Lots of Church Meetings Lately

Our little church which was banished from its "parent" church, you might call it, mainly for not closing during "the pandemic," has always met every night sometime during the first month of the year. Other than that, we have met at traditional times, Sunday morning and Wednesday night and, recently, Sunday night. Well, things seem to be picking up around here. I used to wonder why "the church," as in the early Christians in the first century BC, for example, met every day and we don't. I have always enjoyed meeting every day. I am sure the first century meetings were not like what we're used to in the 21st century, all traditional and formal with pews and steeples and all that. I understand that they met mostly in people's houses. Come to think of it, maybe that's why they were so successful. Don't know if I have time to go into that in depth right now. Anyway, we just had ten days of meetings every night, combined with a few other independent churches, and now we are about to finish up "Campmeeting," a week of meetings, a series that has been going on here for about 100 years or thereabout. I'm not going to take time to verify that what could be an exaggeration, but, then again, maybe not. In any case, that's a lot of meetings. I think the idea is that the closer we get to the times spoken of principally in Matthew 24, both letters to the Thessalonians and Revelation, the closer we are to the times when Jesus could return and, therefore, the times when people need to know where they are spending eternity. Matthew 13 contains "the parable of the sower," which is something everyone should read a lot, and find yourself there, because whatever you believe about the "end times," we are getting closer every day to "the end of times," as I have heard it referred to most recently. "So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 13:49,50). Everyone whose Jesus is this soft-spoken, tolerant, unconditionally allowing everyone into heaven kind of God, may not have read these parts of the Bible, including the passages of Scripture where Jesus reminded his disciples that as real as heaven is for the repentant sinner, so, also, is the hell made for the demons a reality for people who continue to rebel against God. In other words, whatever one might believe about the end of life, or the end of time, or the return of Christ in the Rapture or the Second Coming and the 1,000-year reign of Christ, at least one of those is an eventuality for every person alive on the planet. I just want to say it is very concerning how evil has ramped up in the world, especially since 2020. Division and hatred and violence have also increased exponentially. Jesus said he came to bring division, so division is inevitable. He said he would divide families, and he has divided mine. I have only one choice in the matter, and that is to stay close to God, stay in his word, stay in church and let him do in me what he desires to do. If I don't, I only bring misery upon myself, and whatever we bring on ourself, we bring to others as well. A person who is always angry, a person who is always feeling sorry for himself, a person who is always hating, or blaming others for everything and spreading toxicity is only bringing others down with himself of herself. I have noticed a difference between some people who have differences of opinions about politics, for example. One person can still "love their enemy," while another cannot. That tells me that the person who cannot love their enemy is not only resisting some political entity, but is also, and, possibly more importantly, resisting God Himself, and that will always and forever in eternity, be a very unwise choice. I have never experienced so much opposition from people who do not know God. They may know some Bible verses and how to manipulate them to describe their own version of Jesus or accuse others of "spreading hate," but, to me, the biggest thing is, are they loving their neighbor? Are they loving their enemy? If the answer is no, then they need to check their own heart, and that goes for believers in Jesus just as much as for unbelievers. Doesn't matter who you are, "There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5), and one day, we don't know when, we will all give an account to him. Just a friendly reminder.