by Pat Nordman

Our modern prophets tell us that we no longer listen to the voice of our Lord; we do not appreciate the correction we would experience if we bothered to listen to God's word.

Let us then read and consider the evolution of former great civilizations:

    1. From bondage to spiritual faith;
    2. From spiritual faith to great courage;
    3. From courage to liberty;
    4. From liberty to abundance;
    5. From abundance to selfishness;
    6. From selfishness to complacency;
    7. From complacency to apathy;
    8. From apathy to dependency;
    9. From dependency right back to the bondage where it all started.

We have taken the liberty of taking God's liberty and making light and license of it. We refuse to be reformed and reclaimed, for then we would have to admit that we are not our own, but God's, and our intellectual pride forbids that. We have journeyed rather quickly from bondage to bondage. Somewhere in between we lost our bearings. The day must come when even God Himself will no longer be able to forbear us.

"But God's anger is revealed from heaven against all the impiety and wickedness of those who hinder the Truth by their wickedness. For whatever is to be known of God is plain to them; God himself has made it plain -- for ever since the world was created, his invisible nature, his everlasting power and divine being, have been quite perceptible in what he has made. So they have no excuse. Though they knew God, they have not glorified him as God nor given thanks to him; they have turned to futile speculations till their ignorant minds grew dark. They claimed to be wise, but they have become fools; they have exchanged the glory of the immortal God for the semblance of the likeness of mortal man .... " Romans 1:18-23 Moffatt.