The Patient Doesn’t Know He’s Sick
Edward Gibbon, an English historian, writer, and member of parliament said, “History is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.” Since Adam, history records humanity’s continual sliding away from God to declaring itself God. Satan is the God of this world, declared the apostle Paul. The goal of man—Satan—is the overthrow of God and declaring himself God. Karl Marx declared religion is the opiate for the masses. Darwinism became a science declaring creationism (and by extension God) dead. Sigmund Freud diagnosed belief in God is a psychosis. The disciples of these self-aggrandized prophets seized upon these new religions, and we are reaping the fruits of their labor.
Their acolytes have systematically challenged and undermined the salutary natural and moral order of the world. The sexual liberation advocated by Hugh Hefner, Alfred Kinsey, and Gloria Steinem is coming to full fruition. Sexual liberation and its many elements disconnect people from the natural cycle of marriage and reproduction. Cancel culture, and all the “wokeness” it brings, breaks down national character and cohesion.
Children as young as preschool age are being told boys can be girls and girls can be boys. One’s gender and sex assignment at birth can be changed by simply declaring “I am now a…?” Pseudoscience declares males can now have babies. There are hundreds of gender identities, they say. Most alarming Christian schools have jumped on the bandwagon of this foolishness. A student was expelled from a Catholic school in Canada and arrested because he refuses to waiver from his Christian belief (and biological fact) that there are only two sexes: male and female.
The sane among us are witnessing “solipsism.” Webster defines the word solipsism as a theory holding that the self can know nothing but its own modifications and that the self is the only existent thing. A less formal definition is extreme egocentrism or narcissism. The famous French philosopher René Descartes coined the axiom “I think therefore I am” generally, meaning I create reality. Political operatives have declared they make reality. This narcissism is on public display daily on talk shows, televised news and Primetime programs. Narcissism is most often found in sociopaths. Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels would be in awe of the control today’s state has over its hapless populace.
Between the covers of the Bible, one can read page after page of human folly. Beginning with Adam’s sin in Genesis to God, putting an end to sin in Revelation. God does not whitewash sin. Every major Bible character’s weakness is on display. Noah became drunk; Moses killed a man; David committed adultery; Solomon was an idolater; kings killed their siblings, and offspring. Many kings persecuted the prophets (Jeremiah) or killed them (John the Baptist). Why? If you can’t kill the message, kill the messenger.
Within the stinging words of the Hebrew prophets lay hope for humanity. The OT prophets were like skilled doctors examining a patient. Their diagnosis was stark, full of pessimism and gloom. The illness was always self-inflicted sin and terminal. Jonah told the people of Nineveh in 40 days God would destroy the city. Why? God had enough of their “great wickedness.” Jesus mentioned Jonah and said at the preaching of Jonah, the city repented, and God spared it. Why? Because they believed the prophet’s word. Jesus added that a greater than Jonah is here—speaking of himself.
It is said that “History Repeats Itself.” The reason is humans are slow learners. Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah, and God spared the city “and the cattle” from destruction. Jesus said the people of Jonah’s Nineveh will rise in judgment against this generation. Several generations later, the prophet Nahum declared Nineveh’s destruction because they fell back into sin. Jesus, a greater prophet than Jonah, has declared this world’s illness is terminal. The symptoms are the same as found in Noah’s day. Unbridled immorality and rebelliousness to God’s natural and spiritual laws. The only treatment—read the story in Genesis 6. Jesus paints a grim picture when he said, “And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved.”
Christians should not be terrified of the madness enveloping the world. Jesus said these things must come to pass before he returns. Paul’s prescription to the Thessalonians was to remember we are children of light and do not walk in darkness. God will keep us blameless and preserve us until he returns. Jesus’ most comforting words are recorded in Luke; “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” Are you looking up?