What evils have provoked the Lord to bring judgment on our community? That question was asked in 1679 by the General Court of Massachusetts Colony.
Not long after, political and religious leaders gathered together in Boston to formulate a response and uncover the root of the issues plaguing the new community.
The synod offered up fourteen reasons why judgment had fallen on the colony, one of those being defects in family government in the home.
“There are many families that do not pray to God constantly, morning and evening,” the council wrote.
“And many more where the Scriptures are not daily read, so that the Word of Christ might dwell richly in them! There are too many houses that are full of ignorance and profaneness, and that are not duly examined.
“And for this cause wrath may come upon others around them, as well as upon themselves! (Joshua 22:20; Jeremiah 5:7; 10:25). Many households who ‘profess’ religion, do not cause all that are within their gates to become subject unto good order as they ought (Exodus 20:10)…”
In other words, when we look out our windows—or at our computer screens—and see a society falling headlong into unrestrained immorality, we ought to remember to turn around an examine the state of our own homes too.
Ultimately, that’s the only real solution to the evils we see infesting and corrupting our culture today. And that’s why Christianity, marriage, children, gender roles, sexuality and the family structure are all under continual attack. Break the home and you break the church, break the church and you break the nation.
But our nations can change, and will change, one household at a time. The only problem is that it starts with us. And at times, it seems we don’t have half as much energy or commitment as our opponents. It’s time to revive that, because as it’s been said, as the home goes, so goes the church, and as the church goes, so goes the nation.
