Is God being Merciful? I Don't Think So.

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Ed Walsh

Puritan Board Senior
Greetings,

The following is something I posted on Facebook this morning.
I would appreciate your thoughts.

Thanks,


Ed Walsh
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I have a question for you, Christians and non-Christians alike.
For some time now, many, if not most, people are relatively apathetic about the murder of babies by abortion in this world. There are roughly 50 million abortions a year worldwide.
My question is this. How long do you think God will allow this to continue without bringing severe judgment against the entire world? Is He being merciful to us while we continue in this sin? In the Scripture, God sometimes waits for the iniquity of a nation to be full. (Gen. 15:16) Knowing the Scripture and its author as I do, I think it would be a big mistake to interpret God's silence as his mercy. There may be some warning shots across the bow like our current pandemic and economic chaos, but compared to what He is likely to bring, this pandemic will seem like a picnic if we do not repent.
There's a principle in Scripture that teaches it is only by shedding the blood of the murderer that a land is purged from its blood-guiltiness. Read carefully the passage I have included below.
Numbers 35:31‭, ‬33
Moreover, ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death: but he shall be surely put to death. So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: for blood it defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it. Moreover, ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death: but he shall be surely put to death. So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: for blood it defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it.
 
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“At some point, it would be unrighteous of God not to stop this slaughter.”

Hi Ed,

You might want to modify since God’s righteousness does not require him to stop sin in this life. It only requires him to punish evil, and even that can be delayed until Christ’s coming.
 
“At some point, it would be unrighteous of God not to stop this slaughter.”

Your right. I deleted the sentence. Thanks.

I meant it more as a figure of speech like in the verse below. But I still agree with you.

Hebrews 6:10 (KJV)
For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
 
I pray every night about abortion. I believe is it the worst thing we humans have decided is "ok" throughout our entire existence. The fact that people celebrate it now mocks God even more.
 
Your right. I deleted the sentence. Thanks.

I meant it more as a figure of speech like in the verse below. But I still agree with you.

Hebrews 6:10 (KJV)
For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.

But there is a maximum to the sin that God will tolerate. God delayed judgment on the Amorites because, as He says in Genesis 15, "the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full." Furthermore Paul warns in Romans 11, "If God did not spare them, He will not spare you." Israel in covenant got away with nothing--much less will uncovenanted Gentiles. Moab in Jeremiah 48 did not, neither did Edom in Obadiah. And Ninevah eventually backslid and was wiped out.

There will come a final baby, final public scandal, final wicked ruler, final act of false worship, final act of injustice, and it will be the raindrop that bursts the dam. No prophets were sent to Canaan ahead of time that I am aware of, no messengers. God simply terrorized the inhabitants with great fear and handed them over by some of the most unthinkable and extraordinary means imaginable (shouting, falling stones, the sun standing still).

There is hope I think only because there are some righteous left in Sodom. I think too that once God is done with America, He will by-and-large remove preaching and the presence of the church. Let's pray and beg God for the repentance of Sodom before He decides to relocate Lot.
 
There is hope I think only because there are some righteous left in Sodom. I think too that once God is done with America, He will by-and-large remove preaching and the presence of the church. Let's pray and beg God for the repentance of Sodom before He decides to relocate Lot.
Two points Jake:

Firstly on his OP, Ed mentioned the world not just America. Lets not make this post American centric. Christians in many Western (and non Western?) nations are struggling with the same issues. I for one struggle with the fact that my own country has been blessed with a tremendous Christian heritage but we now have one of the most barbaric abortion laws in the world.

Secondly, you am have heard of the English Reformed Baptist pastor Erroll Hulse (now with the Lord). Once when visiting my church he argued that the Holy Spirit has moved East. At the time I thought it was an astonishing statement to make, but on reflection I am sure there is a lot of truth to it. I hear encouraging reports of strong Church growth in parts of India, China and South America. The kingdom of God is not thwarted by human failing and sin. The kingdom prevails and will do so until the final consummation.
 
I thought at the time that one reason why some flag-waving people were so up in arms about Jeremiah Wright's controversial statement was that they don't really think that God would judge America. Maybe that's just for Sodom, or communists or Nazis or whatever. (I'm not saying that I'm a fan of Wright, of course, or his specific language or argument.)
 
I thought at the time that one reason why some flag-waving people were so up in arms about Jeremiah Wright's controversial statement was that they don't really think that God would judge America. Maybe that's just for Sodom, or communists or Nazis or whatever. (I'm not saying that I'm a fan of Wright, of course, or his specific language or argument.)
An apt observation.
It never seems to occur to people that the presence, and the increase of abortion are themselves steps of progressive judgment. The USA or the West isn't tempting God to bring judgment for, say, hmsx celebration. The normalization of sexual deviancy, which continues into further license of outrage, IS the judgment of God, per Rom.1. Such devotees are people who have been progressively "given up."

Noting this fact doesn't mean that there is no reason to suppose God may also send a kind of local/national scouring judgment that "sweeps away" injustice, tyranny, and sin-celebration of various kinds. He may. But we should bear in mind the variety of historical patterns in the world. Many of us can remember an East-West faceoff (post WWII), in which the "evil empire" was typically regarded as persecutory of the church, and characterized by countless murders and other wickedness. What "cataclysmic" event brought that power crumbling?

None, but a series of smaller events exposed the tottering condition that prevailed under the illusion of iron-strength. The problem for many American Christians and churches is how wedded their identity is to their conception of political allegiance, thus how threatened they are in their "faith" by any challenge to their cultural source of strength. It will be a measure of true religion to discover what churches abide the same exposure of secular weakness happened to the Soviets, and what churches and Christian profession simply vanishes with the fallen supports of the external society.
 
It never seems to occur to people that the presence, and the increase of abortion are themselves steps of progressive judgment. The USA or the West isn't tempting God to bring judgment for, say, hmsx celebration. The normalization of sexual deviancy, which continues into further license of outrage, IS the judgment of God, per Rom.1. Such devotees are people who have been progressively "given up."

Thanks, Rev Buchanan, for your typical insightful posts. Whether your longer posts come easily to you or not, I don't know. But your comments always "look" like they take a good bit of thought and time.

Thanks again,

a fan
 
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