There is an old saying "He who laughs last laughs best" This saying may also be applied to what is happening today in our churches and what the Bible says will happen in the future.
Today the world is laughing at Christians. And well they may. They see a people with many flaws, living for the things of the world but all the while claiming to be Christian. They see our marriages failing, our young people in rebellion against their parents. They see quarreling and divisions among us. We say one thing but do another. So as we look at ourselves, we realize that many of their accusations are true!
As we bow our heads in shame and say "Guilty", we remember that Peter said "Judgment must begin in the house of God" (I Pe.4:17). God is not punishing us, He is simply removing His hedge of protection from around us so that the natural consequences of our sins will take place. Jesus prays to the Father for us night and day (Rom.8:34 & Heb.7:25), but if we continually and wilfully reject God's ways, He has no other choice than to allow judgment to fall to help us become the glorious church Christ wants (Eph.5:27).
Both the Old and New Testaments warn of the serious nature of idolatry (I Sam.5:23 & Gal.5:20). Idolatry is worshiping an idol, and anything which becomes more important to us than God is an idol. Some who call themselves Christian worship Money, but Jesus said it was not possible to worship both God and Money (Matt.6:24 NIV). Many place their selfish interests ahead of God, thereby making Self a God to solve the world's problems with their human wisdom. Such thinking is called secular humanism, and it originated when Eve wanted to be "like God knowing good and evil" (Gen.3:5).
Not only have church people been guilty of idolatry, some have even begun to dabble in witchcraft which is also forbidden in I Sam.15:23 and Gal.5:20. They read the horoscope, they play with ouija boards, and go to fortune-tellers and psychics. Their children play with toys and watch cartoons birthed in hell itself. Because of the church's backslidden condition and the resulting loss of God's power, they looked to these occult practices for evidence of the supernatural. Of course they found power, but did not realize that the power is that of Satan, not God, and is very dangerous.
A great repentance has fallen on the Christian church as members are realizing they must change their ways. The Apostle Peter tells us what we can expect to happen and what Christians should do about it (II Pe.3).
If we, the church, are suffering because of the sins we have committed, the world had better not laugh. Their judgment is yet to come, and our judgment is nothing compared to what theirs will be. Peter said, "Judgment must begin at the house of God, and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God" (I Pe.4:17)?
The Book of Revelation explains what the end of unbelieving man will be. Death, wars, famine, and pestilences will destroy much of the human race (Rev.8:17), amd at one point even suicide will be impossible (Rev.9:6).
Christians have the promise that if they possess the spiritual fortitude to be overcomers in the days which lie ahead, they will not be here to laugh when judgment falls on an unrepentant world (I Thess.5:9). In any case, we would not enjoy laughing at the misery of others even if they brought it upon themselves.
Although we would not want the last laugh, let us find comfort in this truism of the last laugh as the world laughs at the turmoil within our churches.
© 1999, Doreen Palmer