| Posted: 05/11/09 |
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The
Five Consequences for a Nation that Rejects God
By Brannon Howse
Ideas-and the actions they produce-have consequences, and the Bible is very specific about what a nation will reap when it rejects God.
Chapter 1 of Romans delineates five specific national consequences for denying God. To be sure, there are others outlined in Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and elsewhere in the Old Testament, but in this article I will focus just on Paul's warnings because they are so explicit and frighteningly relevant to what is happening in America today.
1. The nation that continually rejects God becomes a nation of fools.
Romans 1:21-22:
Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools.
According to verse 21, people become futile, vain, and useless. Their hearts become darkened, allowing them to be seduced into accepting spiritual lies.
Verse 22 points out that even though they profess to be wise, they actually become fools. This refers specifically to the extremes men will go to in order to justify their sin and false beliefs about God. Situational ethics, moral relativism, and postmodernism are all methods used to justify rebellion against the character and nature of God. (And remember Psalm 14:1? It tells us that it's the fool that says in his heart there is no God.
2. The nation that continually rejects God accepts pagan spirituality.
Romans 1:25:
Who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
Pagan spirituality centers on the worship of nature, yet its ultimate goal is to sidestep feeling guilt-for anything. Our world has moved from theism to atheism to pantheism, the belief that "god is all and all is god and all is one." The Denver Post in June 2008 reported that pagan spirituality is doubling in
3. The nation that continually rejects God accepts homosexuality as
normal.
Romans 1:26-27:
For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another. Men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.
Acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle as "normal" is evidenced in our nation's schools, television programs, movies, and even some churches. Courts throughout the nation seek to legalize same-sex marriage. A number of states have implemented "hate crimes" legislation that allow legal action against individuals for publicly sharing their objections to the homosexual lifestyle.
4. The nation that continually rejects God becomes debased and
violent.
Romans 1:28:
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting.
A blatant example of our cultural debasement, in 1993 Ruth Bader Ginsburg was confirmed by a 99 to 1 vote of the U. S. Senate to serve as a Supreme Court justice. The bizarre worldview of this woman seemed to make no difference to the proceedings. Earlier in her career while serving as an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, Ginsburg wrote a paper entitled "Sex Bias in the U.S. Code," prepared for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in April 1977. Among its perverse conclusions, the paper recommends lowering the age of consent for sexual acts to 12 years old.
An article in U.S. News & World Report further reveals just how off-base we've become. In John Leo's "No-fault Holocaust," he reports a remarkable observation about how college students perceive the World War II Nazi genocide:
In 20 years of college teaching, Prof. Robert Simon has never met a student who denied that the Holocaust happened. What he sees quite often, though, is worse: students who acknowledge the fact of the Holocaust but can't bring themselves to say that killing millions of people is wrong. Usually they deplore what the Nazis did, but their disapproval is expressed as a matter of taste or personal preference, not moral judgment. "Of course I dislike the Nazis," one student told Simon, "but who is to say they are morally wrong?"[1]
5. The nation that continually rejects God produces judicial, legislative
and executive branches of government that approve of and encourage
immorality and corruption.
Romans 1:32:
Who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.
Numerous examples point to
(1) 1973-The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that abortion is protected by a legal right of privacy.
(2) 2003-The U.S. Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the
My point in outlining these five indications of national moral failure is not that I want God to judge our nation. I fear His wrath too much for that. However, there is hope in knowing that a just Judge is in charge and that He will not wink at sin. He holds everyone accountable which means that all have the potential to repent. We can pray God's judgment will cause people to turn from their sins and trust in Jesus Christ. We can also pray that His call to accountability will purify the American church and ultimately take our country on a new road, to God's glory and honor.
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