Over the last year or so, I have enjoyed reading the news.  Planned Parenthood is on the run.  Isis is a shadow of its former self.  North Korea seems to be displaying a new-found understanding of reality.  Our media complex is being shown for what it is.  Unemployment numbers are stellar.  The Iran Nuclear Deal is in the sewer where it belongs.  The U.S. embassy in Israel has finally been moved to Jerusalem, and a few other countries are following suit.  With all of this going on, it would be easy to be lulled into a false sense of security, but we need to make sure that we keep a clear vision of God's Word in our minds.  My concern is that too many Christians have lost sight of the advance of lawlessness, and in doing so, we leave ourselves susceptible to the creeping deception.  We may let down our guard, and by the time that we are jolted awake, we are too weak and too out of practice in the use of the armor of the Lord to be able to be of any use.  We will have compromised our principles to the point that we have no credibility with our children, and as it was with Lot, we will suffer great loss.  Gentlemen, I am not willing to sustain those losses.  

We have to remember that the world will continue to descend into lawlessness.  No great revival or return to the Lord is mentioned in scripture.  We know from 2 Thessalonians 2 that lawlessness will advance, and we need to be ready.  Even when we enjoy a reprieve, we need to recognize that the fight will continue.  In the meantime, our job is not to lay down and concede victory to evil.  In fact, our job is to hold lawlessness and evil back.  When lawlessness does finally hold sway over the world, it will not be because we failed.  It will be because the Lord will have removed us (2 Thessalonians 2:6-7, Revelation 3:10, 18:4).  Until then the Holy Spirit, through us, will be an impediment to the advance of lawlessness.  Our responsibility is to hold to the truth, and to make Him known like a light shining into darkness, illuminating the eyes of those who have not trusted Him.  Our job is to live in obedience to His Word, to speak, to vote, and to be a living contradiction to the lie that enslaves the world, binding its people to death and corruption.  

In order to fulfill our purpose, we have to train in the use of the armor of God.  We have to know the Word of the Lord intimately.  We have to maintain an intimate relationship with the almighty God, and learn to know His voice.  We have to learn to live according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh.  We have to teach our children to do the same, and they have to see in us that He is God.