April 20, 2024
Satan promised Eve that if she and Adam ate of the fruit of a certain tree in the Garden of Eden they would “be like God, knowing good and evil.” So, the first ploy of the devil was to deceive Adam and Eve and tempt them to be like God.
Similarly, the objective of humanism today is to humanize God and deify man.
Since achieving the perfection of God is beyond human attainment there is an intentional or inadvertent urge to minimize sin. We conclude that if we can minimize the obstacle preventing us from being like God we can narrow the gap between humanity and divinity.
In Newsweek magazine Jessica Bennett wrote "The Truth is, We’re All Raging Liars." In it she stated,“... deception is all around us. We are lied to by government officials and public figures to a disturbing degree; many of our social relationships are based on little white lies we tell each other. We deceive our children, only to be deceived by them in return.”
Politicians dissemble, scientists falsify research, employees alter credentials in order to get jobs, students cheat on tests, businessmen fudge on expense reports, and preachers embellish illustrations. Bennett adds, "We are seeing a cultural shift where we’re lying more, it’s easier to lie, and ... more acceptable.”
Also, a half-truth can be as bad as a lie. For example, the mainstream media televised the left-wing protesters voicing their disapproval of Senator Jeff Sessions being confirmed as the U.S. Attorney General, but the same media failed to report that as a U.S. attorney, Sessions filed several cases to desegregate schools in Alabama. And, he also prosecuted Klansman Henry Francis Hayes, son of Alabama Klan leader Bennie Hays, for abducting and killing Michael Donald, a black teenager selected at random and made sure to be executed. The successful prosecution of Hayes eventually led to a $7 million civil judgment against the Klan, effectively breaking the back of the Alabama KKK.
Debate.org conducted a survey in which it asked the question, “Should lying be accepted in special circumstances? Fifty-six of the people questioned said, “Yes!” One responder said, “While the idea of absolute honesty is charming in its own naive way, a well placed lie can help a lot of people.”
So, in some cases lying is not only accepted, but endorsed.
It is the same way with abortion. What we call murder; the pro-choice crowd would have us accept as nothing more than a medical procedure to protect the woman’s “rights."
Kristen Clark, speaking on God’s Design for Women, asks, “Can you imagine what the majority of American women from the pioneer days would have thought about abortion? Can you imagine them fighting for the 'right' to murder their own babies and then mask it as a medical term?
“Our culture has manipulated and normalized the most abusive act of murder to be nothing more than a personal ‘choice.’ Incredible!”
The Bible specifies divorce as a sin, but as the percentage of divorces has risen over the decades so has our acceptance of divorce. Today, there are few preachers who dare to address the subject for fear of offending some faithful parishioners or alienating some tithing divorcees.
Prior to 1867, divorce statistics were not recorded, but from 1867 to 1879 only 3 percent of married couples in America got divorced. The divorce rate steadily increased until 1985, when it was established that 50 percent of those who got married also got divorced.
The proliferation of some sin usually brings acceptance of that sin and the normalization of it.
The same thing has happened with premarital sex and adultery. Because of the sexual revolution in American, illicit affairs have become so commonplace that sex is exchanged as casually as a handshake and as flippantly as a high five.
Sexual images are televised into our homes on a consistent basis and advertisers have learned that sex sells. It has been said that as human beings, we have a lizard or reptilian brain that responds to certain primal urges, one of which is sex. What used to cause us to blush hardly causes us to blink now. It’s all a part of the devil’s scheme to normalize any kind of sexual behavior.
For at least a quarter of a century our culture has attempted to normalize homosexuality. Children were given books like Heather Has Two Mommies and Daddy, Papa, and Me. Television networks have had at least three dozen animated programs with LGBT characters. Statistics show that 42 percent of TV programming is gay.
The LGBT community also has supporters and advocates in government, because many politicians have heard their cry for equality and championed their cause.
But even more disturbing is the LGBT community has many evangelical advocates. More churches are endorsing and encouraging the LGBT agenda by ordaining and calling gays and lesbians to lead their congregations.
I would agree with Christian journalist John Burton, who wrote, “My righteousness indignation, however, is not aimed at homosexuals enduring a demonic assault on their lives. My question at this hour is not whether God should bring judgment to the homosexual or not. The question is whether He should enact judgment on a passive, impotent American church.” The normalization of lying, abortion, divorce, homosexuality, greed, and other sins in our nation is the fault of a sleeping, passive American church that refuses to preach uncomfortable black-and-white truth.”
I dare not end this editorial without saying that no matter how we may try to normalize or justify sin, it is still an offense to a holy God. However, He has graciously given us a way out of the morass of sin no matter how despicable and shameful our sins may be. The way out is through Jesus Christ, who never condoned sin, but died for the most heinous of our transgressions so that we might be forgiven and have eternal life
