The following report is from O Timothy magazine, Volume 6, Issues 10-12,
1989. The author holds all rights. O Timothy is a monthly magazine. Annual
subscription is US$20 FOR THE UNITED STATES. Send to Way of Life
Literature, Bible Baptist Church, 1219 N. Harns Road, Oak Harbor,
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                   WHAT AN AMAZING COINCIDENCE!

                        By David W. Cloud

How often do we hear the tired argument by the world that the sure
consequences of sin are only "coincidence." Consider with me a few
examples, and I think it will appear just how amazing it would be if
indeed these were but coincidences: 

Consider first--The coincidence that the vast majority of AIDS can be
traced directly to behavior that the Bible calls immoral and which it
warns us to avoid--homosexuality, adultery, fornication, and other forms
of sexual activity outside of holy matrimony. 

How many times we have heard the wise of this world scoff at the idea that
those things the Bible calls immorality are destructive. The Bible says
that immorality is innately destructive; it is also punished by a holy and
righteous God. It would seem that nothing could prove the truth of this
more clearly than the terrible AIDS plague. It is such a horrible,
frightful disease and it can be traced directly to things the Bible calls
immoral and wicked. But of course, all of this must be a coincidence
because we know God does not punish homosexuals or other moral perverts.
It couldn't be more than a coincidence. Could it?

Consider second--The coincidence that pornography often leads to
increasing moral debasement.

Serial murderer Ted Bundy testified that pornography had played a role in
his moral downfall, that he started looking at pornography as a small boy,
and had become addicted to increasingly viler and viler forms of it, and
had experienced connected, compelling desires to act out his wicked
thoughts. Many other murderers and rapists have testified the same thing.
Scientific surveys and studies have come to the same conclusion. 

"Some alarming evidence buttresses the contention that a correlation
exists between pornography and sex crimes: Twenty- nine serial murderers
interviewed by FBI agents confessed that  pornography influenced their
thinking and conduct. The Los Angeles Police Department points out that in
the more than 40 child sex abuse cases it investigated between October
1976 and March 1977, pornographic photos were found in every case.
According to attorney Charles Keating, founder of the Arizona- based
Citizens for Decency Through Law, police vice squads report that 77
percent of child molesters of boys and 87 percent of child molesters of
girls admitted trying out the sexual behavior modeled by pornography. A
study by Canadian scholar Dr. William Marshall of Canadian rapists in
prison reported that "various forms of pornographic fantasies may lead to
crime." Ten of 18 rapists confessed that pornography influenced them to
coerce females to have sex. In thousands of cases of sexual abuse of
children throughout the United States, police have discovered that the sex
offenders either collected or produced pornography." (The Christian News,
February 27, 1989)

"From an FBI study of 36 serial murderers, 81 percent said pornography was
one of their highest sexual interests. Dr. William Marshall found that 86
percent of rapists regularly used pornography, with 57 percent admitting
they imitated porn scenes when they carried out their crime. Child
molesters are often hooked by kiddie porn. Detective William Dworin of the
Los Angeles Police Department has helped arrest more than 700 child
molesters in the last 10 years. More than half had child pornography in
their possession." ("Off a Deep and Dangerous End," by Mike Yorkey and
Dean Merrill, Focus on the Family, October 1989)

Bundy testified: "In the beginning (pornography) fuels this kind of
thought process ... Like an addiction, you keep craving something that is
harder, harder, something which ... gives you a greater sense of
excitement. Until you reach a point where the pornography only goes so
far, you reach that jumping off point where you begin to wonder if maybe
actually doing it would give you that which is beyond just reading it or
looking at it ... I am saying now that there (are) loose in the towns and
... communities people like me today whose dangerous impulses are being
fueled day in, day out by violence in the media in various forms,
particularly sexual violence."

But of course, we can't believe any of this. It couldn't be true. The
close connection between pornography and moral debasement could not be
more than an interesting coincidence. Could it?

Consider third--The coincidence that the legalization of gambling results
in an increase in compulsive gamblers. 

With government sponsored lotteries so popular now, we hear on every side
the wise men of this world laughing at the idea that there might be a
direct connection between legal lotteries and the rise in compulsive
gambling. The Bible says man's nature is fallen and sinful and
excess-prone. When we make gambling or  alcohol or pornography readily
accessible, the Bible and common sense tell us men will be much more
influenced by these things. In fact, a study commissioned by the U.S.
Congress stated, "A government that wishes merely to legitimize existing
illegal wagering must recognize the clear danger that legalization may
lead to unexpected and ungovernable increases in the size of the gambling
clientele." But of course, all the evidence indicating a direct connection
between legalization of gambling and a dramatic increase in gambling
addiction could not possibly be anything more than coincidence. Could it?

Consider fourth--The coincidence that immoral, violent music leads to
immorality and violence. 

Great numbers of people have noted a connection between the increase in
the popularity of rock music and the increase in immorality and violence
among the youth. And as rock music as grown increasingly violent,
increasingly immoral, increasingly suicidal and occultic, youth who listen
to this music have become increasingly involved in all these things. What
an amazing coincidence. Of course it couldn't be more than coincidence.
Could it? 

Consider fifth--The coincidence between the removal of Christian influence
in public education and the terrible breakdown in morals within the public
school system. 

Until the 1950s and early 1960s, public education in many parts of America
was influenced greatly by the Bible and Christians. Bibles were allowed to
be given to students, and millions upon millions of New Testaments were
distributed this way to the young people of our nation. Prayer was
frequently said at the beginning of the school day, and at many school
functions. The Bible was often used in the classroom by Christian
teachers. Christmas--in addition to the attention always given to Santa
Claus and Jingle Bells and mistletoe--was also a time for Bible-based
plays about the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, for singing Christian
hymns, and for other activities highlighting the fact that Jesus Christ
was a historical character who came to this earth as the virgin- born Son
of God to die for man's sins. The Ten Commandments and other portions of
the Holy Scriptures were displayed prominently in many schools.
Evangelistic Bible clubs were allowed on school property. All of this was
conducted in the public schools of America until just a few years ago!
Since legal decisions were made to remove Christian and Bible influence
from the public school system, though, there has been a horrible breakdown
in morals, in discipline; a frightful increase in violence, in vandalism,
in unwed mothers, in cheating, in beatings, in looting, in nakedness, and
other forms of destructive behavior. A report in The Inner Circle, March,
1987, sheds some light on the changes which have happened in the public
education system: 
 
"It is interesting to note the top seven offenses in public schools in
1940 and 1982. In 1940 the top seven were talking, chewing gum, making
noise, running in halls, getting out of turn in line, wearing improper
clothing, and not putting paper in wastebaskets. In 1982, however, the top
seven were rape, robbery, assault, burglary, arson, bombings, and murder
... behavior in the public schools resembles a `mini-nuthouse'." 

To be more specific, consider these facts:

Nearly 600,000 babies are born each year to girls between 10 and 18 years
old.

One out of 5 children in the United States has sexual intercourse by age
13 or 14.

In 1978, 9,000 babies were born to girls 11 or younger.

More than half of all illegitimate births in 1980 involved teenagers.

Children are having children at the rate of 1,540 per day; every hour
about 64 babies are born to teenage girls.

Counting estimated miscarriages, there were 11.1 million teenage
pregnancies in 1980.

Out-of-wedlock teen births tripled between 1950 and 1980. Today the United
States has the highest teenage birth rate of any industrial nation.
(Christian News, December 2, 1985) 

Of course, we all know this seeming connection between the removal of
Christianity from public education and the breakdown in discipline and
morals in that same school system is nothing more than coincidence. It
couldn't be more than that. Could it?

Consider sixth--The coincidence that the promotion of evolution has gone
hand-in-hand with increase in suicide and other inhumanities. 

Thirty-four years ago I started attending the public school system of
America. In 1967, twelve years later, I graduated from high school in that
system. During that time, a dramatic change occurred in the basic
worldview underlying the educational system. Whereas it had been based on
a worldview which accepted the Bible and God and creation as truth, it
became based on a worldview which denied these realities. The religion of
humanism became ascendant and youth were taught that man evolved, that man
 was merely an animal, that spiritual and eternal realities were myths. 

As the worldview of humanism replaced that of the Bible, there was a
terrible decline in morals among the young people involved. The suicide
rate among youth was almost zero in the 1950s, but has doubled over the
past 20 years, becoming the second most common cause of death after
traffic accidents. 

"Every 90 seconds a young American attempts suicide.... Each year in the
United States an estimated 30,000 people kill themselves, including some
5,000 young Americans between the age  of 15 and 24. An estimated 100,000
youths attempt suicide annually. Almost 1,900 adolescents, most of them
white males, succeed in killing themselves each year." (The Rising Nepal,
Friday, May 5, 1989)

Of course, if you teach young people that they are mere animals and that
they have no spiritual or eternal existence, it is nothing more than
coincidence if they begin acting like animals in their morals, if they
begin to take their own lives because they cannot see any meaning in their
existence and have no great dread of going into eternity without a Savior.
But of course, this couldn't be more than a coincidence. Could it? (O
Timothy magazine, Volume 6, Issues 10-12, 1989)
