How Did We Get Here???

Articles From Our Bulletins

Philip C. Strong
11/10/20 - Bulletin Articles

By “here” I mean where we are as a nation- politically deeply divided, morally bankrupt, and socially awkward and uneasy at best. One passage seems to provide the best answer to our title question. Galatians 6:7-8, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life.” Though the passage speaks of the individual, I would present that the principle espoused holds true for nations as well. But, “How have we sown to the flesh?” some might ask. Glad you asked. Though this is not a complete list by any means, consider the following fleshly seeds from which we are now reaping the harvest:

The destruction of “family” as God ordained it. WWII was like previous wars in many regards, but different in one key aspect. Women went into the factories to make armaments and munitions as they had done in wars throughout history. But after the war, this time many stayed in the workplace rather than returning to the home functions of wife and mother. Household incomes increased with both the husband and wife working, creating a post-war economic boom. But “latchkey kids” came home from school to empty houses, and “daycare” began to raise the children. Additionally, with men and women working together as never before, fornication and adultery increased dramatically. Divorce inevitably followed suit. So rather than being reared by a father and a mother as God ordained, children were shifted from one parent to another on weekends and holidays, but spent much more time in the school system or daycare. We “sowed to the flesh” of economic prosperity and sexual immorality and “reaped” the destruction of the backbone of moral society, the so-called “nuclear” family (which is actually God-appointed, Gen.2:24; Eph.5:22-31; 6:1-4).
The removal of God as “Creator.” Some blame Mr. Darwin for offering us the opportunity to alternatively understand/explain our own existence. Actually, men have been either ignoring God as “Creator” or alternatively explaining the “origin” of the Universe for centuries before Darwin. Humanity has long been willing to “suppress the truth in unrighteousness” and refusing to acknowledge what can be “clearly seen, being understood through what has been made” since “the creation of the world,” cf. Rom.1:18-20. Such is nothing new. But what Mr. Darwin did was to offer an explanation devoid of any “god.” Most previous non-biblical efforts shifted creatorship to some other form of a god or deity (besides the Most High). The key here is that by removing God from creatorship, all incumbent responsibilities of divine law were also removed. Simply put, if God didn’t create the Universe, then there is no such thing as “right” and “wrong” except as determined by man himself. Some early evolutionists even admitted such was a result, if not the goal of the theory. We “sowed to the flesh” of Matter + Chance + Time = Everything and are now “reaping the harvest” of moral ambiguity at best, and at worst, the complete lack of a moral compass, since “a man’s way is not in himself; nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps,” Jer.10:23.
The acceptance (societally and legally) of abominably abhorrent behavior. Two examples will have to suffice. We “sowed to the flesh” of “sexual/women’s liberation” and convenience by legalizing abortion. Having already destroyed the “family” as God ordained it (husband, wife, children), and having removed the consequences of pre-marital sex (and everything else) by removing God as Creator, we then proceeded to assume the right to take the life of the unborn- some even claim the right to exterminate the just-born! Furthermore, and because of numbers 1 and 2 above, we legalized and accepted as “normal” that which God called “degrading… unnatural… indecent… depraved… improper,” homosexuality, cf. Rom.1:24-32. While “sin” is “sin,” and as such brings one under eternal condemnation- including along with abortion and homosexuality all the other sins enumerated in Rom.1:29-32 i.e., these two well-illustrate just how many seeds we’re willing to sow to our flesh!

As stated in the introduction, this is by no means a complete list of our “sowing to the flesh,” but hopefully the three provided are adequate to demonstrate “how we got here.” We, as a nation, “sowed to our own flesh” and are now “from the flesh reaping corruption,” Gal.6:8. But remember, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man (or nation!) sows, this he (or they!) will also reap,” Gal.6:7.

So what are we to do? Biblical history provides the answers: 1) Return to reading, understanding, and obeying God’s word, Neh.8; 9:3a; 2) Return to truly worshipping God, Neh.8; 9:3c; 3) Acknowledge the goodness and greatness of God, Neh.9:5-15; 4) Confess the sins of our fathers, Neh.9:16-31; 5) Petition God for mercy based on His goodness and faithfulness rather than our own, Neh.9:32; and, 6) Recognize and accept God’s justice in punishment while confessing our sin, Neh.9:3b,33-38.

May God have mercy on our souls if not our nation! The glimmer of hope in all of this, as depressing as it may seem, is that God does NOT condemn the righteous along with the innocent, cf. Gen.18:23-32 (see also Rev.3:4); and “the Lord knows how to rescue the godly…” cf. 2Pet.2:4-9.