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The Strangest Thing God is Doing in the World Today

Is He ignoring sin, or is He allowing it to run its course?

by Dennis Pollock

"Then God turned and gave them up..." (Acts 7:42)

One of the themes that Dave Reagan and I frequently use when we hold conferences that deal with Bible prophecy and current issues is "What on Earth is God Doing Today?" It is a theme of great interest to most Christians. Within the last fifteen years we have seen the demise of the Iron Curtain, the signing of the "peace accord" in the Middle East resulting in that famous handshake between Arafat and Rabin, the explosion of computer technology (remember how proud you were to own your first IBM XT computer with its ten meg hard drive?), and an outburst of evangelistic rallies by American preachers in the heart of Russia. So much is happening in our world today that it is impossible to keep up with it all.

If I were to ask one thousand Christians, "What is God doing in the world today?" I would no doubt get a wide variety of answers. Some would talk of revival, some of apostasy. Some might talk about Israel and others would talk about church growth. A few might even talk about cloning or the fertility industry. But it would be hard to find one in a thousand that would give the answer that I am going to suggest to you.

Futile Thoughts and Darkened Hearts

Before I share that answer with you, let me provide a biblical background. Let's go to the first chapter of Romans. It has to be one of the most unusual chapters of the Bible. Paul talks here about an exceedingly wicked society. He goes to great lengths to show the depths of depravity, sensuality, idolatry, and immorality to which these people have gone, and concludes that these people who "became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened" are "deserving of death" (Romans 1:32).

The amazing thing about this chapter is that Paul never tells us who they are (or were). He calls them by the pronouns "they" or "their" or "them", but never tells us who "they" are. Some have suggested that Paul is describing the generation of Noah. Others believe Paul might have been talking about the wicked Roman empire of his day. Since the invisible Author of the Scriptures did not see fit to plainly reveal this to us, it must be that what is revealed about them is far more important than who they were.

One of the interesting things we find in this description of a wicked people headed for judgment and destruction is the repeated use of a certain phrase and concept:

"Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts?" (Romans 1:24).

"For this reason God gave them up to vile passions" (Romans 1:26).

"And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind..." (Romans 1:28).

Three times in this one chapter (more than in any other chapter in the Bible) we find the idea of God giving up on a people. Certainly this is not a concept most evangelicals are comfortable with. We love to emphasize that "God's love and mercy are infinite" and that no sinner is so far gone that Christ cannot save him. The idea that God might actually give up on an individual or a people seems somehow to be antithetical to the nature of God.

Yet when we search the Scriptures we find that God can and does give up. The textbook case for this is King Saul in the Old Testament. After continually offending God with his refusal to fully obey God's direct commands, God finally has had enough. Samuel is praying and grieving over Saul when God stops him short by saying, "How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel?" (1 Samuel 16:1). Samuel is told to go and anoint David as the new king. This done, the Holy Spirit comes upon David and one of the most fearful pronouncements in all of Scripture is given: "The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul" (1 Samuel 16:14).

Another example of God giving up can be found in the book of Jeremiah. Regarding sinful Judah, God revealed to Jeremiah that He had decided to destroy the society, and He then commanded the prophet to refrain from praying for his nation (Jeremiah 7:16 and 11:14). He later emphasized this command to Ezekiel when He told him that the prayers of righteous men like Noah, Daniel, and Job would not be sufficient to save Judah (Ezekiel 14:12-14, 19-20).

In Paul's description of a wicked society in Romans, we find that there is a definite reason that God has given up on this people. This is no arbitrary decision of a whimsical deity exercising divine prerogative. In all three verses where Paul tells us that God gave them up, we are given the reasons. And they are astonishingly similar:

"Because although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God?" (Romans 1:21)

"Who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator?" (Romans 1:25)

"And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge?" (Romans 1:28)

So what was their problem? What had they done that caused such a strong reaction from the Almighty? It seems they had deviated from the worship of the one true God. At some point they had left God behind and become more enthralled with creation than with creation's Designer. "For this reason God gave them up?" (Romans 1:26).

Could We Be "They"?

When we look at what has gone on in the United States in the last three decades, we cannot help but see a parallel. In 1962 the Supreme Court, in a terrible misuse of judicial power, took its first step to remove the knowledge of God from our public school classrooms. Having not one precedent, and without any historical basis, the Court ruled that teacher led prayer in school was unconstitutional (Engle v. Vitale). The prayer that provoked this decision read as follows: "Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and ask Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers, and our country."

At this time 97% of Americans believed in God, and prayers had been said in schools since the very foundations of our nation. In an incredible piece of judicial arrogance, teachers and administrators all across America were forbidden to do what had been routinely done not only in our schools, but also in legislatures and even in the Supreme Court itself, which opened all its sessions with the words: "God save this court" (and continues to do so!).

In 1963 devotional reading from the Bible was banned from the public schools. In explaining this decision the Court wrote: "If portions of the New Testament were read without explanation, they could be and... have been psychologically harmful to the child" (Abington v. Schempp). Things went from bad to worse as the years passed, and by 1980 Kentucky schools were forbidden to post the Ten Commandments upon their walls. The Court ruled: "If the posted copies of the Ten Commandments are to have any effect at all, it will be to induce the school-children to read, meditate upon, perhaps to venerate and obey the commandments. This is not a permissible objective" (Stone v. Gramm).

It seems there is no end to the ways Americans have feverishly worked to rid themselves of the knowledge of God. The Christmas break in schools is now referred to as "winter break." Silent Night has given way to Santa Claus is Coming to Town. The celebration of Jesus' resurrection has turned into a holiday about a chocolate rabbit and pretty colored eggs. Churches seem more intent on promoting self-esteem than holiness. Children have been sent to the principal's office for bringing Bibles to school. God Al-mighty is out; "the Force" is in. Books like The Celestine Prophecy, containing new age blather about universal energy, sell millions of copies, as American yuppies search for meaning and purpose without the bother of submitting to the will of a holy God.

God and the Tree Huggers

It is most interesting to find that Paul declares that these who have forsaken God have substituted a love for nature in God's place. He writes that they "worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever" (Romans 1:25). Isn't it odd that those who seem to have the least reverence for God Almighty, our Creator, often talk in glowing, almost idolatrous terms about the beauties of nature and our responsibility to protect and preserve our world at all costs? One little girl had been so indoctrinated by her school that when her mother bought her a new bed, she responded sadly, "I really love my new bed, but it's made out of wood. They killed trees to make my bed."

The actor James Coburn, at an event called Earth Day Celebration, exulted headily: "Mother earth is the mother. She's the one we should be praising. We're killing the one we love the most and she loves us. We've got to praise our mother goddess."

At the filming of the movie Men in Black they ran into some unexpected slowdowns. It all revolved around the use of cockroaches on the set. (Don't ask me what they were using the cockroaches for; I didn't see the movie). It seems that some of the good folks at one of the watchdog groups that monitor the treatment of animals found out about the roaches. They sent some of their representatives down to the set, and began to make their demands. Using roaches in the filming was OK, but only as long as they made sure that none of the little darlings got hurt or lost. Thus when the hundreds of roaches were taken out of the barrels they were kept in, a count had to be made. During the shooting the utmost care had to be taken not to step on or hurt them, and after they did their part another count had to be made to ensure that none were lost. At times all filming had to be stopped in order for cast and crew to scour the set, looking for a few wayward roaches.

Cartoon villains used to be loudmouthed bullies like Brutus, Popeye's archenemy, but no more. A survey by the Center for Media and Public Affairs disclosed that 9 out of 10 Saturday morning cartoons evoked frightening scenarios of impending environmental disasters, with the bullies being either businessmen or scientists plotting to pillage the earth.

Consequences of Departing

As man draws further and further away from his Creator he faces consequences, both in this life and in the life to come. As we read in Romans 1 of this mystery society which has departed from God and worshiped creation over the Creator, we find a familiar pattern. First is the departure. Next we find God giving up, taking His restraining hand off that society. And finally we see the sordid consequence of sexual immorality. Fornication, homosexuality, and lesbianism run rampant when divine restraint is not actively at work to suppress human sensuality. Paul writes that those whom God has given up on:

"dishonored their bodies among themselves" (Romans 1:24).

"exchanged the natural use for what is against nature" (Romans 1:26).

"burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful?" (Romans 1:27).

"(were) filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality?" (Romans 1:29).

Is this not the very pattern we have seen in our nation in this last generation? Sexuality has exploded in our nation as we have thrown off the restraints of the fear of God. Television shows promote homosexuality and promiscuous heterosexual sex as though it were a new toy that we had just discovered. With shameless repetition we find sitcom after sitcom harping on the same old tired plot: a homosexual or lesbian character is introduced — an uptight homophobic character responds in a shameful and disgusting way — the uptight homophobic character finally is made to see the error of his ways and accepts the gay lifestyle as normal and natural.

While evangelical Christians have rightly spoken out against the gay lifestyle, we have failed to see that the rampant sexuality and homosexuality that confronts us around every corner is not the heart of America's problem. Our problem is not a sex problem — it is a God problem. We have forsaken our Creator and reaped a harvest of immorality. We tell our high school children in biology 101:

"You are an animal. You exist only as the result of an accidental combining of a couple of molecules. You have no purpose and your life has no meaning. You will eventually die and return to the nothingness from which you have come. Morality is all relative. Every culture and every individual has the right to manufacture his or her own morality (or no morality at all). What's good for one may not be good for another. There are no absolute values or standards."

Then we wonder when our children seem out of control and we find condoms in our girls' purses and in our boys' wallets! Of course they are out of control! Without the restraint of the knowledge of God, without the subduing effect of a life with purpose and destiny, without the preserving grace of Jesus Christ, why should we find it so surprising when America's youth embrace hedonism and despair?

Bad News and Good News

So what on earth is God doing today? Many answers might be given. He is pouring out His Spirit upon His church, He is fulfilling prophecy in the land of Israel, He is directing the courses of nations. But one of the major things that He is doing is something that few have guessed — He is giving up. God is giving up on nations, societies, and individuals that have shaken their fists in His face and insisted on their right to live ungodly, unthankful, and unholy lives. What is the result? A staggering increase in sexual immorality.

There is some good news in all of this, however. Though God is indeed giving people over to vile passions, He is not giving up on all. In the midst of our depraved and twisted world, there is still a chosen remnant that He is preserving. The God who gives up is also the God who can hold on. Those who trust in Christ as Savior and Keeper of their souls are finding that He is able to "confirm you unto the end that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 1:8). Purity is not an impossible dream in this sin steeped world. We have a Savior who is big enough to keep us all of our days.

While multitudes push God from them, rejecting His offers of forgiveness and adoption, Heaven rejoices that there are still many that flee to the Cross of Christ and find there forgiveness of sins and an inheritance in God's family. They find that God is able not only to save them from Hell, but to keep His hand on their lives and their families all their days, and to preserve them blameless until the day of Jesus Christ.

For those who have fallen into a lifestyle of immorality there is likewise some good news. Though you may have offended God with your blatant disregard for His holy precepts, He is ready and willing to forgive you. He can reach down His hand into the sordid mess of your filth, pick you up, clean you off, and give you a brand new start. The blood that dripped from our Savior's body on that cruel cross was for your redemption. He has paid the purchase price for your freedom. All you need do is call on His name from a desperate and sincere heart. He waits for you, longing to show Himself strong on your behalf. After Paul finished describing the Corinthians as former fornicators and homosexuals, he went on to say, "And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were set apart, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:11).