Sidetracked Minds

A Decision to Apostatize and Leave God

This is another repost. I have found that some of my older posts get buried in the shuffle and it behooves me to pull a few back out and bring them to people's attention.

"Reprobate minds" is the way the King James Version terms it. Minds that have diverged from proper thinking. Thinking that should have its center in God and God's word. Without which one strays from clear thinking, wanders into the land of twisted logic, flawed reasoning and absolute confusion. Thinking that deviates. Deviant thought or the thought of deviants. The sidetracking of the intended use of the mind.

Each year that goes past finds us further down the road of no return when it comes to moral destruction in the United States. You need only turn on the news to see how messed up society is, how broke the country is or how depraved and off-track our "leadership" has become in the world. Our so-called leadership hardly merits the description leader. Not in government nor in the Church. If it isn't the fact that they are not even educated or qualified enough to perform their duties its that they are just plain irresponsible or degenerate.

Regardless, due to the continued inability of many to realize that the ethical and moral character in our country has deteriorated to the point of being absent or unrecognizable I have chosen to repost this article of messed-up minds and morality that has gone incognito. Albeit with a new picture and an new introduction.

I can already hear the accusations of "paranoid Bible-thumper", "intolerance" and "ignorant" and maybe even "hater" for the views expounded here but I digress. If I do need to go into explanations about meanings based on original languages I will but I prefer not to because those that don't believe or those that view the Bible as an ancient irrelevant outdated book or piece of fiction, my explanations will fall on deaf ears and are pointless. Besides, its not like I take some twisted pleasure in writing about an inevitable collapse and doom if people don't find their way to Christ. I am compelled to do so because of what I see around me in society.

"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate." Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. ~1 Corinthians 1:18-21

We are starting to see America going into a self-induced exile from God's divine grace. If man continues in his sinful ways God will give him over to their warped pursuits. Similar to Israel into Babylonian exile, although I do not hold America in anyway comparable to Israel of the Bible in terms of us being "chosen people". God's chosen are those that accept Christ. The punishment comparison I do hold in parallel. I do not see people rejoicing in this country and prospering en masse. I see a small collective of aristocratic elites prospering by treading on the backs of the poor.

You trample on the poor and force him to give you grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine. For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins. You oppress the righteous and take bribes and you deprive the poor of justice in the courts. Therefore the prudent man keeps quiet in such times, for the times are evil. Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. ~Amos 5:11-14

I see leaders doing what they want to do not doing what they are asked. I see lamentation of large portions of the country lamenting what we are compared to what we were. I see this as being painfully reminiscent of Jeremiah's time.

I see a country that was (generally) obedient to God's Word. Perfect? No. But definitely a lot more obedient than we are now. We are no longer obedient. Not by any measure or stretch of the imagination. We are actually overtly disobedient. There are still many outcroppings and hearths of Christians and Christian behavior but by and large the majority of Americans have turned their backs on God or are apostatizing.

No one wants to hear it (like Jeremiah & Isaiah), they only want to point fingers to the other side. In some cases absolute ignorance of the problem and denial of it is often the tact many take. When all of the birds come home to roost these people will have a hard time adjusting. Sadly, no matter which side points in which direction, fingers still point at Americans. Some are more or less American than others but American none the less. We stand at a cultural divide and instead of trying to get ourselves back to a point of holiness we are being given over to a reprobate mind. This "giving over" is increasing in speed. I believe our fiscal undermining is a direct reflection of our obedience or lack of it. We need only go back to Deuteronomy 28:1-68 to begin to see the Law as it was issued to Israel and see the striking parallels between Ancient Israel and America. It was the blessings for obedience and disobedience. These laws were not just given to Israel, they were given to us too in the holistic picture.

Curses for Disobedience...

...if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country. Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed. The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out. The LORD will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him. The LORD will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess. The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish. The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron. The LORD will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed. Deuteronomy 28:15-24

The chapter continues on...

The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies...you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth....The LORD will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. The LORD will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind. At midday you will grope about like a blind man in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue you. You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and ravish her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit. ~Deuteronomy 28:25-31

These judgments continue on for another 30+ until verse 68, but you get the picture.

For those that are unsure, Jesus Christ approbated & fulfilled satisfactorily the ceremonial law (the system of sacrifices, etc). The other laws and commandments about obeying and conforming to items that help us maintain a moral rectitude...they still apply. Examples of these regulations and moral rectitude? The Ten Commandments, things concerning sexual impurity in all forms, wickedness, righteousness, obeying authority, etc. Failure to obey these non-ceremonial commands constitutes disobedience. Actually, failing to obey the ceremonial ones fulfilled in Christ, by accepting Christ is disobedience also. America is not only ignoring most of these laws it is openly "flipping off" God via their behaviors. We have industrialized the slaughter of the unborn and "health" care policies being implemented will use pooled public tax money to pay for it. Rampant sexual immorality in every shape and form. Society basically condones the behavior and it is paraded around on television, print, Internet, etc. Instead of trying to rein it in and control ourselves we glorify and promote decadent and immoral behavior. Things that would've been considered abhorrent and completely unacceptable in the public forum a few decades ago are now openly shown and flaunted and discussed publicly. In some cases it is done right in front of our children. It has become so acceptable that peoples consciences and standards of what is acceptable are becoming seared like a burnt hand to the point of deadening the nerves and twisted so badly that we cannot even tell what normal once looked like. We returned to the decadence of Rome and have now trumped it.

"For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. ~Romans 1:21-32

Normally I exegete or do exposition on text like this but this one is self-explanatory.

So what do we do? I figure a good place to start is to...

Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ~Deuteronomy 6:5

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself." ~Luke 10:27

Amos also gives us the answer if we revisit the verses already stated. It says, "Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you...". How do we seek God? Through Jesus Christ, The Bible and prayer. What are you to do with Jesus and the Bible? Obey and love. How do you know you love God?

"If you love me, you will keep my commandments." ~John 14:15

 

The Inevitable Result of Apostasy

Its pretty simple if you actually read the Bible. Applying it is the problem because of man's sinful nature. The farther we turn from God the more we fall away and are separated from Him. The more we turn aside from the correct path we have been given the farther we slip into a maze of confusion and baseless decision-making that just leads us farther afield from the intended target. The more separated we are from God the more apparent the sin and decadence is in our lives. If what I see in the media is any indicator of the moral state of the American culture, we're in deep trouble.

There can only be one correct way that leads straight and leads to the truth and the life. All other paths lead off into nowhere and swing wide of the mark. They are divergent paths, As Robert Frost said, "two paths (roads) diverged in a yellow wood...." and the Bible said (Matthew 7:13-14), "wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." I choose the narrow road and sadly it is the one less traveled. This world makes it hard enough to stay on the tracks to begin with, I don't need to derail myself and make it harder for myself. The tracks have already been laid, I need only follow them and don't swerve to the right or the left but keep myself from evil (Proverbs 4:27).

Making one wrong turn and trying to make amends for it by seeking repentance is one thing but to continue to make the same type of bad decisions is the the fruits of a confused or broken mind that continues to derail or head down dead-ends.