Why has this generation gone insane?
How did we get here?
When looking through the lens of HIS-story, we flawed humans have a few major faults in common. 1. We are all born slaves to sin. 2. We all have a propensity to forget our past, and rather quickly. Hmm, what was I writing about? Oh yeah… Let’s focus our attention on item two.
If we look at the canon of God’s word (The Bible), we see God chose a family to bring His salvation to all the tongues, tribes, and nations of the earth. The promise-keeping Lord God said to the family father (Abraham):
“In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice” (Genesis 22:18). Indeed, the Jewish people were elected by God to bring forth Salvation (Jesus Christ). The Lord made an everlasting covenant with these people to be a people before Him forever. The Lord also (with condition) appointed them a Holy (set apart) nation of priests:
“‘Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel'” (Exodus 19:5-6). We can easily see throughout scripture that Israel failed that duty, quite a bit, and God judged accordingly. In hindsight, it’s easy to look back through scripture and say, “Oh my, how dumb could these people be? How could they forget the Lord and all He has done?” Well, look in a mirror; you (we) are guilty of the same.
I believe we are living in days not unlike the Book of Judges. This book begins with Joshua and his generation dying off: “All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel” (Judges 2:10).
Sound familiar? It should! I’m 52 years old, so I’ve been around long enough to witness a God-fearing people totally forget the Lord God within ONE generation. True, my generation was crazy and had its own issues; but despite that, when I was a propagator of evil actions, I always knew deep down inside I was sinning against a Holy Just God. I was raised at a time when if you said “God,” I immediately associated “God” with The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; The God of the Bible who came in the flesh, Jesus Christ. It was a time when Capitalism was the good-guy system (righty so) and Marxism was the bad-guy system that murdered 100 million in the last century. HELLO!
Sadly, better than half the millennial generation identify as agnostic or atheist (according to Pew Research). If you mention “God” to the younger generation, they’ll very often ask, “which God”? They have no sense of history, are ignorant of God’s Word, and hold to some form of moral relativism. Sound familiar? The book of Judges ends with, “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25).
So then, does the prevailing news of the day surprise you? We are bombarded with Godlessness, lawlessness, looting, rioting, lying and murder on full display. Just as Paul described: “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these” (2 Timothy 3:1-5).
And, if you seek the truth or reason, you are yourself decried as evil. Just as Isaiah wrote: “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20).
Brethren, this is our reality.
But why?
Let’s examine what happened after Joshua died: “Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals, and they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked the LORD to anger. So they forsook the LORD and served Baal and the Ashtaroth” (Judges 2:11-13).
But wait, you may say. We haven’t gone that far! Oh yeah? Let’s see about that:
Right, we don’t carve idols of wood and worship them. Yes, true! However, in a sense we do just that. Maybe we don’t worship carved gods, but we most certainly worship things and stuff. The big TV, the nice car, the nice house… WE must outdo our neighbors, the Smiths. “Look what they got.” We even have forums such as Facebook to put our stuff on display. “HEY, LOOK AT ME AND MY STUFF.” Just like the Canaanites, we have become a nation of twisted sexual perversion, sorcery (drugs), rampant gambling, gross apathy, and open hatred of God. Surely, we don’t burn our children to Moloch. Oh yeah, ever heard of abortion? I believe in America alone; we are approaching 70 million unborn lives snuffed out, upon the altar of death.
You see, we aren’t so different than our forbearers, are we? Somehow a generation is rising that “did not know the Lord.”
The history presented in HIS-story (the Bible) is something we as believers ought not overlook. After all, it is scripture. God put it there as a lesson for all of humanity. If God severely disciplined His beloved people Israel, DO NOT think He will not do the same to us.
There are true believing brethren living in the world under the yoke of oppression for faith in Jesus. They look at us (the Christian West) and groan. Many say the church in the West needs persecution to refine its faith. You know, they may be right. Paul said as much: “And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:3-5).
It certainly will separate the saints from the ain’ts.
What can I do; what can I do!?
Isn’t it easy to isolate and curl up in a ball crying, “WOE IS ME”? Perhaps we can just write off this world and hunker down. God will rapture me away anyway! Well, let us consult the TOME OF TRUTH (The Bible) and see what HIS-stories Author has to say. If we claim we serve our Lord and Master Jesus the Messiah, when He departed this earth, he left us specific orders: “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).
So, when we see the lawless mob tearing down statues; tearing down the nation state; tearing down our common heritage; and tearing down God Himself, we, of course, need to oppose them. However, we also need to serve them. “WHAT? ARE YOU INSANE?” you may think. Brethren, these people do not know what is coming. The wrath of God is like a huge rubber band pulled back so far and ready to snap. They will be condemned to a lake of fire forever. Forever is an awfully long time for an unbelievably bad thing to be happening to you. You cannot escape; you cannot die. This is a fate that You and I deserve. Yet: “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
There was someone, somewhere that shared this Gospel with us. The knowledge that my enmity with God was removed. That God declared me righteous by HIS work. We all as born-again believers had an insurmountable debt paid in full, on a rugged tree. The ONE who took our sin away commands us to share this with the lost.
“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16).
Let us then STOP pulling our hair out and banging our heads off a wall concerning current events. Brethren, embrace these times. It is in a dark time that WE are required to be the ambassadors of Christ He commands us to be. “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
Let us each work in the harvest field. Sow those seeds of the Gospel to all that will hear. If they reject you, do not be discouraged. Perhaps God will send another servant to come along and water those seeds? “What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:5-6).
Do not get offended if they reject you giving testimony. It is God they truly are rejecting. Do not burden them any further than needed as this can be very counterproductive (learned this from experience). “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces” (Matthew 7:6).
When you are hated for the Gospel do not be surprised. “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you” (John 15:18).
“Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW; and A MAN’S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 10:34-39).
The Lord is noticeably clear on His instruction. If it’s not clear, I challenge you to get into HIS word more. Start working those spiritual muscles. Become equipped for the days coming upon us. It is, after all, “Such a time as this.”
Shalom,
Brian Lazewski