Is the god of Pleasure Beginning to Take a Hit?

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be...... lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God..." --- 2 Timothy 3:1, 2a, 4b

Our republic is really in a quandary of unprecedented proportions, is it not? There are just all kinds of things happening -- an election in the making with not a single candidate addressing the real issues that directly impact the future destiny of our nation -- a "war" that is hotly discussed and debated on a daily basis -- financial crises and a national debt that continues to escalate!

But the one thing that is beginning to dominate the thinking and decision making of most U. S. citizens every day is something called gasoline and related components such as diesel fuel and heating oil.

It makes headlines in newspapers and TV news reporters are positioned beside a gas station pointing to the recent increase in gas prices (as this is being written, I bought a few gallons yesterday at $3.99 per gallon in Nanty Glo PA) and use a growing favorite expression in their vocabulary -- "pain at the pump!"

There is a scramble to explain why and who is responsible for this growing expression of greed on the part of some very influential persons somewhere -- God alone knows who they are, where they are and what they are doing. The good news is that in due time He will return upon their heads the fruit of their doings -- no one has beaten the "law of sowing and reaping" yet and none ever will!

But maybe there is another factor to consider in all this chaos -- perhaps the "god" of Pleasure is beginning to be hammered a bit! God's actions at times are directed to the "deities" a nation forms for itself.

For decades we as a nation have been on a "pedal to the metal" pace in our pursuit of pleasures of every possible kind. It would take a long amount of space and a considerable amount of time to detail them all here.

It is evident to anyone who looks a bit and listens that we are a pleasure saturated country, and are constantly attempting to devise new ways of experiencing pleasure.

One obvious tragedy in this is the well established fact that we cannot get half of our population into a place of worship on Sunday morning to even go through the motions of worshipping the God Who brought this mighty universe into existence by simple spoken commands!

Sunday, as mentioned elsewhere on my website and blog, ought to be renamed Funday -- it is a day of zealous pursuit of pleasure from border to border and shore to shore.

Interesting, is it not, that now there is much talk not only about gas prices, but what heating costs will be this winter and the ripple impact from fuel prices in terms of groceries and various consumer goods.

Could it be that those guys I see gassing up at a gas pump (tanks on 4-wheelers on a trailer towed by a gas guzzling pick-up) on Sunday mornings may be forced to revise their pleasure agenda in the future? Many other examples could be cited as people deal with costly expenses related to the pursuit of pleasure to the neglect of giving time, attention, money and worship to the living God!

Stop and think for a minute -- a lot of decisions are going to be made and a lot of plans changed due to drastically changed financial spending -- we'll spend a lot more money on our gas, our heat, our groceries -- which means leas money for our pleasure pursuits than we've been used to having. And then there is the fact that many families are up to their eyeballs in debt because they made the deadly mistake of adopting the philosophy of "instant gratification" -- just have to have those things that enhance our fun times even if we have to go deeply into debt to get them.

Something we so easily forget -- the thing about God as He begins to deal with a culture and its rebellion is that He has many methods at His disposal and can keep turning the screws tighter and tighter as time progresses!

Of course we also have an abundance of information available that if the tactics do not bring about the desired results, then eventually judgment is employed and God has done that very thing a number of times, but somehow the dominant spirit in our republic right now is that we feel we are an exception -- besides, this is a "Christian" nation, isn't it?

What will be the next "god" or "goddess" on God's hit list? Now is the perfect time to review a portion of 2 Chronicles 36 -- see how one people fared who thought they could ignore God and get away with it -- start reading at about verse 11.

"For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD." --- Exodus 12:12

Are You Among Those Special "Reserves?"

"Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him." --- 1 Kings 19:18

He found himself in the pit of deep despair – he was on the run and trying to hide – a very powerful and wicked woman was after his head, literally!

Elijah had just won a major victory over the false prophets of a heathen deity named Baal. A part of that victory involved the execution of those false prophets. Queen Jezebel, who had been instrumental in importing Baal worship into the northern kingdom of Israel, had vowed to remove Elijah’s head from his shoulders due to the major blow he had inflicted on the institution of Baal worship!

And so as the prophet engaged in a major self-pity experience and felt the best thing for him now was to simply die and have his miserable existence terminated, God dramatically revealed that Elijah was not the only faithful one left, as he had led himself to believe. "Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him," said God! In the midst of all the confrontations which had taken place and the challenging of the heathen prophets, Elijah had failed to recognize the existence of God’s “reserve” force.

In a 21st Century republic known as the United States of America God has His “reserves” that have refused to bow the knee to the modern Baals, which are manifested in many forms. Consider some of those Baals in our culture to which millions of knees are bowing every day -----

• the Baal of pleasure which now dominates the weekends, including the day which was set apart for the worship of the true and living God Who created this mighty universe by spoken command and Who loves us humans so much that He gave His own Son, Jesus Christ, as a sacrifice for our sins so we could be forgiven and be citizens in His Kingdom forever. Less than half of U. S. citizens are willing to go to a place of worship on Sundays!
  
  
• the Baal of money which now enslaves a huge multitude of individuals as well as a growing number of corporations. This brand of Baal has the unique power to fan into raging flames a vicious appetite called greed. But it’s not limited to individuals nor corporations headed up by CEO’s who are driven by a desire to chalk up record breaking profits year after year, but elected officials enjoy sticking their thumbs into the public money pie with constant scheming as to how the citizens can be bled for more and more revenue!
  
  
• the Baal of entertainment, talk-show, mass media and political celebrities. There is a wide variety of personalities here as well as the subject matter which may be expelled from the mouths of the same. The problem is that millions follow this one or that one and regard every word spoken by the one to whom they are ever loyal as “gospel truth.” Devotees of these celebrities are much more concerned about what their “idols” have to say about anything than what Almighty God has to say – and He does have a lot to say about the most critical issues of life on a personal level as well as on the collective level! Even among those who profess to be Christian in their faith there is all too often a confession that they do not spend the time studying the Bible as they feel they should! It is the God-inspired record of the Bible which is the measuring stick as to whether members of the aforementioned group are true or false in whatever statements and claims they make about anything.
  
  
• the Baal of sexual immorality which is a very cruel and merciless deity as it exploits the part of our being that expresses its cravings at a very young and tender age. Thanks to perverted thinking, reasoning and example setting by adults over time, our young are now constantly exposed to damnable teachings that sexual experiences under just about any condition are good – you, and you alone determine what your sexual preferences should be and how to be sexually intimate with whoever and whenever! God’s revelation about the boundaries of expressing and experiencing our sexuality are totally rejected. The evidence is overwhelming that our culture is resolved to take a fatal plunge into the pool of disaster when it comes to handling God’s sacred gift of human sexuality!
  
  
• the Baal of humanism which attempts to convince each one of us that we humans can handle all the issues of life be they personal and individual, or at the collective level. At times scientific advancements coupled with new breakthroughs in technology have been quite impressive and a person can be persuaded that we no longer need a “crutch of superstition” consisting of belief in a “higher power” which has whatever name you may give to that deity. However, along the way as we choose to travel this road, human life often becomes very cheap and expendable. And so there is no real moral sensitivity at the national level and no real concern that we have destroyed millions of unborn children over the past few decades!
  
  
• the Baal of “church-ianity” – the word is probably not in the dictionary, but it’s a way of best describing the infiltration of the church by forces of compromise, “political correctness,” unbelief and brazen immorality! Those in a number of church groups who hold to a Bible based faith are being pressured to compromise the faith (e.g. that Jesus is NOT the exclusive way of salvation), to speak a certain language so that no person is ever offended, to doubt the mighty acts of God in times past as well as what God has specifically planned for the future, and to accept without question sexual behavior patterns which God has clearly condemned! Constantly through legislative actions or declarations from church leaders the exhortation is to bow to the modern Baal and kiss him!
  

Somewhere scattered throughout the 50 states that comprise this republic is a minority number of persons – the ones who have not bowed the knee to the 21st Century version of Baal in its many grotesque forms – they are God’s special “reserves!” Are you one of them?

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing. --- 2 Timothy 4:7,8