We have a saying, Justice delayed is justice denied. For good to reign, justice must punish evil. Evil will rise up and brag of itself if not leveled consistently. Let us remind ourselves of what by inspiration, the wise man once said in Eccl 8:11, Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. We witness much evil in our time that goes unpunished but there is another aspect of this subject we want to look at.
The book entitled From Dawn to Decadence; 500 Years of Western Cultural Life by Jacques Barzun gives a quote that expresses a succinctness rarely said aloud in our time. In this excellent book about the societal and cultural changes wrought in Europe during this pivotal time from the Dark Ages to the so-called Modern Age of our collective history the writer makes many timely observations that bear our reasoned consideration with the current status of America. By this we mean the state of lawlessness and of disrespect for authority so prevalent around us.
In talking about the accusing and prosecution of witches in the late Middle Ages, the author says: Some must have been insane, others subject to hysteria, and still others sought the egotistical satisfaction that criminals enjoy of being conspicuous and of having done evil (page 213). In this curious, though tragic period of history, many people, chiefly women, were burned to death and in other ways also put to death, because of being accused of witchcraft. Now, I place no efficacy to witchcraft, it being a powerless superstition as old as idolatry itself. There has always been a portion of virtually every population who believe that witchcraft is real and these act accordingly. The nature of witchcraft attracts not just the serious but just as Mr. Barzun has mentioned, it also attracts those who are either insane or just those easily swept up in hysterical matters. However, for our consideration at this time, I would like for us to focus on the last category he brings up: The criminal characters who belong on the fringes of society. When Mr. Barzun says, still others sought the egotistical satisfaction that criminals enjoy of being conspicuous and of having done evil he has truly stated the mindset and purpose of those who wish to do evil. We only have to think of outrageous characters we see in the news programs on TV to realize this.
We see the now infamous O. J. Simpson laughing and mugging for the cameras recently for his shenanigans of allegedly ransacking his ex-live-in girlfriends townhouse for a second time after only recently running a motorist off the road in a fit of road rage. For these offenses he is not embarrassed nor is any apparent punishment going to come his way. Even though he was acquitted for the murders of Nicole Simpson and Ron Brown in the criminal trial, O.J. lost the civil suit against him, which found him essentially guilty of the murders. His case proved that great piles of money allow a person in our country to actually get away with murder. His silly behavior, signing autographs for his simple-minded admirers everywhere he goes, grinning like a lunatic all the time, shows his own arrogance with having committed crimes and getting away with all this in full view of the world. Imagine being someone so special that rules are for everyone else but you!
At the height of our government we also see our ex-president, who had a scandal-ridden eight years in office, capping it off by apparently selling presidential pardons to shady characters and other criminals and enacting them in the last couple hours of his tenure and into the new presidents inauguration day. The legion of verbal obfuscations over his plethora of corrupt messes obviously shows his inability to ever tell the truth. His sexual dalliance with an amoral twenty-year old volunteer worker in the Oval Office (which in a number of places is considered statutory rape), and lying about that, too, was enough to sicken the nation and make all wish we had seen the last of him when his presidency was complete. But now, we are forced to see him daily on TV, laughing not with us, but at us, living the high life, on literally, no telling how many millions of dollars he has illegally obtained. We thought he was seeking a legacy worth remembering with his library in Little Rock but now realize that our nation was merely being fleeced by a master con man. That will, in fact, be his legacy as he continues to laugh off the mounting charges. Fumigation of the White House will not do; it will take several honest consecutive presidential administrations to finally rise above the ill repute and dishonor of this man.
Recently the Grammy Awards gave the rap star Eminem a Grammy, an incredibly foul mouthed performer, and gave him a standing ovation as he, without a smile of appreciation, grimly gave the entire audience and the TV-viewing public the insult of a two handed, one finger salute raised high over his head. His lyrics have included the worst descriptions of murder, rape, and all kinds of hate-based subjects. His evil in my mind is not the remarkable thing, however. There have always been hooligans of his type who badly need to be hanged. But why would the celebrities of Hollywood and the rest of the entertainment elite assembled at the Grammy Awards tolerate his insults to them and cheer even louder when he should have been booed out of the auditorium and out of the business? There can be no doubt that this is because they ascribe to the exact mindset his music describes. We can only conclude then, that they too, are morally debased, essentially very evil, and desirous of bringing down law and order and the most basic of decencies for which our country was once celebrated.
For that matter, why do homosexuals want to have gay marriage recognized as legitimate? Why do these want society at large to recognize them as worthy of respect? Why do they have a national organization promoting the homosexual lifestyle called A.C.T.U.P. which stages gay pride parades in major cities to flaunt their perverseness and then they file lawsuits on every level with their allies, the American Civil Liberties Union, with their main goal to simply get their agenda in our face? Considering how vile the practices of homosexuality are, normal-thinking folks naturally conclude that these topics are so aberrant and gross as to only be clinically described out of earshot of innocent children and expectant mothers. Why do they want to flaunt their evil in the public eye as they do with their flamboyant behavior?
This point is absolutely clear: These seek the egotistical satisfaction that criminals enjoy of being conspicuous and of having done evil. These people know they have done wrong and committed sin and are enjoying every minute of it. Can we believe that we apparently live in a time so supportive of such as these? The passage in Isaiah reminds us that the Lord has seen this before: 59:3-4, For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. There is a desire in the minds of those who hate Gods word to disrespect and pervert it and they get a cheap thrill when they do it. Isa 5:20, Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Heb 10:31, It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.