Part8
Continuing struggle between good and evil
Megiddo serves as a symbol of the age-old struggle between good and
evil. The struggle echoed in Elijah's stirring words: "How long
will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow
Him; but if Baal, follow him" (1 Kings 18:21). In our modern world
not everyone bows down to gods of stone or wood. We are too
sophisticated for that. We have fashioned gods of money, power,
celebrity and status.
Instead of idolatry, which prophets like Elijah railed against, we
have formed with our own hands a neo-pagan worship called
relativism.
Instead of one God, there are many gods one may worship. Instead of
one way, clearly defined by the one true God, the common belief
today is that there are many ways to access a spiritual life and
worship the deity. Instead of "traditional values," many subscribe
to the philosophy of "different strokes for different folks." The
great issue of our time is whether there is one God, one way and
one lawnot two or more.
In 45 years the West has gone from the idea that "God is dead,"
proclaimed loudly from the pages of a leading newsweekly, to the
present where we have created the multicultural gods of
diversity.
In our supposed enlightenment, we think there is no source of
revealed truth to which we can appeal as a standard of
righteousness. Every religion is as good as any other. Every
culture is equal. Every man can decide for himself what is right
and what is wrong. This falsely makes human beings equal to God and
is the essence of idolatry.
It's the problem God found with ancient Israel when He said through
the prophet Isaiah: "Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of
vanity, and sin as if with a cart rope; that say, 'Let Him make
speed and hasten His work, that we may see it; and let the counsel
of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, that we may know it.'
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness
for light and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and
sweet for bitter!" (Isaiah 5:18-20).
This describes not only ancient Israel but also our world today. We
cannot distinguish right from wrong, good from evil, because we
have forgotten God and abandoned His spiritual law.
We are a people who do not want to admit that God has a sovereign
claim on our lives and who are unwilling to submit to Him in
obedience. What Paul wrote applies to our society: "And even as
they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them
over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting"
(Romans 1:28 ).
A culture is "debased" when it sacrifices its children and their
future in the fires of idolatry. Our people do the same today when
we "sacrifice" our children through abortion, thus offering them up
to our self-made god of personal convenience (the reason for
abortions more than 90 percent of the time).
When abortion on demand is justified as a right and made possible
by whatever human statute is legally required, we are seeing a
society turned inside out, incapable of telling right from wrong,
unable to discern righteous judgment.
It's little wonder that judgment has fled when the prime
consideration in evaluating a candidate for America's highest
court, the Supreme Court, is his or her willingness to uphold the
"right" to abortion. That is a sad commentary on American culture,
and unless the nation awakens to the gravity of this unconscionable
tragedy, it will go the way of ancient Israel.
