The Enemy on the Inside

"Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy." —Ezekiel 16:49

Jesus described His time as a wicked and an adulterous generation. And if it was true of the generation that He spoke to, how much more true is it today?

There was a time when America was that "city on a hill," setting the example for the rest of the world of faith, freedom, and family. In ideology, we were without peer. The Protestant work ethic brought by the Pilgrims, which some make fun of now, produced a robust, productive, and powerful force for good—not only in our nation but also around the world. But it seems America has begun to rot from within. We have effectively resisted any enemies on the outside, yet we have forgotten about the enemy on the inside. We have gone in the ways of Sodom.

When we think of Sodom and Gomorrah, we immediately remember the gross immorality. But consider the sins that led up to it. In speaking to Sodom, God said, "Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy" (Ezekiel 16:49). That describes our country today: We are proud. We have fullness of food. We have abundance of idleness.

Today we celebrate the very things that the Bible says we should have no part of. And while some people see God's commands as restrictive, even oppressive, in reality they are God's grid for right living, the set of absolutes we have been searching for in an ever-changing time of moral relativism.

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