As I See It, the headlines across our land reveal something that should neither make our land proud, nor hopeful of a bright future.
Our nation is choosing – at all levels – to embrace evil as somehow a “good thing” while rejecting what is good as somehow an “evil thing.” We are growing increasingly hardened to the things of God and the ways of God – as though that is unacceptable for our nation, holding nothing sacred – while we actively seek to practice what mocks and scorns the sacred. Our nation’s justification? “Separation of Church and State.” Yet, what we fail to realize in our national effort to trivialize, marginalize, and minimize Christianity and those who adhere to it is that we as a nation find ourselves trivializing, marginalizing, and minimizing God, Himself. Thousands of years ago, God said that those who did that would receive the natural end of that spiritual trajectory. We will NOT be further blessed by God; rather we will be fully under the curse of the sin we have chosen. And, there will be no way for us to hope for that to change until we change ourselves.
These conditions do not simply exist in the secular arena of American life; they have permeated the church as well. Denominational divides are occurring because more and more leaders are rejecting the authority of Scripture while embracing the values of the culture. With the plethora of churches one may attend, fewer and fewer people are coming to genuine faith in Christ in order to “worship.” There is a growing rejection of Biblical worship, Biblical salvation, and Biblical repentance. Who needs it? Those who preach it are fewer and fewer, and those who don’t are growing in number – so the enlightened ones must be the mass, right? Why change? There’s a church around the corner that will take me as I am – built just for me, as it were – and tell me I’m all right as I am. And the books are flying off the shelves that say the same thing, written by “pastors” of all persuasions who see a quick buck in the book sales business. This “feel-good” Christianity is no different than this “feel-good” secular culture – all yearning to satisfy self without caring about what a Holy God might think or do. With that attitude in the leaders and churches of America, the churches cannot hope to be blessed by God until we change ourselves.
Now that we have essentially kicked God out of our nation and our churches, one of two things remain: God will either make good on His promise to let our nation go our way – all the way to destruction; or God will reveal Himself in some powerful way that will wake us up and we will choose to turn our ways back to Him. Under the current way God is working with mankind, it may be that He will do both. God will let our nation fall as far as we want, while at the same time, revealing Himself in powerful ways to those who will pay attention!
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.” – Romans 1:16-32
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