Our Nation's Declining Morals

by Bobby Witherington

“Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34). A study of the Old Testament reveals that a nation is blessed when the people in general look to God and seek to follow His will. The Israelite nation was a case in point. Invariably it was blessed when it sought to do God's will. And it suffered dire consequences when the people turned from serving God to serving idols, and pursued the course of immorality which always accompanies idolatry. Of course, they should not have been surprised, for God revealed to them while Moses was yet alive that “blessings” would “overtake” them if they obeyed “the voice of the Lord,” and He also warned them of the curses which would befall them if they refused to “obey the voice of the Lord” their God (Deuteronomy 28:2,15). Because of sin the united kingdom ultimately became the divided kingdom, and because of sin both the Northern and Southern kingdoms were eventually carried away into Assyrian and Babylonian captivities, respectively (II Kings 17; II Kings 24-25).

For good or bad, a nation's leaders can have a tremendous effect upon the well-being of the nation itself. For example, we cite the case of King Ahaz, the 11th king of Judah, who reigned for 16 years in Jerusalem. Even though Ahaz had a good father (Jotham), “he did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord, ... he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made molded images for the Baals. He burned incense in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom” (II Chronicles 28:1-3). Because he and his subjects had “forsaken the Lord God of their fathers,” the Lord delivered him into the hand of the King of Syria who “killed one hundred and twenty thousand in Judah in one day” (II Chronicles 28:5-6). Ahaz's legacy was not one to be envied! The record tells us that “the Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had encouraged moral decline in Judah and had been continually unfaithful to the Lord” (II Chronicles 28:19). Sometimes we hear it said that “character doesn't count in a leader,” but history tells a different story! Character does count; it has always counted!

Recent Events in America

On Sunday, May 31, 2009, a lone gunman entered the meeting house of the Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita, KA and killed Dr. George Tiller. Upon hearing the news, our President declared that he was “shocked and outraged,” and he should have been! Murder is murder, and it is repeatedly condemned in both the Old and New Testaments. However, Dr. George Tiller is being heralded as a great man, a great citizen, a pillar of society – even though he made millions through his late term abortion clinic, literally killing thousands of unborn babies. In all likelihood, Dr. George Tiller personally killed more unborn, innocent babies than constituted the number of victims who lost their lives in the tragic events of September 11, 2001! He was a Mass Murderer! Yet he is esteemed as a great hero. His killer is a villain, and somehow the pro abortion crowd is blaming every anti-abortionist (including you and me) for what was done by a lone gunman! They are weeping for Dr. Tiller, but who is weeping for the thousands of innocent babies he murdered?

On Monday, June 1, 2009, a lone gunman, a recent convert to Islam, shot and killed 24-year old Pvt. William Long in Little Rock, AR, and critically injured his 18-year old buddy. But where is the outrage? A baby killer is murdered and all anti-abortionists are somehow branded as having their fingers on the trigger. A soldier, sworn to uphold our freedoms at the risk of his own life, is murdered by a Muslim, but what media outlet is trying to incriminate all other Muslims, even though such action is authorized by the Koran, the book which all true Muslims claim to follow? Why the double standard? What is the future of a nation whose citizens largely bend over backward lest they offend an evil false religion, but tries to incriminate all God-fearing people who are conscientiously opposed to killing innocent babies?

On Monday, June 1, 2009, President Obama issued “A Proclamation.” After devoting five paragraphs extolling the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) community, he then said: “NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to turn back discrimination and prejudice everywhere it exists.”

So there you have it! The whole month of June is to be observed as LGBT pride month. Our President declares that he is “proud to be the first President to appoint openly LGBT candidates to Senate-confirmed positions in the first 100 days of an Administration,” stating that “these individuals embody the best qualities we seek in public servants, and across my Administration.”

In the days of Isaiah, regarding apostate Jerusalem and Judah, God said, “the look on their countenance witnesses against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought evil upon themselves” (Isaiah 3:9). Sodomy, the sin of homosexuality, received its name from ancient Sodom, a city upon which God rained fire and brimstone because of its immorality (Genesis 19). But in time an apostate nation, having forgotten biblical history, began to “declare their sin as Sodom!” They were grievous sinners – and proud of it! And God dealt with them in His Own way and in His Own time! It makes as much sense to issue a “FALD pride month,” (FALD, an acronym for fornication, adultery, lying, and drunkenness) as it does to issue “a LGBT pride month!” You see the same Bible which condemns FALD also condemns LGBT!

Our own nation, a nation once mistakenly referred to as a “Christian nation,” is traveling the same path to Atheism, immorality, and destruction which characterized so many fallen nations in the past. Something is amiss when the President of a nation issues a “Proclamation” honoring lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders, and says that “these individuals embody the best qualities we seek in public servants, and across my administration!” God surely must have had such situations as ours in mind when He said: “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” (Isaiah 5:20). Like ancient Israel, as a nation, we have sown “the wind,” and unless radical changes for the better are made, we shall “reap the whirlwind” (Hosea 8:7).

What Can We Do?

1. We can pray – pray for “all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence” (I Timothy 2:1-2). It is still true that “the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16).

2. We can voice our convictions! This is what the Old Testament prophets repeatedly did as they addressed the grievous sins of Judah, Israel, corrupt kings, priests, leaders, etc. Why should we allow the wicked to be more vocal in contending for evil than we are in condemning evil?

3. We can live righteous lives, striving to “shine as light in the world” (Philippians 2:15). Remember that 10 righteous souls could have made a difference in the fate of ancient Sodom (Genesis 18:32).

4. We can share the gospel with the lost! This is our mission as Christians (II Timothy 2:2), members of the Lord's church, which is “the pillar and ground of the truth” (I Timothy 3:15). At the preaching of Paul, “many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed, and were baptized” (Acts 18:8). And “some” of the Corinthians, prior to conversion, had been fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, and sodomites (I Corinthians 6:9-10).

Conclusion: We must not hate those who make up the LGBT crowd, or those caught up in Islam, or who clamor for “abortion rights” (the right to kill unborn babies!). To the contrary, we should love them! The Lord loved them so much that He died for them (Hebrews 2:9; John 3:16). However, someone has to take a stand for what is right! And who is in a better position to do this, than those who make up the church which was purchased with the saving blood of Jesus Christ?