Dr. Jerry Fallwell is in hot water again with the news media and others for his statements regarding Sept 11 th. He stated that the attacks were the results of God judging America for allowing the homosexuals, lesbians and abortionist to operate freely in our country. Is he right or wrong? Does God pronounce judgment on a whole nation for the unrighteous acts of the few or does he hold us individually accountable for our sins?
There is scriptural evidence for both. God judged Israel for apostasy and Sodom and Gomorra were certainly judged for their collective sins. We know also that we will have to give account of ourselves in the judgment and be judged individually. How then does God judge us?
Actually God does judge us both ways, as a nation and individually, but not at the same time. He is a merciful and patient God. He gave Israel time to repent before He sent Nebuchadnezzer to attack and humiliate them. He would have spared Sodom if there had been as few as ten righteous men there. Would He not give as much grace to the U.S.?
The truth is that He does judge nations as well as people but always at the proper time. The time for Israel came after five hundred years of disobedience and Idol worship. They rejected Gods plan of Government and chose instead to follow kings. They then followed their kings into every kind of sin and evil just as the pagan inhabitants of the land had before them . Their judgment came after many long and tearful years of God pleading with them to repent. It could be said of them that their cup of sin truly ran over.
In the case of Sodom and Gomorra their sin was so great that He could no longer spare them. This was not a case of just a few people gone wrong or a city that made a few mistakes. It was a city that had given itself totally and completely to debauchery and sin with no remorse or repentant attitude what so ever,not even in ten people. Their cup of sin also was running over.
In Revelations there is a scripture that speaks of our prayers filling a bowl until it runs over and falls back to earth in the form of answered prayers. I believe that Nations either reap the benefits of a godly people praying or of a sinful people thumbing their noses at God and heeding the call of Satan to fulfill the lust of their flesh. It is quite evident that both scriptural instances reviewed here were of a people and nations that had reached their capacity of sin and ran out of mercy because they rejected Gods offer of mercy and forgiveness. If they had only been as wise as Nineveh and heeded Gods word they too could have changed and received His mercy and grace.
There is no doubt that America is in danger of placing itself in a position of judgment from God by its allowance of sinful practices, some of which are condoned and protected by law, but there is also a large number of Godly people in this land who are standing in the gap and pleading for mercy and praying for change. God has heard our prayers and according to 2 chronicles 2:12 will answer us. He has already given us a Christian man for President. Where would we be now if we had liberal unbelievers in the top office?
I believe that Dr Fallwell was wrong and he evidently did too because he later apologized for his remarks. God may have allowed the terrorist attacks to give us a wake up call to begin to seek Him as a nation and repent of our sinful attitudes but the truth is that we are entering perilous times of the end. We can expect things to be in an upheaval as scripture predicts. But we can also expect God to give direction and even protection and provision to His people just as He did in Egypt when He made a safe haven for Israel in the land of Goshen. God operates in the same way now, as then. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. We as Christians must continue to pray and fill the bowl in heaven spoken of in revelations so that our cup also runs over but with righteousness and mercy from a loving God and father.
Ray Cleghorn
 |