What’s Wrong With Society?

Videos are circulating on the internet of people promoting demoralizing and destructive ideologies. The people who try to stand for what is right are not getting the support of authorities and people in power. Instead, the people who are violent, divisive, and destructive are allowed to continue. Everything that was once abhorrent in society seems to be acceptable, and if one tries to stand for what is right, they are laughed at, jeered at, ridiculed, and abolished. What has happened to society to have it set on a course for destruction? The answer will not sit well with many of you, but time has proven what happens when we ignore the Truth.

“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, concerted, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – having a form of godliness but denying its power” (1 Timothy 3:1-5a).

Since the beginning of time, an unseen war has been fought for humanity’s soul. On one side, YHWH, the one true God, created humankind in His image and called all He made “very good.” On the other side, the Satan, the deceiver, the Father of Lies and Angel of Light, wanted nothing more than to destroy all that was good. The Satan wanted glory and honor for himself. He wanted to be God and be worshiped as God. Thus, he started down the path of absolute and complete destruction of all that was good. The Satan started by destroying the hearts, souls, and minds of humanity.

The Satan convinced humanity that they did not need God. He claimed that we could be our own gods. The first humans listened to the false narrative of the deceiver and freely chose to disobey YHWH. This disobedience to God led to a severed relationship between the physical and spiritual worlds. That disobedience made humanity carnal and shattered the image of God by which we were made. The greatest deception of all time led to the most significant destruction of society.

The disobedience of the first humans removed us from being in relationship with YHWH. We had chosen to disobey and go our own way. We decided to be our own gods rather than follow the one true God. It didn’t take long for the destruction of the Satan to take hold of humankind. The sons of the first man and woman were born into a life of sin and destruction. Both sons proved that sin and destruction were a choice and didn’t have to control the soul of man. One brother sought after YHWH. He worshiped him and wanted a relationship with him. He built altars for YHWH and gave YHWH the first and best of everything he had. YHWH saw him and blessed him. Because of this man’s diligence in seeking YHWH and honoring Him, YHWH found favor with the son.

However, the second son also built altars and gave YHWH what he had, but he didn’t give him the best of his crops. Instead, he only shared what was convenient. When the second son saw that YHWY found favor in his brother and not him, he became angry. YHWH then spoke to the son and said, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it” (Genesis 4:6-7). Sadly, the brother allowed sin to rule over him, and he eventually killed his brother over jealousy and anger. Destruction won again.

The story goes on throughout humanity’s history. Those who sought out a relationship with God and followed his commands, to them were given blessings and honor and glory. This did not mean they had an easy life. The more humankind sought after YHWH, the more the Satan sought to kill and destroy. There was a man by the name of Job who was “blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil” (Job 1:1b). He was considered “the greatest man among all the people of the East” (Job 1:3b). The Satan went and presented himself before God. He challenged God and claimed that if God removed everything he had, Job would surely turn and curse God. Remember, the Satan only wants to take what was good and destroy it. YHWH gave everything over to the Satan except Job’s life.

The Satan took full advantage of what he was given. He took all of his flocks and crops and even killed all his children. The Satan did what he does best; he destroyed everything good. He even cursed Job with painful sores that covered his body in hopes that Job would curse God for all that was happening to him. Even Job’s wife tempted him to curse God and die to escape his misery. Job’s reply is perfect, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (Job 2:10b).

Job had many questions. He cursed the day he was born due to the tragedy that had befallen him. Job’s friends came around him and shared their thoughts and insights. However, everything they shared was mortal words without actual knowledge. Eventually, God spoke with Job, and YHWH summed everything with – “Are you God? Can you do the things of the Almighty? Do you understand the ways of the Lord?” Job’s reply to YHWH was this:

“I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore, I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:2-6). You see, what Job realized is that he was not God. He knew nothing of his plans and purposes. We are His creation, and who are we to call out to the Creator and question His actions? You see, when we think we are gods, we question the one true God. And don’t forget, our thinking that we are gods came from the greatest deception of all time that started us on the road of destruction.

YHWH even gave the people of Israel directions on how to be in relationship with Him, live holy lives, and be set apart from the sin of the world. YHWH laid it out in 10 easy-to-understand steps – these are called The Ten Commandments. Not only did He state what the people of Israel should do, but He also stated what would happen if they chose not to follow His commands. You guessed it; utter destruction would be upon them. However, this destruction was not brought on by YHWH but rather by the people for thinking that their ways were higher and better than God’s. God himself gave these commandments to the Israelites. The people of Israel were so terrified of God that they did not want God to speak directly to them. You would think that the people of Israel would remember the power of God and choose to follow His commands. Alas, the nation of Israel would be in a constant battle between following the ways of God and following their selfish desires. And just as God stated, the moment Israel chose to follow after their desires and leave the ways of God, destruction came upon them.

Fast forward a few millennia, and we were given yet another formula for how to live a life of purity, honesty, integrity, and righteousness. The new formula was not really a new one, but rather one that summed up the first set of commands given thousands of years before. During the life of Jesus Christ, he was asked by a Pharisee – a teacher of the religious Law – “What is the greatest commandment?” (Matthew 22:30) Jesus replied by saying, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.'” (Mathew 22:37-39). Do you see? The greatest commandment is to put God first in EVERYTHING! To make Him King and not ourselves. To submit to his authority rather than giving ourselves the power.

Jesus didn’t stop there. He gave us a picture of what was to come, and that picture was more of a mirror of the godless soul. Jesus said:

“You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. You will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of Me. At that time, many will turn away from the faith and betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:6-14).

Does any of this look familiar in today’s world? This happens when people choose to become their own gods rather than submit to the One True God. God leaves it open for us to decide. We have been warned of the destruction to come when we deny YHWH and live as if there is no God. Even this was stated in scripture:

“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. Do all these evildoers know nothing?” (Psalms 14:1-4).

Destruction is what the Satan wants. Destruction creates chaos, bloodshed, and division. It removes us farther from our relationship with God. There is nothing good in destruction. However, destruction is brought on by our choices, our actions, and our selfish intent. Destruction is the cause of us thinking we are gods rather than submitting to the true God. We are not at war with each other. As the Apostle Paul stated, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12). We are just the players on the battlefield in the war between sin and death and the omnipotent Creator. But as the players on the battlefield, we get to decide for whom we fight. However, here is the beauty of it all – THE WAR HAS ALREADY BEEN WON!

This cosmic, spiritual war that started at the dawn of time has already been won. The Satan deceived humanity into turning away from God our Father and convinced us that we could become gods ourselves. It was then that YHWH put into motion Operation Redemptive Freedom. YHWH allowed humanity to choose whom they would serve – themselves or Him. However, there was a break in the relationship between humanity and YHWH, and that relationship needed to be repaired. There was nothing we could do to fix what we freely broke. The destruction was almost irreparable. There needed to be a perfect, blameless sacrifice that took on the sin and destruction of the world. That sacrifice, the death of one man, would bring life, salvation, and redemptive freedom to all those who would only choose to believe in Him and follow His commands. Here enters Jesus Christ the Messiah – God’s perfect Son!

Jesus came into this world to be that sacrifice for all humanity – past, present, and future. He chose to submit himself unto his Father – something God has asked us to do, but we continually fail. “Christ Jesus, who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:6-8) You see, all God asked of us was for us to die to ourselves and submit to his authority, but the Satan knew what would happen if we did that. He did everything he could to keep us from all that was Good. This is why Jesus Christ did what we couldn’t do – ultimately opening the door to freedom from sin, death, and destruction.

What’s wrong with society? Society shows us a growing and ever-expanding belief that there is no God and that people would rather listen to the lie that was told ages ago and believe that they are their own gods. YHWH never has and never will force himself to be the King of your life. We get to decide if we want to submit ourselves to the one who hung on the cross and ultimately submit ourselves to God the Father, or if we continue to believe the lie that was started millennia ago and think that we are gods to ourselves and continue down the path of destruction. The greatest lie and false narrative set humanity on course for destruction.

But fear not. There is freedom, peace, and the ability to see through the lies, deceit, deception, and falsehood by turning back to God and submitting your life to the Creator of you and me by believing and following His Son, Jesus Christ. There is a battle for your soul, and what happens to it is entirely in your hands. You can continue to believe the lies and deception that the Satan has put in place since day one, or you can turn to the One who knows you better than anyone, the One who created you just the way you are, the One who loves you, accepts you, died for you, and wants nothing more than to spend eternity with you.

The choice is yours!