America On Trial

"So you shall say to them, "This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the Lord their God nor receive correction. Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth."
Jeremiah 7:28

We may view the situation in our nation's capitol as simply a problem for our President and his family. We may view the whole matter as a bother and distraction for our government. However, there are much larger issues at stake.

First, sexual immorality and deceit have been growing problems in our society for decades. Yet there has also been an increasing unwillingness to acknowledge that unfaithfulness to moral law and to covenant commitments is inherently evil. Situational ethics, which simply means that anything is acceptable if we can devise a plausible excuse, have allowed us as a nation to call evil "good" of if not "good" at least "permissible." Thus, we have covered our sins. But now Providence has caused these sins to be the focal point of the entire nation. Instead of ignoring them everyone is being forced to confront them and to confront our attitudes toward them. The national institutions of government, the institutions of justice, the public media, and the average citizen are grappling with the sins of adultery and lying. God will not permit us to evade these evils any longer. We must deal with them. We must, as a nation, declare our mind about them.

Second, in the context of this inescapable crisis our nation is proving what many have suspected and feared but hoped was perhaps not totally true. Namely that our collective conscience has been eroded to the point of being incapable of calling sin "sin" and renouncing it. Materialism and hedonism have eaten our moral backbone. Virtually any conduct is acceptable so long as it does not impinge upon our standard of living. What incredible perversion and naivete! People of nobility denounce evil for principle's sake even if they suffer as the consequence. People of understanding realize that rampant sin inevitably results in the collapse of all the essential elements of a truly prosperous life. A prosperous society demands moral order: honesty; covenant-keeping; justice; hard work; and compassion. When this moral order collapses the prosperity and peace must collapse as well. Listening to people express their opinions about the moral scandals in the Executive branch of our government reveals an appalling loss of sound ethical judgment. So many seem unwilling or unable to think in terms of right and wrong. We are ripe for tyranny!

Our greatest problem, however, is with the Judge of all the earth. Truth and moral law proceed from God. Untruth and moral evil are acts of rebellion against God. If men and nations will not respond justly to evil, God will. There will be no escape of God's judgment. Could it be that Providence has created this context for proving that judgment is entirely just? Could it be that this gross failure in national leadership is itself part of our judgment?

It is time for folk of moral conviction to speak distinctly and courageously. It is time for those who know God through Christ to invoke His mercy. America is on trial and is being proven guilty!