"Woe unto them that call evil good..." (12/20/2010)

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! -Isaiah 5:20

I saw the above verse in a quote from Billy Graham today, and it caused me to think about a vast number of Americans nowadays. Here is the entire quote:

Heavenly Father, we come before You today to ask Your forgiveness and to seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Amen!

Although I don't agree with everything that Billy Graham has said in the past, I agree with him one hundred percent when it comes to the above quotation. Over and over again, I am astonished to hear people admit to dishonesty, theft, blasphemy, etc., and then call themselves "good people." What once was an abomination is now acceptable. And if someone like me stands up and calls sin sin, that person is labeled intolerant.

Therefore, since God is the Author of the Book that is completely devoted to putting a "wet blanket" on all of the world's fun, He is labeled as a tyrant and a monster. I know this from experience. Not because I have called Him such, but because I have had atheists accuse me of worshiping a "monster." I have also had an atheist tell me that, if God is indeed real, He is evil. This is all because those certain people are unwilling to give up their sin.

No matter how hard you try to justify your sins, let me assure you that you will indeed stand before God on the Day of Judgment. And although you love your sins now, they will not matter one bit when you face eternity in Hell. I am not condemning you--I cannot do that. However, I am telling you what the Word of God says. If you see sin as righteousness, you will not go to Heaven when you die; not because I said so but because God said so.

So if you don't know Jesus Christ as Lord of your life, I beg you to come to know Him today. You don't have to recite some eloquent prewritten prayer. All you have to do is humbly come before God, repent of your sins, and ask Him to forgive you in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. Then--only then--will God give you a new heart and new desires, and you will then see good as good and evil as evil.