Romans 1:24a “Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts”

Romans 1:26a “For this reason God gave them up to vile passions”

Romans 1:28b “God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting”

Romans 1 is an awesome case study on the Almighty God’s sovereignty over evil and what is happening in modern society. The Greek phrase “paradidōmi autos paradidōmi” translated as “gave them up’, shows that there is a restraint of evil from God, and in this case it is being lifted.

The clearly contradicts any notion of man being born without a fallen state as many world religions may teach. Man clearly is fallen and it is only by this common grace of God that evil is restrained. Without this restraint and if God loosens it, man’s devices of their fallen heart pursue evil, not Him as some may think and believe.

We see the horrors almost each day of this loosened restraint from God as a judgment from Him. I can pretty much see a headline each day of a horrific evil murder or a video of pure evil as if human life didn’t matter in the hands of the murderer.

Case example? In Oakland over the weekend, a shooting occurred where many were in need of emergency medical care. The crowd celebrated this as women perverted in nature, performed disgusting acts near the ambulance as people laid dying, as they celebrated this evil in the most disgusting way. The national media for the most part was silent, they didn’t report on this because of the race of the individuals performing this degenerate depraved act.

Another case example, in the town where I live, several juveniles decided to set on fire a fireworks display inside a Hy-Vee grocery store. The reports from the media focused on Hy-Vee having to close their doors amidst of the destruction with hardly anything mentioning the evil depraved act of these juveniles. The parents of these kids most likely declaring “kids will be kids” instead of handing out any disciplinary actions. Reading the comments on social media affirmed this as well, “don’t say anything about the degenerate juveniles” was the sentiment. “paradidōmi autos paradidōmi“

These are just two examples in the past couple of days, imagine if we just went back to the beginning of the year. Yes, thank God for His restraint on evil, because He only knows what would happen if that restraint were missing. The bloodshed and evil would be something unimaginable!

Genesis 6:5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Before the Great Flood which desolated the entire world less 8 human beings and animals of each kind, this pure wickedness and evil was also experienced. So do not think for a minute that there is not a restraint from God. And don’t be surprised when you see horrific disgusting evil each day, Scripture promised it.

Pray that God’s will be done, and place faith in His purposes. “God gave them up” is showing itself as good is now evil and evil is now good by a totally depraved degenerate world. It is not the guns which are to blame, it is always the one who pulls the trigger.