What Did You Say?

The United States of America, 2014

Adapted from Romans 1:18-32 through Chapter 2; Easy to Read Version, American Bible Society

“God is showing His anger from heaven against all the evil and wrong things that the American people do, permit and tolerate. Their evil lives hide the truth they have. This makes God angry because they have been shown what The Most High God really is like. Yes, God has made it clear to America.

There are things about God, Most High, that people cannot see—His eternal power and all that makes Him God. But, since the beginning of the world, those things have been easy for people to understand. They are made clear in what God has made. So people have no excuse for the evil they do.

Because of Adam and Eve’s sin (eating the forbidden fruit of “The Knowledge of Good and Evil”) The American People have always known the Living God, but The American People have not honored Him as God, and they did not thank Him. Their ideas are all useless. There is not one good thought left in their foolish minds.

They say they were wise, but they became fools. Instead of honoring the divine greatness of God, who lives forever, they traded it for the worship of idols—things made to look like humans, who get sick and die, or like birds, animals, snakes, the environment, “political correctness”, celebrities, and meaningless philosophies. These American People wanted only to do evil. So God left them and let them go their sinful way;

• They became completely immoral and used their bodies in shameful ways with each other.
• They traded the truth of God for a lie.
• They bowed down and worshiped the things God made instead of worshiping the God who made those things. He is the one who should be praised forever. Amen.

Because people did those things, God left them and let them do the shameful things they wanted to do;

• Women stopped having natural sex with men and started having sex with other women.
• In the same way, men stopped having natural sex with women and began wanting each other all the time. Men did shameful things with other men, and in their bodies they received the punishment for those wrongs.
• People did not think it was important to have a true knowledge of God.

So God left them and allowed them to have their own worthless thinking. And so they do what they should not do;

• They are filled with every kind of sin, evil, greed, and hatred.
• They are full of jealousy, murder, fighting, lying, and thinking the worst things about each other.
• They gossip and say evil things about each other.
• They hate God.
• They are rude, proud, and brag about themselves.
• They invent ways of doing evil.
• They don’t obey their parents,
• they are foolish,
• they don’t keep their promises,
• and they show no kindness or mercy to others.
• They know God’s righteousness says that anyone who lives like that should die.
• They not only continue to do these things themselves, but they also encourage others who do them.”

So, The Evangelical Church in America, do you think that you can judge America’s people? You are wrong. You too are guilty of sin. You judge them, but you do the same things they do. So when you judge them, you are really condemning yourself. God judges all who do such things, and we know his judgment is right. And since you do the same things as the American People you judge, surely you understand that God will punish you too. How could you think you would be able to escape his judgment? God has been kind to you. He has been very patient, waiting for you to change. But you think nothing of his kindness. Maybe you don’t understand that God is kind to you so that you will decide to change your lives.

But you are so stubborn! You refuse to change. So you are making your own punishment greater and greater. You will be punished on the day when God will show his anger. On that day everyone will see how right God is to judge people. He will reward or punish everyone for what they have done. Some people live for God’s glory, for honor, and for life that cannot be destroyed. They live for those things by always continuing to do good. God will give eternal life to them. But others are selfish, simply religious, and refuse to follow truth. They follow evil. God will show his anger and punish them. He will give trouble and suffering to everyone who does evil—to the Evangelical Church in America first and also to those who are not followers. But he will give glory, honor, and peace to everyone who does good—to the Evangelical Church in America first and also to those who are not followers. God judges everyone the same. It doesn’t matter who they are.

People who have a genuine relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and those who have never heard that such a relationship is necessary to receive Eternal Life are all the same when they sin. People who don’t have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ will be lost. And, in the same way, those who have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and are sinners will be judged by God. Hearing the Word does not make people right with God. They will be right before him only if they always do what the Word says.

Those who are not relationship Christians don’t have the Word of God in their hearts. But when they naturally do what the Word commands without even knowing the Word, then they are their own spiritual law. This is true even though they don’t know the written Word. They show that in their hearts they know what is right and wrong, the same as the Word of God commands, and their consciences agree. Sometimes their thoughts tell them that they have done wrong, and this makes them guilty. And sometimes their thoughts tell them that they have done right, and this makes them not guilty. This knowledge has been passed onto every human born in the earth since Adam and Eve.

All this will happen on the day when God will judge people’s secret thoughts through Jesus Christ. This is part of the Good News that the Evangelical Church in America is suppose to tell everyone.

What about you? You say you are a Christian. You trust in the Lord and proudly claim to a personal relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. You know what God wants you to do. And you know what is important, because you have learned the Word of God. You think you are a guide for people who don’t know the right way, a light for those who are in the dark. You think you can show foolish people what is right. And you think you are a teacher for those who are just beginning to learn. You have the Word of God, and so you think you know everything and have all truth. You teach others, so why don’t you teach yourself?

You tell them not to steal, but you yourself steal;

• When you don’t tithe faithfully.
• When you don’t pay your taxes through deceit.
• When you don’t give your employer a full day’s work for a full day’s pay.
• You give to your lusts and wants instead of to the work of the Church.
• You spend recklessly on things, but you aren’t putting enough aside for your children

You say they must not commit adultery, but you yourself are guilty of that sin.

• Remember Jesus taught to lust after a person of the opposite sex is the same as adultery?

You hate idols, but you steal them from their temples;

• When you know more about your celebrity idols than the Word of God.
• When you spend more time lusting after your idols rather than spending that time with your spouse, children and God the Father in prayer.

You are so proud that you have God’s Word, but you bring shame to God by breaking His Word.

As the Scriptures say, “People in other nations insult God because of your hypocritical witness.”

If you follow the Word of God, then your circumcised (sanctified, separated) life has meaning. But if you knowingly sin, then it is as if you were never circumcised (sanctified, separated). Those who are not Christians have not separated themselves to follow Jesus. But if they do what the Word says, it is as if they were separated to follow Him. You have the Word and sanctification, but you knowingly disobey God’s known Word. So those who are not sanctified in their spirits, but still obey the Word, will show that you are guilty.

You are not a true Christian if you are only a Christian in label only. True Christianity that is genuinely separated to follow Jesus is not only what you want people to see. A true Christian that has a genuine personal relationship with the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ is one who is a Christian inside-out. True sanctification is done in the heart. It is done by the Spirit, not by religious activity. And anyone who is sanctified in the heart by the Spirit gets praise from God, not from people.”