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The cultural war in
America is ultimately an attack on the Image of God in man. This
war is as real in the conservative ranks as it is in the liberal
ranks. I agree that the conservatives do not go as far toward
the raw destruction of our likeness to God as liberals, but the
seeds of doubt are present. Sin is a word almost forbidden in
today’s language but the real issue is the image of God in man.
Sin is anything and everything that distorts God’s image. There
is not one definition of sin in the Bible that does not include
this idea. The Creator seeks to keep nothing from His creation
except that which destroys our likeness to Him. Simply speaking,
the essence of sin is whatever mars His beauty in you and me.
Genesis, the first
of sixty-six books in Scripture, is the building block of the
entire Bible. Every theological truth flows from the beginning
book. The centerpiece of both Genesis and the Holy Bible is the
creation of man. This was His grand act and was the only part of
creation that included His breath of life as part of the event.
Everything of the created universe revolved around man. Man and
woman were to extend God’s personal family and to give Him daily
joy as they conversed together and enjoyed the indescribable
atmosphere of unmasked pleasure. Moses recorded these words, “So
God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he
him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and
God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the
earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the
sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing
that moveth upon the earth.” (Genesis 1:27-28)
The three chief
areas of attack by liberals is a direct confrontation of what
this great truth of God’s image in man represents. The Biblical
home must be destroyed or liberalism and humanism cannot
succeed. Any society that loses the concept and reality of
strong families with bedrock values will collapse. Children are
desperate in their formative years for the sense of their father
and mother. Remove either and the other parent must be a genius
to keep the children from becoming wrecks. At best, they suffer
loss that functional families can never begin to grasp. Animals
and earth creatures know nothing of this Divine instinct within
the family. They may herd together, but the family lines are
unknown. This is a great distinction of our God-like qualities.
Children and their
innocence are the second wave of attacks by mindless liberals
and humanists. Little children are naturally pure and endowed
with a divine longing for the spiritual. Give any child whose
innocence has not been compromised the right opportunity and
they will almost leap toward faith and God. After fifty years of
Gospel living and preaching, I never tire of seeing children
respond to faith. They naturally believe and have a natural
hunger for anything religious. The very reason that millions of
altar boys have been molested by priests is the simple trust
children have toward anyone representing the church. Children
are extremely vulnerable to be abused by the unscrupulous within
religious institutions. I believe sexual abuse of children
should be a capitol punishment.
Jesus Christ’s life
and ministry on earth was spotlighted by the beauty of children
aglow in His presence. The Jewish leaders were incensed by the
excitement of children worshiping Him and crying out for the joy
of His love. “And when the chief priests and scribes saw the
wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the
temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore
displeased, And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And
Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth
of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” (Matthew
21:15-16)
The similarity of
the innocence of a child to the spiritual joy of being converted
to Jesus Christ is already revealed in this beautiful statement
of Scripture. Another incident amplifies this truth. A question
was posed to the Lord, “…Who is the greatest in the kingdom of
heaven?” (Matthew 18:1b) Our Lord’s answer is a revelation of
eternal value. “And Jesus called a little child unto him, and
set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you,
Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall
not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall
humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the
kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child
in my name receiveth me.” (Matthew 18:2-5) The arrogance of
unconverted human flesh will never enter the Kingdom of God. The
intellectualism of our present religious world is revealed for
its folly as we behold our Lord in His ministry of humility.
Our present culture
with its “cross-pollination of the sexes” is utterly destructive
to everything beautiful. This is the third wave of attack
against the image of God in the human race. We were created male
and female and every distinction of the sexes is His Divine
handiwork. The word “female” does not exist in the angelic world
because this created beauty was reserved for His chosen
families. It was the completion of His human design so that this
special creation could multiply and fill His universe.
When a culture
distorts this beautiful union of man and woman, it is the last
step to hell. Homosexuality and lesbianism is a Satanic
intrusion into the most perfect expression of human design
planned and executed by our Great Heavenly Father. The perfect
companion of all immorality is pornography. It is the most
dehumanizing and spiritually destructive propaganda of history.
Pornography is the literature of rapists, committers of incest,
serial killers and every other form of the fornicators. It feeds
the worst of Satan’s imagination in human hearts. It’s the
breeding ground of demons and dark spirits out of the bottomless
pit.
But oh the joy of
the man and woman that will allow Jesus Christ to renew the
human soul and spirit to the beauty He designed. The “converted”
man or woman that willingly becomes as a “little child” is still
the joy of our Creator as was Adam and Even in their pristine
state. Jesus said, “…Ye must be born again….” (St. John 3:7) It
is the one pathway back to the plan of God that we “we were
created to fulfill.” The new birth is a “re-creation” of the
created. It is supernatural work by His blood, and all He
requires is total surrender and total faith in Him. We were His
handiwork in creation, and we are His handiwork in redemption.
Joseph R. Chambers |