“And the lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know” (Genesis 18:20, 21).

The Book of Revelation describes an end-time scene where commerce is flourishing and merchants are made rich (Revelation 18:3-14). However, this is also a time of wickedness and suffering that reaches to high heaven (verse 5). God will hear and bring it to an end with sudden judgment (verse 8). To one self-sufficient group who thought they were rich and increased with goods, God’s verdict was, “Thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:17). Their lives were devoid of virtue and practical Christian living. The prosperity through which men are blinded to their true condition is called materialism.

The parallels to our day are obvious. Through materialism, lethargy, and selfishness, the mounting weight of human grief and woe in our world from physical and spiritual poverty can soon be forgotten. The attitude grows: “Let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die” (Isaiah 22:13). Instead of seeking God’s remedies, people talk about nonsense issues. Like Rome’s distractions at the Colisseum, violent sports and morally degrading entertainment hold people’s attention. The poor and the weak are the losers, and evolution is often given as the justification. God sees it all (Amos 4:8). The true conditions of our times should lead us to mourning and sober living rather than “living high.”

Knowledge Without God is Disastrous

Scientific knowledge is broadening into the far-reaches and fine details of our universe. The complex majesty of God’s handiwork is awesome. However, without God who upholds it all (Hebrews 1:3), human knowledge results in perversions.

Knowledge of chemicals (physics) and bacteria (biology) opens the way for weapons of mass destruction. Knowledge of psychology brings people to artificial and callous human relationships. Knowledge of DNA and embryonic life, without God, brings man to manipulate genetics and pervert or destroy life. Man presumes to do good but cannot prevent evil. His nature is depraved. He desperately needs a redeemer— someone to save him from himself.

With modern procedures to reveal an infant’s pre-birth condition, mothers can eliminate babies that are not perfect. In England, it was reported, more Down’s syndrome children are now killed than are allowed to be born. It is estimated that 50 million of the world’s infants are aborted each year. China’s one-child family policy and forced abortions have resulted in a shortage of women—a cruel twist on women’s “rights.”

Eliminating the imperfect and perpetuating strong traits by embryonic transfer, and such like, is nothing short of the eugenics experiments of Hitler’s doctors. Charles Darwin’s cousin, Francis Gallon, originated the pseudoscience of eugenics. Eugenics was defined as “the self direction of human evolution.”

The Destruction of Innocence

Children should be secure, enjoying life, happily learning the disciplines of human relationships and responsibilities. But without Christian ethics, children live in fear and horrible circumstances. We have seen pictures of the gaunt, expressionless faces of the violated, orphaned, and diseased children of Africa. A news report on AIDS said that 40% of the 12-year-old children of South Africa will not reach 20 years of age.

Children are raised destitute of morals in broken cultures around the world, including America. Mass shootings and murders done for fun have chilled us. The World Wide Web provides a new source of information that can destroy childhood innocence. Adult information and immoral perversions are available to all. Things that a child should not know and would never have thought of are displayed in vivid detail. Many are preyed on and brought into bondage. And yet the adult world through well-paid lawyers zealously defends the “right to know.”

Care-Less Humanism

Science (knowledge) is inhumane without a knowledge of God. It does not care about human needs. Viewing life and humanity as just so many pounds of flesh, arrived by accident, leads to the taking of human life. The present biodiversity of our world is said to have come about through the struggle and death of multitudes of creatures through time. Thus the death of the innocents is prescribed as the solution today. People take life because of undesirable physical traits. This will also finally be used on those with unwanted ideas.

The ungodly movers in our world keep progressing toward an Orwellian society. The unwanted and defective are eliminated at birth and the aged are euthanized when life becomes a burden. In countries such as Belgium, Holland, Norway, and Switzerland, infirm, elderly people need to fear going to the hospital because euthanasia by lethal injection is legal or tolerated. Death is humanism’s effort at annulling the curse and sting of death that came because of man’s rebellion and sin. The Christian accepts God’s plan and waits for His promised redemption. In the meantime he respects all life and uses legitimate means to alleviate suffering.

All respect for the value of life originates in God’s love, care, and compassion for His creation. More and more, humanists blame Christians as the cause of social guilt. Recently, a prominent evolutionary scientist railed on God as an unpleasant character and described religion as a virus that should be kept from infecting children. The media keeps publishing these evolutionary claims such as the declaration of a psychologist from Texas that “murder is part of the human nature.”

What is actually happening in this justification and self-deception? The moral character and life of multitudes is destroyed! The debt of blood in the land is mounting up to the highest heavens. Our merciful God hears, and when He brings an end, it will also be out of mercy.

God’s Child Care

God has a vested interest in His creation, which Satan has corrupted through sin (Romans 8:20-23). He provides salvation and deliverance for all who seek righteousness, which is simply the standard of behavior set by God for man. God is working a redemption program to purge and purify (Revelation 5:8-14). We have recently seen warnings through natural catastrophes (Luke 21:25-28) on cultures that are killing Jews and Christians. We have seen His warning to a city known for its loose living (The Big Easy) and “alternate” lifestyles (perverted from God’s holy plan).

Reconstruction all begins with a personal experience with Jesus Christ. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ (John 1:17). This truth must be wedded with righteousness. Nature must be used in harmony with God’s Word. Christ then gives power to live the life He lived when He walked the earth (Romans 8:2, 9-11). No more can people take confidence in excuses for sin.

God has provided an organization, the church, which is more necessary today than ever. Those living in peace as God intended must come out of this world’s system. Those who partake of her sins will receive her plagues (Revelation 18:4). In the body of Christ the infants, elderly, and physically handicapped should all find care and appreciation. None should get the message that they are useless and unwanted.

When the church follows God’s way, children find security and love, youth are constructively employed, families enjoy each other, and the experience and wisdom of the elderly is valued. This happens because self-will is denied.

A sign of blessing and prosperity in a group is the carefree playing of children (Zechariah 8:3-5), well provided for physically and spiritually by responsible parents.

“I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread” (Psalm 37:25).

Resource: Creation Magazine, Dec.-Feb. 2006

-by Elvin Stauffer