“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil,” the prophet wrote in Isaiah 5:20. These words are often–and correctly–quoted to criticize a corrupt government that lets criminals walk free while fining and imprisoning people who champion the weak or who only want to live their lives in peace. There’s more to this prophecy than the one phrase, though.
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight! Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink, who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right!
Isaiah 5:20-23 ESV
Sin isn’t just something people do in America. It has become the focus of identity for many millions. Skim through personal profiles on social media, and you’ll see “pro-choice”, “ally”, and other labels that say, “I not only accept this sin, but I celebrate and promote it!”
Abortion and homosexuality share a mutual love affair with death for the sake of personal indulgence. Abortion, under the Orwellian label of “choice”, kills more Americans every year than the Civil War did in four years. Homosexuality and related perversions are childless by nature, but it’s proponents actively recruit children, stealing their life before they even begin living. Where they were once content to pervert other people’s children through the guise of education, they now create horrific parodies of “family” through adoption, IVF, and surrogacy.
Abortion and homosexuality aren’t even close to the only sins undermining our families, though.
Family should provide the healthy foundation required for the next generation to build a truly better future, not based on technological advances, but on relationship with each other and with God. Unfortunately, sexual promiscuity, adultery, divorce, and fatherlessness have broken and scrambled our families. The brokenness is compounded by an economic system engineered to scatter siblings across thousands of miles and to require every adult to work outside the home just to get by.
Once our families fell apart, our communities weren’t far behind.
Witchcraft, pagan religious practices, and denominationalism, all packaged as “spirituality”, divide us even further. There’s nothing wrong with disagreeing with other people on spiritual matters, so long as the Bible and God’s Law remain at the center and we give each other the same grace to be wrong that we ask for ourselves, but almost nobody stops with mere disagreement. Some people openly reject YHWH for self-worship or pathetic imitations, while others reject their brothers and sisters in Christ over relatively minor issues. Others constantly chase after the latest mystery, thinking that if they just discover one more truth that’s hidden from everyone else, they’ll finally achieve enlightenment or relationship (as opposed to religion) or whatever word they prefer.
This isn’t mere cultural drift. It’s rebellion against God’s intended order. Scripture shows us how God intends for society to be structured, but we always think we know better.
We ignore his patriarchal design for the family, religion, and government, and then we wonder why the family, religion, and government doesn’t work.
We ignore his prescriptions for crime and punishment, and then we wonder why we can’t control crime, why the government is run by criminals, and why we end up all being treated like criminals ourselves.
We ignore his instructions on how to deal with false prophets, and then we wonder why our televisions and churches are all run by false prophets.
We ignore his rules for land and property management, and then we wonder why megacorporations end up owning everything and everyone. “Woe to those who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is no more room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land.” Isaiah 5:8
We ignore his commandments concerning the care of the weak and poor, and then we wonder why all of our solutions just seem to make the problems worse.
The cause of all of these bad choices isn’t feminism or greed or lust. It’s pride. We really think we know better how to manage humanity and the planet than the one who created it all and gave us a user’s manual.
There is hope, though.
There is always hope because God judges those whom he loves, and his judgment is designed to bring repentance. Judgment brings humility to the proud and justice to the oppressed.
Man is humbled, and each one is brought low, and the eyes of the haughty are brought low. But the LORD of hosts is exalted in justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness. Then shall the lambs graze as in their pasture, and nomads shall eat among the ruins of the rich.
Isaiah 5:15-17 ESV
Eventually God will set the world right, with or without our cooperation. However, a little humility today could spare us a lot of suffering later. God promises to forgive and restore the penitent, and God always keeps his promises.
I don’t believe we can save America as it currently exists, but we can save a remnant from which something better can be built in the future. The choice is ours: Cling to our pride and go the way of the world, or humble ourselves before YHWH and submit to his rulings. The path to restoration begins with calling things what they are and admitting we can’t improve on the Designer’s plan. Only God’s way leads to life in the end. All other roads lead to Sheol and Abaddon.
Return to the LORD your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you.
Deuteronomy 30:2-3 ESV
No nation ever came to repentance except individual people within the nation repented first. Every revival begins with one person choosing to humble himself and placing his bronze crown at the feet of Messiah. Then a second person and another. Families first, then congregations. The rest is up to God. Either the nation will follow or judgment will.
Everything that Yeshua (aka Jesus) & the Apostles taught
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