Mindonfire
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Are you froggy?
Luke 17:26 And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
Luke 17:27 They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
Luke 17:28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
Luke 17:29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed [them] all.
Luke 17:30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
When I survey the world that we live in today, I am reminded of Luke 17:26-30. I notice the many similarities between our time and Noah and Lots’ days. One thing that is glaringly obvious when we study the people in those days is their obliviousness. These people had no idea that they were in the path of imminent destruction. To put it in biblical terms; they had no idea that they were in the path of an angry God.
I am therefore reminded of an old experiment of the frog in the pot. There is an old experiment were one puts a frog in a pot of temperate water. The pot is placed on a stove and the heat is turned up slowly over a period of time. By the end of the experiment the frog will have been boiled to death without its knowledge From this experiment you were supposed to notice that the frog was not aware that it was in a life-ending situation. You see whenever the heat was incrementally turned up the frogs’ body would naturally adjust to its surroundings. Now when the experiment was repeated with the water boiling the frog would immediately try to jump out to safety.
This is what is happening in our nation today, and this is what happened in Noah and Lots’ day. The people ate, drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, and they builded. They did not notice the signs which pointed to their imminent destruction. Noah preached and warned them, but they refused to listen. (2 Peter 2:5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth [person], a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly
Lot also warned his people, but they thought he was mocking. (Genesis 19:14 And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.)
All of these people had made the same mistakes which we are repeating today. They were blinded by their assumptions. Their assumptions had created such a strong illusion in their minds, that Noah and Lot were unable to reach them. They had convinced themselves of their own rightness. The signs and the warnings were increasing, but they just brushed them off and adapted.
You see in this life that we live; there are always signs before imminent destruction falls. There are always indications which presage any major occurrence. The problem never lies with the abundance or the lack of abundance of signs and indicators. The problem always lies with mans inability to see and know what is occurring. This is why God states in Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
What many people in this day and age have failed to grasp is the difference between seeing and knowing. You can see something without knowing what it is. Let us for one moment continue to use the frog for an example. I can guarantee you that the frog was not blind. The frog most likely saw the stove, the pot, and the water. It saw the three signs of its demise without knowing it. You see the frog was not familiar with the conjunctional history of these three objects. If it had known the conjunctional history of these objects, he would have known that seeing these objects alone or in certain combinations did not spell trouble. For example if it would have seen the combinations of (pot+stove-water), (stove+water-pot), or (pot+water-stove). Now it had seen all three in a deadly combination (pot+stove+water) and it had no idea.
There is another reason besides ignorance why the frog was unable to perceive its dangerous situation. It is called familiarity. Familiarity tends to bring a false sense of assurance. When the frog was introduced into the water it came into contact with a substance which it was well acquainted with. This in turn allowed the frog to become more complacent. Now through this introduction, the small chance of the frog perceiving his situation has all but disappeared. After all water has always been one of the frogs’ closest friends. It could never harm it, or could it? The frog didn’t know that his good friend water, when manipulated in another environment was deadly to it.
We all see the warning signs, but we have become so ignorant and so convinced of our rightness that we have no knowledge of their meanings. We see the West coast drought which may be the worst in 500 years. We brush it off, adapt, and think big deal. After all we went through the Dust Bowl and we are still here. We see the four major hurricanes go through Florida in one season. We adapt, and rebuild, and think no big deal; we’ve seen hurricanes before. We see the increase of strange weather. We adapt. We blame it on El Nino and we continue in our ways. We see half of the honey bee population destroyed by mites. We adapt, no big deal. We see the country with record and astronomical deficits. No sweat once again. We adapt, and we keep going. Our leaders lead us into a war under false pretenses. No problem. We adapt, after all we had Vietnam and we’re still here. We see terror and fear running rampant. No sweat; just a bunch of fanatics who are jealous of our goodness, we say. We adapt. We see an earthquake which kills close to 300,000 people. We adapt. No big deal earthquakes happen all the time. We are America we’ve seen it all before. No sweat. We are the greatest country in the world.
Through this all the heat is steadily becoming hotter, but we don’t notice. We just adapt and continue till we all wind up dead like the frog.
Revelation 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Proverbs 16:25 There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof [are] the ways of death.
Daniel 12:9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words [are] closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
Daniel 12:10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.
Luke 17:26 And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
Luke 17:27 They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
Luke 17:28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
Luke 17:29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed [them] all.
Luke 17:30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
When I survey the world that we live in today, I am reminded of Luke 17:26-30. I notice the many similarities between our time and Noah and Lots’ days. One thing that is glaringly obvious when we study the people in those days is their obliviousness. These people had no idea that they were in the path of imminent destruction. To put it in biblical terms; they had no idea that they were in the path of an angry God.
I am therefore reminded of an old experiment of the frog in the pot. There is an old experiment were one puts a frog in a pot of temperate water. The pot is placed on a stove and the heat is turned up slowly over a period of time. By the end of the experiment the frog will have been boiled to death without its knowledge From this experiment you were supposed to notice that the frog was not aware that it was in a life-ending situation. You see whenever the heat was incrementally turned up the frogs’ body would naturally adjust to its surroundings. Now when the experiment was repeated with the water boiling the frog would immediately try to jump out to safety.
This is what is happening in our nation today, and this is what happened in Noah and Lots’ day. The people ate, drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, and they builded. They did not notice the signs which pointed to their imminent destruction. Noah preached and warned them, but they refused to listen. (2 Peter 2:5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth [person], a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly
Lot also warned his people, but they thought he was mocking. (Genesis 19:14 And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.) All of these people had made the same mistakes which we are repeating today. They were blinded by their assumptions. Their assumptions had created such a strong illusion in their minds, that Noah and Lot were unable to reach them. They had convinced themselves of their own rightness. The signs and the warnings were increasing, but they just brushed them off and adapted.
You see in this life that we live; there are always signs before imminent destruction falls. There are always indications which presage any major occurrence. The problem never lies with the abundance or the lack of abundance of signs and indicators. The problem always lies with mans inability to see and know what is occurring. This is why God states in Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
What many people in this day and age have failed to grasp is the difference between seeing and knowing. You can see something without knowing what it is. Let us for one moment continue to use the frog for an example. I can guarantee you that the frog was not blind. The frog most likely saw the stove, the pot, and the water. It saw the three signs of its demise without knowing it. You see the frog was not familiar with the conjunctional history of these three objects. If it had known the conjunctional history of these objects, he would have known that seeing these objects alone or in certain combinations did not spell trouble. For example if it would have seen the combinations of (pot+stove-water), (stove+water-pot), or (pot+water-stove). Now it had seen all three in a deadly combination (pot+stove+water) and it had no idea.
There is another reason besides ignorance why the frog was unable to perceive its dangerous situation. It is called familiarity. Familiarity tends to bring a false sense of assurance. When the frog was introduced into the water it came into contact with a substance which it was well acquainted with. This in turn allowed the frog to become more complacent. Now through this introduction, the small chance of the frog perceiving his situation has all but disappeared. After all water has always been one of the frogs’ closest friends. It could never harm it, or could it? The frog didn’t know that his good friend water, when manipulated in another environment was deadly to it.
We all see the warning signs, but we have become so ignorant and so convinced of our rightness that we have no knowledge of their meanings. We see the West coast drought which may be the worst in 500 years. We brush it off, adapt, and think big deal. After all we went through the Dust Bowl and we are still here. We see the four major hurricanes go through Florida in one season. We adapt, and rebuild, and think no big deal; we’ve seen hurricanes before. We see the increase of strange weather. We adapt. We blame it on El Nino and we continue in our ways. We see half of the honey bee population destroyed by mites. We adapt, no big deal. We see the country with record and astronomical deficits. No sweat once again. We adapt, and we keep going. Our leaders lead us into a war under false pretenses. No problem. We adapt, after all we had Vietnam and we’re still here. We see terror and fear running rampant. No sweat; just a bunch of fanatics who are jealous of our goodness, we say. We adapt. We see an earthquake which kills close to 300,000 people. We adapt. No big deal earthquakes happen all the time. We are America we’ve seen it all before. No sweat. We are the greatest country in the world.
Through this all the heat is steadily becoming hotter, but we don’t notice. We just adapt and continue till we all wind up dead like the frog.
Revelation 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Proverbs 16:25 There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof [are] the ways of death.
Daniel 12:9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words [are] closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
Daniel 12:10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.
