We told God to get out – so he did

When you kick an individual out of your home the impact is felt by everyone in some way. When you terminate the employment of someone it creates a ripple effect for that person, your company, the family that individual may have to support, and friends perhaps that employee had at your business.

The removal of someone from our lives, parish, homes, families, and our country creates a disruption in the flow of that system. It does not matter if it is for good reasons, such as an alcoholic and abusive husband or child, or the deportation of an illegal immigrant. There is always an impact to be felt.

For decades our country has been telling God to get out. Our families have become so boggled down with chasing the corporate ladder they never have time to pray together, read Scripture, or even rarely have a family meal at the dinner table. Our families told God they do not have time for him and to get out of their homes and out of their business– so he did.

Our schools kicked God out and told him he was not welcomed back – so he left. It was common practice for schools to begin the day with a spoken prayer and a Bible reading throughout the centuries leading up to the late 20^th century and into the 21^st. However, a man became upset at his son having a bowed head and folded hands in prayer and, as a result, filed a lawsuit referred to as the Engel v. Vitale case in 1962. It was the first Supreme Court ruling making a public recitation of prayer unlawful in school. One year later, Abington School District v. Schempp finished the work of making prayer in public schools prohibited. It also preventing the reading of Scripture during school. We told God to get out of our schools – so he did. What happened?

It’s true that the first “mass” school shooting was on March 30, 1891 in Liberty, Mississippi where a gunman fired a shotgun into the audience and killed 14 people. However, the rise of “mass shootings” in schools and public places has been dramatically on the incline. In fact, it is being called an “epidemic” due to the significant increase of mass shootings in schools in the past few decades.

Our states and federal government told God his values were not ours anymore, his ways were not our ways, and told him to “get out” – so he did.

On January 22, 1973, the United States Supreme Court said it was a good idea to allow the legalization of murdering an unborn child for the sake of convenience and under the umbrella of “choice”. In Roe v. Wade, a woman struggling with addiction and poverty, unmarried and pregnant, was seeking a way out. She was pregnant, despite her changing her story later in life and giving various accounts of the truth of her pregnancy, and wanted the right to murder her child because of convenience. The Supreme Court agreed. In the Bible, the Law of Moses (Exodus 21:22-25) expressly forbid the killing of an unborn child, even by accident, and made it a reason for the death penalty. The individual responsible for the death of an unborn child was to be killed. If you back up one chapter in the Bible to Exodus 20:13 you will see the prohibition of murder.

Why? God tells us in Jeremiah 1:5 that “before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” In Psalm 139:13-16 he proclaims how God formed each part of us together in the womb. But, the Supreme Court told God to get out of our country – and he did. But, abortion is not the only path of kicking God out that our country has used. It is not the only door by which we have opened and escorted the God of love, justice, forgiveness, and mercy out.

Our country, courts, and laws have embraced homosexuality as acceptable and paved the path for celebrating and embracing a sinful lifestyle.

“Therefore, God handed them over to degrading passions. Their females exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the males likewise gave up natural relations with females and burned with lust for one another. Males did shameful things with males and thus received in their own persons the due penalty for their perversity. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God handed them over to heir undiscerning mind to do what is improper.” (Romans 1:26-28 NAB)

In January 1971, Look magazine dedicated three pages of its cover story to “The American Family”. The used a gay couple as the example and picture of the American Family. In 1973, The Yale Law Journal published an article titled “The Legality of Homosexual Marriage” that argued prohibiting gay couples from getting a marriage license violates constitutional rights. In 2006, the New Jersey Supreme Court followed suit and ruled that denying marriage to same sex couples violates their constitutional rights. In 2008, New York Governor David Paterson ordered state agencies to recognize same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions. That same year, the Democratic National Convention adopts the platform of opposing the Defense of Marriage Act and thus makes defending homosexuality part of their platform. In 2012, President Barack Obama becomes the first sitting U.S. president to declare his support for homosexual marriage.

Christian churches have embraced homosexuality and told God to “get out” – so he did.

In July 2005, the United Churches of Christ became the first major Christian body and Christian denomination in the United States to vote to adopt a resolution affirming homosexuality is compatible to Christian living. The resolution also allowed for same-sex marriage ceremonies. In 2009, both the General Convention of the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America pass resolutions supporting homosexuality. The Episcopal Church allowed for gay marriages to be blessed and the Lutheran Church began allowing homosexual pastors.

On March 24, 2012, the U.S. division of World Vision, one of the largest Christian charities in the U.S. modified its employment eligibility to allow homosexuals. 

Of course these are all a few of the rocks along the path that has led to our destruction.

What’s left?

The only thing that can be left as a result of kicking God out is a culture of death. In 2017 alone, the Centers for Disease Control  said more than “seven people per hour die a violent death. More than 19,500 people were victims of homicide and over 47,000 people died by suicide.”

In addition, according to the Pew Research Center, “both Protestantism and Catholicism” are experiencing losses of population share. Currently, 43 % of U.S. adults identify with Protestantism, down from 51% in 2009. One-in-five adults (20%) are Catholic, down from 23% in 2009. Meanwhile, all subsets of the religiously unaffiliated population- a group also known as religious ‘nones’ – have seen their numbers swell. Self described atheist now account for 4% of U.S. adults, up modestly but significantly from 2% in 2009; agnostics make up 5% of U.S. adults, up from 3% a decade ago; and 17% of Americans now describe their religion as ‘nothing in particular’.

Now, there is COVID-19, resulting in canceled graduations, rescheduled weddings, closed schools, locked churches, and the economy bleeding. Perhaps, just perhaps, this is what we asked for. After all, we told God to “get out” and he did.