J. Matt Barber
God will not be mocked
By J. Matt Barber
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. ~ Abraham Lincoln
America has forsaken her first love. She has finally, and fully, given herself over to a licentious Lothario with whom she has increasingly flirted since her youth. He is sin — and, notwithstanding full knowledge of who he is and what he intends, with him she has lain.
America has tasted the poisonous fruits of lust, pride, passion, and envy — sloth, frivolity, iniquity and entitlement. She has tasted of their sweet deception and found it irresistible. She has danced in the streets, intoxicated by the very poison that will be her undoing.
America has rebelled against God. She has shaken her fist at Him and arrogantly cried, "We don't need you. We don't want you. We know better than you. Now go away."
And so He's going away.
Hosea talks of judgment against the nation that "plays the harlot" before God: "Though they bring up their children, yet I will bereave them to the last man. Yes, woe to them when I depart from them!" (Hosea 9:12)
I grieve for my children. I grieve for America's children. Evil won on Tuesday. An arrogant and rebellious nation has chosen, for her leader, an arrogant and rebellious man, whose arrogant and rebellious party has, as Pastor John MacArthur put it, "adopted the sins of Romans 1 as their platform."
"This is a new day in our country," he lamented. "Parties that used to differ on economics, now differ dramatically on issues that invade the realm of God's law and morality."
We have mocked God.
God will not be mocked.
"Millions of Americans looked evil in the eye and adopted it," wrote Liberty Counsel's Mat Staver the day after the election. "Abortion, same-sex marriage and immorality carried the day."
Indeed, evil carried the day. America has willfully chosen a Democratic platform — a Romans 1 platform — upon which to stand. We have chosen a party that thrice denied God, and then returned his name in vain — amid deafening boos — to its platform.
God will not be mocked.
America has chosen a party that demands every taxpayer be complicit in the federally funded slaughter of the pre-born. We have exalted a party that seeks to — and in many was ways has already done so — enshrine into law the celebration of sexual deviancy and mock marriage.
The haughty peoples of four states have said to God, "Marriage is as we say it is, not as you have ordered it." And so, though removed from truth, as east is from west, they have, at the ballot box, affirmed moral disorder.
Indeed, they have invited God's wrath. Our president has invited God's wrath. We all, through act or omission, have invited God's wrath.
"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." (Romans 1:18-20)
Yet excuses we give.
We excuse sin. We call that which God calls an abomination, "equality."
We call that which God calls murder, "reproductive choice."
We call that which God calls theft, "fundamental fairness."
We "call evil good and good evil."
America is divided and her president the divider. The scales have tipped. The 51 percent — the takers, the God-deniers and the subversive, now outnumber the makers, the seekers of righteousness and the patriotic.
Yet, soon after the election results were announced — after several hours of deep mourning for our nation, I found myself smiling. I found myself singing praises to the Creator of the universe: Christ, the way, the truth and the life. Jesus, Y'shua, the very image of God.
Indeed, I found myself experiencing joy.
Through it all, you see, He remains sovereign. His will is being done, even when it is not our own. He is faithful, though we are not. Victory is His. We are His. And so victory is ours.
Those of us who believe needn't win every battle — any battle — to which we are consigned. We need only remain obedient. We need only remain faithful to his Word and to his commands. We need only remember that "all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28)
Truly, though God has given over a rebellious nation to the party of Romans 1, we remain the people of Romans 8: "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." (Romans 8:1)
Still, there will be condemnation for America. Things will get far worse before they get better — if they ever get better. As individuals, we will each stand before God and give an accounting — we will all face judgment. As a nation, we can only be judged in the temporal — in the here and now.
Have we reached the point of no return? Perhaps — perhaps not.
God is faithful. He has promised: "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:14)
Christ is faithful. He has promised: "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock." (Matthew 7:24-25)
The rain is descending. The floods have come and the winds beat down on our great nation. I am thankful that our forefathers, wise men indeed, built America's house upon Christ, the Rock.
© J. Matt Barber
November 12, 2012
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. ~ Abraham Lincoln
America has forsaken her first love. She has finally, and fully, given herself over to a licentious Lothario with whom she has increasingly flirted since her youth. He is sin — and, notwithstanding full knowledge of who he is and what he intends, with him she has lain.
America has tasted the poisonous fruits of lust, pride, passion, and envy — sloth, frivolity, iniquity and entitlement. She has tasted of their sweet deception and found it irresistible. She has danced in the streets, intoxicated by the very poison that will be her undoing.
America has rebelled against God. She has shaken her fist at Him and arrogantly cried, "We don't need you. We don't want you. We know better than you. Now go away."
And so He's going away.
Hosea talks of judgment against the nation that "plays the harlot" before God: "Though they bring up their children, yet I will bereave them to the last man. Yes, woe to them when I depart from them!" (Hosea 9:12)
I grieve for my children. I grieve for America's children. Evil won on Tuesday. An arrogant and rebellious nation has chosen, for her leader, an arrogant and rebellious man, whose arrogant and rebellious party has, as Pastor John MacArthur put it, "adopted the sins of Romans 1 as their platform."
"This is a new day in our country," he lamented. "Parties that used to differ on economics, now differ dramatically on issues that invade the realm of God's law and morality."
We have mocked God.
God will not be mocked.
"Millions of Americans looked evil in the eye and adopted it," wrote Liberty Counsel's Mat Staver the day after the election. "Abortion, same-sex marriage and immorality carried the day."
Indeed, evil carried the day. America has willfully chosen a Democratic platform — a Romans 1 platform — upon which to stand. We have chosen a party that thrice denied God, and then returned his name in vain — amid deafening boos — to its platform.
God will not be mocked.
America has chosen a party that demands every taxpayer be complicit in the federally funded slaughter of the pre-born. We have exalted a party that seeks to — and in many was ways has already done so — enshrine into law the celebration of sexual deviancy and mock marriage.
The haughty peoples of four states have said to God, "Marriage is as we say it is, not as you have ordered it." And so, though removed from truth, as east is from west, they have, at the ballot box, affirmed moral disorder.
Indeed, they have invited God's wrath. Our president has invited God's wrath. We all, through act or omission, have invited God's wrath.
"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." (Romans 1:18-20)
Yet excuses we give.
We excuse sin. We call that which God calls an abomination, "equality."
We call that which God calls murder, "reproductive choice."
We call that which God calls theft, "fundamental fairness."
We "call evil good and good evil."
America is divided and her president the divider. The scales have tipped. The 51 percent — the takers, the God-deniers and the subversive, now outnumber the makers, the seekers of righteousness and the patriotic.
Yet, soon after the election results were announced — after several hours of deep mourning for our nation, I found myself smiling. I found myself singing praises to the Creator of the universe: Christ, the way, the truth and the life. Jesus, Y'shua, the very image of God.
Indeed, I found myself experiencing joy.
Through it all, you see, He remains sovereign. His will is being done, even when it is not our own. He is faithful, though we are not. Victory is His. We are His. And so victory is ours.
Those of us who believe needn't win every battle — any battle — to which we are consigned. We need only remain obedient. We need only remain faithful to his Word and to his commands. We need only remember that "all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28)
Truly, though God has given over a rebellious nation to the party of Romans 1, we remain the people of Romans 8: "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." (Romans 8:1)
Still, there will be condemnation for America. Things will get far worse before they get better — if they ever get better. As individuals, we will each stand before God and give an accounting — we will all face judgment. As a nation, we can only be judged in the temporal — in the here and now.
Have we reached the point of no return? Perhaps — perhaps not.
God is faithful. He has promised: "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:14)
Christ is faithful. He has promised: "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock." (Matthew 7:24-25)
The rain is descending. The floods have come and the winds beat down on our great nation. I am thankful that our forefathers, wise men indeed, built America's house upon Christ, the Rock.
© J. Matt Barber
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
