I Heard The News Today. Oh, Boy.

Laurie and I drove to the border of a nearby state the other day. We took the back roads. The freeway entrance in our little city is under construction, so, if people want to head east, they must take this detour. The speed limit on one of these streets is forty-five miles an hour. I was going around fifty. The car behind us, close on our tail, sped around and pushed it to seventy the rest of the way. He was obviously in a hurry, but it seems that most everyone is in a hurry for some reason around here. They’re grossly disobeying speed limits left and right. Seventy in a forty-five? Drivers have become very aggressive in our part of the world. The people in this city have been frustrated most of the summer about the inconvenience caused by the construction and now the closed-down entrance ramp. The situation is even worse when heading west.

The freeway entrance vexation here will soon end. But people are upset in this country about more serious issues. They are angry and frustrated. They’re angry that the government has mandated that they must wear masks. They’re angry that people don’t wear masks. They’re angry about mandates to get vaccinated and then still having to wear masks. They’re angry that people don’t get vaccinated. They are angry with the president concerning the withdrawal from Afghanistan. They’re angry that the current president got elected at all. They are angry that the former president got elected at all. They’re angry that people don’t care about global climate change. They’re angry that those who believe in global climate change use it for political reasons.

Have I covered the big ones? If you are thinking of others, consider them added to the above list.

I heard the news today. Oh, boy. The administration wants to push forward legislation to create a disaster-to-come fund, because they said, “Future pandemics are inevitable.” Different ones. Worse ones. Ones we know nothing about, they said. What a dark prediction. I couldn’t help thinking as I heard this on the PBS broadcast while waiting for Laurie to get off work, of the verses in Revelation 9:20–21 that inform us that mankind, those who were not killed by plagues, did not repent. They kept worshiping demons and idols, murdering, committing sexual immorality—which includes adultery, homosexuality, and intercourse outside of marriage—and robbing people.

I don’t know if the plagues in Revelation bear any relationship to COVID, but it doesn’t require much thought to conclude that most of these sins are in abundance all over the United States. They are in our news. They are on our screens. I write with sadness that not only are they committed everywhere, but they have also been legalized. I write with sadness not only that, but they are promoted, and we are encouraged to celebrate them.

The celebration of murder and abominations. It’s hard to believe, but there it is.

It was almost like the Biden administration was prophesying. Worse plagues are to come. Their solution? Not of word, of course, of repentance. That’s an old-fashioned, religiously loaded word. Thou shalt not use it. No, there are no answers there. We’re beyond that nonsense. Instead of repenting, they think the answer is raising money to mitigate the results of God’s judgment. But it won’t mitigate anyone’s anger or prevent any coming woes. And It wouldn’t have mattered if some government official had asked people to repent. Most of the people in the United States would wonder what they should repent of.  When told, these would be among their responses:

Oh. Those things. Really? Are you serious? You’re joking right? Do you want to return us to the 1950’s? The Dark Ages? What are you, a religious fanatic?

No, not a fanatic. I want us to return to Jesus, the one who saves us, plagues or not.

¹All Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Gif courtesy Bing images.