Back to basics – a new beginning?

As the world continues to battle the pandemic, God is perhaps offering mankind a unique opportunity to amend and change – to put right what is so clearly wrong, and to avert the judgment that is, without doubt, to come.  There are two questions that flow from this, however.  First, will we rise to the challenge and repent?  Second, in this rebellious and supposedly ‘Godless’ age, what does repentance actually mean?

To begin to understand how far mankind has gone astray, we need to go back to basics and the beginning of creation.  The Bible is very clear that, right from the start, God recognised that Adam shouldn’t be alone and that he needed a partner.  So Genesis tells us that God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep and then He took one of his ribs, and out of that rib formed Eve – who was bone of Adam’s bone and flesh of Adam’s flesh (Genesis 2:21f).  In other words, from the very beginning the man and the woman were a part of, and completed, each other, and were jointly charged with caring for creation.   This is the foundation for the sacred bond of marriage, and is the basis for family, so that the man and woman – who are a part of and complete each other – can help and support each other in lifelong and exclusive union, and together care for and raise any children that might result.  Sex is the glue that binds the couple together, and from the beginning any sexual relationships outside that union were prohibited, for the simple reason that casual sex without commitment undermines and destroys the bond of marriage, and harms the family, damaging not only those immediately involved, but society as a whole.    Conversely, where the law is upheld, everyone benefits, both individually and collectively, and children, raised in a stable and happy environment, flourish.   Society flourishes.

But in recent years society has rejected this.  In our arrogance, we’ve detached sex from marriage and commitment – from faithfulness to one other – and made it an end in itself.  Any kind of sex – whenever and wherever we want, and with whomever we want … or even alone.  We have deified lust.    We don’t need to be tied to one person for life, we say; that’s not relevant any more.  Men and women are sexual beings – from birth – and they have a right to satisfy their needs.  Children have a right to have sex too, without any kind of moral judgment or restraint imposed by adults …. Because these days it’s all about celebrating diversity and accepting people for who and what they are.  In the same spirit, when it comes to marriage, we say that whether it’s between a man and a woman, or two women, or two men, it’s all the same.  All that matters is public affirmation of the relationship, which will endure so long as both ‘stay happy’, and whether there are children or not is immaterial.   In fact, with 2% of babies in the UK born as result of IVF, and one in four conceptions ending in abortion, children are no longer regarded as God’s gift and the fruit of commitment, but have become almost a commodity that can be ordered or disposed of at will.

In all of this, we sin.  The elevation of sex and self-gratification over everything else goes against the laws governing our creation and is a challenge to God.  It is an attempt to assert the supremacy of a different belief system – of a religion founded on the worship of sex and blood sacrifice of the unborn.  And the results have been an unmitigated disaster.

Never before in history have there been so many lost, damaged, and lonely people.  As the family has disintegrated, rates of mental illness have skyrocketed (https://mhfaengland.org/mhfa-centre/research-and-evaluation/mental-health-statistics/), while loneliness for all ages is reportedly now one of the biggest health concerns facing society,  leading to such things as increased depression, social isolation, cognitive decline, and early mortality (https://www.campaigntoendloneliness.org/the-facts-on-loneliness/) … the list goes on.   At the same time, the normalisation and promotion of casual sex and pornography have encouraged medically hazardous behaviours – many of which were previously labelled deviant – which not only expose participants to risk of disease, but fatally impair their ability to form and sustain long-term relationships – adding to the problem of social fragmentation.  And the biggest casualties of all, of course, are children, who are being systemically and systematically brainwashed into accepting society’s ‘new values’ as not just normal, but to be celebrated, and so lose the chance of a more balanced, healthy and stable life.   The brutal truth is that as a culture we extol the path of damnation, and then ’wonder’ why there is so much suffering and violence, and so many deeply unhappy people.

As Paul warned in Galatians (6:7), we do well to remember that God is not mocked.

In 2020 we have seen a very faint echo of what divine judgment might mean – in effect, a warning.  If humanity now fails to repent, it is without doubt that there is infinitely worse ahead.  But God does not wish our destruction. On the contrary, He reaches out to us in love, longing to intervene and save – only awaiting our call, so that even at this late hour He may snatch us from the jaws of (eternal) death.  So that He might deliver us decisively from evil. But He will only intervene in this way if we repent – which means our rejection and celebration of evil, and that we acknowledge Him as Lord and once again follow, in obedience, the teachings of the Bible.    That we recover the virtues of purity, faithfulness, selflessness, uprightness, responsibility, honesty, honour, integrity….

It’s not too late.  Climate change, economic disintegration and chaos, the destruction of Western culture … whatever evils beset us, God holds and is the key.

So as we stand on the threshold of 2021, let’s take the opportunity to make it truly a happy new year.    Let’s acknowledge God as Lord, repent the evil we have done, and make a determined effort to change ….

That we may see the deliverance of the Lord.

Listen to Lynda call for repentance:  https://airtv.international/videos/view/23904