As I sat down to write this article, I reflected on the recent events of in America. The scandals that are rocking this nation are becoming totally out of control. I thought, “How ironic that a nation that God placed here for His divine purposes, that first totally recognized Him as supreme, had turned into a nation of filth, greed, abuse, and persecution.” We are ripe for judgment, but then again, so is the rest of this world. So, I turned to the Book of Romans, and read what the Apostle Paul wrote in regard to the reasons for the coming wrath of the Lord on mankind. Have no doubt at all that the Lord has some very good reasons for what is to come sometime in the future. Many people totally overlook this portion of scripture because it causes us to do a thorough “self- examination”. I call it “looking at the proverbial mirror of us”, and it is ugly.
Paul begins with the first reason for God’s wrath…
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold [suppressing] 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.” (Romans 1:18-20)
The Lord is bringing His wrath against mankind because of our ungodliness and unrighteousness, and for suppressing the truth of His Word. How do we know God exists and created all things? Just walk out your front door. Go ahead… step out into that yard. Now stop, take a deep breath and listen. First, that breath you took was allowed by the Lord. Second, if it was changed by just one molecule, it would be a deadly poisonous gas. Hear the birds? Who created them so you can enjoy the pleasure of their song? Now, look at the grass and trees. Who created them? Yes, man can plant a seed and nurture it into a fine yard or a place for shade, but I defy anyone to create that seed; to create it so that it dies before it comes back to live as something wonderful. We can’t do it… but God spoke it into existence.
Denying God’s Word and His existence is nothing to play games with. To do so causes one, after seeing the very creation itself, to be without excuse of this knowledge.
“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. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.” (Romans 1:21-23)
Mankind today has followed a very definite downward trend. People today will argue with me using such words as “prosperous”, “wealthy”, “blessed”, and others. The truth is, that although we may have what appears to be good economies and many possessions, we have failed to recognize the holiness of God, and have become unthankful.
Consider if you will, that when things are just not going right in your life, you turn to the Lord for help. When things are going great, you forget about the One who has blessed you. We become “vain in our imaginations” and our hearts are darkened with pride. Although many profess to be “wise” with massive degrees in education, many are also fools by denying God and the blessings that He gives to us daily. Remember that breath you took? We have become an “unthankful” people. Think about it!
“Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.” (Romans 1:24-25)
Because of our sins of pride and materialism, the Lord has given mankind up to this uncleanliness; even to the point that we dishonor our own bodies between ourselves through such things as adulterous affairs and fornication. We have continued from there to literally change the truth of God into a lie. One such way is failing to preach the truth of God’s Word because of “doctrinal beliefs”, or “dogma”. Many churches in the world today hold to teachings that are “common to man” but are not what the scriptures teach. We have come so far that people literally place a higher value on trees, birds and the land than on human life. We will spend literally millions upon millions of dollars in America to fight for the right of a common owl to exist, yet turn our backs on the 32 million plus crying souls that are literally cut up and ripped out of their mother’s wombs. Do we deserve God’s wrath? Yes, but there is much more.
“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: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient:” (Romans 1:26-28)
In the origins of this planet, God created man and woman for specific reasons. One of them was to populate the earth. The love relationship of a husband and wife is special, and so is the ability to make love. It is different from every other living creation of God. But we have come to a point in history where that natural love and its original purposes have gone awry.
Because of man’s sins God has given us up to “vile affections”, where women seek women and men seek men. To those who wish to hold the argument that homosexuality is “genetic”, you need to simply turn to the above verses to seek the truth of that lie. Because of these lies, and because of not retaining the truth of the knowledge of God, the Lord Himself will turn us over to having a reprobate mind…to do those things with our bodies that were not of natural design by the Creator Himself. Don’t believe either that AIDS came from monkeys in Africa. It is caused by sin. Period. This is the “recompense” spoken of by Paul. As much as mankind tries, there will never be a “cure” for AIDS. So, how does this explain those young children or innocent people who have acquired AIDS without being involved in this specific sin? It doesn’t, except to understand that our mere allowance of such a “lifestyle” has caused the spread of such a disease. It is here, we cannot change it, and it won’t go away until the Lord Himself returns and purges all evil from the world. Not a popular view, but one which is scripturally sound.
A major sign of the times in which we live continues as Paul describes the “fullness of evil” within the realm of mankind. If this does not describe the current situation around the world, then we have turned a “blind eye” to the truth of God.
“Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.” (Romans 1:29-32)
We can merely look around us, read our newspapers, or watch the evening news and see that the above description matches a vast majority of our social orders. Those who commit the vilest of crimes know deep in their hearts that what they do is wrong, but they do it anyway. In each of us is a basic understanding of what is right and what is wrong. Again, we are without excuse. We know the judgment of God upon the wicked, and that those who commit such things are worthy of death, yet, in the evilness of the moment, they find pleasure in doing that evil. Many years ago, there was a popular American comedian, who dressed as a woman, and when he (she) did something wrong, the comment made was, “The devil made me do it!”. I think Lucifer gets a lot of blame for our own fleshly lusts, desires, and evil.
So, where does that take us today? How can we correct a very bad world in which we live? We can’t, pure and simple. This world is ripe for judgment, and I have shown you the reasons why. There are many more verses in the bible that deal directly to the church itself, but that is for another time. Let’s just come to an understanding of where we are and the reason for our impending judgment. Sometimes, this alone, is hard enough to swallow.
By Chuck Loefke