But kidding aside, you don’t have to be a history professor to know that things have been changing in our country. While we do live in a great country – and I was glad to be out celebrating Canada Day – there are also many reasons to be concerned.
There was a time when our governments had a much greater reliance upon God in our land. There was a time when Bibles were openly welcomed in the schools. There was a time when military chaplains preached the word of God and called people to repent. There was a time when it was scandalous for a leader (or anyone) to commit adultery. There was a time when the supremacy of God was not just a phrase in the preamble to our Charter of Rights and Constitution Act, it was in fact the basis for our entire judicial system.
I don’t need to be a history major to know that as a nation, we are weakened spiritually and morally. Our country is not what it was 100 years ago or even 20 years ago. No, we don’t need to be the same as we were “back then” but we should be getting better, not worse.
Objective truth has been replaced with individual relativism. No longer do we ask, “what is right”, we ask, “what feels good to me”. As a nation, we are not only facing a moral decline; we are in a full and complete moral collapse.
When babies are so easily aborted for the sake of convenience…
When marriage is no longer understood as a life-long covenant between a man and a women…
When children are taken away from their parents because they’ve been swatted on the bottom.
When men want to become women and women want to become men.
And it’s not just the fact that these things are happening. That’s not the issue. The issue is that unless you agree with the philosophy behind these things then something must be wrong with you.
A case in point is the courts in Ontario, refusing to recognize the credentials of lawyers that would be coming out of Trinity Western University – why – because they uphold marriage as a covenant relationship between a man and a woman.
Let me be clear. This isn’t about practice. This isn’t about what people have a right to do or not to do. It’s about controlling what you think and believe. The way our society would have it; unless you abandon Biblical Christianity, you will have a hard time getting ahead as a politician, or serving as a lawyer or teacher; or holding any other position of responsibility – because obviously something is wrong with you.
This is the country we’ve become. This isn't what your ancestors fought and died for. The reality is that you are no longer free to hold a view (not just a practice, but an ideology) that is contrary to the standards of this world – standards which are clearly out of line with Biblical teaching.
The laws of our government and the decisions of our judicial systems show that Biblical morality is largely unwelcome in our country…. And on the one hand; it causes me to grieve.
I grieve because I know that a nation without God will sooner or later collapse. Only a matter of time. I grieve because I know that my children, and their children, will face increasing persecution for upholding Christian faith; more than I ever did. I grieve because the general population is believing a lie – and the consequences of sin is still death.
Romans chapter 1 beginning at verse 18, it describes God’s wrath against godlessness. It describes a people that although they knew God, they rejected God; they exchanged the truth of God for a lie (vs 25), and ended up giving into shameful lusts. The Bible describes it, “Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural one. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another.”
Verse 32 gives the conclusion: “…they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them” (Romans 1:29-32). I hate to say it, but this sounds so much like the leaders who are so proud to stand beside those who embrace godlessness, they “approve of those who practice” such things.
So where does that leave us? Is it all doom and gloom? Not at all. This isn’t a message of despair. It is a message of hope. Why? Because we are right where God wants us to be – the salt of the earth and a light in the darkness (Matt 5:13).
The Good News is that God is bigger than the Government of Canada, or even the Supreme Court. God is bigger than the United States – whoever becomes the next President (wow, and what a mess that is).
God has been there; he’s seen every kind of evil intention imaginable. He’s dealt with the likes of Haman, who tried to use King Xerxes to whip out all of God’s people. He’s dealt with the likes of the Nebuchadnezzar, who thought he was God. He’s dealt with the likes of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19) and their rampant sexual immorality. He’s dealt with the sin of the Ninevites. He’s dealt with the ever-repeating sins and rebellion of the Israelites themselves.
God is no stranger to a messed up world. God is no stranger to sin and rebellion. We only need to look in the mirror. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 describes what we were. It’s not a pretty picture. But that’s where we’ve come from. And you are where you are today because God has a purpose for you. In all the times when entire nations rejected God – there was always a remnant who hung in there and were a voice of truth.
Remember Elijah – after his episode on Mount Carmel and then what does Jezebel want to do? She wants to have his head – literally (1 Kings 19:2). Elijah runs off and sits under a tree and wants to die – thinking he is the last of God’s prophets. What does God tell him? He tells him that here are still 7,000 men in Israel who are still faithful to God.
Today, I look around our country and the direction it is going – and honestly, I am grieved – as I expect God is too – but I’m not surprised and most certainly I have no reason to despair. God has dealt with this before – and he will deal with this again.
Take a look at Ninevah. It was doomed. It was far worse than anything in our country. And yet, the time came when the people repented of their sins. On the other hand, Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed.
Will we, as a nation, repent? I don’t know. I’m not so sure. But I do know that God is in charge. I do know that God calls us to pray for our nation and its leaders. And I do know that God calls you and I to be a holy people; and then he calls us to become salt and light in this world.
God doesn’t need an army to change the world. He doesn’t depend on horses and chariots. He works through individuals who are obedient. And that’s where we come in.. More than any time in recent history, our world needs God… and our calling (you and I) is to reflect the holiness of God; to be the salt of the earth or a lamp in the darkness.
Our response needs to be, “God, I’m here and I’m willing to be obedient to you – even if it unpopular or uncomfortable.” And when you do respond to Him, don’t expect the world’s approval. Peter, writing to the church, “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you” (1 Peter 4:12).
We are headed for difficult times; but we are serving a God who has been through it all before. So I say to you; be faithful. Be courageous. Stand firm – let nothing move you. Be the salt of the earth, let your light shine, and pray because things will likely get worse before (and if) they get better.
1 Cor. 15:58, “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”