A Spirit of Murder and Lawlessness.

This blog will be a bit of a repeat, but I am moved by another killing spree this morning at a Naval Air Station in Florida. I am not sure how many were killed, but I think it includes the one doing the shooting. These are now becoming weekly events. A friend of mine said that there is a spirit of murder over our land and I believe that is true. There is also a spirit of lawlessness as well. I don't mean to be pessimistic, but I don't think that these things will turn around anytime soon and here are my reasons.

The Genesis one account is certainly about God creating all things by his power, but there is something more in this chapter as well. It is about the nature and desire of God. The world is created in darkness, without life, and covered in water. The ancients would have said that in the beginning the world was in a chaotic state. This chaotic state is the backdrop to reveal the nature of the Hebrew God. God does three things in chapter one: He brings forth light, and then order, and then life. The sky, the sea, and the land bring order to the chaotic state which God then fills with abundant life. This is always the direction that God moves toward-light, order, and life.

There is a subtle theme in the Bible of the battle between Satanic forces and God. God moves things towards the light along with order and then life. The Satanic forces work the opposite in always trying to push things back to darkness and chaos. God is not overcome by this force, but he allows it to learn the consequences of disobedience and ignoring or even opposing God. As long as we as individuals and a society honour God, we are directed and moved toward light, order, and abundant life.

The United States as a society has abandoned God and his ways. This is crucially seen in the infamous Roe verses Wade Supreme Court decision in 1973 that made abortion legal. Since that time something like eight million babies have been aborted in this county. I understand that there certainly can be legitimate reasons for abortion, but simply discarding a human life because of inconvenience is not one of them. In 2016 the Supreme court made same-sex 'marriage' the law of the land. Homosexual practices have been considered wrong for thousands of years by three of the greatest religions ever known-Judaism, Christianity, and Islam which should give one pause in considering this issue. The consistent Christian view has been that God created marriage and it is between a man and a woman. Nothing else is really a marriage according to Jesus and the scriptures, and yet our society has chosen to ignore God's will and teaching on this and we see the consequences today.

People are very rightly concerned about the chaotic state of our country and it seems to get worse every day. Why is it happening? The simple answer is that once a people choose to ignore God and his directing power towards light, order, and life come to a standstill, and the powers of darkness and disorder begin driving everything back towards chaos. God is not defeated in this, but it is really a simple law of motion. We are not puppets and our decisions can have real consequences. We can chose to dishonor God and God will respect our choices, but if we so choose, then the direction begins to move towards chaos and God's restraining power is limited or taken away. This is what is happening to America today. Unless by God's grace the spirit of murder and lawlessness is taken away we may see the disintegration of our country in our lifetime. This is, without saying, a most, if not THE most, critical time that America has ever had.