Rapid Rise of Evil

 I read a quote written over seven decades ago that grabbed my attention this morning. The author commented about the rise of evil and wondered how much longer God could hold back His judgment against such evil. "Surely the Lord's anger against man's rebellion cannot hold out much longer." Leonard Ravenhill, A Treasury of Prayer, pp. 70. I paused for a moment and then wrote in the margin of that book how much more true that statement is seven decades later. 

Everywhere I look I see the rapid rise of evil. Just yesterday I guy drives through the middle of a Christmas parade killing several and injuring dozens more. I hear about senseless murders. I see people attacking others for the most minor offenses. I see fraud, corruption by the societal elite. I hear about the worst kind of abuses, the most vile  and disgusting behaviors, and the hypocrisy of many in the church. 

The rapid rise of evil is alarming. It feels like everything has been accelerated. Is this all the fulfillment of Bible prophecy, the love of many will grow cold, they will long to have their ears tickled, there will be a one world government, a one world currency, Christians will be persecuted and martyred. All of these things are falling into place. We are fast forwarding toward a prophetic future predicted thousands of years ago. 

People call wrong right and right wrong. Evil is celebrated and flaunted publicly while righteousness is condemned as prudish and outdated. Christians are mocked and Jesus is blasphemed. The commands of God are cast out of the government and schools. The wicked have risen to power while the church sleeps. The enemy advances while the army of God retreats in powerless cowardice. 

I have never been burdened for this country. I seldom sleep through a whole night anymore. God awakens me to stand on the walls to intercede. To plead for repentance and the spiritual awakening of the masses. Ez 22:30 and Is 62:6-7 grip my soul. I cannot do nothing. I can do nothing greater than to intercede and tell sinners about my Savior. I feel like I am striving against the current of this evil culture. Going against the grain. Swimming upstream against a the rapid rise of evil. 

We can turn the tide. If the church of God really takes our admonition from Ez 22:30 and Is 62:6-7 seriously. While evil rises rapidly, may the intercessions of the saints rise more rapidly. America is too young to die! 

Ravenhill wrote in his book about a famous intercessor named Rees Howells. Howell's widow told Ravenhill about her husband spending eleven straight months praying 12 hours a day for a burden God gave him. Ravenhill's widow testified in a biography about the late Ravenhill that he would get up around midnight and pray four hours and then return to bed. He slept for awhile and then got up and prayed another four hours daily during the day. If the tide is going to turn it is going to take more devoted intercessors. Will you take your post on the watches of your community and country. Will you offer prayerful resistance to the rapid rise of evil?