Nothing is More Un-American Than This

Well, here I am on vacation, but even then, I never seem to be far away from the headlines back home in America. Not that America seems like the home I grew up in anymore (it’s not). So, Charlie Kirk, a longtime conservative speaker, was murdered at the ripe old age of 31 during an appearance at the Utah Valley University for speaking about what he believes, and a large number of people are happy that it happened.

We need to burn this into our brains. This young family lost a husband and father because he was murdered for simply speaking about what he believed. Is there anything more unAmerican than that?

Many of the same people who are pleased about this are among those who advocate for "tolerance and love" for everyone. Talk about speaking out of both sides of your mouth. A larger number of people can’t seem to understand why anyone with half a mind would believe that it’s okay.

After all, this is what was lost. A husband and father to a young wife and children. That’s first and foremost. If you think it’s okay that two young babies will have very limited memories of the man who fathered them, you have problems. But I digress.

Why are things like this happening? Well, I’ve got an answer that we need to discuss, and it’s something called a spirit of delusion. Yes, it’s Biblical, and it’s something that even longtime Christian friends of mine have no clue is in the Bible, because it’s not something the American “church” teaches its members due to fear of “controversy.”

The spirit of delusion involves the judgment of God on those who have continually rejected Him. It starts in 2^nd Thessalonians 2:11, where the Holman Christian Standard Bible says it this way:  “For this reason God sends them a strong delusion so that they will believe what is false.”

The context starts in verse 10, which describes the unrighteous deception of Satan and his minions among those who are perishing. “They perish because they did not accept the love of (God’s) Truth in order to be saved”

The website desiringgod.org explains it well by saying this is not just “resisting” the truth that would save them. They didn’t just reject the truth, but they were resistant to a LOVE for the truth. They don’t want it anywhere in their heads or their hearts. They were totally against the truth.

Ephesians 4:18 says, “They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that’s in them due to the hardness of their heart.” In other words, total resistance to a love for the Truth its the correct definition of hardness of heart.

So, the Compelling Truth website takes that rejection to its inevitable conclusion. “There’s a strong delusion in the end times, which is a divine judgment in which God allows those who reject the truth to believe Satan’s lies fully and completely. Obviously, as we’re seeing in our world today, deception is already at work today through false teaching, cultural pressure, and distorted truth.” How do you suppose the very people put in place to uphold the law can look into a TV camera and tell you the person who committed the murder is actually the victim? It’s sheer delusion and believing lies that come straight from the pit of hell.

Throughout the Bible, one consistent message from God is urging people to accept the truth. But when people deliberately reject Him and turn from (spurn) His message over the course of a lifetime, God will harden them and turn them over to a deluded mind to wallow in their wickedness to their eternal damnation in hell.

But how does God do this? I’m not 100 percent sure because the Word doesn’t dive into the topic explicitly. Desiring God says, “It may well be that God does it by removing all the barriers between each person and satanic deception.” After all, if they don’t want God to save them from their unrighteous lives, He won’t. There are many places in the Bible where God governs the acts of unrighteous men and demons in order to achieve His righteous purposes.

“It’s as if God is saying, ‘Okay, if you want to love falsehood and unrighteousness instead of loving the truth, I’ll see to it that your delusion is overpowering.” God is letting them do what they want because those people have deliberately and repeatedly rejected Him over the course of years. “God gave them over to a debased mind to do what ought not be done,” said Romans 1:28.

Is it a little easier in that context to understand what is going on when someone can gun down another human being in cold blood? This is what happens when you turn from God to live your own life.

I have a strong hunch that I know when the acceleration began: When one of our former presidents declared in front of God and the rest of the world that “America is no longer a Christian nation.” How has pushing God out of our country worked out?

It doesn’t have to be this way. Christians, get on your knees before the Lord and pray like you just never have before. Speak up when you see something wrong. Don’t be afraid to offend people anymore because most aren’t afraid to offend you. What are you worried about? I’m asking myself that question today, too!

After all, what did God promise His people (you and me) in 2^nd Chronicles 7:14? “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (English Standard Version).

Turn from yourself and turn back to God. He promises to hear you, forgive our sins, and heal this land. Why don’t we take Him up on it?