And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us”. Luke 16:26
If you’re living in the 20th / 21st century in the West you likely have directly experienced the phenomenon of the reset button.
Whether it’s computer hardware, a device or software there is always a reset button. A reset button is a button, either physical or virtual, that restores a device, system, or process to its initial or default state, often by restarting it or clearing data. When a device malfunctions, freezes, or a user wants to revert to its original settings, pressing a reset button can fix the issue.
The reset button is the Last Resort in order to set something right- back to its original function. Indeed, it is a two-edged sword because it removes all the custom settings that made it convenient but it does restore the pure function of the item. Most of us have experienced the need for this little button at some point in our daily lives and activities.
The “reset button” for Christianity in the West has now been pushed by the Holy Spirit of God in this decade. It is tearing down and erasing the many convenient compromises, bypasses and overrides that our culture has so carefully cultivated into the church of Jesus Christ in the West. It would seem that our cultured and tailored Christian walk has made many/most of us look just like the world. Jesus will have none of that preceding His return. His church throughout the earth everywhere will be a reflection of the early church of totally committed disciples willing to die for their faith and more. Acts 2:42-47
Without going into an essay on the departure of the Western church from the pure gospel and teachings of Jesus, most people, even casual Christians may recognize many of the symptoms. Suffice it to say that the great Falling Away (2 Thes 2:3) in the West in our current generation of up to 70% of professing Christians from active community fellowship/church participation says it all.
The church in the West has embarked on many variations of church and community life to stimulate revival and restoration – to limited effect. Granted there are many shortcomings in the present expression of the Body of Christ. However as sincere as many of these efforts are they are insufficient to restore the fundamental truth that a disciple of Christ must lay down, sometimes literally, his life. Christians in the Western hemisphere generally have not and have never experienced a society that demands such sacrifice from Christians. This is enabled by the infilling of the Holy Spirit regardless of the state of the local church. And such infilling will change the impact of the believer and church in the world.
Consider the ultimate Christian pattern of life revealed in Matthew 5:1-12 in the 9 Beatitudes. Every believer has opportunities almost daily to walk in the blessings described by the first seven Spirit life patterns: poor in spirit, peacemaker, merciful, hunger for righteousness, etc. And yes, many blessings follow from such a walk – righteousness, peace and joy (Rom 14:17).
But this present western church has never lived in a society in which the conditions needful for the last two blessings are now ubiquitous, but which blessings have become critical for us to persevere in steadfastness until His return:
– Blessed are you who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,
– Blessed are you when men revile and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so they persecuted the prophets which were before you. Matt 5:11-12
The Great Chasm and the Great Reset
The Last Resort for His church in the West is the “reset button” pressed by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself who builds His church:
Something happened at the beginning of the decade of 2020. The pandemic stripped the veil off Western society and revealed the great chasm that has been building for decades between those walking in the light and those walking in darkness. Simmering antagonism and outright hatred began to be fully expressed in attacks and challenges against Christians’ belief and walk in life often under the guise of “for the greater good”. Since then, the chasm between righteousness and unrighteousness has become even greater. Consider the fulfilment of the biblical truth of “evil is called good” and “good is called evil” in almost every single arena of society today! Because “they did not receive a love of the truth” there has been unleased a deceiving spirit throughout the land that “they may believe a lie” so that judgement will come. 2 Thes 2:11-12 No one on the fence anymore. Everyone is moving spiritually “all in” into righteousness or unrighteousness.
Since 2020 western society has been clearly revealed as having two disparate and incompatible World Views: that of Jesus Christ and that of the world. There is a committed remnant of active believing Christ-loving Christians who are living in the light. On the other side of the chasm there is a larger portion of people living ignorantly or intentionally in the darkness with a view toward imposing their brand of unrighteousness on all people. And in between those two clearly defined minority segments are a majority of uncommitted fence sitting people still in the widening chasm who have not yet chosen/committed to whom they will serve.
Included in the last group are many unsaved and many, many dropout believers. A dropout is a believer who has willfully disconnected his/herself from any meaningful connection to a local church community. In the final times we are rapidly approaching, this is a fatal mistake and sin. Such isolated believers cannot stand against the coming darkness alone. Proverbs 18:1 Matt 24:12
The era of fence sitting morality is quickly coming to an end. The Lord’s heart is for those to choose righteousness (or unrighteousness) with no ambiguity, for judgment indeed will come. Rev 3:15-16.
And what will it take to bring these to such an eternal decision?
Trouble, tribulation, trials and distress have been prominent throughout the Old and New Testament history of man. This is especially true in this critical time. God is disciplining his (Western) Church to bring them back to Him in pure and holy love stripped of cultural Christianity. And in this process many unsaved shall also choose righteousness. And so, both will be delivered from the widening chasm into the eternal remaining two groups.
As one of my favorite pastors always says in his prophetic teachings:
“Things are getting better and better, worse and worse, faster and faster. ”
until Jesus returns. I daresay you can take that one to the bank, as an old Texas saying goes.
The Call to the committed active Christian remnant:
I exhort you to engage those dropout believers whom God has placed on your heart and restore them with a powerful strategy from the Lord. Proverbs 24:11-12
The Call to those dropout believers on the fence:
Discard the deceitful rationales for your absence from the Body of Christ. Forgive where necessary and return to your first love found in His Body – His Church. Choose righteousness now. His mercy and grace are more than sufficient for you to come alive again. Rev 3.1
After the Great Reset
For the western church, the continuing reset of “cultured” Christianity back to the pure gospel of love and faith in Christ across the rest of this decade will result, yes, in persecution(death?) but also in brilliant spiritual light that will draw many, many lost and many dropout believers into a bold life testimony to usher in His return. We will not love our life unto death but rather lay down our life for His sake and for the love of all men. Its happening now!
MARANATHA! Rev 22:20
Louis Posthauer is the founder of Hunters of the Harvest, a ministry focused on equipping the local church to reach and restore dropout believers. Louis consults with pastors and church leaders to mobilize their congregation with a biblical strategy to reach the dropout believer. He has been in ministry for over 46 years and currently serves as a deacon and teacher at Calvary Community Church in Houston. To find out more about developing relationships of restoration with the Hunters strategy see more here.
