In this blog post Mike Riccardi of The Cripplegate reminds us Who’s in charge of the universe — the One who created it. Riccardi believes that the issues American’s are being forced to deal with–transgrenderism, homosexualism and the destruction of marriage, and abortion–“all stem from the same polluted fountain out of which even the first sin flowed: self-deification. Satan tempted Adam and Eve to rebel against God in the Garden by holding out to them the deceitful promise that they would become like God in their rebellion. And it seems plain to me that our society is absolutely intoxicated with the very same prospect. They want to be God.”
Even though our secularized society has rejected the God of the Bible, Riccardi reminds us that the Christian’s mission remains the same: Go out into the world and tell all people everywhere that they must repent of their sins.
Riccardi begins his piece by bringing us back to the beginning…when America was comprised of a highly “moral and religious people.” He writes:
The last few months have been emotionally tiring for Christians in America.
Though many debate whether the United States was ever a “Christian nation,” there can be no denying that a Christian worldview and biblical principles were fundamental in the formation of this country. Indeed, the founding fathers understood this even as they crafted the charter documents of our government. Thomas Jefferson wrote that the “inalienable rights” of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” which mark the ideals of every American, are endowed to us by our Creator. John Adams wrote, “We have no government, armed with power, capable of contending with human passions, unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge and licentiousness would break the strongest cords of our Constitution, as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
And for many years, America seemed to be comprised of a largely “moral and religious people.” That’s not to say that everyone was a Christian, or that outward morality or religiosity was equivalent to having truly been born again by the Holy Spirit. But for so many years, this nation that was built upon the freedom of speech, expression, and religion has provided a conducive environment for the Church of Jesus Christ to fulfill her mission: to freely proclaim the Gospel of forgiveness of sins through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, and to make disciples of those whom the Lord saves. This symbiotic relationship has resulted in a general moral consciousness in society that has made it suitable to be governed by our Constitution, according to the vision expressed by Adams above.
But as I said, the last few months have been particularly tiresome for Christians in America, as our society continues to give indication after indication of increasing hostility against the very values that our country was built upon.
As recently as a few days ago, our society has continued to celebrate the “transitioning” of Olympian Bruce Jenner, even going so far as to honor him with the ESPY Arthur Ashe award for courage. The whole episode with Jenner sparked a nationwide conversation about transgenderism. Gender, our culture tells us, is a fluid construct, not at all linked to biology, and is to be decided upon by each individual, no matter how young or how old. And if a 12 year-old boy at your child’s middle school decides he’s a girl, he will be sharing a bathroom with your 12 year-old daughter, and there’s nothing you can do about it.
On June 26, the Supreme Court mandated that all 50 states fundamentally redefine one of the most foundational building blocks of civilized society. Squares can be round, a tail can be a leg, and, according to the infinite wisdom of the five lawyers on high, “marriage” can describe a union between two men or two women. And because of that decision, Bible-believing chaplains should be kicked out of the military, churches should lose their tax exemptions, and clergy should be forced to perform same sex “marriages” against their conscience.
And just this week, a video was released that reminded us once again of the preeminent social injustice of our day: the constitutionally-protected right to mercilessly murder one’s own children. In an undercover video of the Senior Director of Medical Services for Planned Parenthood, the nation was confronted with the sight of Deborah Nucatola discussing Planned Parenthood’s business of selling the organs and limbs of dismembered children, all while sipping wine and enjoying her salad. It was like sitting down to lunch with Heinrich Himmler.
Now in one sense, Christians should not be surprised to see the world acting like the world. No matter what our country’s roots are, we are under no delusions. Apart from the sovereign, regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, mankind is totally depraved, corrupted by evil to the very core of our being. And yet these displays of the godlessness and immorality of our nation over the past view months have been particularly high-handed, particularly rebellious, particularly gruesome. And while we know we are not defeated by these things—God laughs and scoffs, and King Jesus still reigns from the throne of heaven (Psalm 2:4–6
)—we lament and mourn the moral demise of a country that we once loved. Like Jeremiah on the ash heap of Jerusalem, we know something of the sentiments he expressed as he wrote, “My eyes fail because of tears, My spirit is greatly troubled; My heart is poured out on the earth Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people” (Lam 2:11). Like the psalmist confronted with the godlessness of his own nation, we feel what it meant for him to say, “My eyes shed streams of water, Because they do not keep Your law” (Ps 119:136). Continue reading
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