OUT THERE?

“Are ‘they’ out there?”

Let me tell you about a man. He is, or rather was just a man, but he is a man with extraordinary gifts, talents and abilities. His name is Chuck Missler.

Missler graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1956 and received a Master’s degree in Engineering from UCLA. He worked for several years in the aerospace and computer industries. He joined the Ford Motor Company in 1963. Missler joined Western Digital as chairman and chief executive in June 1977 and became the largest shareholder of Western Digital.

Additionally, Dr. Chuck Missler, was an internationally known author, is among the best-known Bible expositors in the world, and was a prominent speaker on the subject of Bible prophecy and is featured on many Christian radio and television stations worldwide. He is well known for his Biblical studies including most notably Learn the Bible in 24 Hours, The Book of Genesis, and The Book of Daniel, as well as his topical studies Return of the Nephilim and his Angels series.

If you ever listened to any of his lectures or sermons, you too, would probably agree that he was a gifted if not a brilliant man.

Chuck Missler was also a devout Christian, and he was not afraid to push the boundaries of tradition. One area of particular interest and peculiarity was his studies on the Return of the Nephilim, which has raised more than a few eyebrows and created a few more winces along the way, but no one questions Missler’s sincerity and ability to dig deep and uncover the mysterious hidden gems in the Word.

Missler postulates that there is a time coming that Satan’s access to ‘roam the earth seeking whom he may devour’ will be restricted as will his ability to remain invisible. This also applies to the many demons of his kingdom. This visible manifestation of Satan and his dominion may be the reappearance of the Nephilim spoken of in the Bible and the mistaken identity of current day UFOs.  (Koinonia House articles).

My reason for raising this subject is an attempt to rattle the ‘Church cage’. We have, in the opinion of many, become comfortable and complacent to a point of lethargy. It is hard to explain to a ‘church goer’ or a Christian that we have drifted so far from our early Christian moorings, (roots), that we have no idea that we have even drifted away nor do we have any inkling from whence we might have come.

Oswald Chambers, (July 24, 1874 to November 15, 1917), a current day enormously popular early-twentieth-century Scottish Baptist evangelist, best known for the daily devotional My Utmost for His Highest, wrote

“The feebleness of the church is being criticized today, and the criticism is justified. One reason for the feebleness is that there has not been this focus on the true center of spiritual power. We have not dwelt enough on the tragedy of Calvary or on the meaning of redemption.” (written around 1900).

Another pastor, teacher and author, A.W. Tozier, (April 21, 1897 – May 12, 1963), was an American pastor, author, magazine editor, and spiritual mentor. Tozier received honorary doctorates from Wheaton and Houghton colleges, commented

“If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 percent of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference. If the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95 percent of what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference.”

Again,

“To great sections of the church the art of worship has been lost entirely, and in its place has come that strange and foreign thing called the ‘program.’ This word has been borrowed from the stage and applied with sad wisdom to the type of public service which now passes for worship among us.”

Finally,

“The church has lost her testimony. She has no longer anything to say to the world. Her once robust shout of assurance has faded away to an apologetic whisper. She who one time went out to declare now goes out to inquire. Her dogmatic declaration has become a respectful suggestion, a word of religious advice, given with the understanding that it is after all only an opinion and not meant to sound bigoted. Pure Christianity, instead of being shaped by its culture, actually stands in sharp opposition to it.” (written in the early-to-mid 1900s).

The state of the Church, according to these criticisms of the church in late 1800’s through the mid 1900’s, has only grown worse and more distant from her calling. (See “Shipwrecked“)

A recent class I attended,  titled, “Jesus Outside the Lines: A Way Forward for Those Who Are Tired of Taking Sides” from the book by the same name, is a discussion to consider what it means to live a Christian life in deeply divided times. The question asked is “How can we move forward with the Gospel in this postmodern world?”. Are we asking how we can remain relevant and relatable?

I would suggest that we don’t continue ‘moving forward’ for the sake of being relevant or relatable, at all. We have already gone too far. We have lost our way in a new and foreign land of paganism. It is time we go back to our roots, back to the teaching and the methods of Jesus. God-seeking, Jesus-believing, Counter-cultural, soul-saving, living a redeemed and miraculous life. (Out there, huh?)

Chuck Missler, I believe, was also shaking the cage of the Church. His detractors might say, “Giants? Aliens? Really? Come on Chuck!” But these same people would hardly blink at giants in the Bible, Nephilim, ghosts and demons, as if to say, ‘yeah, then, and in the Bible, but not now!’

I still hear people in the Church say that the miracles Jesus performed were just for then and not for now. But Jesus’ own words proclaimed that we should do His Works and greater works yet because He has gone to the Father!

Faithless doubters, skeptics, arrogant disbelievers, lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. These pastors, teachers and Christians are leading millions more astray.

So, of course we are not doing the works Jesus did, let alone greater works. We don’t even believe it any longer.

It is also no wonder that when we hear words like, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:29-31), that we create our own version of what this means and go on our merry way, saying something like, “well, if it does happen, I’ll be in the rapture to heaven, anyway”.

We have been falsely taught, that all I had to do was ‘say a little prayer’ and ‘accept Jesus’ and I would be saved. Saved that is, with my current belief system fully intact. Aside from going to church and modifying my behavior just enough to satisfy the socio-religious rules that I determine necessary.

Other than some distinct oddities such as praying in public, supporting my church with a small stipend periodically, and the long chance of going on a mission trip event (or more likely a comfortable cruise or a trip to Israel), We, calling ourselves Christians, are hardly distinguishable from any other ‘polite person’ nor from the person I was before I was saved.  We are not in the model nor of the ilk of a first century Biblical Christian. We are adrift without the fear of God.

So, if you think the idea of Nephilim or alien life is ‘out there thinking’, what do you think about the end of this world beginning with a cosmic cataclysm. The sun and moon stop giving light, asteroids crash into the earth and the very powers of the heavens shaking. Then, Jesus visibly appearing in the sky amongst the clouds to the sound of a trumpet call and ‘the Elect of Christ’ are gathered up and taken into the heavens? (see Matthew 24:29-31)

We know, or at least suspect these days are at hand:

Daniel 12:1, “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book.”

Matthew 24:21, “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.”

So, if you believe, then you must not only believe ‘in Him’, but you must believe Him – and do as He says, and do it quickly. The Bible says your redemption is drawing near, time is short.

We have been given remarkably clear instructions on how to avoid the coming wrath. Yet we seem to have lost the desire or will to ‘endure to the end to be saved’. (We must first confess with our mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, and you will be saved; this means then that you must ‘die to self’, that is, give up our old life and be completely transformed in our thinking, attitudes and behavior and follow Jesus, doing what He has done and taught, and then teach others the same.)

As you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with leprosy, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give.  Do not acquire gold, or silver, or copper for your money belts, or a bag for your journey, or even two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for the worker is deserving of his support. ¹¹ And whatever city or village you enter, inquire who is worthy in it, and stay at his house until you leave that city. As you enter the house, give it your greeting. If the house is worthy, see that your blessing of peace comes upon it. But if it is not worthy, take back your blessing of peace. And whoever does not receive you nor listen to your words, as you leave that house or city, shake the dust off your feet. Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment, than for that city.

And, please remember dear friends, He has said that those who begin this journey, then look back or shrink back, are not worthy of His Kingdom. Let’s endure to the end and overcome!

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

Also: A great video sermon answering important questions