Isaiah 47:10 —For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me.

Sometimes I think I’m turning into a “doom-and-gloom” person when it comes to our nation and the world in general.  I never used to be this way.

When I got saved in 1973, the times and the world were much different.  Things were on the horizon, but we kind of figured they were still far off in the distant future.  But two things changed that mindset for me.

One was Roe V. Wade.  That was a game changer for our nation.  That sealed our doom.  God cannot, God will not, overlook that sin just because we still use our national cliches to honor God.  “In God We Trust” is just not true nationally anymore.

The other was when I heard Lester Roloff preach back around 1976.  He said, way back then, that homosexuality would be the end-time sin that would bring America down.  Truthfully, I thought Lester had greatly missed the mark.  I was almost embarrassed to hear him say that.  Homosexuality, and all that goes with it, just wasn’t a major problem then like it is now.

So with these two issues defining our nation’s mindset, I don’t see any hope for us.  But you ask:  “Can’t God bring revival?”  Yes, He can.  However (I’m no prophet nor the son of a prophet) it’s not going to happen.  I hope I’m wrong.  I want to be wrong.  But based upon how God, in the Bible, dealt with nations in the past, I don’t see a different outcome for us.

Take the focus on Babylon in Isaiah 47.  There isn’t much difference between them and our nation when it comes to moral decadence and spiritual pollution.  And a by-product of all that was a headlong plunge into the Occult world.  

What about our nation? 

Just look around you today.  The Occult is everywhere.  Everyday I pass a psychic place of business offering to do Tarot readings for me.  In Isaiah 47 Babylon is condemned for that.  Are we any different?  I don’t think so.  Sin is out in the open and more blatant than ever before.  

How did our nation get to this point?  

I think our verse sheds some light on this for us.  Our “wisdom” and “knowledge” have perverted us.  We think we’re smarter than God.  We really don’t think we need God or His Word to guide and direct us as we once did.  I never once imagined that God would be as far removed from the core of our nation’s life as He is now.


But sadly, this generation of young people, lost and saved, have no clue.  They don’t have the ability or desire to telescope back into our history and see how far askew we are from the truths of the Bible.  God’s people, let alone the world, don’t immerse themselves personally in the Scriptures.  And when that isn’t done, the mind and thinking gradually conform to the prevalent societal  mindset of the moment.  The mindset becomes more in tune with the “wisdom” and “knowledge” of the world rather than with the Word of God.  This is true for the world and the Christian alike.

As an example of how we, as God’s people, think so differently than previous generations, let me give you a note on this verse I came across.  It’s from John Gill’s commentary (1697-1771).  By the way, he was one of Spurgeon’s favorite commentators.

Here’s the note on verse 10 —
“ ‘Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee.’  Her (Babylon’s) opinion of her own wisdom and knowledge in political affairs, or in magic arts, deceived her, and turned her from right to wrong ways, which issued in her ruin.  This rightly describes the Jesuits, and other emissaries of the church of Rome, who trust in their wickedness, their craft and cunning, which none can penetrate into;  but there is an all seeing eye upon them, which discovers their intrigues, blasts their designs, and brings them into confusion.”

When I started reading that note I had no idea it was going to take the turn it did concerning the Jesuits and the church of Rome.  It took me back.  What a mindset he (and they of his generation) had.  We, God’s people, don’t think like this any longer.  As a matter of fact, our churches are lining up in fellowship with the church of Rome.  Nothing like what Gill said ever comes from our pulpits.  And Gill was the norm not the exception.

You would think that with all the Bible knowledge tools and teaching ministries available to us we would have become wiser rather than dumber.  But, we’re not much different than the world when it comes to the effect of our own “wisdom” and “knowledge.”  It has perverted us from the truth of God’s word into something that would be unrecognizable to John Gill or Spurgeon.

Brothers and sisters it’s time to refuse to be at ease in our own little Zions.  We’re slowly boiling to death in the proverbial pot of our own Biblical ignorance and indifference.  We’re being lulled to sleep by teachers and ministries that have a form of godliness but in reality are denying the power thereof.  We’re exchanging the birthright for a mess of pottage.  We are yielding to the “popes” of our favorite teachers and ministries rather than searching the Scriptures for ourselves to see if what is taught is true. 

I truly don’t think there’s going to be a turn-around for our nation.  But we do have the ability, through God’s Word and the Holy Spirit, to still snatch some as brands plucked from the fires of Hell.  

We are whatever hope is left.  It must start with us.

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”  Romans 12:1-2