M. B. Matthews: A Biblical Reckoning

In the Bible, in the book of Isaiah, Chapter 5, he says "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" M. B. Matthews today at the American Thinker reminds us of this Bible verse in his post entitled Biblical Reckoning.

Many of us have cultural whiplash. At the risk of sounding simplistic, the Bible prophesied our upside-down reality eons ago by saying the time will come when people will call evil good, and good evil, when they will call right wrong, and wrong right. That time is here. The wisdom and prophetic treasures of the Bible are things that in these times should be dusted off and revivified, for those who have lost track of it. None of what is going on now in America is a surprise to the biblical Christian. We just never thought it would be this ugly.

And while we are at it, people are not born good. That is a lie from the pit because it implies that corruption comes from outside the person. It doesn’t. What we are seeing now in our culture is the outworking of the fallen nature of mankind. Goodness must be taught, which is why we have religion; guidelines must be drawn, or mankind reverts to his nature -- evil. The Bible pounds this home everywhere. The reason children must be taught not to kick, bite, steal and pound their little playmates is because they have a nature that is fallen. Were this not the case, little kids wouldn’t have to be taught good from evil, right from wrong. Religion, the good ones, anyway, recognize this nature and make the attempt to reverse it by teaching love, goodness, fairness, decency, selflessness, and kindness. Religion is essential to the proper working of our culture, as our Founders noted, yet it is vanishing.

Psalm 51 tells us that people are born in sin, and sin every day they live on this earth. We must be taught right from wrong, good from evil. We are not the innocents who know only good, as Adam and Eve were created.  They were led astray by Lucifer.  We, the children of Eve, continue in this evil.  Yet, we may be saved by the undeserved grace of God through the brutal death and resurrection of His Son. But such salvation is an individual thing. Our nation may be doomed to go the way of Babylon, Sodom and Gomorrah, and other nations that did not listen to the ancient prophets. Lucifer, an angel created by God, turned his back on God, indeed wanted to be God. Lucifer can never repent. But we can. Let us repent before it is too late.