I thought peace and quiet were God’s desire for all people (1 Tim 2:1-4), so why would His anger be up against the society when, finally, these seemingly elusive conditions of existence are achieved? Not logical, right?
The predicate of the peace
and quiet matters. God has His standard for good and evil, humans however strive
to invert the two (one for the other) in our own conceit, to satisfy our lusts.
Certain peace and quiet are predicated on evil that is contrived as good, in
which case God’s wrath gets earned.
Consider Sodom and Gomorrah’s
case. The city at that time was prosperous (according to Bible historians). It then
became unusually and uncommonly perverse and evil. One day, two men came to town
and were recognized by Lot as men of God.
Out of his zeal for God, he decided
to shelter these men from the evil of the city by bringing them under his roof
for the night, knowing what evil the men of that city would do to them if left
on the streets.
It did not take time for the
men of the city to find out about the men sheltered by Lot, and they came to
demand that he surrenders them, so they may have sex with them.
Lot refused and made
entreaties to the mob, he made them offers he thought would assuage them but he
was turned down. The refusal to succumb to evil earned him the reputation of a
just man (1 Pet 2:7).
The mob was in absolute
agreement within though. To them, Lot was trying to breach their ‘peace’ and ‘unity’
and they threatened him with carnage, except he gave in to their demand.
To the mob, they were only making
demands to enforce unity and preserve the peace among them, right? Sounds
sarcastic but really it isn’t. When anyone tries to impose anything evil on you in the name of peace and unity, check what the peace and unity means. It is the duty of the righteous to
refuse joining the multitude to ratify or do evil, in the name of peace and unity (Ex 23:2).
Saying evil was good had
become acceptable in that society, to the point that anyone or anything against
the perversion was to be fought, silenced.
The mob was ready and willing
to destroy everything to ‘defend’ this peace and unity through limitless
violence. Whenever a society becomes like this, God’s judgment is always
imminent. Deception, lying, cheating and every evil necessary becomes
acceptable, if they achieved the mob’s goal.
This happens in no society
except the righteous first gets weary and yields to coercion or gets encumbered,
complicit (by falling to seduction/deception) or lethargic till they are sucked
in and overpowered. Were there no laws in Sodom and Gomorrah? Didn’t they have
law enforcement too, or government? There sure were, but all these had lost
their functionality when majority lost the will to contend for what was good.
The determination of humans
to satisfy their lusts in this generation is unequivocal. They will do it at the
expense of the society at large if allowed. It will take an equally strong
determination to repel evil with good to stop the errancy.
They’d call child sexual abuse and even murder, mental health problems, justify robbery and stealing as consequences of escalating
poverty levels. They’d kill, burn down cities, foment terror to the point of
shock and awe, label entreaty for righteousness and the fear of God 'hate speech' , while pointing at anyone opposing their evil as the trouble
makers, psychopaths, sociopaths, delusionists, racists, all the ‘phobics’, etc.
It was diabolical in Sodom,
their goal was so unreasonable, but they achieved it because just and righteous
folks caved in, some for fear of being labelled as being divisive.
Everybody wittingly or
unwittingly fell in line, until the whole city was consumed and God had enough.
He couldn’t find 10 folks left who still knew which way was up and would stake
their lives for it!
Everyone had been
brainwashed, hoodwinked, bewitched and cowed. I wonder who they’d blame. It
started gradually but caught up. God however will always judge unrighteousness
when the cup is full.
Now, the societies of the
world seem to have been gravitating in the same direction as Sodom for a while.
Slowly it seems, but surely; except those on whom the hope of the world
lies rise up and resist (Js 4:7).
The peace and safety that
God desires are predicated on righteousness, equity, truth and justice. Against these
there are no laws, rather the guarantee of God’s blessings.
The children of the day should
not give in to slumber while it is yet day, so the hope of God’s salvation must
not be allowed to fade away because some mob want to gratify their lusts and
evil desires. Or till when do we think, before God would have had enough and
decide it’s time to judge severely?
The mob and unlearned will say
there is peace and safety because they are having their way and their lusts are
being gratified, then sudden destruction comes as travail upon a woman with
child; and none escapes. Even the just will not escape its brunt, ask Lot.
The peace and safety that is
of God makes room for godliness and honesty to thrive; and salvation of souls as well (1
Tim 2:3). When we see their scoffing at and loathing of holy things and
irreverence for what is called God’s, we should know the promoters of such
peace and safety are liars and deceivers.
Let us study to understand
the times. We should be discerning, those that have slipped into slumber through
deceit should wake up (Eph 5:14). Our fortitude is what will make the
difference.
The hands that hang down and
the feeble knees should receive strength. The feet turned out of the way should
be healed and restored to the right path (Heb 12:12-13). The Church must be
strong against all odds, pray, be sufficiently informed and always speak up and
fight for good at every opportunity.
Sudden destruction is an
inevitability when the cup of evil becomes full, no matter what is used as it’s
veil, whether peace, unity or any other thing.
May God continue to enlighten
our understanding and strengthen us all. God bless and happy new year!
Photo Credit: Lukiyanova Natalia
