By Marv Rosenthal
Wonderful World?
In 1954, popular recording artist Peggy Lee recorded a song titled “It’s a Big, Wide, Wonderful World.” In the same year, entertainer Dean Martin recorded the same song for the film “3-Ring Circus.”
In 1954, “It’s a Big, Wide, Wonderful World” became a popular cliché. I remember it well because that was the year I enlisted in the Marine Corps. I was such an incurable romantic that I was certain it was a “Big, Wide, Wonderful World” we lived in.
That year, I put a lot of nickels in the juke box to listen to that song. And the hero of life, I was certain, rode off into the sunset with the beautiful woman on his arm to live in a perfect world. My wife will tell you, in some ways, I am still an incurable romantic.
It took the passing of many years, theological training, and pastoral and missionary experience to realize that it is not a “Big, Wide, Wonderful World” we live in. There are wonderful people to enjoy, wonderful places to see, wonderful things to experience, and wonderful goals to strive for.
I am still a romantic, but that romantic trait is now guarded by reality and truth. And the truth is, it is not a “Big, Wide, Wonderful World” we live in. It was created wonderful by Jesus, but sin entered in the Garden of Eden, and it became a terribly blighted world.
- If you don’t believe me, visit a hospital.
- If you don’t believe me, drive by a cemetery.
- If you don’t believe me, speak to a woman whose husband has abandoned her.
- If you don’t believe me, explain why an elderly loved one is losing his memory.
- If you don’t believe me, talk to a couple who had their heart broken by a wayward child.
- If you don’t believe me, tell me why millions are cold, hungry, alone, and without shelter.
- If you don’t believe me, erase from our history books the accounts of marching armies who throughout time have killed multitudes.
- If you don’t believe me, justify wicked leaders, carnivorous animals, and so-called natural calamities like hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, and epidemics.
Satan’s System
Do I have to go on for you? It is not a “Big, Wide, Wonderful World” we live in. When the Word of God says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son” (John 3:16), God did not love the world (humanity) because we were lovable. He loved us by His grace so that through faith – while we were in a lost, helpless, and very unlovable state – we could still be redeemed.
The “world” of which I am speaking is the cosmos (from the Greek kosmos). By definition, the cosmos – since the fall of Adam and Eve – is “an ordered system headed by Satan.” Satan is the god of this world. The term worldliness can be defined as an ordered system (cosmos) headed by Satan when it leaves God out of the equation. To illustrate:
- There is nothing wrong with going to college, but if a young person chooses to go to college and the choice is done without seeking God’s direction, it is worldliness.
- There is nothing wrong with finding a mate, but if you choose a mate without seeking God’s direction in the choice, it is worldliness.
- There is nothing wrong with searching for a church in which to worship, grow, and serve, but if you choose one without seeking God’s direction, it is worldliness.
- There is nothing wrong with finding a job, buying a car, or purchasing a new home, but if you do these things without seeking God’s direction in the choice, it is worldliness.
Again, worldliness is participation in a world (cosmos) system headed by Satan when God’s will is left out of the decision making.
When I was a young believer, I was told by loving, caring, and mature believers that I was sinning by going to the movies, dancing, smoking, drinking, playing cards, and necking (if you do not know what that last term means, you are not old enough for me to define it for you now).
I only mention these to make the point that to focus on these kinds of issues alone represents a shallow explanation of worldliness. It is far deeper than that.
Every human being since the time of Adam and Eve has been born into the midst of a battlefield. On one side is God the Father, His Son Jesus the Christ, and the Holy Spirit. With them is perfect light, eternal life, endless joy, and enduring peace.
On the other side is Satan, and eventually his progeny the Antichrist, and the false prophet. On that side is fearful darkness, unending death, perpetual sadness, and ceaseless turmoil.
John Oxenham, a 19th century poet, wrote these haunting words for a poem he titled “The Way.” Here is what he wrote:
To every man there openeth
A Way, and Ways, and a Way,
And the High Soul climbs the High Way,
And the Low Soul gropes the Low,
And in between, on the misty flats,
The rest drift to and fro.
But to every man there openeth
A High Way, and a Low.
And every man decideth
The way his soul shall go.
Walking With Our King
Some may suggest the poem emphasizes too much human responsibility. Others may
call for an emphasis on more Divine sovereignty. I leave the final word on that for others to decide.
This I know in the deepest recesses of my heart: “Whosoever will may come.” The war is raging. It is between more than impersonal things such as good and evil or right and wrong. It is between God and Satan, and the eternal destiny of souls is on the line. There is nothing more sacred.
I believe that the flames of this conflict will continue roar higher and higher. Perhaps it will be in preparation for the Last Days. I believe Satan knows the end is coming and he is running out of time. And he knows he is going to be assigned to the pit of fire at Christ’s second coming.
How do we live for Christ in these challenging days? We can only do so by walking with our all-powerful, loving King. If you have never turned from your sin and trusted Christ as your Savior, I plead with you to do it quickly.
If you have already done so, I pray for you what I pray for myself: “May I be diligently searching, through prayer and Bible study, for God’s perfect will for my life, family, and ministry on a daily basis.”
The pilgrimage with Christ is always exciting and challenging. The final destination will be worth it all.
Marv Rosenthal, founder and President of Zion’s Hope, was an acclaimed international Bible teacher for more almost 6 decades.
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