That God is now the prime target for every form of man’s mockery, scorn and contempt is undeniable. It used to be that Christians and the Bible were the only visible objects of disdain with any reviling for God Himself being cautiously harbored deep in the rancid confines of human hearts. But, since the ridicule of His people and His word has not drawn lightening strikes the God-rejecters have become much bolder. Like noisy, irritating Chihuahuas whose courage is in direct proportion to the length of the big dog’s chain, they now have no inhibitions about publicly blaspheming God personally. They are from all segments of society; even from those we have historically thought to be above such behavior.
Insolent man sees God’s patient love for all humanity as proof that He is really a cream-puff, impotent deity with a lot of bark, but no bite. They err greatly. They choose to ignore the fact that the God who presently endures their incessant yapping is the same God that turned Korah and 250 of his consorts into fertilizer, and the sodomites of Abram’s day into ash. The lesson is that God’s love and patience do not nullify His judgment. The pouring out of God’s wrath upon a vile and depraved world is just as much a part of His character as was His judgment upon Jesus who carried the sin of all humanity on the cross.
What are modern reprobates doing? Exactly what prophecy said they would be doing (2 Timothy 3:8). In truth, their words and conduct are limited only by their perverted imaginations. They feel free to spew forth their curses at any time using any opportunity that presents itself. Consider Dan Savage, for example.
Savage is not only anti-God, anti-Bible and anti-Christian, but is among the most vulgar, caustic and militant homosexuals in today’s news. Nothing is too sacred for his hate-mongering attacks. And, the colleges, etc., who invite him to their campuses are unapologetic. Colleges like Elmhurst.
At this year’s National High School Journalism Conference he became hostile toward Christians, the Bible and God according to Todd Starnes, an internet blogger. Using vulgarity and sexual innuendo in an Anti-Bullying speech he suddenly launched a vicious attack upon God and His people. Some students walked out as he heckled them while others cheered him on. Knowing he was successful in his effort his “apology” was sarcastic, and the sponsoring Journalism Education Association and National Scholastic Press Association offered no apologies to the Christians. Savage and Terry Miller were President Obama’s guests at the 2011 LGBT Pride Month reception at the White House. Imagine that.
Sometimes the enemies of God are less militant, at least openly. So, instead of a full frontal assault they hide behind what judicial activists claim to be the law of the land, and from there they launch their assaults against God. Specifically, they shield their real motives behind the much misunderstood “separation of church and state” mantra.
The truth is, the phrase “separation of church and state” is not in the U.S. Constitution. Rather, the First Amendment says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
Nobody in their right mind would want America’s government to be of a religious nature. The mood of 1787 America is very clear. That is, remembering King George III and the state-sponsored Church of England, the Framers blocked, with the First Amendment, any new government from forming a national church. But, the inference of the amendment is also very clear. That is, it keeps the government out of the church (establishment), but it does not prevent the church from having an impact on the government (free exercise) as was clearly born out in America’s early history. Still, current resistance goes on with the Constitution and the Framer’s intent being regularly ignored when expedient.
For seven years Terry Sartain has been a chaplain for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department in North Carolina. Recently he was told he could no longer “pray in Jesus’ name” on police department property because the department did not want to do anything that might offend someone. Sartain asked police department officials whose name would he be allowed to invoke. They told him to “pray a secular prayer”. As you well know there is no such thing, but that does not matter. Any kind of idiotic statement rooted in spiritual ignorance will do as long as Jesus is kept out of prayer on public property. Of course, the ACLU was very supportive of the decision.
In early April of this year students at the Stall Brook Elementary School in Bellingham, MA were prohibited from singing the word “God” in the Lee Greenwood song, “God Bless the USA”. The words “God bless” were replaced with “We love”. After parental complaints, the kids were allowed to sing or to not sing the words “God bless”. Similar prohibitions have been adopted in many public schools in the last number of years so as not to offend anyone, you see.
A lot of people are angry and tired of “political correctness”, and they demand logical reasons for official decisions. The reasons, though, are always associated in some way with this skewed view of the First Amendment. However, I think this thing goes much deeper than a mere civics issue. When we consider that current public education leadership was trained in college to believe John Dewey (the humanist) was dead-on correct with his philosophy of education, that their ancestors crawled out of a slime-pit somewhere and lived among tree limbs before becoming humans, that all conduct is relative, that there are no absolutes and that God is a take-it-or-leave-it concept, then there is no question as to why they believe and teach (with exceptions, of course) the godless agenda that has essentially become the core curriculum for modern government education.
In 2011 the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association held a “Rock the Fort” event on the parade ground at Ft. Bragg, NC. This angered some atheists in the Army, so they organized the “Rock Beyond Belief” counter-event in March of 2012. Sgt. Justin Griffith, US Army, led the effort. Part of the entertainment provided was the band “Aiden” which produced a video that includes images of burning church buildings and bloody crosses. The lyrics in one of their songs are, “_ _ _ _ your God, _ _ _ _ your faith in the end. There’s no religion.” Sgt. Griffith said that song was not performed at Ft. Bragg, but he thought the video of burning church buildings was fine. At the performance a rapper rapped “creationism is dead wrong”, and one T-shirt for sale featured a picture of the Bible with the words, “Holy C_ _ P”.
Sgt. Griffith’s atheist counter-event was billed as a type of “equal time” program whose purpose was to “send a message”. But, that is not really the truth. They did not send a message as much as they insulted God and His people. The Christian event speakers in 2011 did not harangue atheists, did not feature the burning of buildings where atheists gathered, did not use profanity and did not sell T-shirts that highlighted offensive pictures. The atheist event, on the other hand, was clearly an overt attack upon God, Christians and the Bible.
If space permitted mention could be made of those other efforts of the U.S. military to cleanse itself of religious references, as Congressman Randy Forbes (R-VA) describes what is happening. He also said, “It’s a very dangerous course to take.” You bet it is! And, for veterans of an earlier day this is almost too much to believe. But, it is happening.
And then there was President Obama’s 2011 Thanksgiving speech where he did not even mention God, but did say Americans are “truly lucky”, that he is thankful that some Americans took time off to serve in soup kitchens and that the first Thanksgiving was a “celebration of community”. Because God is now out of the picture nationally, his explanation of Thanksgiving was very inaccurate and very much unlike Lincoln’s explanation. In earlier generations American History students learned that Lincoln, in 1863, said the holiday was, “a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”
In our country’s present time of terrible despair and fear of the unknown President Obama, in his 2011 Thanksgiving Day speech, did not mention God at all, but did say he was thankful for all the luck our country has had.
In the winter of 1777 — 1778 when our country was in a time of terrible despair and fear of the unknown, General Washington went alone into the woods to pray. Typhus, dysentery, starvation, exposure and depression were rampant in the wretched little American encampment at Valley Forge. Isaac Potts accidentally came upon the General, and this is what Potts reported: “I heard a plaintive sound as, of a man at prayer. I tied my horse to a sapling and went quietly into the woods and to my astonishment I saw the great George Washington on his knees alone, with his sword on one side and his cocked hat on the other. He was at Prayer to the God of the Armies, beseeching to interpose with his Divine aid, as it was ye Crisis, and the cause of the country, of humanity and of the world.”
So, why might we suppose official America is growing in her abhorrence of God? For any number of reasons, actually. Logically the colonists should not have beaten the British, but they did. Why? God’s hand was upon the effort for independence from the start at least partly because the Founders sought liberty based upon the God-ordained right for every man to be free, a right for which they were willing to pledge their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. Both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were obviously not indiscriminately worded. Their words are unlike any other such documents in human history, and such distinction clearly shows God’s fingerprint. So, why is America’s abhorrence for God growing? It is a natural consequence of denying God’s hand in her history in the face of the obvious.
Another reason is America no longer fears God — fear in the sense of respecting His Person. With the introduction of Humanism into classrooms and the introduction of Higher Biblical Criticism into churches also came the introduction of an alternative to Christianity. With godliness ripped from every seam in the social and spiritual fabric of America, people defaulted to hardened consciences and hedonistic lusts. Satan put all his evil effort into exploiting this compromise, and he succeeded. The result has been the “who is God that He should be relevant to anything” attitude.
America has a blatant in-your-face attitude regarding God’s standard of living. Immorality is rampant with the illegitimate birthrate at 41% as of May, 2012 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Shacking up is no longer aberrant. Young men and women, even teens, many of whom claim to be Christians, think nothing of spending weekends and vacations together. Their friends and families grin sheepishly, wave goodbye and say, “Be careful and have a good time.” When they return home everybody smiles warmly and acts as if everything is OK because “God understands”.
In the context of addictions this is called “enabling”, and would not go unaddressed by parents, friends and spiritual leaders. However, when it comes to the context of sexual immorality it is called “being nice and being non-controversial”. It is true that we should not stick our noses into other people’s business. Equally true, though, is the ages old adage that we are our brother’s keeper. Spiritual maturity insures the proper “how, when and where”.
Blasphemous tirades in public are now common among both regular and high-profile people. Celebrities from every profession no longer think they should censor their words, and are thus quite comfortable using sewer-level words and terms in everyday speech. A number of them are hard-core activists, and are prone to sudden and vitriolic outbursts against God and His people while excusing their behavior with an offhand “so what”. Because they would never refer to the pagan god Allah in such a manner, they clearly display both their hypocrisy and their cowardice.
They seem pleased to be labeled as reprobates, and get great pleasure from the shock effect they produce with their words and conduct. And the more impromptu the outburst the greater the glory — at least in their minds.
In short, many people simply refuse to honor God. His words are no longer taken seriously and are thus no longer deserving of obedience. To them God, if there even is a God, is not exclusive. He is seen as only one way among many to heaven, or whatever place religious people think about going. The idea is you can take your choice, but do not become very excited about any of it because He is actually a myth. Just be cool, be nice and serve in a soup kitchen sometime.
That God loves them and desires their salvation is a fact. Equally factual, though, is most of them would laugh and spew forth noxious profanities at such a thought. They do not understand that their end will come quickly and unexpectedly as happened with Sodom on the last night of its decadent existence. It is clear that, as a nation, America is willing to sacrifice whatever it takes in order to not bow before God. But bow she will, like it or not. Maybe quite soon.
csm01@att.net