In the first 17 verses of Romans chapter 1 the Apostle Paul explains what the gospel of Jesus Christ is, about whom whom it was written, to whom he preached it and the effect it had on those who believed and obeyed it.  But as is always the case with God’s chosen messengers, Paul  then made clear God’s reaction to those who rejected it.  Let us now look at the dark side of the Holy Scriptures–the effects of not obeying God’s Word/Truth.  Paul does this by referring back to the Lord’s dealings with the New Testament Church’s ancient spiritual ancestors–the children of Israel.  One need only study that history to see how it perfectly meshes with the first chapter of Paul’s letter to the church at Rome.  The first 17 verses speak of the Lord’s blessings for those who walked in the light of His Word.  Let us pick up the narrative with verse 18 where Paul delves into the dark side of Scripture.

Through Paul, the prophets and the other apostles, the Lord warns the New Testament Church that He would pour out His wrath on “all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the Truth (God’s Word–Jn. 17:17) in unrighteousness” (vs 18).  Ancient Israel “held” God’s Truth which He first gave to her through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, whom He renamed Israel.  These men are called “the fathers” Scripturally.  Later, Moses would formally present God’s Truth to their descendants in the form of the Ten Commandments–the miniaturized version of the entire Bible which God calls the “Law.”

In verses 19 and 20 Paul notes that the Israelites had no excuse for their rejection of God’s Word.  He explains that even the things of nature, which cannot be explained through intellectual means, proves His existence.  If He exists, then He must be obeyed.  Darwinian Evolutionists claim that God does not exist, and therefore one need only obey oneself.  The irony presented by Darwin’s theory (“educated guess”) of evolution is that it refutes the very science it claims can explain everything.  One of the “irrefutable truths” put forth by the scientific community is that something cannot be made out of nothing, that there must always be a “first cause.”  Question: if man is the product of a one-celled amoeba, as we are told, and something cannot come from nothing, as we are told, then from whence came the amoeba from which man supposedly evolved?  And why aren’t amoebas continuing to evolve into human beings today?

Verses 21 and 22 reveal that the Israelites at one time “knew God.”  But instead of glorifying Him as God and thanking Him for what He had done for them (freedom from slavery, etc.) they turned inward and strove to please, and therefore glorify, themselves.  Reveling in their own wisdom, they “became fools and walked in darkness (sin).”  Verse 23 reveals that they sunk into idolatry by worshiping animals, heavenly bodies, carved man-shaped gods, snakes, fire, etc.  In Psalm 106:19,20 David writes about their worshiping the golden calf Aaron made at Mt. Sinai.  Israel’s false gods and religions came from the heathen world, including the bull calf.  Bull calves were worshiped by the Egyptians.

The all-knowing God had commanded Israel to have nothing to do with Gentiles (goiim–heathen).  He knew that Israel would mix with them, embrace their “leaven” and end up worshiping and serving their gods and joining in their religious practices.  Which was exactly what happened.  Even wise Solomon got caught up in the Gentile religions of his heathen wives.  In that the nation followed its leader, the entire Israelite nation became idolatrous (leavened).  Only a tiny remnant stayed true to the Lord.  God has always had a remnant who refuse to go along with the masses.  Today they number only a few thousand world-wide.

In verses 24-27 Paul describes the curses God poured out on Israel after she rebelled against Him.  Note that He “gave them up” (vss 24,26) to homosexuality.  That expression reveals that He tried to keep them in His embrace, but they refused to obey Him.  In verse 25 Paul describes what caused the Lord to “give them up” to that vile passion: Israel “changed the Truth of God (His Word) into a lie and worshiped and served the creature (created entity) more than the Creator.”  It was “for this cause” that He “gave them up to vile affections” which aptly describes the vile practices of homosexuals who lust after those of their own sex.  Notice how many churches today embrace homosexuals and excuse their practices.  The spiritual fruit does not fall far from the spiritual tree.  God describes the modern day church in verses 29-31, stating that because they refused to retain God in their minds, “God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things that were unholy.  Paul compiled an incomplete list Israel’s many sins the Lord “gave them up to” because they rejected Him.  See the Introduction page to this website for a list of modern day sins and false teachings the church claims God commands her to embrace.

Verse 32 is especially condemning of those who refuse to retain God in their hearts (minds) and choose to follow Satan.  Paul points out that the Israelites, “knowing the judgment of God,” took pride in doing the very things He condemned.  By using the words “such things,” Paul is telling us that no sin will go unpunished, no matter how unimportant it might appear to be.  In the final sentence of verse 32 he speaks to and about the modern day church, stating that the Israelites not only committed the sins listed in verses 21-31, but “took pleasure” in those who emulated them.  Sin loves company.  Sin begets sin, not only in the sinner, but in those who follow his/her lead.  Woe unto those who lead people into the modern day church.

My commission from the Lord is to warn church people about the deadly problem Paul writes about in verse 32.  These so-called “soul winners” have the Word of God at their fingertips.  Because they refuse to believe and obey it and lead others to do the same, they do irreparable harm to those whom they supposedly “lead to the Lord.”  And because their unwitting victims are instructed to study only those Scriptures that seem to confirm church doctrine (“headlines”) and to ignore God’s all-important “fine print,” they are “ever learning but never coming to the knowledge of the Truth” (2 Tim. 3:7).  These Biblically ignorant souls are immersed in Catholic and Protestant doctrine while being led away from God’s Truth.  Assuming that what they are being taught is of God and that nothing more need be learned, the victims are inoculated against His Truth.  They are brain-washed by Satan who has “blinded the eyes of those who do not believe” ( 2 Cor. 4:4).  Therefore they never learn that God’s Word contradicts and condemns what they “know” to be His “truth.”  This is the sad and deadly outcome when deceived, unconverted preachers and laity lead someone “to the Lord” in today’s world.  Those who lead others into Satan’s religious web “take pleasure” in them that have followed them into it.  It is for this reason that Paul tells us to “come out of her (the Institutional Church) and remain separate” from her.  He tells us to have nothing to do with her.  Then, and only then will God be one’s God and one will be His child (2 Cor. 6:14-7:1).  L.J.