Justified

by Pete Garcia–

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. President John Adams

On the surface, there does not seem like there is a lot to be thankful for in the 2018 version of America. Wildfires, hurricanes, typhoons, mass shootings, lawless migrant caravans, a nation divided, political witch-hunts, mob violence, and leftist media frenzy have all become part of the new normal. Issues like gender and marriage, which should not be controversial simply due to common sense aspects, now are. Men want to be women, and women, men. Islam is somehow peaceful. Christianity is somehow hateful. Everything seems turned upside down and inside out. The newer generations are quick to be angry and offended about everything. They demand we upend 6,000 years of human history, to accommodate their “outrage.”

Victim-identity has become fashionable. Claiming victimhood for some injustice done to theirancestors is done so they can have a pass for their current reprobate behavior. People are seen as narrow-minded bigots, and labeled homophobic, islamophobic,transphobic, etc., as well as being ostracized, for not wholly endorsing destructive and unnatural ideologies and lifestyles. But at the root of it all,is the overwhelming sense of generational entitlement and justification for decadence. It seems that the decline of Western Civilization will not come with a whimper after all, but with a defiant, self-inflicted, gunshot to the head.

Assessment

Mankind in his natural state is incapable of having peace either with each himself, or with anyone else due to the unregenerate heart restlessness and anger. While you may meet people whom you presume or know to be unsaved, and they may seem kind and peaceful on the surface, do not be deceived. The unregenerate has deep undercurrents of dark waters swimming through their veins, just as we once did. The reason the unregenerate heart is restless and angry, is that as sentient beings, we seek out some very fundamental answers to the most important questions we are programmed to have, such as:

• Who am I?
• Why am I here?
• Where did I come from?
• What is my purpose in life?
• When will my life end?
• What comes after this life?

The world is currently under management by Satan at present (Luke 4:5-7) and he has done everything he can, to deceive, confuse, and hide the answers to these questions. He cannot afford to let the truth out.This obscuration of the truth is why the human heart rages and is perpetually at odds with God. That is not to say that everyone who comes to the knowledge of the truth as to be saved, continues on that path. Many, turn back to the pleasures of this world because they have been deceived. Many, follow after false paths thinking they are being enlightened, when in reality, are just straying further into darkness. And the longer a person lives with these questions unanswered, the more likely they will turn to one of three options: fear, pride, or indifference.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?       Jeremiah 17:9

Fear drives men to become desperate, and in their desperation, turn to do or believe incredibly stupid and/or evil things. With pride, men are deceived into believing they are somehow in charge of their destiny due by their own efforts. With indifference, men give up and just go about living materialistically, trying to get all they can out of this short life. As Solomon once said, there is a way that seems right unto a man, but in the end, is death (Prov. 14:12). And after buying into said deception (false religions, ideologies, mythologies, etc.), the deceived quickly go about to gain converts. Either way, the unregenerate human heart becomes at war with its Creator.

We here, in the last hours of the last days, have come full circle. It is why the world of today, seems so eerily reminiscent to the days of Noah, when he faithfully and dutifully preached righteousness to the masses while building the ark (Genesis 6:5, Luke 17:26-27, 2 Peter 2:5). This is why the whole world seems to be afire with injustice and perversion, and both burning with equal vigor. There is not a corner on this planet, where one can go to for respite from wickedness, where great evil has not somehow taken sway in some form or fashion. All of it has become antichrist (1 John 2:22). It is why two opposing lifestyles can tolerate each other, both being evil, but cannot stand God (or the things of God) in any way, shape, or form. For evil delights with evil. Evil will tolerate the most absurd of ideas, simply because it shares in their same essence with another seemingly opposing viewpoint; because they are both at enmity with God.

We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.          1John 5:19

Conclusion

I wonder if the founders of this great nation could have seen into the future at what was to become the United States, would they have still sacrificed all that they did to create it? Did they envision a bright future, with a nation full of noble men and women having the same wisdom and foresight they did? Did they think we would go on to make the world a better place? Could they imagine the very liberty they fought so hard for, would be abused in the manner that it has as of late?

I imagine that if they could have seen what we have become, and what we have created, it is likely; they would have aborted the whole process in its infancy. Moreover, our grandparents, who were the greatest generation, created a nation so powerful and wealthy, that its descendants would lack for nothing. Could they have imagined their offspring becoming hostile to this great privilege? This is not a white privilege, or any particular races privilege for that matter. All Americans share in the fruits of this national labor and sleep under its protection as citizens. We are privileged beyond any others in the history of mankind and even our poor and destitute are better off than the poor around the world.

However, it is not just the United States who issuffering meltdown syndrome, but the world entire. Things seem to becoming unhinged with greater intensity and frequency with each passing day. Mexico and Central America, Venezuela, the Middle East, the European Union, South Africa (and the rest of the African continent) are all undergoing massive and seemingly unsolvable problems. Economic upheavals, Ebola, lawlessness, andterrorism have become part of our new reality in the 21st-century. Wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes, pestilence, famines, and many other problems are increasingly overwhelming man’s ability to deal with them.

Yet, in our desperation to find solutions, we (goingback to my opening statement) turn to anything and everything but God to find the answers. Ancient pagan religions are being revived. New technologies are attempting to supplant God’s role as creator. Political ideologies omit any mention of Jesus Christ, for fear of offending the intolerant left. Yet, all other religious views are given broad platforms to preach from, because we herein the West have become so tolerant. The human race is working overtime to present a façade of unity, while at the same time, aggressively seeking each their own agendas. Yet, all of these human efforts seemingly work in concert against the truthfrom being presented to the masses. We could probably summarize the entire world’s position regarding this with Pontius Pilate’s infamous, what is truth, question. (John 18:38)

The truth is, that man was created by God with eternity built into his heart (Ecclesiastes 3:11). God designed us tospecifically have a relationship with Him. However, we can only do that, whenwe have been reconciled to Him through His Son, Jesus Christ (John 14:6). This is truly what is most offensive about the Gospel, in that, man cannot save himself. Christ did what no other person could ever do, and that was to take on the form of a Man, redeem mankind unto Himself through a perfect life and death, and then rise from the dead on the third day. There is simply no other way to have peace with God (and by extension, ourselves) apart from Jesus Christ.

And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—Colossians 1:21-22

Therefore, it is with this in mind that despite all that is wrong in the US and the world, that we can have thankful hearts this Thanksgiving. For all of you around the world who do not share in this uniquely American holiday, blessings to you anyway. We might not have much to be thankful for as Americans (or wherever you’re from), but as Christians, we should be very thankful, because our justification does not come from our own efforts, but from Christ. We are not flailing about in darkness trying to figure out who we are, where we come from, or why we are here. We do not wrestle with uncertainty of where we are going after we pass on from this world, because our hope is rooted in the reality that Christ conquered death and hell (Rev. 1:18).

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.                     1 Corinthians 15:57

As born-again believers, we are all foreigners to this world, regardless of where you are from. As born-again believers, we are now ambassadors for Christ, whose citizenship is now in Heaven (2 Cor. 5:17-21,Philippians 3:20), for whom we eagerly await our risen Savior.

And we know that all things work together for good tothose who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, Healso predestined to beconformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among manybrethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called,these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.    Romans 8:28-30