LACK OF GODLY
INFLUENCE
INTRODUCTION
Lack of godly influence is a spinoff to the unrighteousness which is detrimental to any nation or people who previously lived in allegiance to Almighty God; allowing that allegiance to grow cold as they increasingly adapt themselves to the secular ways of the world!
It is unfortunate that they are no longer under the umbrella of protection and blessings once enjoyed under such allegiance! It is unfortunate that ungodly traits previously rejected have now become acceptable.
Lack of Godly Influence
Disassociation with God
The Psalmist wrote: The Lord brings the counsel of the heathen (ungodly) to nought; he makes the devices (plans) of the people to no effect (Psalm 33:10). From the place of his habitation he looks upon all the inhabitants of the earth (Psalm 33:13). The eye of the Lord is upon them that fear (reverence) him, upon them that hope in his mercy (Psalm 33:18).
An example is given that God knows all: The word of the Lord came unto Jonah, a prophet of God, saying, arise, go to Nineveh that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness is come up before me (Jonah 1:1-2)! What makes any nation (people) feel they are no longer accountable to God?
Removal of Godly
Leadership
God seeks the positive response of the city of Nineveh, as any nation (people) having fallen out of genuine fellowship with Him. God told the Prophet Jonah, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it, the preaching (message) that I bid (tell) you (Jonah 3:2). As Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried out, and said, yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown (destroyed). The people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth (a sign of repentance), from the greatest of them even to the least of them (Jonah 3:4-5).
There was no longer a lack of godly influence as repentance was from the greatest to the least of the people! When godly leadership is taken from a people; without that influence ungodliness takes root and prospers bringing the need for Nineveh type repentance. Scripture reveals: God saw their works that they had turned from their evil way; and God repented (relented) of the evil, that he said that he would do to them, and he did it not (Jonah 3:10).
It was noted that God did not change in His ultimate intention toward the Ninevites; rather, they changed in their attitude toward Him. On the basis of that change God could deal with them in grace, rather than in judgment as their failure to repent would have necessitated!
Sounding the Alarm
There are some sounding the alarm; utilizing the word of God that was spoken to King Solomon in reference to the people of Israel: If my people, which are called by may name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:14).
It was noted that while this promise was originally given to Solomon regarding the people of Israel, it is applicable to all who will call on the Lord in repentance and faith! Along with this promise came a warning: But if you turn away, and forget my statutes, and my commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them; then will I pluck you up out of my land which I have given you; and this house (temple) which I have sanctified (set apart) for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all nations (2 Chronicles 7:19:20).
No Fear of God
Previous God fearing nations having a lack of godly influence are walking a fine line as to God’s mercy or judgment! It was noted that where there is no fear of God, no reverence for God, every evil can and will abound. The idea that we humans will be good without God is a deceptive fallacy. When people are devoid of the knowledge and wisdom that come from believing God and having reverence for Him, they become morally corrupt, exceedingly evil, violent and destructive.
When God is taken out of the affairs of man; implementing desired ways and means, it no longer functions under the peaceful setting of the past. The rule of ungodly influences reigns without mitigation or end. Those seeking to right the wrongs are as little David fighting the giant Goliath who would not have been victorious had it not been for the hand of God delivering him and keeping the Israelites from being enslaved to the Philistines.
Dominance of Ungodliness
We are witnessing the dominance of ungodliness that caused the fall of Sodom and Gomorrah! Apostle Peter noted: God turned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned with an overthrow (destruction), making them an example to those that afterward should life ungodly (2 Peter 2:6). Homosexuality was the primary reason for those cities destruction; which is flourishing again in many nations, having failed to heed the warning extended in God’s Word!
Apostle Paul noted the depravity of such
activity: God gave them up unto vile affections; for even their women did
change (exchange) the natural use into that which is against nature; likewise
the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward
another; men with men working that which is unseemly (shameful), and receiving
in themselves that recompense (penalty) of their error which was meet (fitting)
(Romans 1:26-27).
Youth of Today
Lack of godly influence has eroded the youth of today not having the sound parental influence of the past; one report revealed that only 25% of biblical sound marriages exist today! Schools, in many cases, have become the teaching ground of immoral agenda rather than the traditional and sound educational practices of yesteryear. Scripture reveals: Train up a child in the way he should go; and (even) when he is old, he will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6).
We live in what is called by many "the age of
information." It was noted that we are
bombarded with words, via computer-based devices, television movies, and radio,
but have we heard the word from the Lord?
By far, more than we need to hear any other word, we need to hear the
Word of God and allow His Word to give direction to our lives. Even our churches are suffering from lack of
the Unadulterated (Pure) Word of God being promulgated. Some churches are in the tolerance and
acceptability mode due to lack of godly influence that once existed!
Secular Society of Today
In the days of Prophet Daniel it was noted of the influences brought to bear on the Jewish exiles (Daniel 1:3-5), with none being as dreaded as the attempt to make the people to forget God and their heritage! This is still the worse threat to God's people today. In the increasingly secular societies of the Western world, the assumption of the secularists is, there is no God. Had there not been a lack of godly influence surfacing and being dominate such thinking would not have materialized!
A legendary evangelist of the First Great Awakening, Charles G. Finney, noted that preaching will bear its legitimate fruits. If immorality prevails in the land, the fault is ours to a great degree. If there is a decay of conscience, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the church is degenerate and worldly, the pulpit is responsible for it.
If Satan rules in our halls of Justice, the pulpit is responsible for it. If our politics become so corrupt that the very foundations of our government are ready to fall away, the pulpit is responsible for it. Let us not ignore this fact; but let us lay it to heart, and awake to our responsibility in respect to the morals of this nation.
Influence and Dominance
There is an influence, and dominance, rising from such names as Socialism and Marxism, Critical Race Theory (CRT), the Great Reset Plan, instituted by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Diversity, Equity), and Inclusion (DEI) Transformation; to name but a few, that would upset the normality of life. Included in the spin-off of evil is a drive to maintain legalized abortion, homosexuality, same sex marriage, and transgenderism as a way of life, though condemned in God’s Word!
Goals include: Discredit family as an institution; control of the schools to use as tools for promoting ungodly agenda; eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them violation of free speech and free press; break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography in books, magazines, motion pictures, and TV; infiltrate the press, gain control of key positions in government, radio, TV, and motion pictures; infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with social religion. Lack of godly instruction has allowed the infiltration and takeover of these anti-democracy venues!
Righteous Man Ridiculed
The Prophet Amos revealed there will be a time that the fruit of righteousness will be turned into hemlock (Amos 6:12). It is interesting to note that the word hemlock refers to a plant that poison is derived from. Poison infects or pollutes the body until injury, illness, or death results. It can be of a harmful influence such as will ruin, taint, inhibit, or embitter. \
When this
influence creeps into a church, oftentimes unawares, it creates a powerless
church. A dream captivated this thought in which the righteous man was
ridiculed, of whose influence no longer had any effect (lack of godly influence). A church of pomp, splendor, where true worship was taboo and sin no
longer identified. Lives were without change or with little endurance if change
occurred.
Context of Judgment
It was noted that when people conduct their lives as though there is no God, who knows and judges every person, evil can abound! The most dangerous society is one in which people have no sense of accountability to God, and no fear of God. People need to read the Bible and hear the Gospel, to be informed that God judges and saves; truly believing this is life transforming!
A man of God was asked: If given an hour to explain the Gospel to someone, how would he do so? He said he would spend the first fifty minutes on the bad news of judgment and then the last ten minutes on the good news of salvation, because without the context of judgment one would not appreciate or even understand salvation.
Many today are leaving out the context of judgment and simply bringing forth the niceties of God’s Word that requires little or no change in one’s current lifestyle! Nothing could be further for the truth as it bears out that lack of godly influence with permissiveness and tolerance being allowed will damage the soul of man; rather than godly reproof being the norm of the day!
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