Ship of Fools

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.  1 Corinthians 1:18  NKJV

Have you ever had the occasion to see someone’s response when they are called a fool?  I find it interesting that most people can laugh off quite a few derogatory names and not be greatly offended, but call them a fool and you get quite a reaction.  This past week I read this passage from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians and somehow could not help but think about the times we are living in and wonder just how many people today could accurately be characterized as fools.  Unfortunately it would seem all too many would qualify, especially if you consider what the Biblical definition of a fool is.

In the Bible, a fool is defined as someone who “despises” wisdom.  If you look up the word despise in the dictionary you will find that it says it means to regard with contempt.  As I thought about that this week, it occurred to me that in order to regard something with contempt, I would first have to at least consider something’s merits in order to make the decision to accept or reject.  If this is true, then someone who chooses to despise, or regard with contempt the gospel of Christ, would first have to listen and consider before making that decision.  In other words, a fool is someone who hears the truth of the gospel and rejects it.

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But he who heeds counsel is wise.    Proverbs 12:15  NKJV

Some might disagree, but if you were to ask me what the largest, most obvious sign that we have arrived at the end of the Church age, it would be the growing popularity of the emergent/seeker friendly church which fulfils the prophecy of the apostasy which occurs just before the rapture of the true Church.  This movement, which has abandoned the true Gospel of Jesus Christ and replaced it with a form of worship which ignores any talk of sin and the need to be born again.   Instead the emphasis is on worship, doing good deeds, and becoming a “follower” of Jesus.

A fool has no delight in understanding, But in expressing his own heart.    Proverbs 18:2  NKJV

In his letter to the Romans, Paul speaks of the rapture of the Church in a rather interesting way.  He tells his readers that Israel will suffer from a temporary partial blindness until the full number of Gentile believers has “come in”. 

For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.    Romans 11:25  NKJV

The interesting thing about this statement is that it is a nautical term used to describe the full number of crew and passengers aboard a ship.  When the full number comes in, the ship then sails to its destination.  As I thought about the true Church filling up, and the apostate church also filling, I couldn’t help but remember the old saying; ship of fools. Wikipedia defines it this way; “The ship of fools is an allegory, originating from Plato that has long been a fixture in Western literature and art. The allegory depicts a vessel without a pilot, populated by human inhabitants who are deranged, frivolous, or oblivious, and seemingly ignorant of their course.”

The great God who formed everything gives the fool his hire and the transgressor his wages.                           Proverbs 26:10  NKJV

While we might hesitate to call someone a fool, the God of this universe has no such qualms.  The Word of God is full of passages which contrast the foolish and the wise, and also make it very clear what the destiny of each will be.  Yet even though God has made the way of salvation so simple to understand and so easy to attain, man in his “wisdom” rejects the Gospel for a different way.  Does this sound like a harsh indictment?  Consider that in order to identify the most influential churches in America today, a recent survey found more than half of the respondents chose Saddleback first and Willow Creek second.  If you are not familiar with these names, these are two of the largest “seeker friendly” churches in America today.

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.    Romans 1:20-21  NKJV

What the leaders of these churches seem unable to admit is that although the way of salvation is made plain in the Gospel of Christ, when they choose to lead their congregations down a different path they are, in essence, arguing with the God who created everything out of nothing and implying that He doesn’t know what He is talking about!  It also goes without saying that they are also somehow believe they are smarter than God because they possess a wisdom which shows an easier, better way to salvation than the one ordained by God.

Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?    1 Corinthians 1:20  NKJV

Anyone who would choose to ignore the simplicity and clarity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a fool.  Unfortunately, the ship of fools is not only large; it’s getting larger at an incredible pace.  Yet the ship of the wise, with Jesus as it’s captain, is the one which will reach its destination at the rapture of the Church.  Do you want to know if you are on the right ship?  According to Paul, simply check the direction your ship is sailing.

Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,                 1 Corinthians 15:1-4  NKJV

The word “hold fast” is the Greek word katechō which is also used as a nautical term meaning “to check a ship's headway i.e. to hold or head the ship”.  Our compass is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and it is this Gospel which we use to check our course.  Does your church preach this gospel or another “seeker friendly” one?  Be careful not to sail on the ship of fools.

But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.               Romans 10:8-9  NKJV

Keep watching.

The Final Minutes?

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.    Ephesians 6:10-13  NKJV

I have received many questions about my thoughts on the convergence of potentially earth changing events set to occur this September.  To be truthful, at first the only thing I was looking forward to in September was the start of football season.  Yet as the list of events scheduled to occur in September grew, I began to wonder along with everyone else if there was more to this than meets the eye.  Of course, my mind being what it is, I could not help but put the two together and think of an interesting correlation between football and what we have been talking about lately; that is, what we can expect from Satan as the Church age approaches it's end?

Let me attempt to explain what I am thinking here.  If you follow football at all you are certainly familiar with how the game changes as you approach the last minutes of the game.  In football, we see the two minute offense where the team that is behind stops using the huddle to call plays and does whatever it can to speed up the game and try to catch the other team off guard. To the uninitiated, what happens on the field in the last minutes looks like total confusion as two teams pull out all the stops and try anything and everything in order to win the game. In other words, if you are behind, the closer you get to the end, tactics change in order to try and pull out a win.

Now do you see what I'm getting at? If we are approaching the end of this age as many believe, then certainly Satan knows that as well. If we think seriously about it, we should readily admit Satan probably knows the Bible a lot better than we do. This is, of course, the individual who tempted Jesus by using scripture to justify his arguments. There is no question in my mind that Satan is fully aware that his time is running short, so it should be easy to believe that he will change his tactics the closer we get to the end. He will do whatever he can to take as many down with him as he can. So as believers, is it too much to expect that attacks on believers will increase in frequency and severity?

Knowing this, I thought it might be appropriate to look closer at what Paul had to say to us in the book of Ephesians about our fight against Satan and his forces of darkness. In this passage, Paul outlines all we need to know about defending ourselves from these attacks.  Here we see that Paul is writing to the church at Ephesus and explaining God's purpose for the church, as well as outlining what God expects from His people. God knows what we can expect from Satan, so He goes to great lengths here to teach us how to defend ourselves. In verse ten Paul's tells us that our strength is from the Lord, and it is His strength that will fight our battles for us. How often do we fail because we think we can fight our own battles rather than let God do it for us?

Paul then tells us that we need to "put on the full armor of God".  Paul's point here is that to be successful we need to wear the whole suit. It may sound funny, but I remember something that happened when I was playing football in college back in the dark ages. I was a receiver, technically in that particular offense called a split end, and my job was to catch balls over the middle of the field rather than out by the sidelines. I had missed a few balls that were over my head, and I decided that it was my shoulder pads that were hindering my ability to stretch my arms as high as they could go. So I figured a little modification was in order, and after taking some of the "excess" padding off, I could then catch the passes that had up till then been a little out of my reach. All was well and good until the inevitable collision occurred which convinced me that removing part of my protection was a really bad idea. This is Paul's point. To succeed in defending ourselves from the "schemes" of the devil, (or tactics), we need to put on the complete armor leaving nothing off. Why?

The answer to that can be found in verse twelve where he tells us we need to do this because of who and what we are facing. He tells us "our struggle is not against flesh and blood". You see, if it was, we would probably only need to be defended from our front where an attack by a person would probably come from. But we are facing a fight from two fronts; rulers, forces, and powers of darkness of this world, and spiritual forces of wickedness from the heavenly places. So there are at least two fronts to defend ourselves from, and these attacks can come from any direction. There is no way we are capable to defend ourselves in this kind of war. We need to put on the complete armor God has provided, and let Him do the fighting for us.  If we do this, we are told in verse thirteen that we will be able to stand, and not be defeated in that “evil” day.

I think it is entirely possible that the month of September could be the “final minute” where we see Satan try anything and everything to try and win.  How reassuring it is for us to know that our strength comes from the Lord, and our victory is already won.  We can literally watch as God does our fighting for us and stand firm knowing that our deliverance, the rapture of the Church, is but moments away.

Keep watching.

PS.  If the subject of September is new to you, here is just one link of many which deal with what is scheduled to occur.

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/the-big-list-of-33-things-that-are-going-to-happen-in-september-2015

Earnestly Contend

Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries.                                        Jude 1:3-4, 8  NKJV

If you recall, last week the subject we discussed was being faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I’m not sure if I have mentioned this before, but one of the more interesting things that has happened to me quite often in the past few years is that after I post on Sunday I find that many others have written about the exact same subject as I have.  Now as often as this has happened, I have come to the conclusion that this is not a coincidence but rather the working of the Holy Spirit who is communicating what concerns Him to all who will listen. This past week, it happened again as I heard and read of others teaching about the state of the Church, and, for lack of a better expression, the “dumbing down” of the gospel as more and more believers choose to compromise on the laws God has clearly laid out for us to obey.

So this week the Holy Spirit led me back to the book of Jude, and an old teaching of mine from a few years ago. Something I have often wondered when studying scripture, especially the New Testament, is the possibility that the closer we get to the book of Revelation, we are getting specific advice addressed to those who live in the time closest to the fulfillment of those prophecies. Now understand, I fully believe that as the Bible says; all scripture is “profitable”.  But I can't help but wonder as I read the book of Jude, which we find right before the book of Revelation, is if Jude is speaking about the time which immediately precedes the tribulation? Are we being told something we really need to hear and understand? Is Jude describing what life will be like immediately before Christ returns for His church?

In his book, Jude warns us specifically that the time will come where the greatest danger to the church will come not from the outside, where the danger has historically been, but rather from the inside by way of those who profess to believe but reject the authority of scripture.  I think Jude describes them well in verse eight where his description of them shows they have a blatant, arrogant irreverence to the Word of God.  As difficult as this might seem to many of us, you don’t need to look very far at all to see this very thing happening all around us today. 

When my children were small, I can remember times when I especially wanted to make a point I would say something like “you really, really, really, need to listen to me now!” Have you ever used that type of language to get someone's attention? This is exactly what I thought of when I first read this verse from Jude. So as always, the first thing I did was do a word search trying to understand exactly what point Jude was trying to make here. The words that stood out to me were “exhort” and “earnestly contend”.

exhort: parakaleō... to beg, entreat, beseech,

earnestly contend: epagōnizomai...two words, epi and agōnizomai which used together means to take a deep breath, to endeavour with strenuous zeal, strive: to obtain something.

Now I don't know about you, but when I had to “exhort” my children to do something, it was because whatever I asked them to do in a normal tone of voice wasn't getting done. So the result was resorting to other methods of persuasion in order to convince them of the necessity of performing the task given to them. The subject in this passage is obviously sharing the gospel message with an unbelieving world, and apparently we are being told that first of all, Jude had to resort to “exhorting” believers to do this. What a sad commentary of the times when believers for whatever reason need to be “begged” to share the gospel!

I think most of us understand that the natural reaction of the body before attempting to perform a strenuous task is to take a deep breath. Unfortunately for me, as I get older I notice myself taking deep breaths before doing just about anything! But I think you understand what Jude is trying to say here. The time has apparently come where sharing the gospel is a difficult, strenuous undertaking, and believers are obviously becoming hesitant to share their faith with an unbelieving world! So a situation has appeared where Jude must resort to begging believers to perform their responsibility to share the gospel because it has become a difficult, if not discouraging thing to try and do.

Now more than ever, we see the world becoming hostile towards the gospel of Jesus Christ. Rejection, scorn, and even persecution are the orders of the day when trying to spread the good news. Many are becoming discouraged with all that life is throwing at us right now, and how easy it is in circumstances like these that we tend to retreat rather than press on. Jude gives all believers what I would call an “attitude check” in this passage. What exactly is your mindset right now as the world approaches the return of Christ for His Church? Are the difficulties causing you to back off, or become more aggressive? God, through His servant Jude, gives us the direction and advice we need as believers living in these troubled times.  I think it is no coincidence that in the book of Revelation, the church at Laodicea is described as "lukewarm".  What a perfect description of a church that believes you can compromise on the authority of scripture.

I believe we as a body need to look in the mirror and examine our own faith by asking three questions based on this message from Jude.  One, do I submit to the Word of God?  Two, do I respect the authority of Scripture?  Three, am I humble and teachable?  Our goal is to take a deep breath and press on with the knowledge that very, very soon we will have our reward. The easy path when confronted by those who would challenge the authority of God’s Word is to compromise in order to avoid conflict and escape persecution.  The hardest part of the race comes just before the finish line.  As we approach our deliverance from this world may we “contend earnestly” in sharing the Word of God in love with those who would challenge the authority of His Word.

Keep watching.

Fighting for the Truth

Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,                     2 Thessalonians 2:3  NKJV

I am sure many of us are familiar with this verse, especially at this point in time when many are saying the end of the age is upon us and the return of Christ for His Church is imminent.  It is used often to describe what will occur within the body of Christ as many believers turn away from what the Bible teaches and follow a false gospel created and engineered by Satan himself.

 As I was reading yet another commentary about this falling away this past week, the thought occurred to me that while accurate, do we often overlook one of the reasons this might be happening?  By that I mean, although we tend to focus on the individuals themselves, who or what is leading them astray?  Sadly and unfortunately, my conclusion was; the Church itself.

If we look at the definition of falling away as used in this passage, this is what we find; apostasia; a falling away or defection from the truth.  Of course, this leads us to the question we have all heard at one time or another, especially if you took a philosophy class in college, “what is truth”? 

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.              John 14:6  NKJV

Personally, I love the simple answers in life.  This is certainly not the answer many people I have encountered wanted to hear, but it is, nonetheless, an answer straight from the God of the universe.  So my first question of any church is this; do you teach this truth?  Unfortunately today in many churches, especially those who lean towards the emergent church model, this is something you will never hear from the pulpit.  The focus is all about service and works and being involved, but nothing about first acknowledging your need for salvation and accepting the sacrifice Jesus Christ made for your sins.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.  Romans 1:16  NKJV

Sadly, the vast majority of churches today teach what I have termed the “gospel of the moment”.  That is, they teach whatever they feel the congregation wants to hear in order to fill the seats with happy, contented people.  Sadly, it is not as if God did not warn us in advance that this would happen.  In his second letter to Timothy, Paul warned of this problem in advance and explained that people would turn away from the truth of the Gospel and instead embrace the lies of the evil one.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.                                    2 Timothy 4:3-4  NKJV

In all of his letters, Paul makes it plain that the truth of which he is speaking is the gospel of Jesus Christ.  The Greek word for gospel is euaggelion, which translates as; gospel, the glad tidings of salvation through Christ.  The truth is, there is only one way for mankind to be saved from eternity in Hell but rather spend it with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in Heaven above and that is by accepting the salvation offered by His sacrifice on the cross for our sin. On the day of Pentecost, after the Holy Spirit had come upon the disciples, Peter makes it very clear when talking to the High Priest and his advisors that there is only one true gospel, and that is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”     Acts 4:12  NKJV

The power of the gospel of Christ was so powerful that even these who had crucified Him were forced to admit that something they could not explain had indeed occurred.

But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, saying, “What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.    Acts 4:15-16  NKJV

When Paul and Silas were put into prison in Philippi, a miracle occurred when God produced an earthquake which caused the doors to open and their chains to fall off.  When the jailer was about to kill himself, he was stopped by Paul and responded by asking this question;

And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”    Acts 16:30-31  NKJV

Notice that Paul’s answer to him was the gospel of Jesus Christ, and not some of what you might hear in many churches today which teach a different “gospel”.  When Jesus was explaining the gospel to Nicodemus He said this;

Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”    John 3:3  NKJV

Jesus went on to tell him that to be born again is to be born of the Spirit, which is what happens when we choose to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.    John 3:16  NKJV

What is the truth of the Gospel of Christ?  That God loved us so much that He sent His only Son to die on a cross for our sins.  What is required of us is to simply admit we are sinners, and believe that Jesus paid the penalty for our sin when He died on the cross.  This is what it means to be born again, and it is a gift given to us free of charge, the only requirement being we must receive and accept it.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.  Ephesians 2:8-9  NKJV

What is truth?  The gospel of Jesus Christ.  My question for you today is, are you fighting for the truth?  Does your church teach the gospel of Christ?  Does your pastor teach, just as Jesus did, that we must be born again?  Do you hear the message that mankind are sinners in need of salvation?  Have you heard lately the words, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved”?  If not, I would suggest that in order to fight for the truth, ask these questions of your church.  Copy this study and give it to your pastor or the elders with the question, “why not”?

If you are reading this today and have never made the decision to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, I encourage you to do it right now.  Simply ask God to forgive you of your sin, and believe that His Son Jesus Christ paid the penalty for your sin, and you will be “born again” and “have everlasting life” just as Jesus said.  This is the truth of the gospel.  Do you fight for it?

Keep watching.

Qâsheh

And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people!                    Exodus 32:9  NKJV

I must admit, I find it hard to read this account of the children of Israel without seeing in my mind a large group of people wandering through the wilderness, hopelessly lost because their necks were too stiff to look around and discover the right way to go.  What goes through your mind when you think of the term “stiff-necked”?  As I thought about it, I began to come up with quite a few adjectives that would describe someone who could also be called stiff-necked, but after a few minutes, I thought it might be better to see exactly what God had in mind when He chose to use this term when describing His own children.

qâsheh;  hard, cruel, severe, obstinate, hard, difficult, severe, fierce, intense, vehement, stubborn, stiff of neck, stiff-necked, rigorous (of battle). Also, severe…churlish, cruel, grievous, hard((-hearted), thing), heavy, impudent, obstinate, prevailed, rough(-ly), sore, sorrowful, stiff(necked), stubborn, in trouble.

Now after reading this, my initial reaction was to believe this was a rather harsh description.  Yet when I began to consider the reasons behind the passage from Exodus, it became clear to me that the basic problem was the refusal of the people to submit to God’s will for them.  This despite the fact that God had provided more than enough proof of His love by the number of miracles He had performed for their benefit, not only during their captivity, but especially after they had left Egypt and began their journey to the promised land.

With that in mind, I began to better understand not only the anger God had towards these people, but the frustration He must have felt as well.  I began to wonder if the thought went through the Father’s mind, “what do I have to do to get through to these people?”.  It was at that point that the thought occurred to me that circumstances haven’t changed much in the past four thousand years or so.  As we take a good look around us at the world as it is today, especially here in our own country with some of the changes society is trying to force upon us, I wonder if the term “stiff-necked” could appropriately be applied to many today?

“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.  Acts 7:51  NKJV

What was, and is, God’s reaction to those who choose to stubbornly refuse to accept His guidance and follow His laws concerning our life on this earth?  The Word of God answers that question quite plainly.

So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, To walk in their own counsels.  Psalm 81:12  NKJV

Looking at the “change” that has occurred in this country in recent years, do you think we are seeing this very thing playing out all around us?  How many of the decisions made recently are in line with what is revealed in God’s Word?  How many laws have been passed in accordance to God’s revealed will for our lives?  Quite the opposite, thinking they are smarter than God, society writes its own laws without understanding what they are really doing is revealing their own ignorance.

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.  Romans 8:7  NKJV

For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.                 Romans 10:3  NKJV

Unfortunately for myself, I couldn’t walk too far down the road of self-righteousness without the Spirit reminding me that I too, have often been stubborn when it comes to listening to His advice for me.  So I decided to look at what the opposite of stiff-necked could be, and if as a believer I might somehow be exhibiting the character expected of someone who claims to follow God’s will for their life.  So some antonyms for stiff-necked are;

flexible, irresolute, kind, nice, pliable, pliant, reasonable, soft, submissive, surrendering, weak, willing, yielding, broad-minded, complacent, compliant, giving.

Not surprisingly, a few of these jumped out at me as being traits expected of us as believers who have chosen to accept Christ as the master of our lives, and to allow the Holy Spirit to guide our thoughts and actions in an unbelieving world.  So as I sat and asked myself the question; do I really strive to exhibit these in my daily walk with God, I looked up a few passages that came to mind regarding some of these traits.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.  Romans 12:1  NKJV

I have always loved this verse because Paul has a way of coming across at times in a way which reminds me of Mr.Spock of Star Trek.  In this case, the word reasonable is the Greek word logikos, which is where we get the word logic.  In other words, accepting Christ’s sacrifice for our sins, and giving our lives over to Him to use as He will is simply “logical”.

Logikos; pertaining to speech or speaking, pertaining to the reason or logic, spiritual, pertaining to the soul, agreeable to reason, following reason, reasonable, logical.

And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.  Ephesians 4:32  NKJV

When I asked myself if my thoughts towards those who are advocating the change we see in our society today were kind, I failed miserably.  Being kind to those who reject Christ and His message is an extremely difficult thing to do, but it is what is expected of us.

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.        James 4:7  NKJV

Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”                        1 Peter 5:5  NKJV

If I had to pick the one trait most believers struggle with it would have to be submission.  It seems most of us would rather have our own way than give in to others, yet that is an act of pride, and God has some definite thoughts on how He chooses to deal with pride.  Jesus humbled Himself to the cross.  Can we do no less?  Just as in the Old Testament, many today could be described as stiff-necked because of their stubbornness in regards to God and His laws. Leave judgment to God, for His promise to us is that He will in fact; judge the world for their stubbornness.  If you see things as many believers do today, that time of judgment is almost upon us.

Keep watching.