This past year the Atlanta Journal-Constitution gave a summary of the world's current conflicts. The areas of conflict were Sudan, Tibet, Rwanda, Angola, Somalia, Liberia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Indonesia, Algeria, Sri Lanka, Dhechnya, Turkey, Nagorno-Karabakh, Kashmir, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Sierra Leone, Northern Ireland, Kosovo, and Haiti. In recent years, the death toll for these countries totaled more than 6 million people caused by civil wars, human rights violations, ethic cleansings, border disputes, etc. These are troubled times to say the least. (AJC 4-25-99 sect. C) This same section carried a story titled "THE NEW WORLD ORDER: WAR" The article highlighted the book by Samuel Huntington of Harvard The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. He argues that during the cold war it was easy to shape foreign policy. The line was clearly drawn between capitalism and communism. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the growing tendency has been to divide more along cultural and religious roots - Western, Islamic, Confucian, Japanese, Latin American, Hindu and Eastern Orthodox. To illustrate this new way of viewing the world, the Balkans have backgrounds in three great civilizations: Western, Islamic and Eastern Orthodox. Following Tito's rule, the hope of a unified Yugoslavia ended. The long standing divisions once again became the way of life. The United States is not exempt from this growing trend. The future population makeup indicates the following: 2.5 million people will be added per year. 60% will come from the birth rate outgrowing the death rate. The other 40% will come from immigrat ion. The outlook is for fewer whites, more blacks and man y more Hispanics and Asians. By 2020 the Hispanic population will nearly double. At that time 36% of Americans will be minorities, up from the current 28%. Sometime after 2050 non-Hispanic whites will be the minority. ( The Kiplinger Washington Letter, 1 2-23-98). \par \par The trend is diversity and multiculturalism. It has been reported that President Bill Clinton has said we have had two great revolutions in this country; (1. Independence from England and the ( 2.War Between the States. He now sees the th ird as being (3. the reduction of whites to a minority. He looks forward to the challenge to see if we can live without having a dominant European culture. (Am. Ren. May, 99, p.6.) \par \par If the above statistics are even close to being true, this country could see an intensification of racial and ethnic conflict. A lot of attention needs to be given to this area. The gospel of Jesus Christ and credible understanding of New Testament Theo logy allows no place for discrimination and predjuice of any kind. Oh how we need a movement of God in this changing, modern technological society. Unless we see a genuine movement of God based on the teachings of Christ from the New Testament, hatred could become the order of the day in this country.

I recently read an interesting article in the outstanding weekly publication, Human Events. (May 5, 2000, p.14) The article was written by Walter Williams. Dr. Williams is no stranger to any person with any interest in what is happening in the world today. He is a syndicated columnist, and professor of economics at George Mason University. He summarized a study by the Heritage Foundation titled the 2000 Index of Economic Freedom. The nations of the world are ranked by the amount of economic freedom that particular country enjoys. Factors included to determine freedom were: trade policy, fiscal burden of government, intervention of government in economic matters, monetary policy, property rights, etc. The countries with the most economic freedom are Hong Kong, Singapore and New Zealand. Bahrain, Luxembourg and the United States are tied for fourth. Ireland, Australia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom are among those rounding out the list. The other categories were: (1. mostly free, (2. mostly unfree and (3. repressed. The repressed countries included North Korea, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Cuba, Congo, Laos, Iran, Angola, plus 14 other countries.

What were the most frequently asked questions in Escatology in the 1990's? There are ten that top the list.

• What is the role of the United States in Bible Prophecy?

• Is it not foolish to speculate about the end times?

• What about the rights of the Palestinians?
• Is the Antichrist alive today?

• Should we resist the trend toward Globalism?

• Will the church go through the tribulation?

• Should the church be concerned about nuclear weapons?

• Are computers bad?

• What is the most significant sign in regard to the end of the world.

• Will Jesus return before AD 2000?

  (See The End by Ed Dobson, p. 165.)

One thing for sure; we are seeing a lot of teaching that tries to motivate the audience to action. Much of this leads to support for the ministry. I do not mean that in a negative context. I doubt most of us realize the enormous cost of doing ministry through the media. I try to support a number of these ministries realizing the tremendous amount of good being done.

I am concerned about one thing that is glaringly evident both in the church and other ministries. It seems to me, most ministries today do not have a good handle on what God was really doing in the Incarnation. The understanding of NT grace is lacking and almost embarrassing.

My life was so empty, so aimless and lost

I muddled through the meaningless hours

I prayed for a way to find purpose and joy

But I knew that my prayer had no power

Finally exhausted I fell at his feet

There I heard His sweet voice call to me

Chorus*

I seemed surrounded with sorrow and pain

The ones I loved were always in need

When I gave it my best it was never enough

Broken, failures were all I could see

In desperation, I cried out His name

And He reached down His hand in the night

*Chorus

I found God's grace sufficient

to meet my every need

I was in search of a way to go free

But God's grace was sufficient for me

A great scholar says it this way, "Many today do not understand the real nature of grace. They do not understand that God is capable of generously loving men and women who are ultimate disappointments to Him." ( Hodges Absolutely Free- p.119)

There is simply too much teaching today that links man's effort, obedience or something else to salvation. It is by grace...God's grace that is sufficient. We need nothing more to gain salvation. As a result of that salvation, we should be moved to a position of complete trust in the one and the only one that can provide what we cannot provide for ourselves.

The words of Donald Baillie are as relevant today as when he penned them many years ago. He calls it the paradox of grace. To each of us that has experienced the grace of God in our lives, we simply take no credit. It is His working of grace in us. To those outside His grace, they only can point to their own works, outright rejection or indifference to His grace. We are not saved by any works we do. Unbelievers are completely condemned by their works...These lead to a dead end street. Why? Because God's grace is sufficient for me.