[This analysis by Pastor Bill Randles is the most important article to ever appear on The Word Like Fire.]
According to Pastor Randles:
A few years ago I went to pray and cried out to the LORD an exasperated Prayer, “WHY?” What I was referring to was the moral, spiritual and cultural disintegration of our Nation. It was one of those cries, to which I didn’t even expect an answer, I was just pouring my heart out before the LORD, in prayer and sorrow.
But I did receive an answer, a very clear thought came to me which I am sure was of the Holy Spirit of God.
It came in the form of three passages of Scripture… Psalm 2, Deuteronomy 28, and Romans 1 came to me as the answer to the question of “Why” the disintegration we are experiencing, in America and around the world.
I will begin with Romans 1.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. ( Romans 1:18-21)
Right away in this passage we are confronted with the answer. What we are seeing is the “wrath of God” being worked out in our society. God is angry with us, and day after day the anger is being revealed.
He is angry at two attributes among us, our ‘unrighteousness‘ and ‘ungodliness’. Unrighteousness has to do with how we treat each other. Sexual sins, the violence which is prevalent, dishonesty, and the use and abuse of persons, this is unrighteousness and God hates it.
Ungodliness takes us deeper into our sinfulness, it has to do with the way we approach God himself. The tendency to develop and worship other ‘gods’, the lack of the fear of God, the use of the name of the LORD in vain, distorting the vision of God into something more compatible with our own personal likings. This is ‘ungodliness.
Ungodliness is what the first table of the Ten Commandments addresses, and unrighteousness is covered in the second. The one is the fountainhead of the other. Ungodliness is the root of all of the other sins. It is because we neglect and ignore our duty to know God, and to worship Him in truth, that we fall prey to other sins such as murder, adultery and theft.
All of our sin problems are theological, and require theological solutions. The most important and determining aspect of any person, is how they see God, whether rightly or wrongly.
Our western world is different, it is uniquely blessed and prosperous due to the Judeo Christian heritage. But we have been pushing God out of our lives and are reaping the bitter whirlwind.
The Wrath of God is not a wild, erratic passion, it is instead a settled and steady opposition to all that is evil, false and sinful. God sees it all, and gives men a chance to repent, but he reveals it in a sense every single day. How? By Giving men over to their sins, passions, and debased lusts.
He is angry , not because of our ignorance of God, but because men do know God, at least they know enough to make them accountable. Paul tells us, that “They are without excuse…”, because between the wonder, power and order of Creation, and the conscience which God has put into the hearts of all men, and the fact that men have a capacity to make judgments about good or evil, it is obvious that all men know in their hearts that there is a God, a Creator to whom they owe their existence, and thus their worship.
It is not what they don’t know about God , but what they do know and suppress about him that brings wrath upon all men.
They Knew God ,but would not glorify Him as God… This is the root of all sin. The refusal to acknowledge God, and to seek to know Him. All other sins flow out of this refusal, this rebellion of Creatures made in His Image.
The Wrath of God is revealed in the vanity and darkness which clouds the minds, heart and imagination of fallen men.
We now see this darkness working in our cultural leaders, our “experts” ,pundits, decision makers and shapers, educators, and so forth. There is confusion now as to what is right or wrong, good or evil, acceptable or rejectable. Isaiah prophesied that God has mingled a “Perverse Spirit in Egypt”
The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit. ( Isaiah 19:14)
Where is the moral clarity to stand up to obvious evil such as “Planned Parenthood”, or the murderous “Black Lives Matter”? When a nation comes under Judgment the Wise men go unheeded or are ignored, in favor of fools and even worse.
We marvel at the perversity on display in America; the District Attorneys refusing to press charges against violence looters and arsonists, the Moral paralysis which is literally leading to real consideration of disbanding Police in a time of violent crisis, the exaltation of the vilest of society, and the contempt, hatred and resentment of those who have played by the rules, but who dare to say “The Emperor has no clothes”.
This is the Divine displeasure working out, it is the partial answer given me to an exasperated prayer,”Why?”, for which I expected no answer.
When Wrath is working, there are exchanges which people end up making, to their own detriment and destruction;
- (They)… exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.( Romans 1:23) When people push God out of their thinking, unwittingly they forfeit the only real validity a person has, “The Image of God”. Why is human life special? Why do all Lives matter? What is special about man, Why shouldn’t a man be treated like an animal? The answer is that Man was made in the Image of God, and that alone gives him an intrinsic “human dignity” which is to be respected by all.
- Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.( Romans 1:25 Men will worship, for worship is an intrinsic part of what we were created to be and do. But there is only one object of ‘worship’ worthy of all of man’s heart, soul, mind and strength. The Creator and Redeemer God of the Bible. All other worship debases and corrupts man.
- For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: ( Romans 1:26) When wrath is revealed, men’s desires become perverted and debased, this is not the cause of wrath, it is Wrath itself in operation.
It should be obvious by now, according to this passage of the Bible, that America is under wrath, we are being given over to that which was truly in us, but which God, in His mercy had restrained for the most part. Anyone can do anything, we are all capable of the most heinous of sins, and now those sins are being put on display for all of us to see.
The design is to get us to turn to God with all of our hearts, and in holy fear. There is forgiveness in God, for those who repent. But this is the initial answer to why we as a nation are literally coming unglued and disintegrating. God help us!
End Part 1
For original article on Pastor Randles’ blog click here
HT: Smiffy37’s Blog
The Word Like Fire 