“Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them or by a power without them; either by the Word of God or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible or by the bayonet.”
Robert Winthrop, Speaker of the U. S. House
Speaker Winthrop was correct, although he should have added that the more corrupt and immoral the people become, the more they are in need of masters to control them. Sadly, if faced with tyranny or the total destruction of society, tyranny is the better choice. Sadder still is the realization that America may now be just such a nation: one that has become so corrupt and immoral as to require masters. Why would I say this? Just read the headlines – headlines you probably won’t see unless you look outside the State-controlled media:
College Student Allegedly Sexually Assaulted While Witnesses Stood By and Took Photos
SHOCK: High School Teacher Sentenced to Just 30 Days for Rape of Student Who Killed Herself
‘Sexualizing Little Girls’: ‘Naughty Leopard’ Halloween Costume for Toddlers Sparks Major Debate
Food Stamp Glitch Leaves Walmart Shelves Bare: ‘Like a Tornado Had Came Through’
I could have posted many more such stories, and I do not have to go very far back in time to find them. What these stories all have in common is they show a society in decline. These are not stories about amoral people; they are stories about immoral people. And it isn’t just a few among us; it is a growing majority of Americans who are immoral. You see, immorality is not a matter of being neither good nor bad, it is the turning of right and wrong on its head:
Isaiah 5:20-21
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who [a]substitute darkness for light and light for darkness;
Who [b]substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
That passage of scripture speaks directly to who we have become as a nation. And the next verse tells us how and why this has happened:
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
And clever in their own sight!
We no longer recognize God’s sovereignty; God’s law. Instead, we insist on substituting our own law in its place, and then we wonder why we have so much trouble with the world we created. And the worst among us – those who are so totally sold on their own sense of superiority that they no longer hear or head their own conscience – rather than humble themselves enough to admit they are wrong and repent, they seek to salvage their flawed creation by killing those who they blame for their failures. This is exactly what Adam and Even did when they ate the forbidden fruit. Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent. But the truth is that we are all at fault for the condition of this nation because we have turned from God – yes, even those of us who are called by His name have strayed far more from the narrow path than we should have. And now, now we are all paying the price.
But there is still hope! Only, if we are to be saved, we must give up trying to save ourselves. Have we learned nothing in all these thousands of years of recorded history? Man cannot save himself; only God can do that. Luckily, God made us a promise, and God is faithful. Though we may break our promises, God never breaks His:
2 Chronicles 7:14
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
14 and My people [a]who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
God always leaves a remnant for Himself among the people. If those of us who remain will humble ourselves, repent and seek the Lord’s forgiveness, we might still have a chance – but only barely, as we are no longer the majority. So better still, call others to join you in humbling themselves, repenting and seeking the Lord’s forgiveness – or even in seeking the Lord for the first time in their lives. For the problems we face are beyond the abilities of man to correct. We have created a God-sized mess and it will take an act of God to correct it. Even then, as Scripture teaches us, the correction may well be a punishment that erases the mess we made from the face of the earth so as to prepare the way for a new and more bountiful crop. I only pray it isn’t already too late…
The Oil for Your Lamp 
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Reblogged this on Dead Citizen's Rights Society.
I’m reading ‘The Covenant’ by Tim Ballard. Along about pages 80-90 he explains this pretty well, and builds a solid case that the nation has reached a serious decision-point. It appears to me from current political news that the wrong decisions have irrevfocably been made, and that consequences will not be long in coming.
BillC,
True, and as he points out in the book — as in the time when the harbinger first visited Israel — we rejected God’s warning out of pride and trust in our own failed ability to rescue ourselves. And, unless we turn and repent, we’ll succeed about as much as Cain did after he was banished from the land of his birth.