The journey of the wise men to Bethlehem marks one of the precious events surrounding the historical story of the birth of Christ. Matthew 2:1 declares, “Behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.” Who these wise men were and what they believed have been the conjecture of various writers over the past two millennia. Although difficult to accurately resolve, some information about these men and the star that guided them is more reliable than other.

Luke 2:7 states, “And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.” Ancient tradition places the birthplace of our Lord in a cave, for caves were used as stables in most countries with rocky terrain. The Greek word for inn is kataluma, denoting the simplest of inns. It is similar to a Syrian khan—a refuge from thieves, a shelter from the heat and dust, a place where a man and his beasts may lodge, where a trader may sell his wares, and a pilgrim may slake his thirst. However, in such inns the visitor had to do everything for himself.

Seventeen years ago I wrote this article in my father’s home as he was in the final throes of Lou Gehrig’s disease. Since the writing of this article, the Foundations Ministry has broken off its identification with the Fundamentalist movement, though we still strongly identify ourselves with the Fundamentals of the Christian Faith and its historic identification with ecclesiastical separation from the apostasy. As a movement, historic Fundamentalism is now dead, finding itself flowing into the mainstream of “Neo-Evangelicalism” in the transitional cloak of “Neo-Fundamentalism.” Fundamentalism left its historic legacy and distinct declaration of biblical Christianity and now has been assimilated into the polluted river of Neo-Christianity.

The term cultural revolution identifies one of the greatest controlling influences upon humanity over the past one hundred years. Over the past fifty years this manipulative revolution throughout the fabric of society has accelerated. We must take a moment at the outset of this article to unfold the breadth and far-reaching magnitude of this term, for increasingly in our contemporary it has become all-encompassing as far as man’s hopes for the future.

In God’s providence, the Protestant Reformation was the movement that brought the public message of the church back to the soundness and absoluteness of the Scriptures. This important belief reestablished that the fundamental doctrines of the Christian Faith are based upon supremacy of the Word of God alone. Through the centuries leading up to the Reformation, Roman Catholicism’s apostasy had destroyed the Scriptures’ public effectualness.

Coming to the end of the nineteenth century, mankind began to anticipate that the twentieth century would be the century of hope for which man for thousands of years had been looking. In fact, the 1800s eagerly predicted that the twentieth century was almost guaranteed to be the century to usher in peace; it was prophetically called the “Christian Century.” This optimism was soon shattered by the ominous tensions that led to World War I. This bloodbath event brought a rude awakening to the continued reality of the true sinful nature of humanity.

In these days of the demise of principles in every compartment of humanity as well as the abounding of iniquity (lawlessness) in every precinct of life, how should a Christian live? In this dark hour in history, we believe this most important and crucial question demands an answer. Ezekiel 33:10 has asked this question, “How should we then live?” These next two issues of Straightway will consider how we should live concerning six specific contexts that control the End Time in which we live.

One crucial key in the burden of the demise of sound thinking is realizing the world has a different mindset today from all previous centuries of thought. For nearly two thousand years, Western civilization has embraced linear logic and reason, advocating absolutes of thesis and antithesis and rejecting the blending together of opposites. The Greek metaphysical philosophers did much to establish this approach. This logic was built upon the premise of law, order, design, purpose, and beauty and the reality of right and wrong, truth and error, as well as both the distinction and the separation of such thesis and antithesis.

Christ warned us that the time of His coming would be as the days of Noah and Lot—both their generations abounded in immorality. Although the days of Noah abounded with immorality between male and female, the days of Lot were noted for the rise of immoralities between male and male. Particularly, Christ called attention to the sodomite cities with which Lot had become identified. Paul deals strongly with this great sin in Romans 1 and in 1 Corinthians 6; the epistle by Jude calls this sin “strange flesh.” In the demise of morals of the End Time, how will these powerful sins of the flesh affect the consciousness of our young men becoming true men of God?

For Christians whose lives are exclusively based on the Scriptures, the days in which we live have become increasingly difficult to face because practically everything is being forcibly redefined. The world’s philosophy, its perspective of life, has been redefined even amidst a terminology of so-called political conservatism. Postmodernism has become an intellectual disease that virally plagues Western civilization. The past perspectives of conservatism in contrast with socialism have no viability for these times. So-called conservatism has become increasingly sympathetic and compromising with liberalism; socialism has been cosmetically redefined as the next natural step in democracy. Our nation’s foundational Republic government and its Constitution have been carefully and selectively discarded to reposition our country toward a redefined post-America existence.

How clear the message of Christianity was in its beginning, both in power and purity! The Book of Acts commences revealing that on the Day of Pentecost Peter stood with the Apostles and was anointed by the Holy Spirit to preach with clarity the Gospel. This clear Gospel brought heart conviction to three thousand souls, leading them to repentance and to the acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah. The Book of Acts also reveals how Peter and John stood before the Sanhedrin Court to witness to the power of God in healing a lame man.

Today we have assembled in the Whitefield Sanctuary to honor a dear man whose life has been part of the fabric woven by providence into this precious ministry known as Foundations. He was affectionately known among us as Dr. Ausdenmoore. Though he had been in declining health in the more recent years, his infirmities worsened in the last three weeks of his life, with God calling him home to heaven on March 23rd.

The swearing in of our 45th president is the providential appointment of this man for this country at this time; his tenure may prove to be a global epoch of end-time leadership. An epoch is marked by a person, an event, or a new mood that commences an era of strong influence in history. Much of the time, the providential reason for an epoch is only made clear upon later reflection that reveals its evidences and influences upon later ages. Some epochs are distinguished by specific events or personalities that seem to clearly capture the meaning and purpose of such a God-appointed epoch. God’s people often can discern that such an event or person was of epoch importance in history.

A new year for our nation has commenced with a new president sworn into the highest office of the land. An honest State of the Union address would reveal that our country is suffering under filthy lucre, demonic powers of chaos, abundance of strange and fleshly sins, a love for evil, and a pervading hatred for righteousness. In more recent years, both visible and invisible political and religious powers have increasingly endeavored to suppress and thwart any semblance of righteousness in the earth. Those who try to take a stand for truth become open prey to the sharks and wolves that have marked their territory of political possession. While ISIS has been planting its “sleeper cells” of terrorism throughout our country, the legacy of “obamination” has entrenched itself throughout the US government with its own carefully-planted sleeper cells awaiting an appointed time to do greater damage to the American hope. May God have mercy upon us as we witness iniquitous vultures pick clean the bones of any remaining legacy of decency.

Our previous article drew from the early prophecies of Daniel 7 revealing the “beasts” that came out of an aggravated sea. Regarding the fourth beast, it was noted that a final semi-colon set apart the phrase, “and it had ten horns.” These ten horns Daniel saw are identical in meaning to the ten toes of Nebuchadnezzar’s vision (Daniel 2). These “ten horns” prophetically cast us into the Tribulation Period, where nations of the earth (amidst great perplexities) unify in a confederation of ten simply to survive all that is transpiring through the Lord’s judgments upon the earth.

Luke 2:7 states, “And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.” Ancient tradition places the birthplace of our Lord in a cave, for caves were used as stables in most countries with rocky terrain. The Greek word for inn is kataluma, denoting the simplest of inns. It is similar to a Syrian khan—a refuge from thieves, a shelter from the heat and dust, a place where a man and his beasts may lodge, where a trader may sell his wares, and a pilgrim may slake his thirst. However, in such inns the visitor had to do everything for himself.

The journey of the wise men to Bethlehem marks one of the precious events surrounding the historical story of the birth of Christ. Matthew 2:1 declares, “Behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.” Who these wise men were and what they believed have been the conjecture of various writers over the past two millennia. Although difficult to accurately resolve, some information about these men and the star that guided them is more reliable than other.

The revival of Romanism in our times initially can be attributed to the modernistic changes that took place in Vatican II in the early 1960s and to the medium of the Charismatic movement in the early 1970s. One of the side effects of Romanism’s revival is the popularizing of their subtle, anti-biblical presentation of the virgin Mary. This Romanist picture of the virgin Mary is fast becoming a prominent belief among Protestants.

“The powers that be are ordained of God” (Rom. 13:1). These are the words of the apostle Paul as he unfolded his burden on the authority of government in the earth. He designated government as “higher powers.” The Scriptures are definitively replete with the declaration of God’s divine appointment of governments that control people and nations. Men, families, cities, nations, kingdoms, and empires have always been found under some concept of government since the fall of man. God has ordained civil government both for restraining evil and for promoting righteousness for the benefit of the people. With this intent God requires that men obey those powers that are over them (Rom. 13:1–7; 1 Pet. 2:13, 14). When there is no government, anarchy rules because of the sin and selfishness of fallen man. Therefore, the true role of government is to maintain peace and order in this wicked world, to punish evil, and to reward righteousness.

In the previous article, the dream of Nebuchadnezzar revealed a panoramic history of the times of the Gentiles (the Day of Man) that began with Nebuchadnezzar. This rule of the Gentiles in the earth is to continue through the last attempt of world government under the man of sin, Antichrist. Although the times of the Gentiles began with Nebuchadnezzar, his dream was concerned more with the latter days. This history represented in Daniel 2’s image is a perspective through the hopeful thoughts of man, believing that history would ascend into a utopia of continued greatness. However, God’s revelation to Nebuchadnezzar revealed a downward course, a devolving, from gold to brittle clay, burnt potter’s clay, the worst of clay. Only in Daniel 7 are we given the prophet’s perspective where man’s rule of the world is beastly and senseless. At the end of man’s governmental history, a full judgment falls upon the entirety of Gentile governments: a stone out of heaven descends upon the image, smiting its feet, causing the image to implode, and pulverizing the image to powder.