Madeline Crabb
America's turned her back on God- -now God's turned His back on us (Part Three)
By Madeline Crabb
Founding Father Thomas Jefferson once said, "And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever." Indeed, we should all be trembling for our country. We have openly rebelled against God, have allowed our nation to become a cesspool of sin, and yet, we think there are no consequences. Mistake, BIG mistake!
We have been discussing the true State of our Nation, which is that America has turned her back on God, and in response, He has turned His back on us. What we see all around us is moral, cultural, and social decay. These are sure signs of disease affecting the American "body." But instead of treating the disease with proper "medicine," while it is still treatable, we reject all cures. In our case, the disease in question is spiritual, but the "specialist" in treating this ailment, and all His helpers and instructions are outright rejected. Why? It's because the Healer is God Almighty, our Creator, and His Son Jesus Christ. And as we've previously discussed, Americans have been told passels of lies about God, and we've consequently come to believe that we are smarter than God and can fix our own problems, heal our own sickness. We have been repeatedly told lies that we no longer need God, and thus have chosen new gods that are more in sync with our enlightened minds. The result is God's abandonment.
For weeks I have been deeply troubled by the insanity of this situation. I've studied and studied God's Word, and prayed for understanding regarding why America doesn't comprehend the simple concept of realizing we are in a deep spiritual crisis, and that all we must do to is truly repent of our sins, cry out to God, and begin to obey Him. It seems as though we are totally blind and beyond simple understanding of basic truth – perhaps under a delusion. This brought me to the book of Romans, chapter one, which describes the progression of sin leading to God's abandonment of a nation.
America is not the first nation God has abandoned. The Old Testament is replete with examples of how Israel rebelled against God and repeatedly went her own way. The pattern of rebellion begins with: "Because they knew and recognized Him as God, they did not honor and glorify Him as God or give Him thanks. But instead they became futile and godless in their thinking [with vain imaginings, foolish reasoning, and stupid speculations] and their senseless minds were darkened." (Rom. 1:21 AMP) Then "claiming to be wise, they became fools [professing to be smart, they made simpletons of themselves]. Then they became idolaters, worshipping anything and everything other than the One True God.
The people chose to ignore God's Truth and either make up their own, or believe mortal men's philosophies, so God allowed them to follow the lusts of their own hearts. Scripture tells us: "Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their own hearts to sexual impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves [abandoning them to the degrading power of sin]. (vs. 24)
Pastor John MacArthur of Grace to You Ministries calls God's turning of His back on a nation the Wrath of Abandonment, which is simply the "deprival of restraining grace." He explains the first sign of God's abandonment is sexual immorality when a society's character seems to be immoral. MacArthur describes the progression as first a lust in the heart, which the body follows, that in turn leads to a pornographic culture filled with the crashing of marriage, child abuse, pedophilia, homosexuality, and other sexual perversions. He explains that "all virtue is gone" in society when homosexuality invades the female gender – when women abandon motherhood to pursue lesbianism.
MacArthur continues that when society is engrossed in pornography, sexual immorality, and adultery, and that such sinful behavior is approved and exalted, the Wrath of Abandonment is in full force. Further, when society exalts homosexuality, it is sinking deeply into depravity.
Back to the Scripture, we're told, "And so, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God or approve of Him or consider Him worth the knowing, God gave them over to a base and condemned mind to do things not proper or decent but loathsome." (Rom. 1:28 AMP) Some pastors call this condemned mind depraved, meaning tested and found useless or non-functioning, or reprobate that means void without conscience. Overall, when the minds of the people reach this level of darkness, there is no longer an ability to properly reason or discern truth. Everything seems upside down, absurd, and people seem to think all is well. That is why Scripture says, "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!" (Is. 5: 20 AMP)
And what is the result of our sinful slide into the abyss? We see it all around us. Our scripture text says:
They were filled [permeated and saturated] with every kind of unrighteousness, iniquity, grasping and covetous greed, and malice. [They were] full of envy and jealousy, murder, strife, deceit and treachery, ill will and cruel ways. [They were] secret backbiters and gossipers. Slanderers, hateful to and hating God, full of insolence, arrogance, [and] boasting; inventors of new forms of evil, disobedient and undutiful to parents. [They were] without understanding, conscienceless and faithless, heartless and loveless [and] merciless. (Rom. 1:29-30 AMP)
That's a pathetic picture of a society, albeit an accurate one. And it all started because we have chosen to reject God, exalting ourselves above Him. Remember that Lucifer once resided in heaven to serve God, but was kicked out of his home because he exalted himself above God. Pride, arrogance, and foolish thinking are quick tickets to hell.
So today in America, because we have become wise in our own eyes, haughty and arrogant in our own thinking, multitudes have believed the lie that we don't need God. They think government is the answer to most of our problems, if we just elect the right people. This reasoning is deeply flawed. Just since Barack Obama was elected to the presidency, America has slid even faster into the moral abyss. He openly promotes sin to our society, and is therefore part of the problem, not the solution.
Returning to our Bible text we read: "Though they are fully aware of God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them themselves but approve and applaud others who practice them." (Rom. 1: 32 AMP) Obama and much of Congress and the Courts promote perversion, murder, greed, jealousy, deceit, treachery, and all of the other maladies mentioned in the previous verses, along with many others. He mocks God's Word, and our Christian heritage, and has been the head cheerleader for the perversion of homosexuality, which is one of the last stages of depravity before judgment falls on a nation. He may not practice this particular perversion, but he approves and applauds those who do it and will stand in judgment before Almighty God.
Government leaders regularly lie to the citizens of our nation, and are responsible for making laws forcing God to be diminished, and their power and wisdom to be exalted. Most of our government representatives are proud, arrogant, self-centered, self-important peacocks. But then, We the People, many of whom have the darkened hearts and minds we've been discussing, are responsible for choosing these representatives. Further, God often chooses wicked men to bring forth judgment on nations. After all, God allowed Obama to be twice elected, despite all evidence he is a dangerous man.
You think God won't judge our nation's leaders? What about the Supreme Court judges who are responsible for the horrible Roe vs. Wade decision in 1973? The blood of innocents has been spilled in the land. And for decades our so-called leaders have failed to reverse this law, preferring to call it "settled law." The only settled law is God's immutable law.
There are so many ways the government has not only failed America, helping in our demise. But then, we used our "free will" to choose these leaders. Yes, we face God's judgment because of what we've done to ourselves, but also for the evil we have exported to the rest of the world. God can't ignore this.
We have sealed our fate if we don't repent and turn back to God Our Creator, God our Redeemer. As Benjamin Franklin once said, "[O]nly a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." We have chosen to turn from The Master, to mere men, and are indeed getting increasingly more masters who dictate everything we do and say. We have chosen to become slaves to men, instead of free men who willingly worship and serve the Living God. And as it is said, choices have consequences.
And thus we are back at the beginning where we have turned our back on God, and He has turned His back on us. Dear friends, we all must examine our own lives to determine if we have fallen prey to denying God, or rejecting His Truth. Further, even if we are not guilty of sin, iniquity, or perversion, we must be sure we are not somehow approving of it in others or promoting it. We do NOT want to cause another to sin. Scripture says, "He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both an abomination [exceedingly disgusting and hateful] to the Lord." Prov. 17: 15 AMP) Let's pray it's not too late for our nation. To anyone willing to hear....
© Madeline Crabb
February 17, 2014
Founding Father Thomas Jefferson once said, "And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever." Indeed, we should all be trembling for our country. We have openly rebelled against God, have allowed our nation to become a cesspool of sin, and yet, we think there are no consequences. Mistake, BIG mistake!
We have been discussing the true State of our Nation, which is that America has turned her back on God, and in response, He has turned His back on us. What we see all around us is moral, cultural, and social decay. These are sure signs of disease affecting the American "body." But instead of treating the disease with proper "medicine," while it is still treatable, we reject all cures. In our case, the disease in question is spiritual, but the "specialist" in treating this ailment, and all His helpers and instructions are outright rejected. Why? It's because the Healer is God Almighty, our Creator, and His Son Jesus Christ. And as we've previously discussed, Americans have been told passels of lies about God, and we've consequently come to believe that we are smarter than God and can fix our own problems, heal our own sickness. We have been repeatedly told lies that we no longer need God, and thus have chosen new gods that are more in sync with our enlightened minds. The result is God's abandonment.
For weeks I have been deeply troubled by the insanity of this situation. I've studied and studied God's Word, and prayed for understanding regarding why America doesn't comprehend the simple concept of realizing we are in a deep spiritual crisis, and that all we must do to is truly repent of our sins, cry out to God, and begin to obey Him. It seems as though we are totally blind and beyond simple understanding of basic truth – perhaps under a delusion. This brought me to the book of Romans, chapter one, which describes the progression of sin leading to God's abandonment of a nation.
America is not the first nation God has abandoned. The Old Testament is replete with examples of how Israel rebelled against God and repeatedly went her own way. The pattern of rebellion begins with: "Because they knew and recognized Him as God, they did not honor and glorify Him as God or give Him thanks. But instead they became futile and godless in their thinking [with vain imaginings, foolish reasoning, and stupid speculations] and their senseless minds were darkened." (Rom. 1:21 AMP) Then "claiming to be wise, they became fools [professing to be smart, they made simpletons of themselves]. Then they became idolaters, worshipping anything and everything other than the One True God.
The people chose to ignore God's Truth and either make up their own, or believe mortal men's philosophies, so God allowed them to follow the lusts of their own hearts. Scripture tells us: "Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their own hearts to sexual impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves [abandoning them to the degrading power of sin]. (vs. 24)
Pastor John MacArthur of Grace to You Ministries calls God's turning of His back on a nation the Wrath of Abandonment, which is simply the "deprival of restraining grace." He explains the first sign of God's abandonment is sexual immorality when a society's character seems to be immoral. MacArthur describes the progression as first a lust in the heart, which the body follows, that in turn leads to a pornographic culture filled with the crashing of marriage, child abuse, pedophilia, homosexuality, and other sexual perversions. He explains that "all virtue is gone" in society when homosexuality invades the female gender – when women abandon motherhood to pursue lesbianism.
MacArthur continues that when society is engrossed in pornography, sexual immorality, and adultery, and that such sinful behavior is approved and exalted, the Wrath of Abandonment is in full force. Further, when society exalts homosexuality, it is sinking deeply into depravity.
Back to the Scripture, we're told, "And so, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God or approve of Him or consider Him worth the knowing, God gave them over to a base and condemned mind to do things not proper or decent but loathsome." (Rom. 1:28 AMP) Some pastors call this condemned mind depraved, meaning tested and found useless or non-functioning, or reprobate that means void without conscience. Overall, when the minds of the people reach this level of darkness, there is no longer an ability to properly reason or discern truth. Everything seems upside down, absurd, and people seem to think all is well. That is why Scripture says, "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!" (Is. 5: 20 AMP)
And what is the result of our sinful slide into the abyss? We see it all around us. Our scripture text says:
They were filled [permeated and saturated] with every kind of unrighteousness, iniquity, grasping and covetous greed, and malice. [They were] full of envy and jealousy, murder, strife, deceit and treachery, ill will and cruel ways. [They were] secret backbiters and gossipers. Slanderers, hateful to and hating God, full of insolence, arrogance, [and] boasting; inventors of new forms of evil, disobedient and undutiful to parents. [They were] without understanding, conscienceless and faithless, heartless and loveless [and] merciless. (Rom. 1:29-30 AMP)
That's a pathetic picture of a society, albeit an accurate one. And it all started because we have chosen to reject God, exalting ourselves above Him. Remember that Lucifer once resided in heaven to serve God, but was kicked out of his home because he exalted himself above God. Pride, arrogance, and foolish thinking are quick tickets to hell.
So today in America, because we have become wise in our own eyes, haughty and arrogant in our own thinking, multitudes have believed the lie that we don't need God. They think government is the answer to most of our problems, if we just elect the right people. This reasoning is deeply flawed. Just since Barack Obama was elected to the presidency, America has slid even faster into the moral abyss. He openly promotes sin to our society, and is therefore part of the problem, not the solution.
Returning to our Bible text we read: "Though they are fully aware of God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them themselves but approve and applaud others who practice them." (Rom. 1: 32 AMP) Obama and much of Congress and the Courts promote perversion, murder, greed, jealousy, deceit, treachery, and all of the other maladies mentioned in the previous verses, along with many others. He mocks God's Word, and our Christian heritage, and has been the head cheerleader for the perversion of homosexuality, which is one of the last stages of depravity before judgment falls on a nation. He may not practice this particular perversion, but he approves and applauds those who do it and will stand in judgment before Almighty God.
Government leaders regularly lie to the citizens of our nation, and are responsible for making laws forcing God to be diminished, and their power and wisdom to be exalted. Most of our government representatives are proud, arrogant, self-centered, self-important peacocks. But then, We the People, many of whom have the darkened hearts and minds we've been discussing, are responsible for choosing these representatives. Further, God often chooses wicked men to bring forth judgment on nations. After all, God allowed Obama to be twice elected, despite all evidence he is a dangerous man.
You think God won't judge our nation's leaders? What about the Supreme Court judges who are responsible for the horrible Roe vs. Wade decision in 1973? The blood of innocents has been spilled in the land. And for decades our so-called leaders have failed to reverse this law, preferring to call it "settled law." The only settled law is God's immutable law.
There are so many ways the government has not only failed America, helping in our demise. But then, we used our "free will" to choose these leaders. Yes, we face God's judgment because of what we've done to ourselves, but also for the evil we have exported to the rest of the world. God can't ignore this.
We have sealed our fate if we don't repent and turn back to God Our Creator, God our Redeemer. As Benjamin Franklin once said, "[O]nly a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." We have chosen to turn from The Master, to mere men, and are indeed getting increasingly more masters who dictate everything we do and say. We have chosen to become slaves to men, instead of free men who willingly worship and serve the Living God. And as it is said, choices have consequences.
And thus we are back at the beginning where we have turned our back on God, and He has turned His back on us. Dear friends, we all must examine our own lives to determine if we have fallen prey to denying God, or rejecting His Truth. Further, even if we are not guilty of sin, iniquity, or perversion, we must be sure we are not somehow approving of it in others or promoting it. We do NOT want to cause another to sin. Scripture says, "He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both an abomination [exceedingly disgusting and hateful] to the Lord." Prov. 17: 15 AMP) Let's pray it's not too late for our nation. To anyone willing to hear....
© Madeline Crabb
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