Anarchy and Apostasy: What Happens When a Blessed Nation Turns Its Back on God?
In 1999, I wrote a book titled Living for Christ in the End Times. It was published in the year 2000. The subtitle I gave the book was “Coping with Anarchy and Apostasy.” To my chagrin, the publisher refused to use the subtitle. There was not anything I could do about that because in the book publishing world, publishers have absolute control over cover designs and titles. (In 2015, when we published the second edition, I jerked the book from the publisher and gave the book the subtitle I had desired.)
When I asked the publisher why my subtitle had been refused, I was told that it was “too radical.” When I asked why, I was told that apostasy in the church was not all that bad and that our society was nowhere near anarchy.
My response was that the subtitle was a prophetic one based on our nation’s rejection of its Judeo-Christian foundation. I had not been given any special revelation by God. My prediction was simply based on what the Scriptures say will happen to a blessed nation that turns its back on God.
Romans Chapter 1
Specifically, Romans 1 says that when a nation starts rebelling against God, He will lower His hedge of protection around the nation and allow sin to multiply. The first manifestation will be a sexual revolution. God will give the nation over in “the lust of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them” (Romans 1:24). Our nation experienced this phenomenon in the decade of the 1960s with the Hippie Revolution and its emphasis on “free love.”
Romans 1 next says that if the nation refuses to repent, God will lower the hedge of protection further, and the result will be a plague of homosexuality. God will give the nation over to “degrading passions,” for the women will “exchange the natural function for that which is unnatural” — and the men will do the same (Romans 1:25-26). Beginning in the 1970s, our nation started experiencing an outbreak of homosexuality and its demand for same-sex marriage and the endorsement of transgenderism.
The final step in God turning our nation over completely to its sins of rebellion occurred when He lowered the hedge a third time, resulting in the nation being turned over to “depraved minds” (Romans 1:28). That is where we are today.
America’s Current Situation
Currently, we are a nation in full-scale revolt against our Creator, who has been the source of all our national blessings. I am reminded of what Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said when he was asked what happened to Russia that led to 70 years of Communist dictatorship. His response was short and to the point: “We forgot God.”
Our nation is now experiencing both gross apostasy and extreme violence. The Judeo-Christian foundation that held us together for 200 years has evaporated. In 1955, 91% of Americans claimed to be Christians. Today, that number has fallen to 61% — and many, if not most of these, are Cultural Christians only.
Our nation has been fighting a “cold war” for the past 50 years, as pagans have rejected our Judeo-Christian heritage and have increasingly targeted Christians and Jews for persecution.
I suggest that the assassination of Charlie Kirk will one day be viewed as the point at which our cultural “cold war” morphed into an all-out civil war. Increasingly, I believe we are going to find ourselves drowning in both apostasy and anarchy.
Apostasy and Anarchy
Our churches are wallowing in apostasy as they endorse homosexuals as pastors, elders, and deacons. They are also accepting and performing same-sex marriages. Some are even conducting drag queen services. The Catholic Church has returned to preaching “works salvation.” Protestants are no better, as they are now teaching that there are many roads to God. The latest “State of Theology” poll by Ligonier Ministries revealed that 47% of Evangelicals believe God accepts the worship of all religions and that 53% assert that most people are inherently good. The same poll also revealed that 49% of American adults view Jesus as a great teacher but not God.
On the anarchy scene, the evening news on television every evening is packed with scenes of violent radical groups attacking police officers simply because they are trying to enforce the law. Others are raising money to support murderers, like the one who shot the CEO of United Health and the young man who killed Charlie Kirk. Public opinion polls are showing that increasing numbers are saying that they approve political assassinations. The situation is so bad that the President is in the process of deploying military troops in our major cities. I truly believe the values of our nation have become so perverted that if a person were to kill President Trump, the assassin would be hailed as a national hero.
It appears that God has turned our nation over to what theologians called “abandonment wrath.” This happens when God steps back, removes his protection over a nation, and allows it to destroy itself.
The Future
Our nation is facing a cloud of gloom and doom, but there is a silver lining. Jesus said that in the end times, right before His return, the world will become as evil as it was in the days of Noah (Matthew 24:37-39). If you will take a look at the Bible’s description of those days in Genesis 6, you will see that they were characterized by two things: immorality and violence. We have arrived.
And that means Jesus is about to break from the heavens. It’s the reason Adrian Rogers used to preach, “The world is growing gloriously dark.” It is also why Jan Markell often says, “The world is not falling to pieces. Rather, the pieces are all falling into place.”
The cry of my heart is summed up in the words of the prophet Isaiah recorded in chapter 64: “Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at Your presence — as fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil — to make Your name known to Your adversaries, That the nations may tremble at Your presence!”