Enough!

“‘Hear this word, you cows of Bashan,

who are on the mountain of Samaria,

who oppress the poor, who crush the needy,

who say to your husbands, ‘Bring, that we may drink!’

The Lord GOD has sworn by his holiness

that, behold, the days are coming upon you,

when they shall take you away with hooks,

even the last of you with fishhooks.

And you shall go out through the breaches,

each one straight ahead;

and you shall be cast out into Harmon,’

declares the LORD.

“‘Come to Bethel, and transgress;

to Gilgal, and multiply transgression;

bring your sacrifices every morning,

your tithes every three days;

offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened,

and proclaim freewill offerings, publish them;

for so you love to do, O people of Israel!’

declares the Lord GOD.

“‘I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities,

and lack of bread in all your places,

yet you did not return to me,’

declares the LORD.

“‘I also withheld the rain from you

when there were yet three months to the harvest;

I would send rain on one city,

and send no rain on another city;

one field would have rain,

and the field on which it did not rain would wither;

so two or three cities would wander to another city

to drink water, and would not be satisfied;

yet you did not return to me,’

declares the LORD.

“‘I struck you with blight and mildew;

your many gardens and your vineyards,

your fig trees and your olive trees the locust devoured;

yet you did not return to me,’

declares the LORD.

“‘I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt;

I killed your young men with the sword,

and carried away your horses,

and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils;

yet you did not return to me,’

declares the LORD.

“‘I overthrew some of you,

as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,

and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning;

yet you did not return to me,’

declares the LORD.

“‘Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel;

because I will do this to you,

prepare to meet your God, O Israel!’” [1]

If it seems as if the world is falling apart before your very eyes, perhaps it is because the world is falling apart even as we watch and as we grieve. Mass shootings, violent demonstrations by groups claiming to be anti-fascist using techniques perfected by Fascist Brown Shirts. These groups have introduced wholesale insurrection—not minor riots, but wholesale insurrection that is excused and even defended by prominent political leaders. Political parties accuse one another of doing the very things they themselves are doing. Peaceful protesters are harassed and haled into court by a government that appears to have no restraint. People are angry that nothing seems to change. And people have plenty of reason to be angry!

Leaders of political parties use the judicial system to punish opposition party leaders. Even former Presidents of the most powerful nation in the world are constantly harassed and harried, and those who openly support them are publicly humiliated by taking them into custody in leg irons. The citizens of the nation find it almost impossible to trust the police, even when they have supported the police. It is increasingly difficult to believe the news media since they have been caught in so many lies during the past decade. Even the medical system appears corrupt and compromised.

Each day brings more news that is sure to leave rational people disconcerted and questioning whether anything can ever again be normal. Rational people wonder if we have hit rock bottom! And then another news report describes a new low for what the culture promotes as morality. No wonder that some people are beginning to shout, “ENOUGH!” It is one thing when people respond to constant provocation, shouting “ENOUGH!” It is another thing altogether when God in Heaven says, “ENOUGH!” Christians, and decent people, sometimes question how low contemporary society can go. It is as though our culture is riding in a wagon without brakes careening down a steep hill. Each moment sees us gaining speed as we blast through one barrier after another and none can arrest our mad ride that must end in a cataclysmic crash.

Western society seems to be standing on quicksand, and we are sinking steadily into the dark morass that spells destruction for our culture. Yet, each time we reach a point where people say we can sink no lower, it seems as if our society produces metaphorical shovels and begins to dig a little deeper. Somehow, I fear that our culture hasn’t witnessed the ultimate depths of degradation it shall see. However, with each passing day we must surely be drawing closer to the final depths when the fetid slurry covers us and we sink out of sight to be lost to history.