The American Civility War

Every day I spend an hour or two at the Spokane Valley Public Library, which means I have to drive by Planned Parenthood, immediately next door. I love libraries, and I hate abortion mills. It is a tale of two publicly funded institutions (my tax payments buy books and kill babies). One is an institution of free speech (although the religion section is mostly liberal and prosperity theology), while the other is a death camp that Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, and Communist China would envy.

Death is the enemy of life (1 Cor 15:26). Jesus said, “I am the life (Jn 14:6).” Death has raged against life since God’s judgment on humanity in the Garden of Eden (Gen 3). People have been getting away with murder since Cain slew his brother, Abel (Gen 4). The Bible tells us that murder is sin (Ex 20:13; 1 Jn 3:4), and Jesus’ interpreted God’s Law much more strictly than even the legalistic Pharisees (Mt 5–7). If you hate your neighbor in your heart (Mt 15:19; Mk 7:21), you have murdered him, already (1 Jn 3:15). That is the spirit of the Law. That interpretation condemns me and I suspect everyone else.

If I hate those at the human slaughterhouse, but do not hate myself for hating them with my hatred, then I am a hypocrite. I am guilty before God as much as they are guilty before his judgment throne (2 Cor 5:10; Rev 20:11). We must repent of our hatred toward others, which is a product of our hatred toward God their Creator (Rom 1:30; Jn 7:7).

God hates the abominable acts of child sacrifice (Dt 12:31). Jesus loved righteousness and hated wickedness and God the Father exalted Him above men (Ps 45:7; Heb 1:9). Godly people are instructed to hate evil (Ps 97:10; Amos 5:15), to expose it for what it is (Eph 5:11). We are to hate bloodshed, and if a people does not hate bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue us (Ezek 35:6). Killing is a vicious cycle, just ask the people of Baltimore, Chicago, St. Louis, and Detroit.

Men are haters of God (Rom 1:30), and the wrath of men is an execution of the hatred in their hearts. God hates those who do iniquity (Ps 5:5; 11:5), and He executes His daily indignation (Ps 7:11) and wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men (Rom 1:18). So what is different between God’s hatred and wrath versus man’s hatred and wrath?

The righteous man is hardly exonerated when he turns from his righteousness to perform the abominations of the evil man (Ezek 18:24). Simply put, do not repay evil with evil (1 Thess 5:15). It is not our place as guilty sinners to judge and exact vengeance upon others. For “‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord,” who is the righteous Judge of the living and the dead (Gen 18:25; Acts 10:42; 2 Tim 4:1; 1 Pet 4:5), and who lived without sin while living among us (Heb 4:15). The proverb says it best, “Do not say, ‘I will repay evil;’ wait for Yahweh, He will save you (Prv 20:22).”

America is not the righteous nation to which the Bible alludes, for no nation of the world is under God, despite its propaganda. God’s holy nation is the church (1 Pet 2:9). Christians are ambassadors for Christ (2 Cor 5:20), representing a better country (Heb 11:16). We are to display the righteous kingdom of heaven with peace, joy, and righteousness in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17). We have a glorious hope (Col 1:27), in Christ’s glorious appearing (2 Tim 4:1, 8). Our Deliverer is coming. We must tell others as the Spirit leads us.

Our dual citizenship is why Jesus taught, “in the world you will have trouble (Jn 16:33).” When Christians try to “change the world,” they exacerbate their trouble. There is no new thing under the sun (Eccl 1:9), and this is why we are not to love the world nor the things of the world (1 Jn 2:15–17).

We are commanded to love our neighbors (Lev 19:18; Mt 19:19), which means we must tell them the truth about their sin, death culture, and the coming judgment they must face (Jn 5:28–29; 2 Cor 5:10; Rev 19:11–21; Rev 20:11). We must live as aliens here in this war zone. We are not of the world any longer, but we are still here (Jn 15:19), as overcomers (1 Jn 4:4; 5:4–5; Rev 2:7).

America’s death culture: from suicide to gun and knife violence, to wars with other nations, to robust infanticide are all products of sin. Sin is lawlessness (1 Jn 3:4). It is rebellion against God. It is proof of man’s enmity with God. Destroying the image of God is Satan’s playground. All strife is devil-inspired, and the servant of the Lord must not strive (Prv 20:3; 2 Tim 2:24), as do men of the world.

Whether it is ethnic and racial confrontation in front of the Lincoln Memorial at the March for Life on the MLK holiday weekend, or the intensification of serial mass murder of babies in New York state, we must remember who we are as Christians. We must focus on our role as representatives of King Jesus, and that this world of sin and death is not our home. We have a message to proclaim (Rom 1:16–17; Col 1:23, 28), so that some may find peace with God (Rom 5:1) and others will know the day of destruction looms (2 Pet 3:10–12).

Christians, let us be at peace with all men, as much as possible (Rom 12:18), remembering how God delivered us from the futility of our carnal mind (Eph 4:17), the perversion of our darkened hearts (Jer 17:9; Rom 1:21; 1 Cor 4:5), and our incessant inclination to evil (Gen 6:5). Let us spur one another on to love and good works (Heb 10:24), including the exposition of biblical truth. We must expose the evil of sin, in the death culture of America (Eph 5:11), but let us speak the truth, in love for our wayward neighbors (Eph 4:15). Let us be wise as serpents and harmless as doves (Mt 10:16).

The world will hate us (Jn 15:18–25), as it did our Master (Jn 7:7) but let us not grow weary in doing good (2 Thess 3:13), so that we might give an answer for the hope that is within us (1 Pet 3:15). This hope is the promise of the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (Col 1:27; Rev 22:12–20), and the new heavens and the new earth in which righteousness dwells (Is 33:5; 2 Pet 3:13; Rev 21–22).

Finally, let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good (Rom 12:9). Only God is good, so cling to Him, and be civil, as you see the day of His judgment approaching.

David Norczyk

Spokane Valley, Washington

April 7, 2022