IN MY READINGS, A FACEBOOK friend posted this article from CNN which caught my interest:  More teens becoming "fake" Christians.  The article explained that instead of true Christianity our teens are embracing a "moralistic therapeutic deism" where Christianity is equated to morals, and God is there to help them, instead of the gospel taught by Christ.  In these last of the last days the Devil certainly makes us think we are Christian when we are far from the Christianity taught in the Bible;  and who is really to blame?  Where did our teens get such notions?  From their "Christian" parents and pastors of course. We have worked so hard to make the gospel appealing and positive that we've taken the message of Christ out of it; therefore our youth grow up thinking that being a Christian is about them:  being a good person, feeling good about themselves, having their needs met, etc.   How far we've departed from the gospel is evident in the recent "Restoring Honor" rally held in Washington, DC on August 28, 2010 organized by Glenn Beck.  I must admit I liked Mr. Beck's premise that "many of our country's problems stem directly from our diversion from the principles of faith in God...", but to think that a revival will come and people will catch the fire that could give this nation a chance for restoration by heeding to Beck's call is greatly mistaken.  Even though there were over 300,000 people in attendance, with the hope for a sweeping revival, there will be none.  The rally will become another "event" where people were inspired for the moment and then will fade into the memory of one more event in a person's life. 

God gives to us the game plan for restoring our nation in 2 Chronicles 7:14.  First He tells us that "If my people who are called by my name...."  The problem is that  Mr. Beck is a Mormon.  Mormon's don't believe that Jesus and God are one and the same as taught in the Bible.  Beck joined forces with heathens and other faiths to call the nation back to God...obviously not the "my people" spoken of in 2 Chronicles.  Second, God tells His people to "humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways" not join forces with those who are proud, don't pray, and continues to sin.  Then the third part of God's game plan is that He "will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal our land."  There will be no turn-around of our nation because there has been no turn-around of God's people to Him.  The real sadness in all this is that a large number of those who call themselves Christian see nothing wrong with what took place; like the teens, their Christianity has become a moralistic therapeutic deism, and let us add, political--without the power of the Holy Spirit; without being Christian though they seek Him.  We must be reminded of Luke 13:24 which lets us know that God is not looking for seekers to call His own; He wants workers, those who are determined to "be" a Christian and not just a reader of the Bible, a Sunday going to church worshiper, seeking to know Him.  God wants those who know Him not those always seeking but never finding.  Concerning moralistic therapeutic Christians, I encourage you to watch the DVD Time Changer. They do a great job in showing what happens when we hold onto morals and virtue apart from the authority of Christ.  Perhaps if we had held to this concept decades ago our teens today would not know a distorted Christianity and Glenn Beck would have been lucky to draw a handful of people.

SOON WE WILL BE A cashless society.  How soon we're not quite sure, but consider how quickly the internet has integrated with all of life; the cashless society will take place much quicker.  According to IBM, in an article written January 12, 2010, the infrastructure to support such a system is in place and the final pieces will be put in place in 2010.  These final pieces are moving ahead as noted in an article by MicroFinanceFocus.com dated August 10, 2010.  The article reported that a conference titled, "Cash to Cashless Society, was held to "discuss and deliberate the best plausible approach required to model a system to drive digital payments and financial inclusion."  In other words, they are looking at how best to merge digital payments with banks.  PayPal must have been at this conference, because within the past week I've received two different emails promoting their PayPal X INNOVATE 2010 conference.  The heading of the one email stated:  "Change the way the world pays."  In the text it states:  "Money is evolving.  Are you in?"  The heading of the other email stated:  "...the rush is on to develop new ways to pay.  Stake your claim."  All this means is that the cashless system is in high gear and soon, my lifetime, maybe next year, cash will be phased out at greater speeds.  In light of all this, Bloomberg.com had an article August 10, 2010 headlined:  "U.S. Is Bankrupt and We Don't Even Know It."  This statement is known by the financial elite and they don't care.  The goal is to bring America down so that the Antichrist's cashless system might be implemented throughout the world.  Since America is bankrupt, why hasn't it affected our manner of life?  It will.  Once the infrastructure is fully in place so that cashless might be implemented, the financial elite will pull the plug and America's economy will collapse, affecting every American.  You could literally wake up any day and find your way of life has changed drastically.  So drastically that you will not be able to buy or sell if you don't have a financial chip implanted in your hand taking money out of your bank.

LAST THOUGHTS
We must understand that the days of Antichrist are not coming, they are here.  In the midst of the deception we described above and the moving into high gear of the cashless society, we must search ourselves and learn what it truly means to be a Christian powered by the Holy Spirit.  When cash and gold and silver all become useless and you must have a chip on your hand, are you ready to live by faith?  Not a faith that says, "God will provide my every need," but a faith that says "If I must die for Christ, I will die."  If I must go through hell on earth, God is with me; therewith will I be content.