“God is not a God of confusion but of peace.” [1]
We live in a world that is increasingly confused—confused about society, confused about the role of government, confused about the sexes, confused about God. And I could undoubtedly go on about the confusion that reigns in our world. Confusion reigns in every corner of western society, ensuring a dismal future for those who hope for peace.
Early in the history of the Faith, the Lord GOD commanded those who would seek the LORD’s approval, “A woman shall not wear a man’s garment, nor shall a man put on a woman’s cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your God” [DEUTERONOMY 22:5]. It should be easy to conclude that God is decidedly in favour of distinction in the sexes.
In an online commentary, Dennis Prager noted that the Torah is rooted in distinction, [2] what we used to recognise as order. Among the distinctions he notes as having been emphasised in the Divine law are:
• God and man
• God and nature
• Man and animal
• Good and evil
• Life and death
• Parent and child
• Holy and profane
• Male and female
These distinctions reflect the Creator’s design, reminding us that there is a Designer. Clearly, God seeks order, expecting order to reign in every physical system, every social system, every culture, every civilisation. Speaking biblically, recognising the truth concerning design makes civilisation possible. When these distinctions are removed, or when they are ignored, it must mean the end of civilisation as we know it. When distinctions no longer prevail, chaos ensues. To ignore or to remove distinctions is to ensure the destruction of civilisation.
The prohibition against wearing clothing meant to be worn by the opposite sex was not always appreciated throughout the past several thousand years. The reason I make this statement is that wearing the clothing of the other sex was extremely rare in societies rooted in acceptance of biblical law. Today, and especially in western society, this is no longer the case. This biblical law is widely reviled throughout western society. Biblical law is condemned as archaic, intolerant, and even denigrated as immoral.
The distinction between male and female is being rapidly erased in our world today. God intended the distinction between male and female be maintained. Our dress is the most obvious way we declare our sex. Therefore, when a man publicly dresses as a woman, or a woman publicly dresses as a man, one of the most basic of God’s distinctions is blurred. The distinction in the sex of human beings is so central to God’s plan that this distinction is declared at the beginning of Creation. In GENESIS 1:27 we read,
“God created humankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.”
[GENESIS 1:27 NET BIBLE]
Truth compels me to state again emphatically that whenever, and wherever, distinctions have been obliterated, chaos has ensued. This is obvious when we recall the movement in the arts that obliterates the distinction between beauty and ugliness, or when popular religion has blurred the distinction between good and evil, just as it is immediately obvious when animal rights movements blur the distinction between humans and beasts (such as arguing against killing a pig to use its heart valve to save a person). When these distinctions are blurred, or when they are even erased, chaos ensues to the detriment of society. The same holds true when the distinction between male and female is erased or blurred. What is observed throughout the whole of nature is a continuum testifying to the necessity of distinction as essential for the maintenance of order. All nature testifies to the necessity of order. The immediate consequence of erasure of distinction is disorder and concomitant ruin.
OUR CHAOTIC WORLD — Long years past, one of the LORD’s Minor Prophets wrote,
“O LORD, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you ‘Violence!’
and you will not save?
Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.”
[HABAKKUK 1:2-4]
The distressed prophet is describing feelings of helplessness that seize the righteous in this day. We witness violence that seems unprecedented for those of us who grew to adulthood in the middle and latter years of the twentieth century. Immorality of a sort that we could have never imagined seems ingrained into the whole of society. Corruption from the highest levels of government to the lowest rungs of society permeates our world.
Have you read the news reports in recent days, noting the violence that plagues many of our major cities? Even dependable supporters of liberalism such as the NAACP, beg politicians in West Coast cities to do something about the rampant violence. It is more dangerous to live in Chicago than to live in countries such as Guatemala or Honduras. Even children—babies strapped in their car seats—have been killed as gangs kill one another because they were “dissed” or because someone entered their “turf.” Armed thieves have no fear when carjacking a woman or when looting high-end stores. And the violence is no longer confined to our neighbours to the south. It is increasingly common to read of violent acts in Toronto, in Winnipeg, or in Vancouver.
And why should the violent be afraid? For some years politicians and community organisers have demanded defunding the police, and those who could put an end to such foolishness find themselves unable to speak out since they are suffering lockjaw. The pulpits of the nation are infected with wokeness and unable to name sin lest they offend someone. Thus, society is unable to halt the plague of violence. It is the natural harvest of a society that for long years has refused to hold children accountable for their actions. Therefore, these children are acting precisely like the savages we raised them to be.
Immorality of a sort unknown even a few years past marks our culture. Even among the professed people of God it is more likely that our children will reject marriage, choosing simply to begin living together. The concept of commitment and propriety are foreign concepts in this brave new world. Children born within some communities are more likely to grow up without a father in the home than they are to know who their father is. We sold a generation on the concept that they could have sex without consequences; and if something did go wrong, they could always kill the “product of conception.” We assuaged our guilt by speaking of a “foetus” rather than admitting that what was growing in the womb was a child. We not only incentivised immorality, but we also ensured that children born within this new society would feel no responsibility to honour their father or their mother. And why should they care about their parents, since the children born today are survivors, their siblings having been killed in the womb.
What a strange time has descended upon western society when people, usually youth endued with all the wisdom that youth possess, suddenly imagine that they are someone other than who they were when they were born. It is just as confusing to witness the constant reports of people claiming to be another race than they were during their school years, or even to see a growing number of reports of individuals who suddenly imagine themselves to be an animal as though a plague of zoanthropy has descended upon western society. When the rage of news media, stirred to high dudgeon by a mass of shouting people, begins to defend the aberrant expressions of lives transformed by self-hypnotic fiat, reason seems to fly out the door.
We must accept these transformations as reality because we are told they are real! I do note that these transformations occur only among people who claim the ability to think (though that may be controversial), and the transformations that we are demanded to accept seem always to flow in one direction. I’ve yet to hear of a bull that imagines itself to be a cow. If you think I’m wrong in this matter, I suggest that you just try milking a bull. I imagine that you will have an abrupt adjustment in your thinking. It would be foolish in the extreme for a wrangler to attempt to breed two stallions. Jesus spoke to this folly when he said, “Each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush” [LUKE 6:44].
Scam artists proclaiming themselves to be another race are inevitably exposed as pretenders claiming to be who they are because they imagine they will gain some advantage in placement or financial status. Too often, society has agreed with them out of ignorance or because the mass of people is deluded. Reality intrudes and the senator who claims to be native American to advance her career, claiming her grandmother had high cheekbones, is revealed by her own DNA to be a fraud. The NAACP leader who claimed to be black is exposed by her two biological parents of Scandinavian descent, and the entire NAACP scam she perpetuated is exposed as a fraud. The Hollywood activist claiming to be native American is exposed by her siblings to be a white woman.
Reality just keeps on intruding exposing the scams; and yet the attempts to defraud people of the ability to think continue to multiply! The myth that police are actively hunting blacks, despite the abundant evidence that blacks living in North America enjoy greater freedom than in any other region of the earth, is exposed as a lie if an individual permits herself or himself to think. One need not even appeal to logic to see that this is nothing more than an emotion-driven, fallacious fever dream. And despite facts the division of society along racial grounds accelerates until even friends grow suspicious of one another.
Corruption permeates the political class. Our own nation has witnessed repeated breaching of rules of ethics with scandals such as the SNC-Lavalin affair, the WE charity scandal, vacation on the Aga Khan’s private island, Chinese interference in a federal election, jailing innocent protestors and seizing their bank accounts because they dared question the government about enforced SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations. In addition to all this, there is a general attitude of disrespect for the electorate displayed among political leaders. And the situation may even be worse in the United States where there appears to be election interference by the government, persecution of political opponents, and blatant coverup of malfeasance and fraud perpetuated by high officials. Increasingly, the perception that there are two sets of rules grows within society. The division isn’t merely between left and right, but it is a division between righteousness and wickedness, a division between those who seek to honour the standards adopted centuries past and those who are actively discarding all standards defining good and evil.
What is especially distressing about this evident corruption is that the attitude of acceptance of corruption as the normal state permeates the whole of society. And the corruption will only grow worse as time passes with nothing being done to halt the evil. Those arguing for open borders, accepting economic refugees as legitimate additions to the populace, aren’t willing to open their homes to house the new arrivals to the nation; but they will certainly press the little people to accept this insult as inevitable and necessary. Looking at the news emanating from the United States, I make the observation that should the State of California or the city of Denver or some other enlightened jurisdictions succeed in introducing reparations for blacks, I need not be a prophet in order to predict that we will be astounded to witness an astonishing number of people that suddenly discover they are black! Evanston, Illinois is already attempting to implement this novel idea, thus beating San Francisco to the punch. Perhaps political leaders will succeed in these various cases, though it is doubtful that such will happen. We have trained our people that reality must yield to whatever fanciful idea strikes our interest at the moment. And what is worse, the whole of culture is conditioned to give acquiescence to our delusions if not actually celebrate what is an obvious mental illness.
We who follow Christ must not continue living as we did when we lived in the world. Peter makes this clear when he admonishes us, “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead” [1 PETER 4:1-5].
Viewing the world in which he lived and served, the Apostle warned Christians not to succumb to the temptation to live without regard to the will of God. He wrote, “Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!—assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” [EPHESIANS 4:17-24]. And that is the world in which we now live and serve!
Dark lists such as this one reveal what it is to live in a world that is not cognizant of God. To the saints living in Colossae, Paul wrote, “Put to death whatever in your nature belongs to the earth: sexual immorality, impurity, shameful passion, evil desire, and greed which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. You also lived your lives in this way at one time, when you used to live among them. But now, put off all such things as anger, rage, malice, slander, abusive language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with its practices and have been clothed with the new man that is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created it. Here there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and in all” [COLOSSIANS 3:5-11 NET BIBLE]. This is the world!—dividing into tribes, fomenting chaos, angry and bitter at the world and our own plight in the world, cheaters who surrender ourselves to every form of impurity. You who are twice-born followers of the Risen Lord of Glory cannot live that way anymore! Stop giving way to the spirit of this dying world! Stop it now!
HOW WE GOT THIS WAY — If we acknowledge the nature of the Lord God, as He has revealed Himself, we will be more likely be based, grounded, and enabled to see the world clearly. So long as we attempt to establish ourselves as the centre of our universe, we will be susceptible to every current fad that sweeps across the cultural landscape. What we know, provided we permit ourselves to think, is that God is not a God of confusion. God established order in nature, and when any system in nature is disordered, the resulting condition is chaos. This truth alone merits a careful study of His character so that we don’t fall into the trap of imagining that we are the centre of our universe, embracing chaos as though it was a positive benefit.
How did our world become this chaotic? The change was gradual, until it wasn’t. As with all disasters, it happened little-by-little until everything happened suddenly. Looking out on the city of Corinth, a society that did not know God and a society that wasn’t keen on knowing God, the Apostle to the Gentiles wrote a summation of how that society came to be what it was. In providing that summation, Paul has provided a summation of every society that moves from freedom to bondage, including our own.
In the opening verses of the Letter to Roman Christians, the Apostle has written, “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
“Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
“For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
“And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them” [ROMANS 1:18-32].
Paul’s assessment provides an accurate description of contemporary western society, except we may be much farther removed from righteousness than was the ancient Roman society. And that should be a matter of grave concern for every follower of Christ. Our culture, like every culture that preceded throughout history, has followed a predictable pattern that progresses from decency through sloth to dissolution. Our culture, western society, is not immune to degeneration and ultimately self-destruction. The process inevitably begins as the culture refuses to give thanks to God.
As the churches of this generation have transformed into social centres rather than temples to the Living God, we have inevitably set in motion the downward movement of society from one that seeks peace with all men, respects individual rights, enjoying shared morality, and is reverent toward God, into a society that emphasises the exaltation of individual rights over respect for others, one that ridicules shared morality as it exalts base desires over control of that which dishonours God, and especially as our culture degenerates into one that refuses to acknowledge God or His right to be worshipped.
I’m speaking in the broadest possible terms when I say that in our culture we worship man, rather than worshipping the Creator. This is a descriptive generalisation of our present culture. Having rejected God as the rightful Sovereign over us as individuals, we codified our arrogance through enshrining our irreverent attitude through those chosen to govern us. If people want to complain about the heavy hand of government in this day, resenting the suppression of freedoms we have taken for granted, we must remember that we put power in the hands of those individuals who have assumed that it is their right to suppress the heritage that we had assumed to be secured by our forebears. We cannot deny that God permits those who govern to rule over us. We receive the rulers we deserve, having demanded them at the ballot box.
PEACE IN THE MIDST OF CHAOS — Few will argue against the contention that this is a chaotic world. The prospect of the world becoming more ordered any time soon lies somewhere between zilch and none. And despite this, the one who follows the Christ has a promise that is theirs alone in this world of confusion and chaos. Jesus promised, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” [JOHN 14:27]. From this promise, it is apparent that it is a fool’s errand to look for peace through adopting the attitude of this chaotic world. If we will ever know peace we will have to seek that peace in the One Who ordered the world in the first place.
As part of the establishment of order, and thus the establishment of civilisation, God reveals Himself as “male.” From this presentation we see that the Living God intends that we should recognise a distinction between males and females. This is a critical piece of information for anyone who wishes to demonstrate the ability to think rationally and begin to live with a measure of orderliness in the world. God presents Himself as male; accepting that truth is essential for understanding God and for understanding His intention for those whom He has created. This is why God presents Himself as Father of mankind and not as mother of mankind or something else.
Taking this thought a step further, we know that throughout Scripture the Lord GOD presents Himself as “Father” of those who believe. However, no one should imagine this to mean that males are superior to females in reflecting the nature of God. In Scripture we read of the creation of mankind. In the opening chapter of the Bible we read, “God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’
“So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
[GENESIS 1:26-27]
We must not allow ourselves to fall into the calamitous error of imagining that the Lord GOD has “chosen pronouns” as some think they are able to do in this benighted day. God is precisely Who He is, and we accept that He is God. Since God is God, we must never imagine that we can define Him according to the current fad du jour. He reveals Himself as He is, and we accept Him as He presents Himself.
Among the Psalms is found a cautionary statement given by God. Unbelievers as well as followers of the Risen Lord will do well to heed what He says in that Psalm.
“God says this to the evildoer:
‘How can you declare my commands,
and talk about my covenant?
For you hate instruction
and reject my words.
When you see a thief, you join him;
you associate with men who are unfaithful to their wives.
You do damage with words,
and use your tongue to deceive.
You plot against your brother;
you slander your own brother.
When you did these things, I was silent,
so you thought I was exactly like you.
But now I will condemn you
and state my case against you!
Carefully consider this, you who reject God!
Otherwise I will rip you to shreds
and no one will be able to rescue you.’”
[PSALM 50:16-22 NET BIBLE]
Point-by-point God exposes the attitudes marking those whom He designates “evildoers.” Though these evildoers may claim to be worshippers of the Living God, the LORD reveals that they hate instruction, they reject His words, they condone wickedness through their refusal to condemn that which is evil. God exposes these evil people as deceptive in their speech, even seeking to harm those who are their own brothers! Because the LORD showed them mercy by not immediately condemning their wicked actions, they assumed they were okay; they were deluded into thinking that God was just like themselves.
A common feature noted in the lives of those who set themselves in opposition to the Lord is they imagine that because God does not immediately stop their wickedness, He is either powerless or He approves of how they are conducting their lives. Peter warns all against drawing such a foolish conclusion when he writes in his second missive, “Do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up” [2 PETER 3:8-10 NASB95].
Take special note of the ninth verse since it is immediately applicable to the situation that arises when an individual ascribes to God the thought that God can be recreated to fit the imaginations of mankind. The mere thought that because the Lord does not immediately strike down the wicked is not indicative that He lacks power. That God permits the wicked to continue is evidence of His Mercy and not of His lack of care.
Christians need to remember the words Jesus spoke immediately before ascending into Heaven. Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me” [MATTHEW 28:18]. No greater authority exists than the Son of God. No wonder, then, that the Apostle boldly states, “I can do all things through Him Who strengthens me” [PHILIPPIANS 4:13]. Surely this same situation prevails for each one who follows the Saviour; and because this situation prevails for each follower of the Risen Lord of Glory, we can understand the nature of the Father. We who are known by the Lord are the only ones capable of understanding the character of God, because the Father has revealed Himself to us and given us the ability to see clearly what the unsaved cannot see.
Our knowledge of God is not because we are better than outsiders. We humbly confess that He has given us His Spirit, enabling us to know Him. We don’t merely know about God in some mystical theoretical way—we know God! We twice-born saints know Who God is because He lives with us, and He lives in us. Jesus promised, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you” [JOHN 14:16-17].
Writing the Corinthian Christians, you will recall that the Apostle testified, “Having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” [2 CORINTHIANS 4:1-6].
It is essential that we pay especial attention to verses four through six. Note that the eyes of unbelievers are blinded by the wicked one. The lost are incapable of seeing what God is like; and because they can’t see God, they are unable to see things clearly in this world. Do you wonder why the vast majority of people today accept that there are a seemingly endless number of “genders?” They cannot see! They are blinded!
This is a good time to remind us that we should not hold the world responsible for their inability to see the evil they perpetuate even by their tolerance of evil. Neither should we expect the world to commend the righteousness that marks the lives of God’s holy people. The lost are unable to see clearly what God is doing, and they are unaware that they are blinded! I don’t mean that we are to tolerate the wickedness promoted by the world, but we can’t expect those of this world to do better since they are blinded by the god of this world. This is why we cannot expect politicians to fix the brokenness of society—they created the mess; they are incapable of doing better!
In contrast to the blindness of unbelievers, we gratefully acknowledge that we who are twice-born have been enabled to see clearly what those in the world cannot see. We recognise the consequences of blindly accepting the latest machinations of those who continue to oppose God while pushing the world toward ever greater turmoil and disorder. We look beyond the immediate disarray and discord of the latest cultural fad to see the devastating consequences of embracing the foolishness of the world.
Those identified as earth dwellers, those who walk in the darkness of this dying world, are restless and agitated by the discontent that marks their lives. To all such people, we who know the Lord remind them of the words which the Master spoke, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” [MATTHEW 11:28-30]. It is because we know from experience that Christ gives rest to the weary soul that we urge all who will hear us to receive the peace that He offers.
One who has received the rest promised is enabled to testify with Paul, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me” [PHILIPPIANS 4:11b-13].
We who have believed have entered into the rest promised by the God Who gives rest [see HEBREWS 4:1-13]. We are no longer trying to please God, for we are resting in confidence that we are accepted in His Beloved Son. As it is written, “There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his” [HEBREWS 4:9-10].
It is a gracious word that is given in the Apocalypse when John is directed to write a promise for the redeemed of God. And while the words he wrote were speaking of the saints tormented by the wicked during the Great Tribulation, the principle is applicable to us who are living at this time. The Spirit of God, testifying through John said, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” Then, the Spirit testified again, “Blessed indeed … that they may rest from their labours, for their deeds follow them” [REVELATION 14:13]! This is our promise by the mercies of God.
This promise is but an iteration of the divine statement provided in the Psalms,
“Precious in the sight of the LORD
is the death of his saints.”
[PSALM 116:15]
Precious because, “We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord” [2 CORINTHIANS 5:6].
Inwardly, even those rushing to promote the latest deranged fad know that acceptance of what they are promoting will result in utter confusion for all who embrace the chaos they are demanding. Nevertheless, these benighted souls are unable to help themselves because they are blinded by the god of this world. Satan does not give peace; he is a liar and the father of lies who seeks only to steal and kill and destroy as Jesus taught [see JOHN 10:10]. Those who listen to the lies the wicked one spews will themselves participate in the stealing, the killing, and the destruction of which Jesus spoke.
The True and Living God is not a God of confusion. The Lord God gives peace because His very nature is peace. All who know God will know His peace. Those who do not know God cannot know peace. And we who know God, we who seek to live ordered, rational lives in this dying world, long for all who are gripped by the madness imposed by this dying world to know the peace that we have found in Christ the Lord. We who are redeemed boldly proclaim that peace is found in knowing the Living God.
It is for this reason that we tell all who will hear us, that God has sent His Son into this messed-up world to bring deliverance from chaos to order, deliverance from death to life, deliverance from blindness to sight. The Son of God, Christ the Lord, provides this transition from darkness to light through taking upon Himself the sinful condition of all people. He then offered His life as a sacrifice for all, taking the punishment we deserved on Himself. The Good News we declare is that He did not stay dead. Jesus has been raised from the dead. Having conquered death, hell, and the grave, He now offers life to all who will receive Him as Master over their existence.
The Word of God promises all people, if you agree with God that Jesus is Master over your life and accept as truthful and real the glorious truth that He has been raised from the dead, you will be set at liberty. Setting these conditions for freedom, we are told that it is as we agree with God that we are given a right standing before the Father, and as we agree with God that Jesus is Master we are set free [see ROMANS 10:9-10]. Should someone hesitate because they are confused by what is demanded, the Word of God simplifies what we must do by citing an ancient prophet named Joel who wrote, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” [ROMANS 10:13]. I pray that you are one who is secure in the knowledge of God’s forgiveness and the life He gives. Amen.
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2] Dennis Prager, “Why Does the Bible Say ‘Neither Sex May Wear the Clothing of the Other Sex’?, Townhall.com, Oct 12, 2022, Why Does the Bible Say 'Neither Sex May Wear the Clothing of the Other Sex'? (townhall.com), accessed 16 April 2023
