Five Marks of a Nation on the Eve of Destruction — E.A. Johnston

George Whitfield, the great British evangelist, said that Fallen Man was a combination of half-devil and half-beast, and while he was preaching on that theme in Moorfields outside of London, a man climbed up a tree and exposed himself before the assembled crowd.

Amidst the gasps and twitters of laughter, Whitfield pointed to the naked man and remarked, And here, my good people, is a fit illustration to my subject of man being half-devil and half-beast. And I could take Whitfield's description of Fallen Man and apply it to the nation of America at this very moment, friends.

Never before in the history of this country has a nation been more on the premises of utter destruction than America is right now. A few nations in history have given themselves over to perverseness and idolatry like America at this sad and tragic hour.

It's as if a moral sewer has been poured out across this land, and rather than people revolting from the stench, they relish in it, swim in it, indulge themselves like pigs in a pig pen. My Bible declares, man drinks iniquity like it's water.

And that's a fit description of America today, friends. Never has a nation in the history of the world so debauched herself like America today. She has outsinned Sodom. She has outsinned ancient Greece.

She has outsinned ancient Rome. Each of those empires were ultimately destroyed because of their great wickedness. Today I'm going to list five marks of a nation that is ready to be destroyed. The title of my message is, Five Marks of a Nation on the Eve of Destruction.

I will list these five marks and then elaborate upon them. Allow me to list them now. The five marks of a nation on the eve of destruction are as follows. Number one, the national acceptance and promotion of sexual deviancy.

Number two, a populace that is drugged, drunken, and debauched. Number three, a rapid increase in violent crimes and murder. Number four, rampant atheism. Number five, a general rejection of God Almighty.

Listen friends, I believe each of these marks are signs that this nation will be suddenly destroyed and without warning. America is a house of cards, ready to be blown over with the next wind of adversity and change.

Our government is bankrupt, our magistrates are morally bankrupt, and our leadership is corrupt. The people of this nation are given over to sensuality and pride, worse than Sodom and Gomorrah. This nation hates God with a vengeance and mocks Him with a passion.

The churches are given over to worldliness and conformity. The true gospel has successfully been silenced in this land. There's nothing left but for God to destroy this country with a sudden catastrophe.

This country has become so perverted that she makes the Statue of Liberty blush. I believe America is getting ready to see a side of God they are quite unfamiliar with. Our text today, friends, is found in the book of Jeremiah in chapter 5.

You may turn in your Bibles there now. I believe this passage aptly describes the moral condition of America at this hour. Listen to the striking similarities between the depravity of the Jews and the judgment of God upon them in our society today.

I hear now is the word of God, and may the Spirit of the Lord attend the reading of His holy word. How shall I pardon thee for this? Thy children have forsaken me and sworn by them that are no gods. When I had fed them to the foal, then they committed adultery and assembled themselves by troops in the harlot's houses.

They were as fed horses in the morning, everyone neighed after his neighbor's wife. Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord, and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? Go ye up upon her walls and destroy, but make not a foal, and take away her battlements, for they are not the Lord's.

They have belied the Lord, and said, It is not he, neither shall evil come upon us, neither shall we see sword nor famine, and the prophet shall become wind, and the word is not in them, thus shall it be done unto them.

Wherefore, thus saith the Lord God of hosts, because he speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people would, and it shall devour them. Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the Lord, it is a mighty nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandeth what they say.

Their quiver is an open sepulture, they are all mighty men, and they shall eat up thine harvest and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat. They shall eat up thy flocks and thy herds, they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees, they shall impoverish thy fenced cities wherein thou trustest with the sword.

This is a tragic scene, friends, how spiritually bankrupt ancient Israel became, how given over they were to sensuality and sexual vices, how they gave themselves to harlots and worldly faunus, and made their bellies their god, their eyes were full of wantonness and lasciviousness, their hearts given over to idolatry, how they forsook the God of the Bible and replaced him with false gods, and because of their sins there was a day of hesitation for them with divine vengeance, and the people of America have out-sinned every nation that has passed into oblivion before them.

Look at ancient Greece with her great vices and perversions, she is in ruins and rubble, look at ancient Rome who once ruled the world with an iron fist, gone to ashes is her memory, look at Sodom and Gomorrah and the wicked cities of the plains that were destroyed by fire and brimstone from heaven, look at proud atheistic America as she shakes her angry fists in the face of a holy god and dares him to do anything about it.

Sexual Deviancy as a Sign of National Ruin

Let us now examine the five marks of a nation on the eve of destruction. The first is the national acceptance and promotion of sexual deviancy. Visit the ruins of Rome, visit the ruins of ancient Greece, and you will find city brothels which fueled the commerce of that city.

You will find that sexual deviancy was the norm promoted by society and considered a good rather than an evil. America has gone mad in the last 20 years in the promotion and legalization of perversion.

The entire nation is in the grip of sexual perversion and relishing in it and experimenting with it, or youth today experiment with bisexuality more than any other generation before them. It's as if the comments of George Whitefield mirror our entire society of half devils and half beasts.

Drugs, Alcohol, and Sexual Immorality

This is a black mark upon any society and no society that promotes sexual deviancy will continue for long without passing into utter ruin and oblivion. Number two, the second mark of a nation on the eve of destruction is a populace that is drugged, drunken, and debauched.

Look at the generation of teenagers today and you will find a generation of kids who are drugged up, boozed up, and sexed up. The majority of them are ruined before they are 20. There's no shame between them as they think nothing of sending nude pictures of themselves to one another.

They grind on one another like animals when they dance, and now the nation's gone so mad that it's legalizing marijuana. Things have gotten so crazy in our country that wrong is right and right is wrong.

Violence and Murder Before Divine Judgment

The sad fact is, friends, that a majority of this nation is given up to drugs, alcohol, and sexual immorality, and this in itself is a mark of a nation ripe for destruction. Number three, a rapid increase in violent crimes and murder.

We see in the book of Genesis the condition of the world before it was destroyed by God with water. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence, and God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them, and behold, will I destroy them with the earth?

God brought a sudden and swift destruction upon the earth in Noah's day because of its corruption and violence, friends. Look at America today and see the vile corruption that runs through this nation.

It's corrupt from its head to its foot. She increases in violence throughout this land. It's as if the entire nation has become a violent people, hell-bent on destroying one another. This is a sure mark of a nation on the eve of destruction.

Rampant Atheism and Defiance of God

Mass murders and school shootings, violent crimes, and senseless murders abound in this once-great land called America. Number four, rampant atheism. Look around you today and listen to people as they talk in coffee shops and stores.

Their very conversation is full of atheism. Our nation is full of atheists, and they are proud to be atheists and shake their fists in the face of God and dare him to do anything about it. We have more atheists in our government than in any other time in our history.

We have more atheists as school teachers than any other time in our history. Listen, friends, there was once a time in this country where you had to prove you were a Christian before you could even get a job teaching school.

Now they kick you out of school for being a Christian. Look at verse 12 in our passage from Jeremiah. They have belied the Lord and said, it is not he, neither shall evil come upon us, neither shall we see sword or famine.

Thus the people boasted in their atheism. They dared God to do anything about it, but he did. He brought swift destruction to the Jews who defied him, and God will bring a final destruction to this country as well for her atheism.

The Nation’s Rejection of God Almighty

This is a black mark on a society. When atheism grows at an alarming rate, many of our young people today are atheists and proud of it. And lastly, the fifth mark of the land on the eve of destruction is this, friends, a general rejection of God Almighty.

Look at how the government of America has systematically legislated God out of this country. Look how the judicial system has rejected him. Look how our educational system has rejected him. Look at even how our military has booted him out.

It's as if the nation of America walked God through her borders and said, we don't want you anymore. And in the gospel of Matthew, we read and behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts.

And it's as if America has done the same thing. The blackest mark of a nation on the eve of destruction is their final rejection of God Almighty. God cannot be mocked for long, friends. He has a settling day where he settles his accounts and America's accounts are getting ready to be settled by the most high God.

Look at verse nine in our passage from Jeremiah. Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord, and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? Listen, friends, America has filled her cup of iniquity to the brim.

The Church’s Compromise and Call to Repentance

And the sad fact remains that she's ready to be destroyed for her great sins and blasphemy. And where is the church in all of this? Is she on her face crying out to God to forgive the sins of this land?

Is she dressed in sackcloth and ashes and fasting and weeping over the sins of this nation? Is she humbling herself and turning from her wicked ways in repentance toward God? No, the church in America is in a mad rush to build her empire and expand her campus and to become the biggest institution in her community.

Her worship is mixed with strange fire and her gospel is a compromised gospel that will not offend sinful man. We see how Israel, the very people of God, forsook their God in verse 11 of our passage in Jeremiah.

For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the Lord. And the same can be said about the apostate church in America. Treachery deserves punishment and the hammer of divine vengeance is about to fall upon this wicked land.

Heaven help us all.