God gave them up

     In the last day or two have had occasion to speak with several brothers about the future of America. Using the analogy of an ocean liner, I believe that if the current President is re-elected he will intentionally steer us into an iceberg; if the other candidate is elected, he will miss the iceberg but be unable to turn the ship around so as to get out of the danger zone.  The year 1963, when the Supreme Court outlawed school prayer, serves as a marker of the beginning of the end. Followed up by the Roe v. Wade decision in 1972 to sanction the slaughter of unborn children- well over fifty million to date- the nation has trekked steadily away from God ever since. The Name of Jesus is routinely used as a curse. Marriage and the family, God's ideas, not ours, are devastated. Parents have no authority over their children because the state, under the guise of child protection, has eviscerated it.
   Romans 1:18ff, what i refer to as the "indictment," warns of the wrath to come. Three times, in verses 24,26,and 28 it refers to God giving people over to their own lusts and passions. When this occurs the end is near. The Old Testament is replete with accounts of people groups and empires who fall and are destroyed by their own wickedness.
    Where does that leave the faithful remnant? We are still to love the Lord our God, to preach the same gospel that the apostles preached and to make disciples. I have also had occasion to speak recently to several brothers recently who have pursued New Testament pattern house church life for ten, fifteen or twenty years. They exhibit a disillusionment and weariness. Perhaps we have gotten the cart before the horse. Instead of making disciples first, and then coalescing into churches, we have sought those who agreed or would fit into our new approach to church life without considering whether we, or they, were actually disciples of Christ.