Back in 1964, educator Herbert W. Armstrong began decrying the rise of a “new morality” in America. It was a movement “throwing off the restraints … against prudery, repression and ignorance,” he wrote in a booklet titled God Speaks Out on ‘The New Morality.’ In many ways, this more recent development magnifies that movement by adding secular sanctimony. Wherever we turn, we are hearing lectures from today’s Moral pharisees.
The Author of biblical morality has strong words for those who establish their own Moral standards.
Through the Prophet Isaiah He says, “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! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!” (Isaiah 5:20-21).
This is a prophecy for the end-time nations of Israel, and the New Morality in America today fulfills it perfectly. All around we see the inversion of the Bible’s definitions of good and evil. Everywhere we see people justifying the wicked and condemning the just—a practice God labels an abomination (Proverbs 17:15). We see people filled with self-righteous indignation. God says woe will come on the nation so wholehearted in adhering to a perverse Moral standard.
“And judgement is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey …” (Isaiah 59:14-15). The margin of the King James Version says he that departs from evil “is accounted mad.” Yes, if you want to depart from evil, to live by biblical standards and distance yourself from immorality, expect to be branded and condemned.
In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul warned against those who, like the New Moralizers, “being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God” (Romans 10:3).
This is really what is happening in this most recent Great Moral Awakening: People are working to establish their own righteousness, and are failing to submit themselves to the righteousness of God—who is the one and only true Lawgiver, who alone determines right from wrong. The more zealous and fanatical they become in this irreligious pursuit, the more unhinged this New Morality will become, and the more society will suffer under its influence.
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