The passages
below have something in common. Can you guess what
it is? If not, then I’m fairly sure, as you read on
presupposing I’ve done my job properly here, you’ll
soon discover the answer.
2 Corinthians
4.3: “But
if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are
lost.”
John 12.40: “He
hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart;
that they should not see with their eyes, nor
understand with their heart, and be converted, and I
should heal them.”
2 Thessalonians
2.7-12: “For
the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he
who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of
the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed,
whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his
mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his
coming:
Even him, whose coming is
after the working of Satan with all power and signs
and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of
righteousness in them that perish; because they
received not the love of the truth, that they might
be saved.
And for this cause God
shall send them strong delusion, that they should
believe a lie: That they all might be damned who
believed not the truth, but had pleasure in
unrighteousness.”
Today is June
27, 2013, one day after the Supreme Court gave more
legal protections and rights to those living a
homosexual lifestyle that the Bible unequivocally
defines as contrary to God’s will. In recent polls,
it has been stated that some 57% percent of
Americans now think, that’s just fine. And why
shouldn’t they when most of the major denominations
of Protestantism itself believe and preach the same
thing?
As I write
this article, I find my premise that America’s days
are truly numbered, reinforced every time I watch us
abandon the God and His standards upon which this
nation was founded. And upon which its strength was
derived. But it goes even beyond that, as the other
nations of Western civilization are going the very
same route.
The truth of the
matter is that this moral inversion is not limited
toward the acceptance of the sexual deviancy of
homosexuality, but a broad-spectrum decline overall.
I have often said that one can get a quick idea of a
society by looking at what it chooses for
entertainment. Among other diversions, Rome had its
brutal gladitorial exhibitions and drunken bacchanalias.
Greece had
its sporting events, performed by naked athletes.
America has its television and movies characterized
by senseless violence, illicit sex between both the
opposite and same genders, its modern music which
often glorifies violence toward authority figures
and women . . . well, unless you’ve been living on
Pluto the last couple of decades, these things you
already know.
A glimpse across
the pages of history reveals that ALL, not just
some, of the world’s great empires came from humble
beginnings, grew, flourished, and then declined,
some to the point of disappearing completely. Of
course, most were what we consider “heathen”
empires, totally removed from the true God who chose
to reveal Himself to Abraham and the sons of Jacob
who were his descendants. For them therefore to make
a wrong turn down a decadent and morally corrupt
path that characterized them all at the end of their
respective tenures is at least understandable.
What boggles
the mind is that this malady has fallen upon those
who were privy to God’s special attention. A reading
of the Bible soon reveals even those closest to God
often fell short of the mark. For the ancient
Israelites, their lack of faith cost them forty
years of extended wandering in the desert, and later
conquests and dispersions by the Assyrians,
Babylonians, Greeks, and Romans. Even after the
reigns of David and Solomon in which they had risen
to heights of power and influence has never again
been attained ever since. But the impact of the
Bible, which was transmitted through the Jews, has
reached across the ages to us today nevertheless.
Even though the
“rewriters” of history would just as soon have the
immense Judeo-Christian foundation upon which
Europe, and by extension the United States was
founded, the truth of the matter is that up until
present times, these societies and the moral and
legal framework upon which they were founded all
point back to the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17),
and what has become known as the Beatitudes
delivered by Jesus almost twenty centuries ago
(Matthew, chapters 5-7).
America, perhaps
the most God-blessed nation ever to exist since
human beings walked this Earth, has less excuse to
plead ignorance than any other civilization, except
perhaps Israel itself, which rose and fell over the
course of time because we have always had not only
our secular history books, but, most importantly,
God’s own history book to serve as our guide as to
how he would have his people live. The problem has
become that very few Christians bother to read the
Bible any more and even fewer, it would seem, even
believe in it. Again, why should they, when most of
the churches out there don’t believe in it either?
For example,
how many people really understand that the
principles God laid out for His chosen
people─Israel─are just as true today as they were
three millennia ago when he spelled it with the
amazing clarity in Deuteronomy, chapter 28.
Naturally, there are verses there specific to
Israel, but the general message is the same: Do
things God’s way and be blessed. Don’t do things
God’s way and be cursed. Do yourself a favor and set
aside some quiet time right now to read and ponder
this chapter. As you do, where do you think the
United States stacks up today?
Take a look
at our economic problems, the increasing severity of
the weather, the rise in crime and unrest, including
that of really heinous acts which capture the
headlines such as those against innocent families
and children in places like Cheshire and Sandy Hook,
Connecticut. That the magnitude and frequency of our
difficulties seem to be increasing proportionally as
our distancing of ourselves from God and his rules
for society seems hardly to be coincidental.
Now,
then, how does this all fit in with the opening
passages of this article?
Remember “The
Shadow?” This
was an old-time radio character from the 1930’s who
had the hypnotic ability to “cloud men’s minds” and
as such become effectively invisible to his
opponents. A modern movie version was produced in
1994 starring Alec Baldwin. Of course, this is all
fiction.
Yet even
today we have a real “Shadow” loose on earth, whose
name is Satan, with the same ability to cloud
people’s minds to the truth. In the 2 Thessalonians
passage above, the devil’s primary modus operandi is
that of deception, a tactic he has used with great
success from his first appearance in the opening
pages of Genesis to foster exactly the kind of
decades-long propaganda campaign, which the
homosexual lobby has used to convince the general
population and its leaders (both secular and
religious) that the kind of lifestyle which they
have willingly chosen to pursue is normal and
healthy.
Even if
science one day demonstrates some manner of
predisposition toward homosexuality, which as of
this writing it has not, this still does not excuse
one from exercising sound judgment in avoiding any
actions which exalt immorality and cause greater
illness and premature death to oneself, including
that of the alcoholic who continues to drink or the
drug addict to continue to take drugs to his or her
own peril, not to mention the corollary effects of
these actions upon their families, friends, and
society in general,
Amazingly,
the same people pushing to legislate the contents of
what we eat on the basis that such things as a high
sodium, fat, or sugar content are bad for us, have
paradoxically embraced a lifestyle proven to be
similarly, if not more injurious.
Unfortunately, this “shadowing” of a person or a
society’s ability to make reasoned decisions has
been a problem throughout human history, right from
the third chapter of Genesis, when Adam and Eve
effectively sublet this planet and our universe to
the devil, up to the present─and the worst is yet to
come. Satan will use this very ability to deceive,
to ultimately convince the majority of the human
race that the coming Antichrist is the actually the
messiah. He’s often done it before on a smaller
scale to empower truly evil men to hold their
nations in complete bondage producing the Hitlers,
Maos, Pol Pots, Khomeinis and all the other despots
who have darkened the pages of human history.
I believe
it has gotten to the point that people are not just
being rebellious and doing things that are just
plain wrong, but I believe we’ve reached a point in
this country, and probably across most of the free
world where people just no longer can tell the
difference! It may very well have produced this
lament of Isaiah over 2700 years ago:
Isaiah
5.20-23: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and
good evil; that put darkness for light, and light
for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet
for bitter! Woe unto [them that are] wise in their
own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! Woe unto
[them that are] mighty to drink wine, and men of
strength to mingle strong drink: Which justify the
wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness
of the righteous from him!”
As to the
consequences of the people who acted like this, the
ancient prophet did not mince words, either:
Isaiah
5.24-25: “Therefore
as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame
consumeth the chaff, [so] their root shall be as
rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust:
because they have cast away the law of the LORD of
hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of
Israel. Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled
against his people, and he hath stretched forth his
hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the
hills did tremble, and their carcases [were] torn in
the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is
not turned away, but his hand [is] stretched out
still.”
Remember,
that if this applied to Israel─His chosen─what do
you think it means for the rest of us?
As I
conclude this brief article, I think back to the
America of my youth, never perfect, but always
striving to be better, do better, and accomplish
great things for itself and the world around it. I
have also seen with my own eyes its decline, all of
which was avoidable had those who call themselves
Christians had possessed the same conviction and
dedication of mind that Satan’s minions obviously
have had to drag this country down to where it is
now. It was not inevitable that this come to pass as
we
consider
these words of James:
James 4.7-10: “Submit
yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and
he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will
draw nigh to you. Cleanse [your] hands, [ye]
sinners; and purify [your] hearts, [ye] double
minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your
laughter be turned to mourning, and [your] joy to
heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the
Lord, and he shall lift you up.”
It
may very well be too late for America as a nation to
be saved, but remember that God has always had his
faithful remnant throughout history, those who have
not sat back silently while evil consumed their
respective lands. We can do our part, each one of
us, to grow that remnant in these last days. It will
not make us popular─quite the opposite. But isn’t
God worth the effort, this very same God who
sacrificed his only Son to save us all?
The
choice, of course, is one each of us has to make,
even as Joshua told his own people a very long time
ago:
Joshua 24.15:
“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD,
choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the
gods which your fathers served that [were] on the
other side of the flood, or the gods of the
Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and
my house, we will serve the LORD”
How
about you?