Might We Have Brought All This Wickedness Upon Ourselves?

FOLKS, here's a potentially challenging, difficult message for us all to hear, to consider, to lament concerning, and to pray about to our loving Father in Jesus' holy name:

YES, this last days' world is filled with all manner of grotesque wickedness. And those who are perpetrating these worldwide evils are children of the devil, the very enemies of God Almighty.

THEY shall, indeed, suffer eternal condemnation if they don't turn to Him via the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ.

HOWEVER, our loving Father has allowed all of this evil to come upon us because we, frankly, deserve it and much more besides. In truth, we all deserve eternal torment in hell and the lake of fire because of our own wickedness in transgressing God's commandments and for not having always abode in Him.

WE are like the fallen and desolate Jerusalem that Jeremiah was lamenting. Jeremiah and other truly godly men and women knew that these afflictions had come upon them for their own sordid sins against the Most High God, our Creator-Savior.

YET their princes, priests and prophets had failed them:

Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee: and they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment. (Lamentations 2:14)

IN other words, the "prophets" were speaking smooth words, words meant to comfort the sinners in their sins. A great many false prophets in today's churches, worldwide, do likewise. Instead of witnessing against the sin, they encourage yet more self-absorption and the pursuit of riches and glory in this lifetime.

AS in Jeremiah's day, these, too, shall receive their reward!

WE, however, must resist the wickedness that is subsuming all of creation, including mankind, with its present horrors:

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7)

LET us realize that the land, the whole world, is cursed for our own transgressions! Let us not begrudge our loving Father for chastening and correcting us. It is, in fact, pure love, His showing us the dire consequences of our wretched sins.

AND let us seek His face, repent of our past and present wayward ways, and turn back to Him with a faithful commitment to serve Him such that His will be done, rather than our own.

ACCORDINGLY, let us lean unto His omnipotent strength and His infinite wisdom and understanding, recognizing that we cannot stand in this evil day leaning upon our limited selves.

ONCE and for all time, let us put off the old man and walk, truly, in the newness of life, as a truly new creature, as one redeemed from the very pit of eternal perdition, and honor Him so:

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. (1 Corinthians 6:20)

Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men. (1 Corinthians 7:23)

AMEN, and Amen. Let us magnify the Lord God Almighty, our Creator-Savior Jesus Christ who Himself paid that terrible price.