Ultimately - It All Comes Down To Worldview

There's a great article by a former "terrorist" at the Daily Mail. As you read this article you're stuck by several things but the key paragraph is this:

And though many British extremists are angered by the deaths of fellow Muslim across the world, what drove me and many others to plot acts of extreme terror within Britain and abroad was a sense that we were fighting for the creation of a revolutionary worldwide Islamic state that would dispense Islamic justice

And thus I believe you have the full and un-varnished truth. The entirety of the conflict that will I believe eventually engulf the world will come down to one thing: Worldview

And these worldviews couldn't be more different. One says take up the sword and force conversion at all costs and in the case where conversion cannot be forced, then execution is appropriate.

And one says, take up the cross and be willing to be sacrificed for the Savior who himself was sacrificed. And if conversion cannot be forced, then so be it, we shall pray for, serve, and love our enemies despite their opposition to Jesus.

I believe that we are headed into dark times in the world. There's simply just too much power and control up for grabs and some how, some way, there will be people who will attempt to grab that power by forceful means. Terrorist threats, car bombs, mass murder, etc will all be realities for me, you, and our children for many years to come. So what are we to say to all this?

Well, if you believe in a Sovereign God, then you can "entrust your soul to a faithful Creator" as Peter says. If God ultimately allows such acts, then you can know that even though you may not get an answer here, that there is a divine purpose and working for good that is occuring through all of this and you can rest peacefully and calmly in the shadow of the Cross and in the Spirit's loving comfort.

However, if you believe as so many do today that somehow man's decisions cannot be foreknown by God lest he turn us into "robots" as they would argue, then you should be very scared by what is going on. And your life will be full of anxiety, worry, and despair because you ultimately have a God who cannot step in and alter men's decisions. You have a God that despite His best intentions, can't stop a terrorist's bomb from going off because that would interfere with that person's free will. And folks, to live in a world with that kind of God, is VERY SCARY and most certainly not comforting.

And you have to pick up both sides of the stick. If you will not concede God's sovereignty in salvation, sanctification, and preservation of the saints, then you most certainly CANNOT call upon God's sovereignty for protection for humanity because he cannot honor YOUR freedom of choice, but then dishonor the freedome of choice for Islam terrorists. It's one or the other. Free will is free will and not just given to those who hold a certain western ideology. Your view of God has to be applied to all 7 billion people in the world.

So I ask you, as you read this article and look to the future, which view of God gives you more comfort. A God that intervenes and ordains based on His good pleasure and for His purposes, or a God that leaves world events in the hands of humans?

How you answer that question will determine how well you sleep over the next 50 years.