The Solution Requires A New Operating System
"To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Luke 1:79 In this world darkness is all around us. I was sitting near a pond on a beautiful college campus in New England, admiring the breath-taking beauty of the place. Willows line the pond and ducks paddle to and fro on it. The grounds are immaculate and vibrant, the buildings brick red, clean and stately. I remember thinking that this is the closest I've seen to what I imagine heaven might look like. But I worked in an office in that university one summer, and the image of its beauty was shattered as I beheld the Satanic influence everywhere within its walls. Our universities are taken over by "New Age" propaganda, liberalism, and heresy. What a contrast inside those walls versus the gleaming beauty outside them. Reminds me of what Jesus said: "For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness." Matthew 23:27 And so we look at the world and see the glory of God's creation in the mountains and oceans and forests and plains. But there is a secret life co-existing with this beauty, a world governed by Satan, who is "the god of this world" (2 Corinthians 4:4) who perpetrates lies especially upon the young and turns their hearts dark. Unbeknownst to them, "New Age" propaganda is fed them as they sit in their ivory tower classrooms. This is where Satan strikes, in the hearts of our young for they, having been blinded to truth, will go out into the world and spread what their demon-inspired professors saturated them with (1 Timothy 4:1). But there is yet another Kingdom co-existing in this world, the Kingdom of God which also is not seen but is very, very real. It is offered to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death. It does not gain citizens automatically, no, there must be an application to join this Kingdom. There must be a hunger for truth. There must be a recognition of one's fallen state and the darkness of every heart that has come into the world, for into this fallenness were we all born. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" Jeremiah 17:9 The principles of this Kingdom are diametrically opposed to the kingdom of darkness, and it takes great humility to recognize that and be willing to forsake the darkness and come into the light. To those who make this transition, there will be guidance into the way of truth and righteousness and peace until the day the person leaves this earth, for it is the New Covenant, an eternal covenant made in Jesus Christ with each one who will receive it. This covenant is the mercy of God who, seeing man's fallen and hopeless state, sent his Son to bear the judgment on the sin of all who will receive the atonement he accomplished for them. He hung on a cross, tortured and bloodied, suffering the judgment due me and due you upon our sins. Justice demands that sin MUST be judged and all sin WILL be judged, but there is salvation to all who will look upon that sacrificial torture and death that Jesus Christ bore, taking upon himself the judgment due on our sins, IN OUR PLACE, and who offers salvation and new life to all who will bow to him and receive him as Lord. In bowing before him and receiving the atonement Jesus Christ offers, a supernatural change will take place in the heart of the new believer, a change that can be likened to a change in the person's DNA, or to a totally new "Operating System," a replacing of the old version with a new one. When this transition takes place, all things become new: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, HE IS A NEW CREATION; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17 If you are walking in darkness, if your efforts to make your life meaningful have failed, consider the Christ who offers you a new life. No longer will you be a citizen in the dark world into which each of us was born; you will receive this upgrade, this reset of your inner self, and you will be amazed at the changes when the management changes, for the Manager is the one who created you and who desires to give you a life that has meaning and is fulfilling. Surrender to him today, and he will give you a totally new life wherein is love and joy and peace and purpose.