1 Corinthians 14:33 gives a profound and insightful statement. “God is not a God of confusion but of peace.”
Yet in much of the world right now, confusion reigns. I mean deep, basic levels of confusion. Perhaps the most obvious would be the millions who are confused about their sexual identity. The science of gender no longer holds. It’s not a question of XX or XY chromosomes, or any of the other obvious scientific differences between male and female. It’s all about feelings, and those feelings have been purposely confused by educators, entertainers, advertisers, and others.
At school, young people are propagandized to believe Islam is a religion of love and Christianity a religion of hate. Schools now openly teach kids to judge others according to race. Virtue has become something you signal to others; not righteousness or moral excellence. Children are subjected to “drag queen story hour” in local libraries, and it’s even celebrated in national television commercials.
Good is called evil and evil good. Followers of Jesus are increasingly seen as dangerous to children. A major presidential candidate recently called for churches to either come into alignment with his moral beliefs or lose their tax-exempt status. Franklin Graham said that as a result of such pressure, “There will be a lot of Christians who unfortunately will bow down and give in, and many have already.”
And is all this working? It’s no secret that young people who see themselves as homosexual are at greater risk of suicide. The experts used to say that it was because society made them feel guilty. But they can’t say that anymore. Society affirms homosexuality at every turn. Acceptance is at an all-time high.
But with all that acceptance, suicide has only gone up.
Acceptance and affirmation have not helped at all. Why not? Because the guilt is not external. It comes with the sin itself – not just homosexual sin, but all sin. Society pushes heterosexual children to have the sexual morals of rabbits, but society’s affirmation of sin does not stop the guilt. That’s because the guilt didn’t start with society. It started with the sin.
As people abandon the biblical definition of right and wrong, are they feeling more free? Are they doing better psychologically? No. They’re doing worse. America and most other First World countries are experiencing a mental health crisis. The statistics are stunning. One in five children now suffers from a mental health disorder. And that’s just the ones who have been identified.
CNN recently reported, “The rate of ER visits involving psychoses, bipolar disorder, depression or anxiety jumped more than 50 percent from 2006 to 2013, according to the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Roughly 1 in 8 emergency department visits now stem from mental illness or substance use disorders, the data show.”
Across the nation, more and more hospitals are instituting Psychiatric Emergency Rooms. Why? Because we are experiencing a mental health crisis.
Romans chapter one sounds the warning to societies that intentionally turn away from God. Verse 28 sums it up. “As they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind.”
Depravity of mind goes far beyond mental illness. And I’m not condemning people for being sick. The condemnation goes to the society itself. Romans 1:21-22 says, “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools.”