The troubling sound of my Alarm Clock

I hate the sound of the alarm clock. I always have. For me there is nothing more irritating than interruption of the peaceful bliss of sleep than my alarm clock telling me time to get up! However, when its all said and done, the alarm clock is one of the most helpful devices in my life. The absence of it would cause me great trouble.

John Adams wrote: " Never trouble trouble until trouble troubles you." I've heard that phrase quoted my entire life, but I never gave it much thought until recently. In light of our present day world situation "trouble" not only sums up what we may be seeing, it seems that it may be prudent to be  preparing for it. However most American Christians that I am in contact with, seem to be taking the Adams phrase to heart. My concern is that we may not be ready for the trouble that could  be heading our way. Now let me clarify that I am no foretelling prophet, but there are some things that are grabbing my attention.  I will discuss a few here today.

 One of my first concerns is that Christians seem to have to  be shaken in order to be spiritually awakened. No one that was an adult during 911 will ever forget what happened. By 3 pm that afternoon, the sanctuary of the Church I attend was filled with people on their knees begging God for direction. Where are we now? The fact of the matter is that we aren't scared anymore. Trouble hasn' t troubled us in a while and apathy has become the norm. So should we be troubled? Let me take a crack at this. The Bible states that "the borrower is a slave to the lender". Our country owes more than it ever has, and the deficit is rising every minute. This has the potential to do more damage to our country than the attacks of 911 ever hoped to do. If our dollar loses its world reserve currency status as some are predicting. The devastation that could happen will be immense. It may be time for that troubling alarm clock to go off.

Another Concern I have is our unconcern for the persecution of Christians around the world. One simple google glance on executed Christians will give you enough reading material for the day, I promise. Yet where is the outcry from US Christians? Now on my Facebook site I love to post thought provoking quips, quotes, and stories, and I don't believe there is anything wrong with that. However, it is interesting what evokes the most response. Just the other day I posted about Said Musa, who is a 45 year old convert to Christianity who at anytime is set to be hung unless he reconverts to Islam. I got zero response from that article post on FB.  Yet my joke on Jesus and golfing got 16 "likes".  This is happening in Afghanistan! The same Afghanistan that Christian men from the US are giving their lives to protect! People are being killed all over the world because they love Jesus.  Time to hear the alarm!

I am also very concerned about the rise of sympathy for every religion, in conjunction with the rise of intolerance for Christianity. Today it seems that people are tolerant for every religion, opinion, whim, and ideology except Christianity. A pastor of 54 people gets World wide news coverage for saying he would have a qur'an burning(which I don't agree with), but documented thousands of Bibles are burned by Muslims and hardly a word mentioned. Sharia law is being instituted in Britain and some US States are considering it, and yet our Constitution, based on Christianity, is ignored. The only people that I see being (Tolerant) are Christians! It may be time to stop hitting the "snooze' button.

Now I know the Bible tells me to count it all joy when I am persecuted, and to be anxious for nothing. However these verses are not a call to apathy. They are calls to action. My opinion is that we are in a time of history that the Bible plainly speaks of. A time when people will be lovers of themselves , lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.  At the same time God says that in the last days He will pour out His Spirit. God doesn't need Chris Wells, but He allows me to be a part of what He is doing. So with that said, I resolve to hear the alarm. To share His good news. To invite people to hear God's Spirit calling to them to repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand.

I am going to ask you to do something. I have an alarm on my phone. I am going to set my alarm for 1:06 p.m. everyday. I am asking you to do the same. Why 1:06? Philemon 1:6 says " I pray that you will be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ".
This is a call for you to pray that you and Christians that you know would be active in sharing our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ!  Then share Jesus.  I am calling this the Philemon 1:6 Alarm! I will pray everyday at 1:06. Will you set and hear the alarm? Don't hit snooze on this one!