One of the most common questions I receive is whether God has removed His hand from our country. The answer is affirmative from my point of view. But how can one make this determination? Are there certain harbingers of societal collapse that would lend itself to my perspective? There is no question that Scripture speaks to this question as well as contemporary and earlier commentary.
In Paul's Epistle to the Romans, the Apostle details a nation's fall from grace in the first chapter. It begins with a rejection of God. Paul relates that God's wrath is unleashed against societies that deny His sovereign rule over all He has created. The text says that His presence is duly manifested in all He has fashioned (verses 19-20). Paul makes it clear that man doesn't just ignore this reality but actively suppresses the truth that has been made evident to him.
This resistance unleashes a series of judgments. First, Paul relates that because of this denial and suppression of truth, God will turn them over to a series of confusing thoughts and behaviors. This will manifest in a loss of reasoning ability and a darkness overtaking their hearts. They will become "futile in their speculations," resulting in intellectual foolishness (verses 21-22). There is nothing worse, I contend, than a mind that can't think straight. The great Puritan John Owen said, "The most tremendous judgment of God in this world is the hardening of the hearts of men."
Thoughts produce behaviors. This is an unavoidable truth. Continuing in the Roman's pericope, Paul instructs that a depraved mind will promote dishonoring sexual behavior. God will give them over to impurity. The phrase "gave them over" (παραδίδωμι) refers to one that is being turned over to the jailer for the carrying out of a sentence. Clearly, God's judgment is in view.
An old pastor friend once said that God rewards sin with more sin. I believe this is what is communicated in Paul's writing. In the process of a society's deterioration, we see sin producing an ever-increasing manifestation of sexual lust. Paul identifies these actions as "degrading passions" in verses 26-27. These behaviors are identified as lesbianism and male homosexuality. Paul relates that these "unnatural" acts will be prevalent in the abandoned society. Again, the Apostle emphasized that the end of which is God turning people over to a depraved mind.
Indeed, we have seen this digression in our land. We have gone from a nation and government that adhered to a Judeo-Christian worldview to a primarily secular view that has suppressed the mention of the generic term "God," let alone Jesus Christ. Pains are taken to give naturalistic (atheistic) explanations for every question that emerges. Darwinian evolution is the scientific ethos of reality. The concept of sinning against a holy God is wholly absent. Man believes that he has moved far beyond the ancient writings of a bygone world.
As we look at our American history, we have seen such thinking and actions transpire. In the 1960's and 1970's we saw a sexual revolution in our country that began to cast off ages old mores. As we entered the 1980's and into the 1990's, the formerly taboo subject of homosexuality began to be reexamined and accepted. In today's politically correct environment, to speak against cohabitation, adultery, or same-sex marriage invites wrath from a godless world. All the while, our nation shakes its collective heads as to what is happening.
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