17 Jun 2020
From Slippery Slope to Avalance.. an Old Warning for a Modern Time (Genesis 6:1-6)

This picture was taken at a 2004 in a protest in Vancouver Canada against the Iraq war, and is truly heartbreaking.  We have slowly watched the God of Israel being pushed out of Western culture over the decades, and other counterfeits taught in His place.  So events like this are becoming more commonplace–and bolder as time progresses.

And what does this protester hope to achieve?  At a minimum he is in front of a camera , so a need of recognition is there–whether for a cause or himself, or both. This picture is the best demonstration of a hurting heart masquerading as a hard heart, but hopefully not of a seared-conscious.  We have far too much of that in the world as it is.

Don’t give up hope on him, or condemn him even if just in your mind. As loud as the sign is and as offensive as it appears (which it is what it is designed to do), God’s not rattled by it.  Neither should you be.  God just smiles, because this is exactly the type of person he chases in love to expose the enemy’s lies and His truth.  This man is at a protest today, but where will he be in 3 months, 6 months, maybe even a year.  Will he be married, and have a child (which suddenly changes EVERYONE’s mind about the existence of God if they have any love in them at all).

I know, because in some ways I was like him.  Will his actions (like all of our actions) become artifacts which the Lord later uses for his glorification.  This is a true statement: our actions ultimately testify to God’s work in one of two ways.  They demonstrate things that align with the Lord, or they don’t.  It’s our call.

To understand what you are seeing happening around you in these frantic times, it is very important to understand what led up to this.  There are some very good parallels in Genesis 6:1-6.  You know, it’s in that Myth of the Bible.  The one which so many people have been taught to refer to this way, despite the fact of its longevity and it being the entire basis of the Western society we live in.  Chapter 6 begins to describe the events leading to the great flood: the first judgement against mankind which God had to do.

One of my favorite commentators on the Bible is Matthew Henry (our pastor jokingly refers to him as the church’s associate pastor).  Matthew Henry wrote his commentaries not long after the publication of the King James Bible (which appeared thanks to the invention of the printing press).  Considering when they were written, the profound insight endures to this day as one of the best commentaries ever written.  I encourage you to read Genesis chapter 6 for the actual text, but here is Matthew Henry’s commentary on the first few verses (emphasis with bold text is mine):

For the glory of God’s justice, and for warning to a wicked world, before the history of the ruin of the old world, we have a full account of its degeneracy, its apostasy from God and rebellion against him.

The destroying of it was an act, not of an absolute sovereignty, but of necessary justice, for the maintaining of the honor of God’s government.

Now here we have an account of two things which occasioned the wickedness of the old world:-1. The increase of mankind: Men began to multiply upon the face of the earth. This was the effect of the blessing (ch. 1:28), and yet man’s corruption so abused and perverted this blessing that it was turned into a curse. Thus sin takes occasion by the mercies of God to be the more exceedingly sinful.

Prov. 29:16, When the wicked are multiplied, transgression increaseth. The more sinners the more sin; and the multitude of offenders emboldens men. Infectious diseases are most destructive in populous cities; and sin is a spreading leprosy. Thus in the New-Testament church, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring (Acts 6:1), and we read of a nation that was multiplied, not to the increase of their joy, Isa. 9:3. Numerous families need to be well-governed, lest they become wicked families.

“The multitude of offenders emboldens men.”  Notice that it does not say justifies them.  Our culture has been taken over by entertainment, comfort, pop-culture and many things which encourage people to seek the experience and cruise on their emotion-of-the-moment.  There are people who will go to BLM protests (or any other public gathering) and take loads of selfies and share them with the world to surf the emotion of being there. And emotions are something God’s enemy really knows how to manipulate.

The real problem, as Matthew Henry points out, is that it is easy for sin and wickedness to grow in the absence or sparsity of God’s influence.  Persecution (and shaming is part of that) comes from the attitude of “we all think this way, why shouldn’t you?”  It’s when mob mentality takes over: one of the things most likely to occur when a group of disgruntled people get together thinking they have the same pure motive.  As a longtime friend of mine recently pointed out, a mob is the devil’s playground.  It leads to the violence and destruction we see, when the emotions–already elevated–are easily pushed over the edge.  The more a person is angry, the more rational thinking is shutdown.

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So keep people who think like this protester in your prayers to God.  You see, we’ve been warning about slippery slopes for years.  But when the avalanche comes, the people holding up signs like this will suddenly come to the realization that they were wrong and are in trouble.  And even people flaunting signs like this will change.  It has happened over and over throughout history.

They will need help and guidance, and the Lord will be sending them to us to help provide that.  Just like he sent other believers to us, in the last moments of our previous lives in darkness–when we were disillusioned and had lost hope.

It will be big, so prepare now.. especially your heart.

NOTE: The original post described the picture as being from a recent protest with Black Lives Matter, but it was from a much earlier time… and I have corrected that description above.