Christian Living

HE WHO LAUGHS LAST

by Charles (Chuck) Robey
04/12/23
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^"Why do the heathen rage, and the peoples imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against His anointed, saying, let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sits in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision. Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath, and vex them in His sore displeasure." (Psalm 2:1-5)

Are you like me? You wake up to that first relaxing cup of coffee. You tune in the morning television news, or dial in the favorite talk radio, but nothing new comes through the air waves. No surprises, just the same old morning infuriating gabble of political doom and gloom, fake news, fairyland commentaries. You sit and ponder it all over your coffee refill. How did our great Republic of America, the land of the free, and home of the brave, get in such a mess in such a short time? It's almost laughable.

Growing up as a young lad, often times I would start laughing over various things, different situations, and often it was kind of hard for me to stop. Even to the point of being embarrassed by my playmates. The expression "he who laughs last, laughs best", always seemed fitting to my playmates.

According to the internet, “This expression  he who laughs last, laughs best is a saying that means the final winner will have more glory than someone who was winning in the beginning but ultimately lost.”

So, this old proverb can refer to the fact that laughter has a beneficial impact on several aspects of our health. It also refers to the fact that a positive outlook on life enables us to overcome adversity and sadness. In the Bible book of Ecclesiastes, God gives His design for our lives and life’s order of events. (Ecclesiastes 3:1)   These include a time to laugh. (Ecclesiastes 3:4)

Now for a more serious take on laughter. In (Psalm 37:13) and (Psalm 59:8) we see our living Creator God laughing at those in authority who have developed a deranged mind with criminal intent.  This laughter is backed up, by divine inspiration, in the book of Romans. In (Romans 1:18-23) the apostle Paul, speaking under the direction of the Holy Spirit, discusses the wrath of God, bringing the condemnation of willful ignorance. And in (Romans 1:24-32) we see the consequences. 

Let us now fast-forward to America in the Twenty-first Century. If you place your local newspaper on top of your big white family Bible, what you have is a duplication of stories about living in today’s America. If you add in America’s modern drive-by television news broadcasts, you have a repeat of the same disturbing culture. So, what has happened to America? Why the turning away from God, the anxiety, the skepticism within the opinions of American’s populace? According to a recent internet article, I give you two disturbing, and problematic statistical polling finds. Here we see America’s viewpoint of patriotism and religion.

The Wall Street Journal has recentlyreleased data from a NORC survey showing a study which found that only 38% of Americans say that patriotism is “very important,” which is significantly lower than the 70% who prioritized patriotism in 1998.  Similarly, the study indicated that only 39% of Americans claimed that religion was “very important” to them, down from the 62% in 1998.”

What has caused the disastrous turnaround in America’s culture? Oh, there are numerous reasons, I suppose. In my opinion, one main root cause of such action is today’s education. Have you visited a local school classroom lately, or attended a school board meeting? I rest my case. From kindergarten, upwards through public school on into today’s college classrooms, what do you find? An agenda crammed full of progressive humanistic dictates.

Remember the old Aristotle quote, “Give me a child until he is seven, and I will show you a man.”  So, I give you today’s American public government school curriculum, starting no less than today’s kindergarten. Children are no longer, by government law, allowed to read the Bible, pray the Lord’s Prayer or give a generic devotion in the classrooms.  They are not taught to stand for the raising of the flag, or recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

These false teachers no longer teach the solid truths of God's word, or proclaim the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Even if parents take their children to church, the children are not being fed with righteous spiritual food.

Back in the Fifties, when I attended high school, we actually studied the Bible for school credit. The Old Testament was Bible-one and New Testament was Bible-Two. And when we led the devotions, we were also graded. Sad to say, today’s socialistic culture has even infiltrated lukewarm churches with blaspheming pastors and preachers who claim that woke leftist ideas are actually in the Bible. 

So, I ask you now. Is our living Creator God laughing at those in authority?  Obviously, from my blogs, my main concern is with this eye-opening question. America’s governmental authorities now seem to be moving fast towards evil intentions more than good. There’s no doubt about it. America is experiencing a very difficult struggle of good versus evil. Americans have rarely been as polarized as they are today. Studies at Pew Research Center over the past few years illustrate the increasingly stark disagreement between Democrats and Republicans on the economy, racial justice, climate change, law enforcement, international engagement and a long list of other issues. But you rarely see any comment about going back to the Bible for wisdom in how to resolve these issues.

^“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (II Timothy 3:16-17)

Yes, America is moving swiftly toward divine justice. We see in (Genesis 12:3) that Abraham’s relation to God was so close that those who blessed or cursed Abraham or his seed would reap blessings or curses from God. And now, according to Scripture, we are considered Abraham’s seed. (Galatians 3:29) Should I rest my case, or move on? I prefer moving on. As for me, it’s now my open Bible mixed with prayer.

I’ve always been one for keeping up with America’s current events. That is, until recent times. When I find myself taking a big dose of nerve relaxer to recover from today’s mainstream media shuffle, it’s time to move back to the Bible.

The Scripture has always played an important part within our little family. We always held to the sanctity of God’s holy Word. We were never allowed to place anything on top of the Bible for fear of a trip to the old woodshed altar. I remember when he was just a mere lad, our grandson requested a Bible. Not any Bible, it had to be a black Bible with the inscription of Holy Bible etched in gold lettering. Those were the “good ole days” as my old, retired preacher Dad often said.

What about today? How does America’s culture of today figure into this discussion of being under divine judgement? Divine judgement will be a cultural preliminary of the last days of history.

In (I Timothy 4:1-2) we see the start of hypocrisy. In (I Timothy 6:3-5) we see heretical teachings. In (II Timothy 3:1-9) we see a long laundry list of the perils of apostasy among the masses. In (II Timothy 4:3-4) we have a description of those no longer content to teach the truth of the Gospel.  And in (II Peter 2: 1:3) we see the conduct of today’s false teachers.

As we move onward though today’s world, we see a view of man's restless derision concerning the future among today’s culture. (II Peter 3:3-4)   We also see a false religious spirit in many churches. (I John 4:1-6) 

So, are we now, or in the near future moving towards our living Creator, God’s laughter of today’s child-like derision. I have my own private opinion of today, and I’m sure you have yours as well.

Now, how may we sum up this brief Bible study of today’s America? Please read (I Peter 3:8-12)

I will conclude this blog with a Benediction. (Jude 24-25) Amen!

AUTHOR’S POSTSCRIPT

What has happened to that youthful nervous laughter? Well, I’ve now grown up a bit. I still laugh, however, on occasion when tuning in today’s social media, today’s political jabber, today’s main-line stretched out of shape headline news.

There’s now little wonder that today’s evil minded opposition is to Him simply laughably pathetic. In (Psalm 2:5) we see an end to His divine patience. He will not always look on in silence. If they persist in their folly He must speak, and His word and His power. (Isaiah 11:4)

According to Bible history (Amos 3:15) (Colossians 1:28), judgments do not come about as a matter of necessity, and not entirely due to governmental evil. They come because of sin. The sin of a nation's people will invariably draw judgement.

We serve an all-powerful, all-knowing, just God. Nonetheless, we are now living in an unjust world, and America is no exception to this divine rule. America will not escape judgment until it gets rid of sin.

So, I ask you again, is our living Creator God America now laughing at America, laughing at those in authority? Could be, consider any number of intended or even unintended events such as an economy collapse, a weather emergency, chaotic insurrections, division within God’s church, divisions within governments. It basically comes from disobeying the ordinances of God.

“Furthermore, I have seen under the sun that in the place of justice there is wickedness and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness.” (Ecclesiastes (3:16)

However, our all-powerful, all-knowing living Creator, God, has provided a way of escape, along with a task and promise.

“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” (I Corinthians 10:13)

^“If my people, who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (II Chronicles 7:14)

May Divine Judgement be reversed?  Yes, it surely may! Let’s all go to work, America! Amen! 

 Jesus said, “I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.” (John 9:4)

 Now, I’ve read the back of the Book (Revelation), and we faithful few wins in the end. Its no wonder, our blessed living Creator God, chose to show us His character and control of our nation. For He places both good and evil political authorities in charge or complete His plans. (Daniel 2:20-21)

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