Number four on our short list is abortion. The Bible is replete with warnings about the shedding of innocent blood. It is a biblical thread that runs from cover to cover and it can and will lead to God’s judgments. In a world that wants to save whales, seals, stray pets and endangered species of every kind but then throws its own kind into medical waste containers, we see the reality of Christ’s proclamation that in the last days’ natural behaviors and the love of all mankind would taper off into indifference and callousness. Speaking of the attitudes of people in the last generation Christ said, “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” (Mt. 24: 12)
Your view of the unborn will change when you see that many were named by God before they were ever born including John the Baptist and Christ himself. God called the Ancient King Cyrus by name over 100 years before he was ever born. (Isa 44:28) King David proclaimed that God knew him while he was still being formed in the womb. (Ps 139: 13-15)
Does God know the unborn? You could bet your life on it, in the mean time we seem all too willing to bet the lives of the unborn that He does not.
In fact one single verse of scripture proclaims that God knew every single redeemed person that ever had the spiritual sense to surrender to God’s claims on their lives. “Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (Mt 25:34)
Number five on the list of worldview changes would be the idea that this country was not founded on the principles and moral foundations of the Bible. After some serious studies in the scripture you may want to revisit the documents formed by the founders. You may want to look again into the biographies of the founding fathers and it is then that you will discover that almost every concept, precept or philosophical argument put forth by America’s founding fathers is hard connected to the Bible.
The sixth worldview change that comes from reading the Bible is the assurance that everything from Mother Nature to who is in power, is ordered and designed by God. No one can fix the economy get a little more politically conservative and think our immorality is of no particular consequence. If we continue on the path to unbridled moral decadence, nothing else we may do will slow our ultimate demise. The choices are ours to make right to the end but like everything else in this world; there is an end.
Finally, number seven will find you rethinking the idea that all religions or beliefs are universal in nature. While all religions have some variances on the same themes only one has a loving Shepard who died for his own sheep. That coupled with the resurrection makes Christianity stand alone and apart from the pack. Christ said it this way, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” (Jn 10: 11)
It must be said for those who presently know nothing about the end of the world that Christ’s return is not the complete end of the world. It is only the end of the world as we know it. Christ will rule following the Battle of Armageddon.
Concerning the return of the Lord, the prophet Joel said “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.” (Joel 2:31) This is a short but perfect summary of the return of the Lord. It will be great for the righteous but terrible for the wicked.
By reading the Bible completely we can see that it is only fearful if you are unprepared, unbelieving and unrighteous. No one can understand any of these things without changing their worldview so for now only a fool would not commend Mr. Beck for his call to read the Bible.
By Rev Michael Bresciani
