"And now will contestant number three tell us a little about herself." "I'm married to my wonderful husband _____. We've been together ten years and been married four and a half years." I switched to another station before I almost vomited. So am I really old fashioned and puritanical? It would be more accurate to say that I cannot bear the pain of watching people destroy themselves and destroy this country. If there are no moral absolutes about marriage and sexual behavior then it can never be said that anything is absolutely wrong. It can only be said that something is distasteful or repugnant or unpleasant or whatever. But it cannot be said that something is finally and absolutely wrong because there is no recognition of any moral Law! And it has all happened within my lifetime.
We now have two cultures; two societies. One of them recognizes absolute truth and morality and rationally applies that truth to all of life. To the other group everything is relative to experience and circumstances. The first group is actually not all that large because many professing Christians are in the second group. Being a Christian is, for them, not a whole lot different from the idealistic drug trips of the sixties; something outside of reason but it makes you feel like there is meaning to life. How else can you explain the thousands of 'Christians' who are voting in the Republican primary elections for an unrepentant serial adulterer?
Right about now is when someone will point back to the 1950's and say that there was plenty of sin in this country then. True, but with one huge difference: More than ninety percent of the country at least paid lip service to the absolute moral Laws of the Creator. Although many did not act consistently they at least acknowledged the moral laws and thus there was a standard to which one could appeal when trying to right a wrong. Take the example of the early civil rights movement. Segregation and the horrible treatment of people of color was, perhaps, the overriding evil of that era. The group led by Martin Luther King Jr. called itself The Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The appeal was to the Biblical moral standard that millions of white Americans said they recognized. Today there is no such standard recognized by which to decide what is actually evil. As a matter of fact, the moral laws themselves are now considered evil. Everything has been turned on its head.
Will a majority ever hold to that standard again in this country? The answer is in the hands of believers in Christ and whether or not they will pray and live by and under the authority of the Lord of lords. History has precedents of very depraved cultures being transformed. No example is more vivid than England in the 1700's during the time of John Wesley and the early Methodists. People have not changed and God has not changed. Technology only makes our era look radically different but the hearts of people are the same as throughout history and the Grace of God is as powerful as ever. Several million fervently praying and consistently living believers will be heard by God and things will happen. The Soviet Union collapsed by 1990 and shortly afterward you could pray and teach the Bible in the schools of Russia.
With confidence I predict that the death of Justice Scalia is only the first of the upheavals and calamities that we will see this year as God sovereignly shows this wicked nation Who is really in charge. He is about to shake all nations so that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. In the meantime, if you know the Lord, please be both joyful and very sober. From eternity we will look back on this moment of time and be glad that we were both.
My Mom led me to the Lord when I was five years old. I remember it vividly... Mom herself was a new child of Christ at that time. Growing up I thought she was too strict in not allowing me to be a part of a group activities except those of our church. No Brownies, Girl Scouts, only Biblical movies, etc. Even some of my friends at church were allowed those things, but not me. Looking back I am so very thankful for her wise discernment. It wasn't in a legalistic vein at all. It was her following God's guidance in leading me to be in the world but not part of it. I survived! And I thrive! At my 20th high school reunion one of my classmates came up to me and said: 'You were a Christian back in high school, weren't you?' I share this not to pat myself on the back but to give credit to a Godly mother who turns 86 tomorrow, February 28, 2016.
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