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| Volume 25 Number 7 July 2023 |
Page 7 |
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| Volume 25 Number 7 July 2023 |
Page 7 |
Charles E. Burch
It doesn’t take a prophet to look around and see a great nation heading for destruction. Solomon wrote, “Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34 NKJV). The principle set forth here applies to every generation. Sin has always been and will always be the most destructive element in a nation. Notice the conditions of Judah, “Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed; Nor did they know how to blush…” (Jeremiah 6:15). Our nation is in the same condition!
Today, society has devolved to the point that sin is rampant and people in general have little respect for the Word of God. Over and over God has stated the punishment for sin, yet many openly live in those sins. Homosexuality is pictured in God’s Word as a sin worthy of death. “If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them” (Leviticus 20:13). Yet, today, people argue that it is only an alternate lifestyle. God said they were to be put to death! Who are we going to believe, God or man? Satan does his best to get all to believe man. In the New Testament, the apostle Paul wrote, “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” (Romans 1:26-27). Notice, God gave them up to await the final judgment. This is certainly not the only sin openly practiced in our society, but it is one that we hear so much about. Anything done that violates the teaching of God’s Word is sinful. We want all to be saved, but Jesus saves the obedient (Hebrews 5:8-9).
The attitude of the majority toward homosexuality is that everyone has the right to live as he or she pleases and to do what he or she wishes as long as he doesn’t hurt someone else. Special laws being passed protect these sinners and places them in a privileged category. This is going to lead to the destruction of our nation. Reports that came out a few years ago, stating homosexuals have a brain different from others and they can’t help being what they are, doubtlessly contributed to the current scenario. Paul listed homosexuality as a sin and stated, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). They changed; it was not a brain disorder but a lustful desire that led them into this sin.
God wants all to be saved. The apostle Peter penned, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). God will forgive any and every sin, but repentance must come first. That means one must cease to commit any sin in which he is involved and obey God’s Word.
