Feb. 14, 2023
I have been doing a lot of reading lately. It has opened my mind more fully to the pervasive depravity of our nation, its leadership, and its ever-expanding population. Morality has been trending downwards for many decades. That, coupled with the undeniable facts of humanity’s bloody history, has led me to reevaluate my naïve view of humanity’s future. I no longer believe that we, as a people, are getting better, more righteous, or kinder. All this corruption despite the plethora of Christian denominations, universities, publications, conferences, schools, and media outlets. Generational improvements are limited to progress in the sciences and technology, but not in morality, righteousness, holiness, and justice. I now firmly believe that just the opposite is true. The more we advance scientifically and technologically, the more wicked humanity is becoming despite all that is called “Christian” in our American culture. The truth hurts and makes the belly bitter.
“For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.” Ecclesiastes 1:18
Ordinarily, knowledge and wisdom are sweet and not bitter. However, the result of new information often turns bitter in our bellies.As I let this new information and knowledge settle in, my heart is troubled, because “he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.” My soul feels saddened by the enormity of it all. How is it that men and women are so cruel, so selfish, and so depraved that almost nothing is off limits anymore? How is it that humanity never seems to create lasting peace, security, and justice despite all of our “good intentions” and the endless money we throw at it? We are more divided than ever. Our nation, not long ago, agreed on some basic standards of morality and decency, but those standards are largely gone. We have opened Pandora’s box, and the fleeing demons are taking control of almost everything and everyone. The human race has a long history of awful people doing awful things to each other, with only an occasional break from the wickedness. And all this is done in the face of a benevolent God who has gone above and beyond to create heaven on earth for all of us. He deserves our continual praise, but gets our belligerent middle finger all day long. If that doesn’t break your heart, then you have a heart of stone.
Running away and hiding from this pervasive depravity is all the more appealing. Facing the truth about who and what we are is difficult at best. The intoxicating fragrance of blue, the bliss of ignorance, tempts us all the day long. Who wants to spend time thinking about all this lawlessness, pain, suffering, and grief? No wonder the USA is full of tens of millions of people who are addicted to drugs, alcohol, and other mood-altering substances. No wonder adults lose themselves in the pursuit of fun, travel, entertainment, sports, sex, money, fame, and other things that distract them from what is essential. The ugly truth (the bitter taste of red) is almost too much to bear.
At one time, I held our elected officials and our institutions, by and large, in high esteem. My recent reading and diligent observation of current events over the last few decades have completely changed my mind. I now no longer trust our government and its leaders. I probably never should have placed as much confidence in them as I did. My lack of trust doesn’t extend to the rank and file but to the top leadership. Most government workers are fair-minded people, while most of the top leadership positions are filled by those who are not trustworthy.
How many Democrats and Republicans are trustworthy? I have no confidence in most of them. I was so naïve and gullible. My optimism regarding human goodness was unbridled and reckless. I have no confidence in any of the mainstream media, leaders in education, or business. Leaders of governmental agencies have proven their unreliability and dishonesty. It seems there is nothing but godless politics at work at the Federal and State levels and in the media. And that is working its way through our entire culture. Our culture is no longer based on the righteous Judeo-Christian foundation. Godless men and women have created a new moral foundation, which is an assault on the God of scripture. Their new “moral” foundation is unrestrained wickedness; if it feels good, do it.
Some examples might help explain my thinking. Democrat politicians primarily, but not exclusively, break laws and are never held accountable. We have federal agencies that are weaponized against conservatives and Christians. Open borders, rampant crime in cities, and riots caused by Democrats speak to their malevolence toward all of us. Baby killing, gender confusion, sexual perversions, the constant war beat, and the fiscal irresponsibility by both political parties speak volumes about what they care about, and it’s not righteousness, it’s not God or the average American citizen. Much “bitterness of the belly” has filled my soul as I have tasted and eaten red (truth). I am alluding to the movie, The Matrix. In the movie, the red pill, when swallowed, allowed the person to see the truth about what was going on. The blue pill allowed them to ignore truth and reality and live as though fake reality was real. Recently, I found myself tempted, for a moment, by the intoxicating fragrance of blue. I understand how compelling it is just to pretend that all this evil is not real and will disappear on its own. If only we could ignore all the lies, dishonesty, corruption, and depravity. In the Matrix movie, the blue pill (take a pill to solve your problem) was the most chosen by humanity. The fragrance of blue is intoxicating. Being intoxicated is numbing. Those who are inebriated (drunk) do escape the bitterness of truth at least for a few moments. The Word of God speaks to this struggle.
“And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. And I took the little book, and eat it up: and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I eaten it, my belly was bitter.” Revelation 10:9,10. Emphasis added.
Knowledge is at first sweet but often turns bitter in the belly. No wonder people would rather be intoxicated by the fragrance and promise of blue (the bliss of ignorance). Eventually, knowledge brings the bitter taste of red in one’s belly. Knowing the truth has profound implications for personal responsibility. We can’t see the truth and do nothing, and be responsible moral human beings. We can’t allow ourselves to be drunk on the fragrance of blue without tremendous guilt and culpability. How can a Christian check out? How can a Christian decide not to be salt and light? Isn’t that the same as “holding (suppressing) the truth in unrighteousness” spoken of in Romans chapter one? A genuine Christ follower doesn’t cease from being salt and light. A real Christian will not “hold the truth in unrighteousness.”
Our culture has believed, for many years, that humanity is good. Most still believe that people are basically good, kind, honest, just, and loving. We have been taught to think that if someone is doing bad things, it’s not because they are evil people. We have been brainwashed into believing that wicked people are victims, not criminals. Bad people are victims of racism, poverty, the environment, a disease, the state, or some other force, outside ourselves, that has made us what we are. There might be a grain of truth in this line of thinking. Many external factors indeed influence us, but ultimately, we make our own moral decisions and choices. We have all known those who grew up in a terrible family but made something good out of their lives. Sin is not genetic. Not everyone who has a bad childhood becomes a bad person and mistreats their children. Sin is not a disease. Not every child of a drunk or drug addict becomes a drunk or drug addict. Sin is not involuntary. Not everyone sexually abused as a child turns out to abuse their children or any children at all. Sin is an immoral voluntary choice. How then do we explain all this evil?
If you are familiar with the sordid recorded history of humanity, it is tough to accept this position that mankind is good. History rebukes that lie. To believe that we are born good people who go bad because of environmental conditions is also very hard to swallow. It suggests we are but pawns in life, not self-determining souls. So how is it that good people do so much evil over and over again? Could it be that people aren’t good by their own choices? And could it be that people have the capacity for great good and great evil at the same time? But why is it that evil is what we most often choose?
Since God created humanity, we have been hurting each other to have our way. The Bible describes a great worldwide flood sent by God that destroyed everyone except for Noah and his family because man’s wickedness was great on the earth. Many years later, because of the wickedness of the people, God called for the destruction of the land of Canaan. God then gave Israel this land. Israel then committed the same sins, and God called for the destruction of the Northern and Southern kingdoms of Israel in 721 BC and 586 BC, respectively. Subsequently, Jesus Christ came to his people, and they received him not. God then ordained the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, and on and on it goes—century after century of good people (mostly peaceful!) being cruel and demonic to others. The 20th century was no different, and this century is headed in the same direction. Yet people still believe that mankind is good in the face of all this evil reality, “For in much wisdom, is much grief.” Reality is passe in our day, when men can choose to become women and women can choose to become men. Politicians lie with the ease of breathing and see absolutely nothing wrong about it; the end justifies the means. If humanity has the potential for good, and it does, why is evil chosen more often?
Are we not more corrupt than Sodom and Gomorrah? And are we not just as violent as any nation in the past centuries? None of those past nations ever came close to killing 62 million babies as we have. And not many nations (if any at all) before us have killed as many as we have in our numerous wars. History reveals that our government is responsible for the slaughter of millions of people around the world, either directly or indirectly.
“What you do through others, you do yourself” is a legal and moral principle that ascribes guilt to the one who does evil through someone else. Dr. William P. Grady, in his book How Satan Turned America Against God, recounts the story of the war between China and Japan. “Chiang Kai-Shek was a pro-American, born-again Methodist with a preacher for a father-in-law……Chiang was being maligned in the American press while the bloody murderer Mao was being heralded as a “noble agrarian reformer”…. “The source of this treasonous propaganda was the Communist-controlled U. S. State Department.” If Dr. Grady is accurate, and he seems to be, then our government is partly responsible for this genocide in China. In 1971, the Senate issued a report titled “The Human Cost of Communism in China,” concluding that Mao and Chou were responsible for the deaths of as many as 64 million people (Their people). How many times has this been repeated throughout our short American history? I am not sure how much more I can eat.
The total, so far, is 126 million people murdered by the USA, directly or indirectly (proxy war, anyone?), from just abortion and Mao’s communist genocide in China. I suspect the real number is much larger. And what exactly did the USA do to prevent or discourage Stalin from the genocide of some 50-60 million of his people? Also, I have read that we, along with other countries, refused to allow more Jews to immigrate to our country during World War II. In addition, Jewish immigration into the Promised Land was also minimal before and during most of WWII, primarily with the approval of England, but with the approval of the United States. The result was that 6 million Jews were murdered because our great and noble countries of England and the United States turned their backs on the Jews. God alone knows our real guilt.
Think of some of the other more recent government cover-ups, such as the 2012 Benghazi attack. I well remember the nonsense and flat-out lies being peddled by Hilary Clinton and other Obama tools, not to mention the mainstream media’s part in the cover-up. And no one responsible has ever been held accountable. And Hilary’s 33,000 deleted emails? When does she get out of jail? Remember the 2009 “Fast and Furious” Obama scandal? Our government gave thousands of firearms into the hands of criminals such as the Mexican drug cartels. I am not omniscient, so maybe I forgot about how we held people accountable for this criminal madness. I would love to be corrected and put in my place. I am pretty sure Obama, Holder, Clinton, and other leaders in his administration were never held accountable for anything ever. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many different examples that we could talk about. Democrats know no shame. As for the Republicans, what did they do to hold these scoundrels accountable? Are the Republicans now going to hold criminal politicians responsible for their crimes? We shall see.
I am not suggesting that every war the USA has fought was wrong, but I am suggesting that if normal citizens knew the truth about the reason for war, we would have had fewer wars and killed fewer people. Did we ever find those weapons of mass destruction that we went to war over in Iraq? What a fool I feel like because I believed what the experts in our government told us about WMDs. Or were we tricked into war with a false premise? It’s hard not to think that our government did this on purpose to justify the war and take out Saddam Hussein (Was this not the very first preemptive war in US history?). Was President Bush a Christian? What about the proxy war we are fighting now in Russia? I do not believe what our government is telling us about Ukraine and Russia. Russia, even though it is not the Soviet Union, has its grave faults, but to think that Ukraine, one of the most corrupt nations on the face of the earth, has not provoked this war is insanity. Our leaders will never tell us the real reason they are poking the bear. They lie and tell us it is something other than it is. Our government lies to us all the time. Think of the lies regarding the Nord Stream pipelines. Initially, our government told us Russia blew up its pipelines (talk about a cash flow problem!). Our government thinks we are all stupid. Based on very recent news from Seymour Hersh, we now know that it is most likely not the truth. And the truth is that the USA and President Joe Biden are most likely responsible. No surprise to many of us. But don’t expect our government or politicians to admit it. Their preferred response is to deny it, even if it is evident to everyone. Our government is bringing us to the brink of war, and they care not about how many lives are lost. Should we trust a liar? Is that rational?
President Biden is “The Liar in Chief”. If he ever tells the truth, the world might end, as it would be such an earthquake. This war in Ukraine is not about saving democracy. They lie to us. Most of them care nothing about democracy and our constitution, despite their claims to the contrary. Look at what they do or don’t do, and listen to what they do, not what they say. They are most likely personally profiting from the war in some way. I would not put it past Biden (or the Democrat Party) to start a war with Russia or China to be reelected in 2024. Could it be that this war in Ukraine is about Russia saying no to the USA and the European globalist woke plans for the entire world? Could it be that Russia feels threatened by NATO expansion? I, too, reject the globalist agenda and most especially do I reject their depraved leadership and wicked ideology. The idea that Russia is evil and Ukraine is good is childish propaganda fit for fools. I am sick and tired of being a naïve fool. Please give me the bitterness of truth over the bliss of ignorance. We can’t trust Ukraine. We can’t trust Russia. And most assuredly, we can’t trust our government. How sad and disgusting is that? I, for one, applaud Russia’s refusal to promote sexual perversion and gender affirming ideology. Why is it that our leaders and many ordinary citizens lie so easily? And how is it that the rest of us are so desensitized to the loss of human life and the constant lies? How do we explain this?
If we are merely brute animals that are the product of blind macroevolutionary forces, then killing each other is not evil. And we should not expect to feel bad when it happens. Aren’t we just animals? No one thinks a lion sins (or feels bad) when it kills another animal and eats it alive. If you believe the lie of macroevolution, then we are but beasts, and there is no evil. And there is no good. Humanity is neither good nor bad if there is no God. But we all know that there is something fundamentally different about mankind from the rest of the animals. God created us moral and rational beings. He made us in His image and likeness. The trick of macroevolution will never explain that. Our conscience is an internal witness to our being created in God’s image. It tells us that evil does exist. Our conscience, when not forced into silence, tells us when we do something wrong and affirms us when we do the right thing.
Understandably, Christian people believe that mankind is created evil because that is what we see all around us, and that is what religion has taught them. Original Sin makes sense and fits the evidence. Not every sinner becomes a mass murderer like Stalin, Mao, and Margaret Sanger. Some people hid their sinful ways very well, but the sin is still there. I can almost believe the dogma of Original Sin because the taste of red is making me sick to my stomach. Oh, how the fragrance of blue is so appealing.
However, I can’t buy the dogma of Original Sin for several reasons. I will cite just one. God created us moral and rational beings. He made us in His image and likeness. I can’t accept the dogma of Original Sin because, if it is true, then we are victims (and not criminals) as the progressives believe. That means we are not responsible for our sins. But we all know that we are accountable and that we have no excuses, like being born a sinner, for our criminal and sinful behavior. All the guilt and blame are ours. We are the problem. We met the enemy and it is us! The devil didn’t make you sin; all he can do is tempt you to sin. God didn’t make you sin. Your spouse didn’t make you sin. And your mom and dad or siblings didn’t make you sin. Your sin is the result of your lust for self-gratification. And ultimately, it is your duty not to sin.
Many of life’s challenges evaporate when we stop thinking and simply do as we are told and believe what we are told to believe in. You don’t need to swim upstream on issues like climate change and vaccinations. Join the herds of sheep and accept it. Just breathe in the fragrance of blue (take the blue pill) and life becomes easier. Taking the vaccine is so much easier than fighting with people who think you are the devil because you won’t do what they think should be done. The bitter taste of red means rejection. The vaccine comes in blue, doesn’t it? Supposedly, when you swallow it, you will be safer and at peace knowing you are such a good person, unlike all those evil “red pill takers”. Don’t even ask for the truth about the vaccine being made from aborted babies. Quick, smell this lovely blue fragrance and put it out of your mind.
We are back to the question, “Why do people choose evil?” The answer to that question is that people love themselves supremely. Most of my life, I have been told by our experts that our problems stem from the fact that people do not love themselves enough, which is often associated with low self-esteem. They lie. The root cause of evil in the world is that people love themselves too much, with high self-esteem. They love themselves more than they love God or others. They are unwilling to deny themselves those things which they desire and lust after, even if that gratification is against the law of God or harms others. For the unregenerate, life is all about physical or emotional gratification. Please don’t take my word for it; this is what scripture has to say.
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away.” 2 Timothy 3:1-5. KJV emphasis added.
Did you read this passage and let it sink in? If this is not a perfect description of the last-days CINO (Christian in name only) and other unregenerate men and women, then I don’t know anything. These fake Christians are those who “have a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof” are polluting our culture and bringing destruction on our land. “Form over substance” is now the foundation of American culture and the “Christian Church.” Evil is chosen, not because it’s evil, but because we love gratifying ourselves more than anything else. We choose to love ourselves supremely. Jesus said if you love your life, you will lose it, but if you lose your life for Him, you will find it. He said “substance, not form,” is what matters.
Life is full of choices. The bitter taste of red (the red pill choice) promises a sweet initial flavor followed by a bitter belly and much sorrow. It’s the gate which is small and the way that is narrow, that leads to eternal life, and few are those who find it. The intoxicating fragrance of blue (the blue pill choice) is the wide gate and the way that is broad, that leads to eternal destruction, and many are those who find it, according to Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the one who shed His “red” blood to redeem the likes of you and me! Will wonders never cease? Almighty God, we do not deserve you. Only in your mercy is there any hope for us.
You are the way, the life, and the truth. And we believe that the truth will set us free. Please give us ears to hear and eyes to see what you are saying to us. Also, give us the courage to swallow truth and to reject ignorance and lies.
