Voddie: God's JUDGMENT Has Already Come! | Pastor Reacts

America Under God’s Judgment and the Opening Clip

Vodibakam says that America is under judgment. But now, wait a second, I thought great things were happening right now. How can he say this? Take a look at this.

I worry about what further judgment may look like. I think we're under judgment now.

Yeah.

People say judgment's gonna come to America. I think judgment is here.

What's going on? Is America under God's judgment or under his blessings? We're about to find out as we uncover this fascinating conversation with Vodibakam right now. Welcome back to Wise Disciple. My name is Nate, and I'm helping you become the effective Christian that Jesus wants you to be, which includes discerning the times that we are in.

Amen.

Make sure to like, sub, and share this one around, but only if it blesses you.

America as the Center of the Christian Universe

I think being outside the culture that you were accustomed to and looking at it from afar might give you a different vantage point. What'd you see?

It's not like people think. Like most people, I have my complaints about church in the US and what's going on here. And I see those things. Interestingly enough though, living outside of the US made me more grateful for what the Lord is doing here.

Yes. Interesting. This is still the center of the Christian universe. This is still the place where the overwhelming majority of the theological books are being published, where the majority of the theological training is taking place.

This is still the place with very significant, healthy churches, unbelievable preachers here who are influencing and impacting the world in amazing ways.

Okay, but wait a second. We know what he's about to say. We know that he's going to say that America is under God's judgment. So yeah, there's this interesting tension right now between what he's about to say, but also America is the center of the Christian universe, right?

It is producing wonderful churches and excellent preachers. So how can he say that both is true at the same time? Let's keep watching.

And beyond that, this is still a culture that reflects the fact that it was built on a biblical worldview.

Wow.

And because of that, we have the freest, most prosperous, some of the safest people that the world has ever known. That's still emanating from here. Now, because we're close to it, all we see is the warts.

That's right.

But when you get away from it, and when you live in a culture that doesn't have the benefit of it, for me, I began to see how blessed the church in America is.

Wow.

Again, blessings, but also judgment, right? How is that possible? Is Votie right about this, or is he talking out of both sides of his mouth? So in a minute, we're going to go to the scripture and see whether this holds up, but let's keep going.

That's not what I expected you to say.

It's not what I expected to find.

Wow.

It's not what I expected to experience, but it absolutely is. In terms of material wealth, we always talk about materialism and things like that, but the most generous Christians in the world in terms of the material wealth that's shared around the world, they're right here.

Yeah.

They're right here.

Yeah, it's unbelievable. But because of that, I just, I worry about what further judgment may look like, because I think we're under judgment now.

Yeah.

People say judgment is going to come to America. I think judgment is here. I think when you're murdering thousands of babies every day, I think when you're castrating children in the name of gender ideology, I think when you have Obergefell in same-sex marriage and people lauding that, and you're seeing that even in churches, I think that is judgment.

Okay.

Romans 1 and the Righteousness and Wrath of God Revealed

So there's the clip, and there's a bit of Voti's thought process, right? But let's articulate this a little bit further, all right? According to Voti, judgment is the degradation of society, the drift or the slouching further and further into sin.

Now, here's the $6 million question. Where in the Bible is this taught? So for some of you, you're chewing on this for the very first time, and you're wondering whether Voti has a point or not, all right?

Let me show you something that I only recently saw just in the last year myself. So I've got my trusty Logos app open, and I'm going to read out of Romans chapter one, but let me just say this. It's amazing what going over the same passage of scripture will do.

I'm reminded of an old Jewish saying that says something to the effect of, he who serves God is the one who studies God's word 101 times, while the one who doesn't serve God is the one who only studies it 100 times.

In other words, there is a benefit in continuing to return to the same passage over and over and over again, to chew on God's word and meditate on it over and over, because in this exercise, there is insight.

Now, I don't know how many times I've actually read Romans one. I know it's definitely more than 101 times, okay? And I only recently saw this, like just in the last year. I discovered something fascinating.

Look at this. Verse 16 says, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.

So what is Paul saying here? Cause it's a little odd. When you read it for the very first time, it should sound a little odd, right? But notice the turn of phrase. The righteousness of God is revealed through a person's faith.

Let that sink in. Actually, let me say the same thing upside down. A person's faithful lifestyle is revealing the righteousness of God. Can you see that? The way a Christian lives their life every moment is revealing in some sense, the power of God for salvation and the righteousness of God.

And I've actually pointed this out in previous videos, but this makes sense, right? So you take someone like myself, and golly, I remember if anybody's seen my testimony, it's floating around on the internet.

I was hostile to Christianity. I grew up in church, but I rejected it. I thought Christians were idiots, foul mouthed, obnoxious, right? Much like a lot of the folks that I react to now at this channel.

You know what I mean?

But when the Lord saved me, all of a sudden a light switch flipped and I'm not that person anymore. That is the power of salvation and the righteousness of God being revealed from my faith as I live by it.

You with me? Because what that means is, people are a vehicle through which God's righteousness is revealed. But wait a second, Paul wants to contrast this with the inverse. Now watch this. For the wrath, this is verse 18.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Okay, so now we have another type of person, don't we? Who is also living their life, but their lifestyle is revealing the opposite.

It's revealing God's wrath. And we know this simply by paying close attention to Paul's flow of thought. If faithful living reveals the righteousness of God and his salvation, then sinful living must reveal its opposite, the wrath of God.

So now again, you know, think of the picture. So now we have two vehicles, right? One person is the vehicle of God's righteousness and we witnessed this in the way that they live. Another person is the vehicle of God's wrath or his judgment.

And we witnessed that in the same way. It's through the way they live their lives. This is how Voddie Bauckham appears to read the text as well. All right, look at this. So this is an article from the Christian Post from about June, 2024.

And in it, Voddie says the same thing that he just said on the podcast. America, the culture is under God's divine judgment. Now watch his rationale for this. Noting that the apostle Paul ultimately spends much of the first chapter of Romans explaining how the wrath of God manifests in the world by giving mankind over to bedroom depravity and a debased mind, Bauckham also observed that Paul lays the foundation of his difficult arguments on the hope and reality of the gospel.

Okay, so there's a bit of two aspects happening at the same time here, right? Note the phrase, by the way, the wrath of God manifests in the world by giving mankind over to depravity, right? He's saying that people are the vehicles through which the wrath of God is revealed.

I mean, it's the same thing that I just said. That means if you really let this sink in, you know, and again, for some of you, this is brand new, but just think about it. The wrath of God is being revealed right now.

Some of you have grown up believing that this kind of thing will be expressed by God in the future and it will, by the way. Okay, so don't hear what I'm not saying, but I've come to recently realize it's not just the culmination of the wrath of God at some time in the future.

It's also right now. Paul says the wrath of God can be revealed now because we can witness it through the lives of those who reject God. Bauckham went on to expound upon what he described as the four-stage devolution of an evil culture as described in Romans 1.

He said that the destruction starts with a denial of God and his authority, as well as a desire to suppress the truth which he noted has long been readily apparent in modern culture. The consequence of such a worldview, Bauckham said, first leads to general bedroom immorality, which he explained first manifested in the bedroom revolution and in the separation of these things from marital commitment and family.

All right, so in other words, back in the 1960s with this particular revolution, this was the beginning of what Paul talks about here. Verse 24, therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves.

So Paul just went through a sort of a list of what happens when people, they know God, but they suppress the truth because they do not honor God. And so they become futile in their thinking, right? And then he says, God gives them up, gave them up, past tense, in the lust of their heart to impurity.

Paul goes on to say that God gave these up to dishonorable passions and they are receiving in themselves a due penalty for their error. So in other words, the dishonoring of their bodies is the wrath of God on display, if you have the eyes to see it.

The shameless acts and the dishonorable passions is the wrath of God on display. In God's wrath, he's given them over to do these awful things. And it's revealed through these folks, continuous lifestyle choices.

Are you with me? Now, Vody says, well, America's done that.

You know what I mean?

So this, what Paul's describing right now, was fulfilled through the bedroom revolution of the 1960s. And if he's right, then what we should be able to notice is some kind of pattern. As we compare America's history with the sort of formula that Paul gives us in Romans 1, we should be able to notice the pattern, a further devolution that leads to further degradation.

And it turns out that's exactly what we find. Look at this, verse 26. For this reason, God gave them up. There's that phrase again. To dishonorable passions, for their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature.

And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

Now, you'll notice three times, look right there. Again, here, God gave them up. And again, down here, God gave them up. Three times, it says this. This is part and parcel to the concept of judgment. If you go back into the Old Testament, you'll notice the same pattern.

God giving folks up, handing them over to their own sins. And this is considered to be God's wrath. Now, again, it will be fully culminated at some point, but this is the takeaway for a lot of us. And again, we've never wrestled with this before.

Our pastors haven't really talked about this all that much. God's wrath and judgment is not a one-time event. It can unfold as God continues to give the people up to their own selves, to their own devices.

Notice first, he gives them up to lust, the lust of their hearts, right? Then to dishonorable passions. Whoops, right there. And then to a debased mind. You see that? Now, Voti says it started with the bedroom revolution, then it led to the LGBT.

So we've got a generation of people who have been raised with bedroom material, who have been raised with libertine views towards bedroom activity, who are engaging in these things younger and younger, and we've got young people entering into marriage who can't even enjoy the bedroom anymore.

Because their ability to enjoy it has nearly been destroyed. In other words, the next step is what Voti, actually in the article, he calls the alphabet mafia. And then the next step beyond that is fully debased minds.

Are you tracking his thought process? Now, here's the question, right? Is he right? Do you see the pattern? Because I think he's onto it, you know? I definitely see that Paul is teaching that the righteousness of God, as well as the wrath of God, is being revealed through the lives of individuals, those who choose to obey him and those who choose to reject him.

They become the vehicles through which God reveals his righteousness and his wrath. And by the way, it totally affects all of us. It affects our surroundings more than we realize. You know, the interesting thing here is how interconnected all of these pieces are.

And again, I just don't think that we reflect on this all that much, right? The reality is there is no LGBT without the bedroom revolution from the 1960s. And there is no debased mind without the widespread acceptance of those first two things in the first place, right?

And I mean, even just on a smaller note, I mean, but certainly a part of this whole process is like even the recent admission from new atheists that had they not attacked religion, particularly Christians and Christianity post 9 -11, there likely would have been no wokeism.

You see how this is all interconnected. I think Voddie's onto something. I think I agree with this. And I resonate with his warning here. Look at this. He also urged Christians to steal themselves for the last stage of a culture under judgment, which involves the wicked attempting to suppress the truth of God by approving of those who are evil while condemning and trying to silence those who resist.

And what that last stage entails, I mean, who knows, right? Yeah, it's sobering to think about, right? But here's the good news. Every time that God has brought judgment upon people, including his own people, by the way, he has set aside blessings for those who are faithful in the judgment.

Judgment, the Remnant, and Hope in the Midst of Wrath

Okay, take a look at this. This is Isaiah chapter 10, verse 20. In that day, the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the Lord, the Holy one of Israel.

In truth, a remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob to the mighty God. For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Now watch this, this is interesting.

Destruction is decreed overflowing with righteousness. That's an interesting turn of phrase. Destruction is decreed overflowing with righteousness. And what's interesting, I mean, like you can think of example after example of this kind of thing.

God brings judgment upon Egypt, right? In the Exodus, but spares the Israelites. God brings judgment against Judah, but spares Daniel and his friends, right? I mean, even Jesus in the Olivet Discourse says, judgment is coming, but warrants the faithful in order to provide them a way out, right?

Let the reader understand, you know? This is, so what I'm pointing out right here, it's a developed concept all over the Bible. And that's actually how Habakkuk can say this. Habakkuk chapter three, verse 17.

Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit beyond the vines, the produce of the olive fail, all of these, by the way, are the after effects of God's wrath. The fields yield no food. The flock is cut off from the fold and there will be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord.

I will take joy in the God of my salvation, right? I think that's why Vodi can say both things at the same time, both concepts. That God is bringing judgment upon America, but also that America is still the center of the Christian universe.

And some of the people that we have, you know, and have had leading us, yeah, I think we are seeing unjudgment. But even in the midst of that, we're seeing churches grow. We're seeing, you know, ministers of the gospel, ministers of the gospel who are standing firm and standing tall, and it's just encouraging.

So in all of that, I just wonder what further judgment could look like.

Interesting.

If we don't heed.

Protecting the Church in a Culture Under Judgment

Yeah, yeah, it's like, it's not what I expect you to say about being overseas and looking back at the West and the church, but it doesn't take any urgency away. What you shared actually heightens the urgency to cherish and protect what we have and not let any sort of infiltration from the world or the darkness of culture, you know, further penetrate the church and take away this precious gift.

The Protestant Reformation was largely European.

Yeah.

And so think about the golden age that they experienced in continental Europe and then in the United Kingdom and look at where they are today, right? And that's what we don't want to see.

Right.

You know, we lived in England, you know, for a while and it was almost depressing trying to find a church.

Yeah, interesting.

And today, you know, there's no free speech in the United Kingdom. Right. People are being arrested for their tweets. People are going to jail because of tweets.

Yeah.

And not bad ones.

Sure.

You know what I mean? And so.

Wild.

Yeah, it's really wild.

And that goes away when the sort of Christ-centered foundational assumptions go away.

Yeah, absolutely.

Let this be a sobering reminder to all of us, but also let us see this as an opportunity to be as bold as we can be, you know, now more than ever, to shine the light of the gospel into the darkness of this world.

Simply by being the church, we will not only, I mean, you know, do what we're supposed to be doing anyway, right? But we'll also find blessing in the midst of God's judgment. We'll find power and purpose in the name of God and in making disciples.

It always comes back to that, doesn't it?

Yeah.

All right. Anyway, that's enough out of me. What do you think? Is Voti correct? Is America under judgment? Let me know in the comments below. I'd love to get your thoughts. Hey, in this video, I used the Logos Bible app.

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