Ron Halbrook

King Solomon spoke from experience, observation, and divine inspiration when he distilled wisdom in this proverb: “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people” (Prov. 14:34).  This truth is written into the history of all nations from the beginning until now.  As surely as God rules the physical universe by physical laws, He rules the human family by moral and spiritual laws enforced by His providence.

God scattered the human race by confusing them with multiple languages and thus forcing them to congregate into communities which became nations with shared values (Gen. 11:1-9).  God ordained governments to protect obedient citizens and to punish criminals who endanger the safety and well-being of these communities (Rom. 13:1-4).  These steps were necessary to restrain the corrupting and demoralizing nature of sin lest the world should revert to the depraved nature of Noah’s generation.

In most cases, governments reflect the moral character of their people.  When the leaders and the people embrace divergent values, change is inevitable in one direction or the other.  Leaders have been known to lead their people in correcting their course, and a spirit of repentance has been known to sweep through a nation and touch the hearts of its leaders (2 Kgs. 22-23; Jon. 3:5-9).  When unrestrained sin runs its course through a nation and its leadership, the nation collapses.

What Is Sin?

If we are to avoid sin and its destructive force, we must first know what sin is.  God has defined sin for mankind from the beginning of time.  He created man in His image with the moral capacity to learn right from wrong, and with the free will to choose between the two.  Man was given free range to eat from all the trees of the Garden of Eden including “the tree of life,” but one tree was forbidden, thus drawing the line between “good and evil” (Gen. 2:9, 16-17).

Adam and Eve lived in blissful fellowship with God until they crossed the line and experienced the difference between good and evil.  They not only tasted the guilt and shame of sin but also its penalty of death.  Tasting spiritual death in the severing of their joyous relationship with God, they attempted to hide from Him, and they experienced physical death after they were banished from the Garden (Gen. 3:8, 22-24).

Satan appeals to our selfishness and vain pride by seducing us to think we ourselves can become “as gods,” creating our own standards of right and wrong without suffering consequences and penalties (Gen. 3:4-5).  The current “woke” movement disguises sin as “freedom” and “social justice” just as Satan has disguised his agenda throughout history.  Isaiah 5:20 warns, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”  God’s law reveals what is right and what is sinful, what is good and what is evil (1 Jn. 3:4).  His standard is not subject to human review or amendment.

Jesus warned that “ravening wolves” come in “sheep’s clothing,” peddling their false philosophies and dogmas as truth and righteousness (Matt. 7:15).  Paul explained that “Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works” (2 Cor. 11:14-15).

The false awakening or woke agenda is vividly exemplified by the website of the D.C. Educators for Social Justice: A Project of Teaching for Change (https://www.dcareaeducators4socialjustice.org/black-lives-matter/13-guiding-principles). With repeated use of the word “demands,” the site proclaims “the Black Lives Matter 13 Guiding Principles and demands,” starting with the innocuous introduction of “Restorative Justice. We are committed to collectively, lovingly and courageously working vigorously for freedom and justice for Black people and, by extension all people. As we forge our path, we intentionally build and nurture a beloved community that is bonded together through a beautiful struggle that is restorative, not depleting.”

And, what, specifically, does this loving beautiful vision envision?  They speak of awakening “young and older children” to a “worldwide” plan for “diversity” as follows:

6. Queer Affirming

We are committed to fostering a queer-affirming network. When we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking or, rather, the belief that all in the world are heterosexual unless s/he or they disclose otherwise.

7. Trans Affirming

We are committed to embracing and making space for trans brothers and sisters to participate and lead. We are committed to being self-reflexive and doing the work required to dismantle cis-gender privilege [cis-gender refers to acceptance of birth gender, RH] and uplift Black trans folk, especially Black trans women who continue to be disproportionately impacted by trans-antagonistic violence.

8. Collective Value

We are guided by the fact all Black lives matter, regardless of actual or perceived sexual identity, gender identity, gender expression, economic status, ability, disability, religious beliefs or disbeliefs, immigration status or location.

Another plank in the platform demands the dismantling of “the patriarchal practice” which requires women “to mother” when they need to give their time to “justice work.”  In short, this agenda demands that American schools be turned into hothouses producing comrades devoted to dismantling Bible standards of gender roles, morality, marriage, and family life.

This is not the path to peace and justice but is the dark road of sin, rebellion, and misery traveled by the human family again and again since Satan first proposed to Eve, “Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:5).  The French Revolution in 1789 tread this path waving the banner of “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité” but quickly became a bloodbath and a house of death.

Why and How Is Sin a Disgrace?

Every sin is a rebellion against God, insulting Him, demeaning Him, and attempting to push Him out of the universe He created.  God is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe and of our very existence.  In words that apply to all sin, God rebuked Israel’s selfish sinful ways:

2 Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! For the LORD has spoken:

"I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me.

3 The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner's manger,

but Israel does not know, my people do not understand."

4 Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers,

children given to corruption! They have forsaken the LORD;

they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him”

(Isa. 1:2-4, NIV).

Only when loving, hearing, and serving God do men learn to love and serve each other.  Shouted demands with raised fists do not produce social justice but spawn riots, mayhem, and iron-fisted dictators who oppress poor and rich alike.  Nations degenerate and collapse under the weight of such rampant sin.  Through Isaiah God pled with Israel to repent and escape the wrath of God:

16 Wash you, make you clean;

put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;

17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD:

though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;

though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:

20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword:

for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

A Disgrace to Any People

God rules over the universe and the nations in a way which allows people who seek Him to find Him (Acts 17:24-27).  He likens nations to clay in a potter’s hand.  If the clay becomes marred, the potter reshapes it – if the nation rebels against God, He replaces it in His own time and way (Jer. 18:1-10).  Peter reminds us that God did not spare the angels who rebelled against Him but cast them into Tartarus to await the final judgment (2 Pet. 2:4).  If creatures of a higher order are punished for their rebellion, how much more may we who are a lesser order expect to face God’s just wrath!

The Flood is a powerful reminder that when people harden their hearts against God and descend into the maelstrom of darkness and sin, He pours out His righteous anger on them.  “Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark” (Gen. 7:23, NIV).  God overthrew the prosperous city-state of Sodom and Gomorrah for their sins of sexual immorality by engulfing them in fire and brimstone for time and eternity – making them “an example” of “suffering the vengeance of eternal fire” (Gen. 19:24; Jude 7).

Throughout history individuals and nations who have defied God have brought themselves to ruin.  God reminded His chosen nation of Israel how they had refused to repent when He patiently chastened them.  Therefore, they would be doomed to Assyrian captivity by God’s righteous judgment: “Prepare to meet they God, O Israel” (Amos 4:12).  No nation can defy God with immunity.  That is the true awakening sorely, direly, desperately needed at this hour!

Truth Magazine, Nov. 2022