The first message Jesus preached was of repentance (Mat 4:17). Actually John came before Jesus preaching repentance (Mat 3:1,2). No one can be saved until they see the need for repentance - their need for God.
Most people worship the false god of government whom they trust for their health, their wealth, their security and their future. Before people will change gods they must see the need to.
Accordingly:
→ The welfare state must collapse.
→ The social support organizations must collapse.
→ The secular educational system must collape
→ The corporate giants must be dissolved.
Why? Because they are idols that people come to worship rather than God.
If this sounds harsh and unnecessary just look at history, especially Biblical history.
→ God destroyed unrepentant people in the Flood
→ God destroyed unrepentant Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone
→ God destroyed unrepentant Tyre and Sidon through Nebuchadnezzar and Alexander
→ God destroyed unrepentant Israel through Titus
→ God destroyed unrepentant Rome through dissipation and the Gospel
→ God will destroy the great harlot of revelation.
As long as people are content they will not seek God nor will they respond to the message of repentance.
Drug use, perverse lifestyles, atheism, suicide, murders, etc. will continue to increase as long as there are godless support systems to enable them.
Every institution that leaves God out of it needs to be destroyed. Actually, that is what will happen when Jesus returns. He will not only destroy the wicked but also the institutions they contrived to circumvent God.
"You can't have your cake and eat it too."
Either believers take back their government and rule the nation through Kingdom principles or there will be less and less opportunities to share our message and there will be more and more deaf ears in the populace.
Will We Repent?
Repentance does not just mean giving a nod to God. It is recognizing our total incapacity to rule ourselves. It is recognizing the void that is in us that can only be filled by our creator.
Jesus never chased anyone to bring them to God. He simply taught them the Kingdom principles and healed the sick and set the captive free as they came to Him.
Jesus did these things where the people were. He did not build a building and try to fill it.
As we look at the prophetic scriptures we see the world at the End Of The Age being just like it was in the days of Noah.
Noah preached for 100 years and had no converts outside his immediate family.
I agree that this is a very pessimistic outlook.
But there is no precedent for expecting, nor is there any reason to expect, massive repentance from a people who are well off.
We must pray that the seeds of our rebellion as a society produce a catastrophe leaving people to cry out to God. (This is exactly what happens in the Great Tribulation. The godless systems begin to implode along with a corresponding upheaval of nature).
Jesus told the people toward the end of His 3 1/2 year ministry of love, light, healing and deliverance that except they repent they will all likewise perish (Luk 13:3) .
You would think that our Lord would have been able to convert the whole nation of Israel. But they were doing well enough under Roman rule and Judaism so that there was no need for God.
We cannot save anyone who does not want to be saved.
We cannot heal anyone who does not believe (Heb 11:6).
Just as God is limited by His gift of Free Will to each man, so are we.
Our reasonable expectation to see converts is through personal witnessing and, more specifically, through personal ministry.
What is the difference?
→ To witness is to speak of our Lord.
→ To minister is to do His works.
We must be able to heal the sick and set the captive free (Joh 14:12) .
Jesus did the works He did by the power of the Holy Spirit and faith in God.
We have the same Holy Spirit but do we have the same faith in God?
Do we believe that as Sons Of God we have the power and authority to act like Jesus?
If we don't, we won't...and we haven't.
What enabled Paul to minister the Gospel with power?
→ He knew in whom he believed.
→ He knew who he was In Christ.
→ He was a living sacrifice.
→ He had the Mind Of Christ.
Just as Jesus was an example of the believer, so was Paul and so we must be.
It is such people who will be as effective as possible in a perverse world to bring about repentance and healing in the hungry, the sick and the broken-hearted.