Judgement By Abandonment: A Homiletic Monologue
Judgment by AbandonmentWhen God Steps Back (A Homiletic Monologue)
A theological homily on judgment by abandonment, strong delusion, divine sovereignty, false doctrine, and the danger of mistaking God’s silence for approval.
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The Myth of Loud Judgment
Funny how we talk about judgment as though it only arrives with thunder. Fire from heaven. A shout.
A visible hand forcing evil back into line.
But Scripture tells a quieter, more frightening story.
There comes a moment when God does not strike.
Does not intervene.
Does not correct.
He steps back.
Funny how we talk about judgment as though it only arrives with thunder. Fire from heaven. A shout.
A visible hand forcing evil back into line.
But Scripture tells a quieter, more frightening story.
There comes a moment when God does not strike.
Does not intervene.
Does not correct.
He steps back.
Judgment by Abandonment
Paul names it plainly in Second Thessalonians, chapter two, verse eleven:
“For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion, so that they may believe the lie.”
Not because God delights in deception.
Not because He approves of evil.
But because truth has been refused for too long.
This is judgment by abandonment.
A sobering pattern runs through Scripture, uncomfortable, often misunderstood, and frequently softened to spare modern ears.
When people repeatedly reject truth, God eventually honors their choice.
He gives them what they insist on having.
He permits what He once restrained.
He allows what He once warned against.
Not because He approves,
but because truth was rejected long enough to make restraint meaningless.
This is not God changing.
It is humanity insisting.
Paul names it plainly in Second Thessalonians, chapter two, verse eleven:
“For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion, so that they may believe the lie.”
Not because God delights in deception.
Not because He approves of evil.
But because truth has been refused for too long.
This is judgment by abandonment.
A sobering pattern runs through Scripture, uncomfortable, often misunderstood, and frequently softened to spare modern ears.
When people repeatedly reject truth, God eventually honors their choice.
He gives them what they insist on having.
He permits what He once restrained.
He allows what He once warned against.
Not because He approves,
but because truth was rejected long enough to make restraint meaningless.
This is not God changing.
It is humanity insisting.
When God Gives What We Demand
Israel demanded a king.
God warned them.
They insisted.
And though the Lord was grieved, He gave them Saul.
How did that work out?
Pharaoh hardened his heart.
Then Scripture says God confirmed that hardness.
This is the pattern.
Not to chaos.
Not to chance.
But to themselves.
Israel demanded a king.
God warned them.
They insisted.
And though the Lord was grieved, He gave them Saul.
How did that work out?
Pharaoh hardened his heart.
Then Scripture says God confirmed that hardness.
This is the pattern.
Not to chaos.
Not to chance.
But to themselves.
“God Gave Them Over”
Paul tells us, three times, in Romans chapter one:
“Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts.”
“For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions.”
“Since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to a debased mind.”
This is where many stumble.
They mistake God’s silence for blessing.
They confuse patience with approval.
But patience is not consent.
God’s silence is not endorsement.
There is a terrifying mercy in being allowed to continue unchecked,
preaching lies,
celebrating falsehood,
blessing what God has warned against,
while heaven remains quiet.
That quiet is not absence.
It is restraint withdrawn.
Paul tells us, three times, in Romans chapter one:
“Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts.”
“For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions.”
“Since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to a debased mind.”
This is where many stumble.
They mistake God’s silence for blessing.
They confuse patience with approval.
But patience is not consent.
God’s silence is not endorsement.
There is a terrifying mercy in being allowed to continue unchecked,
preaching lies,
celebrating falsehood,
blessing what God has warned against,
while heaven remains quiet.
That quiet is not absence.
It is restraint withdrawn.
The Nature of Strong Delusion
A strong delusion does not fall on the innocent.
It settles on those who refused to love the truth.
Not those who never heard it,
but those who heard it,
understood it,
and turned away.
And once truth is rejected long enough, lies stop feeling like lies.
They feel righteous.
They feel anointed.
They feel obvious.
This is why falsehood so often arrives dressed in confidence.
Why deception rarely looks like darkness.
Why it feels persuasive.
Why it feels safe.
Judgment by abandonment does not look like chains.
It looks like freedom.
Freedom without truth.
Freedom without light.
Freedom without God.
And by the time the consequences arrive,
the delusion has already done its work.
A strong delusion does not fall on the innocent.
It settles on those who refused to love the truth.
Not those who never heard it,
but those who heard it,
understood it,
and turned away.
And once truth is rejected long enough, lies stop feeling like lies.
They feel righteous.
They feel anointed.
They feel obvious.
This is why falsehood so often arrives dressed in confidence.
Why deception rarely looks like darkness.
Why it feels persuasive.
Why it feels safe.
Judgment by abandonment does not look like chains.
It looks like freedom.
Freedom without truth.
Freedom without light.
Freedom without God.
And by the time the consequences arrive,
the delusion has already done its work.
A Mirror, Not a Weapon
This homily is not aimed at “those people.”
It is a mirror held up to all of us.
Because the most dangerous prayer God can answer
is not,
“Lord, strike this down.”
But,
“Lord, leave me alone.”
And sometimes,
after every warning has been ignored,
He does.
He steps back.
This homily is not aimed at “those people.”
It is a mirror held up to all of us.
Because the most dangerous prayer God can answer
is not,
“Lord, strike this down.”
But,
“Lord, leave me alone.”
And sometimes,
after every warning has been ignored,
He does.
He steps back.
Permission Is Not Anointing
Let us be absolutely clear.
God may permit a wicked man or a wicked system.
He may even use it.
But to call such a thing anointed is not error.
It is heresy.
Biblically speaking, anointing is consecration,
set apart for divine service.
If the purpose is evil,
God does not bless it.
He may permit it.
He may use it.
But He does not anoint it.
That is the logic of abandonment.
Let us be absolutely clear.
God may permit a wicked man or a wicked system.
He may even use it.
But to call such a thing anointed is not error.
It is heresy.
Biblically speaking, anointing is consecration,
set apart for divine service.
If the purpose is evil,
God does not bless it.
He may permit it.
He may use it.
But He does not anoint it.
That is the logic of abandonment.
The Holy Spirit Is Sovereign (The Illusion of Certainty)
There exists a class of theologians
who cannot speak two sentences
without invoking Aquinas,
who act as though they are vying for a vacancy
in the office of memo writer for God.
Yet Scripture makes clear
that no one fully understands the Holy Spirit,
or knows where He comes from
or where He is going.
Still, they speak with unseemly certainty.
They defend the indefensible
as though Scripture were merely advisory,
binding on everyone else,
but optional for them.
Have they never read Aquinas himself,
the very one they invoke endlessly?
He wrote:
“He who is not angry when there is just cause for anger is immoral.”
And again:
“Anger looks to the good of justice; and if you can live amid injustice without anger, you are immoral as well as unjust.”
Yet still they speak with unseemly certainty.
Lighthouses, Not Arsonists
And not only do they defend the indefensible,
they speak confidently of dismantling works of mercy,
of shutting down works of love,
of tearing down beacons placed by Scripture
along the narrow way,
intended to guide the lost back to shore.
They speak as though Scripture may be revised,
as though condemning the twice, nay thrice, condemned
were of greater importance
than pulling souls from the quagmire of sin
that holds them fast.
They fail to understand this.
The priest can only be a lighthouse,
or a builder of lighthouses.
Never a destroyer of beacons.
The shoreline of heaven is long.
There is room enough for every show ship
and every rust bucket
that has heaven in its sights.
And the priest must be a lighthouse
for every single one of them.
We do not bury grace
because we fear it lets its recipients off too lightly.
The Holy Spirit is sovereign.
The Wind Still Blows
“The wind blows wherever it pleases.
You hear its sound,
but you cannot tell where it comes from
or where it is going.”
So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.
The work of the Holy Spirit is invisible, like the wind.
Unpredictable, like the wind.
Yet unmistakable by its effects.
And those effects on sinners are clear.
The Spirit awakens conscience.
Breaks pride.
Restrains evil.
Reveals truth.
Creates new birth.
And when resisted long enough,
withdraws restraint.
The Spirit is sovereign.
He is not governed by memos written by priests, prelates, or pastors
who fancy themselves God’s administrators.
Remember Moses on Mount Sinai.
“What is your name, Lord?”
And God replied,
“I AM THAT I AM.”
I am who I am.
I will be who I will be.
I do what I do.
I bless whom I bless.
And,
I withdraw when I withdraw.
“The wind blows wherever it pleases.
You hear its sound,
but you cannot tell where it comes from
or where it is going.”
So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.
The work of the Holy Spirit is invisible, like the wind.
Unpredictable, like the wind.
Yet unmistakable by its effects.
And those effects on sinners are clear.
The Spirit awakens conscience.
Breaks pride.
Restrains evil.
Reveals truth.
Creates new birth.
And when resisted long enough,
withdraws restraint.
The Spirit is sovereign.
He is not governed by memos written by priests, prelates, or pastors
who fancy themselves God’s administrators.
Remember Moses on Mount Sinai.
“What is your name, Lord?”
And God replied,
“I AM THAT I AM.”
I am who I am.
I will be who I will be.
I do what I do.
I bless whom I bless.
And,
I withdraw when I withdraw.
Final Clarity
Brothers and sisters, let us be serious.
If you can fully grasp a spirit’s origin
and control its direction,
it is not the Holy Spirit.
For years, the line between good and evil
has been deliberately blurred by false doctrines.
But Scripture speaks with brutal clarity:
“A senseless man does not know,
and a fool does not understand,
that though the wicked sprout like grass
and all evildoers flourish,
they will be destroyed forever.”
Psalm 92:6–7
The prosperity gospel,
one of the most pervasive of these doctrines,
teaches that prosperity is proof of righteousness.
In doing so, it reveals itself for what it truly is.
A deadly lie.
Which is why we are where we are today.
What more can be said?
Nothing.
Nothing at all
Don Kenobi
#MyFrancisEssays #OldManInTheMolue
Brothers and sisters, let us be serious.
If you can fully grasp a spirit’s origin
and control its direction,
it is not the Holy Spirit.
For years, the line between good and evil
has been deliberately blurred by false doctrines.
But Scripture speaks with brutal clarity:
“A senseless man does not know,
and a fool does not understand,
that though the wicked sprout like grass
and all evildoers flourish,
they will be destroyed forever.”
Psalm 92:6–7
The prosperity gospel,
one of the most pervasive of these doctrines,
teaches that prosperity is proof of righteousness.
In doing so, it reveals itself for what it truly is.
A deadly lie.
Which is why we are where we are today.
What more can be said?
Nothing.
Nothing at all
Don Kenobi
#MyFrancisEssays #OldManInTheMolue
posted by #Dk @ 6:48 AM
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