Disneyland Is Closed, Folks
“The Happiest Place On Earth”
That's what they say. I have been to the Disney park in Florida. I do not remember if I ever was at the one in California. Some of my grandchildren live close enough to a Disney park to go there regularly, if they can. It's a ton of fun. That's the good news. Now the bad news. I don't know how to say this.
It's Not Real
I'm sorry. Mice and chipmunks do not really talk. Teacups and elephants do not really fly through the air. But we all know that. We just want to believe it for a few hours. Suppose that a person were locked in an amusement park for years. Eventually, the fantasy would start to become reality. At least, reality for that person.
I was born in the United States. I went to the same school system that most people have. I was raised in a good generic evangelical church. I know how most of my friends and neighbors think.
My wife and I have been married for 47 years. Someone asked me about my secret for having a long marriage. I told him there are 3 things:
1. I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
2. My wife has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
I was going to leave it there but the man said, “Yes, what was the 3rd thing?”
3. We spent the formative years of our marriage outside of the United States.
I do not think he wanted to hear that last one.
Being a missionary and an internationally traveling minister really gave me a different perspective on many things. Actually, it began a little earlier when God was preparing my heart to serve outside of my country. Being in areas where the veil between the material and spirit dimensions seem to be a little thinner has given me an awareness of something startling. It is not at all my intention to irritate or insult anyone but I have seen that Christian life in the US is not reality. This is a fantasy world, an opium den of half-comatose victims who are asleep to spiritual realities.
It Is Not Real Life
Sure, we have to be involved in mowing the yard, going to work or school, and planning ahead for future possibilities. We are floating in an open cesspool of evil in a larger battleground with an enemy that will destroy you if he can find any entrance to your life. Thankfully, God lets this reality be shielded from most of our everyday awareness or we would not be able to function at all.
I am not an America basher. I believe my country was a God-inspired idea in the 1700s destined to be a friend to ancient Israel that would be reconstituted later.
I am not totally sure how but Naturalism has overtaken the Western Church. Basically, this is the idea that if I can't eat a thing or have sex with it, it is not real. I'm ruined because I got to see the Grace of God up close. If I had not followed the urging to go see other nations, I would probably have the same world-view or reality-view that most people today have. I know that many do not want to hear it but I have to warn people that we stand to be very unkindly jolted out of sleep, soon.
We have been able to sort of float by with a naturalistic world-view in America. But the day is long past when we are going to have to recognize spiritual realities. The things that Jesus taught and that the Apostles said in the Scriptures are going to have to be taken seriously.
My wife used to work overnights at a Wal*Mart. When closing time approached, someone over the loudspeaker would start to give warning that they were closing soon. It was 10 minutes, then 5 minutes to closing. Then it was 5 minutes after closing, then 10 minutes and so on throughout the night.
Contrast that with what a friend from high school told me. He was in a giant sporting goods store when someone announced, “We're closed” and out went the lights! Late shoppers had to grope their way out of the store in the dark.
Be very aware of the real reality around you because ...
Sorry, Folks. Disneyland is closed.
Sept 17, 2025