THE TOTAL ABERRATION and HOW TO ESCAPE IT
© 2021 by Philip A Matthews
2 Peter 2:7 – “Lot lived right and was greatly troubled by the terrible way those wicked people were living. He was a good man, and day after day he suffered because of the evil things he saw and heard. So the Lord rescued him.”
Isaiah 5:20 - “Doom to you who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness in place of light and light in place of darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”
OUR GENERAL DILEMMA
So, the world today is all out of whack, though it doesn’t seem to know it, and almost NOTHING is going according to the way Jehovah God had in Mind when He created it, established His design for Human Life, and left us instructions on how to live here (because He has ALWAYS spoken to humanity in some fashion, but we have refused to listen & obey). Each successive generation has grown farther & farther away from His design & purpose until hardly any of us knows even remotely what it is. In fact, most of the world no longer believes in Him, in His demands upon us for accountability (i.e., we ALL must someday answer to Him), in His orderly plan for our lives, in the rewards & benefits that come from following Him, etc. He is, in general, forgotten. We have come to a time increasingly similar to Noah’s, when it was said, “All humanity had corrupted their way upon the earth and lost their true direction” (Genesis 6:12). And Jesus warned that “When the Son of Man comes, things will be just as they were when Noah lived” (Luke 17:26).
Unfortunately, most of us are trying to go about the usual business of living as if everything is normal, when, as I said, the whole world, from a godly perspective, is greatly out of whack.
This whole age is perverse to God, a “Total Aberration” (TA).
ABERRATION: “A departure from what is normal, usual, or expected, typically one that is unwelcome.”
We have forsaken morality, and now confusingly claim, as Isaiah warned, “good” is “evil,” “right” is “wrong,” “bad is good,” and “light” is darkness.” We have removed all the rules but still expect, for some inane reason, for people to act “right,” when we can no longer define what acting “right” even means! We don’t understand that the corruption & lack of character we see in our leaders, businessmen, law officers, systems, institutions, common citizen, and society as a whole is because we have disconnected ourselves from God’s high moral standards to drift in the moral morass of “anything goes; just do whatever you can get away with, whatever brings you some kind of gain.” The majority of our “rulers” are corrupted, untrustworthy people driven by selfishness, money, power, and ulterior desires. Society once had “taboos,” but those are now things of the past. Everything is out of the closet, and now resides in “high places.”
Because of our immorality, we have desensitized our consciences and developed a generation that does not respect life, doing little to stop child abuse & exploitation, euthanasia, abortion (in India, 98% of aborted fetuses are female!), sex trafficking, modern-day slavery, racism, perpetual war & killing all over the world, ongoing genocides, police brutality, gang bloodshed, rape porn, and other practices that devalue life & people. In the end, half the world or more is traumatized, suffering from PTSD, ACEs, increased mental illness, depression, alcoholism & substance abuse, drug overdoses, epidemic suicides, identity disorders, broken relationships, and other symptoms of deep-seated trauma. This is the “new” normal.
ADDITIONAL SOCIAL & PHYSICAL FACTORS
In addition to the above psychological and emotional factors, many other changes in our world are wreaking havoc upon our lives. Just one example: The sperm count of the average male has greatly diminished over the last few decades. “Sperm counts among men in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand declined more than 59% from 1973 to 2011, according to a meta-analysis Shanna Swan co-wrote in 2017. At the current rate, half of men in those countries would have no sperm by 2045, while many others would have very low counts…” (See here).
Our world has been “estrogenized” by endocrine-disrupting, hormonal-altering chemicals in our food, air, water, and other substances & materials we come in contact with. “Worldwide fertility dropped by 50% from 1960 to 2015, Swan writes. Fertility is dropping across age groups, Swan writes. Not only are sperm counts in men gradually declining, but boys are also seeing higher rates of genital abnormalities. Among women, the risk of miscarriage has been rising across all ages.” Who knows, but these aberrational physical conditions might be fueling what appears to be a pronounced increase in homosexuality and gender identity confusion. That happens in Nature in polluted rivers & lakes. Male fish turn into females. In addition to the above physical factors, many changes in our social world have been added to the mix. Through greed we have built an economic pressure cooker, making it very difficult to afford life without crazy financial adjustments. Almost all mothers MUST work, even though most would like to be with their kids. We create social tension & pressure through the demands of political correctness. And so forth.
The worse problem of all is that in the Total Aberration, “normal” is redefined, including what is “normal” Christianity. The ONLY way for a TA to happen in the first place is that “good men have done nothing,” and this failure has been happening for decades now. That is, millions of Christians have been gradually changing their morality as the morality of the surrounding society has been changing. “They will go on pretending to be devoted to God, but they will refuse to let that ‘devotion’ change the way they live” (2 Timothy 3:5). This is what happened in Noah’s day: the righteous “sons of God” started mixing & mingling with the carnal “daughters of men,” so that the way of God was lost on the earth, and “the thoughts & imagination of men’s hearts became only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5).
Examples: 35% of “Christians” have been divorced, most after they became Christians. 50% of Christian men and 20 percent of Christian women say they are addicted to pornography. Only 32% (1/3rd) of adults who were “born again” said they believe in moral absolutes. Only 18.7% of Americans regularly attend church. Over half (54%) of all Christians now say homosexuality should be morally accepted. Etc., etc., etc. I have articles for all of these stats, so I’m not talking off the top of my head.
HOW THIS AFFECTS LIFE TODAY
Despite this Total Aberration, people are still trying to do what people normally do, but the fact is, nothing & nobody is normal anymore. Try getting married in the above situation. Men are not men and women are not women like they used to be. So, great relationships, if you can find one, are much more difficult. Millions of women can no longer find a “good, marriageable” man. We have now raised several generations of boys to “men” without fathers or role models of what a real man is. They have NO idea. So, because men today have absolutely no idea why they exist or what their purpose or calling is, they never “launch” and become “men” but remain “boys” forever, even in their 30s & 40s! Our society is literally flooded with such “men.” According to the Marriage Foundation, almost one-half of them will never marry, and when they do, they are usually in their 30s. Meanwhile, the girl’s biological clock just keeps ticking. This greatly affects our birthrate.
We have also raised several selfish “Me” generations, where self-centeredness & narcissism are entrenched. One CNN report said narcissism “infects 2 out of 3 people!” Most people are simply in love with themselves, and they really have NO idea of how to truly love someone else. We have raised them in a generation which no longer was taken to Sunday School, where the idea of God & religion once resided in a majority of the population. The idea of sacrificing yourself for the happiness or well-being of another person is anathema today—increasingly rare & hardly expected. But self-sacrifice is the lifeblood of a relationship like marriage.
In the TA nothing is normal. Everything is deviant. When people say their marriage vows, they have NO idea what they are really saying. They have absolutely NO innate ability to fulfill their vows because they are really living under the influence of their old wounds, emotional baggage, & other self-driven personality traits. You don't really KNOW the person you are marrying! Sometimes I wonder if we should really call it “marriage;” did God really put such marriages together? In the TA, how will ANYBODY keep their vows? Just a very small percentage. With all the free sex around, an extensive study published in AARP magazine found that 46 percent of men reported cheating on their partners in the past, compared to 21 percent of women. Over 40% of all marriages are affected by infidelity. And only 16% of those marriages survive. But none of these stats include the high incidence of emotional affairs; the frequent fantasies about someone other than their spouse (98% for men & 80% for women); the increased use of pornography by everyone [67% (men) & 33% (women) watch monthly, 47% of families in the United States reported that pornography is a problem in their home], etc.
This is the world we live in. Try raising kids in this Total Aberration. It is immensely difficult, especially if you are trying to raise them to be morally upright and understanding of God’s plan for life. Unfortunately, some young generations, like Lot’s children, have known nothing else. This is how they themselves are and everybody they know. Lot’s kids thought his warning of impending doom was a fairy tale dreamed up by an old man. E.g., some young believers don’t realize that it’s not okay for Christians to cuss, they hear so much corrupt language all around them: “But now put away and rid yourselves [completely] of all these things: anger, rage, bad feeling toward others, curses and slander, and foulmouthed abuse and shameful utterances from your lips!” (Colossians 3:8).
Some young Christians don’t seem to know that it’s wrong for a couple to have sex or to live together before marriage. Google it and you will see links like “Why Living Together Before Marriage Is Bad” or “Why Cohabiting Is Bad For Some.” Very little about why it is WRONG, because a majority (75%), including many “Christians,” have accepted it as okay. But God’s Word says in Genesis 2:24 that male & female become “one flesh” (sex) only in marriage (as husband & wife); in 1 Corinthians 7:2, “But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband;” in 1 Corinthians 6:18, “Flee from fornication (sexual immorality). Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body;” and in Hebrews 13:4, “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral (fornicators) and adulterous.”
Under TA conditions, does it make sense to expect ANY “normal” human activity to work according to God’s intentions? It is as C. S. Lewis once wrote, in The Abolition of Man, “We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid geldings to be fruitful.” How foolish!
“HOW SHALL YOU ESCAPE?”
- Keith Green sang, “Come away, come away with Me, My love!” (Asleep in the Light). The only thing that will save us in the TA is to live very close to God, to cultivate that close relationship. “Noah walked [in habitual fellowship] with God” (Genesis 6:9 AMP). A MUTUAL, LOVE-BASED relationship where we hear His voice and receive His Spirit’s revelations. And a person cannot be in “fellowship” with God while he is not obeying the Word of God: “If we say that we have fellowship with him, but we live & move & walk in darkness, we lie, and do not live & practice the truth” (1 John 1:7).
- Avoid too much exposure to the corruption in the world, as Jesus did, stealing away to refresh Himself and telling His disciples to do the same. Paul warned, “Do not be so deceived and misled! Evil companionships (communion, associations) corrupt and deprave good manners and morals and character” (1 Corinthians 15:33). You cannot be a recovering alcoholic and live in the liquor store, or a recovering drug addict & live in the dope house. Neither can you be a recovering “sin addict” and constantly surround yourself with sinful people, places, & activities.
- KNOW THE WORD OF GOD. GO BACK TO THE ORIGINAL STANDARD that describes how things started out and were supposed continue. Other Christians are NOT the standard God requires, so don’t compare yourself to them. That “is not wise” (2 Corinthians 10:12). Scriptures:
- Psalm 119:15-16 I will study your commandments and reflect on your ways. I will delight in your decrees and not forget your word.
- Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul and spirit, joints and marrow, as it judges the thoughts and purposes of the heart.
- Ephesians 6:17 Also take salvation as your helmet and the Word of God as the sword that the Spirit supplies.
- 2 Timothy 3:16-17 Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work.
- Matthew 4:4 But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'”
- Psalm 119:11 Thy Word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
- Psalm 119:105 NUN. Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
- 2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent (study) to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.
- Get involved with the Great Commission. Only 17% of Christians even know what it’s all about and are trying to obey it! That’s “pure religion:” “Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world” (James 1:27). Obeying Jesus keeps you spiritually healthy. And, churches today should almost ASSUME that, in a world as broken & traumatic as this, ALL new believers will automatically need some kind of deliverance, inner healing, or miraculous rescue from Satanic oppression, imposition, or even possession. These widespread, routine traumas are gateways for the devil (yes, he truly exists) to plague a person’s life.
- “KEEP YOURSELVES IN THE LOVE OF GOD” (Jude 21). Jesus warned, in describing the end times, “There will so much more evil in the world that the love of MOST believers will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12 ERV/GW)!!!!!!! We see this happening now! We must CHECK our LOVE often,
- To see if we are still being DRIVEN by LOVE and not by DUTY, ROUTINE, RULES, REPUTATION, ETC., and
- To see if our LOVE for God & others compares to His agape. The number one objection to Christianity today is that it is “hypocritical, doesn’t practice what it preaches, hates both the sin AND the sinner!”, etc. Even the Communist Chinese reject our condemnation of their blatant human rights violations (e.g., using organs from their living Muslim minorities for organ transplants!) by pointing out our “Christian” nation’s own hypocritical racism against blacks, Asians, etal.! This is MOST IMPORTANT! WITHOUT GOD’S AGAPE LOVE, YOU WILL NEVER MAKE IT THROUGH THE TOTAL ABERRATION!!
God Bless us all!