Ann Graham-Lotz, the daughter of evangelist Billy Graham, has declared that God is hiding from us.
Here are comments, reported in the Christian Post:
Anne Graham Lotz, the daughter of famous evangelist Billy
Graham, has warned that God might be purposefully hiding himself from America
in preparation for a coming judgment on the nation.
He "might be" hiding himself? We can have certainty about God and His love for us!
"Our nation is in a mess. Why? Could it be because
America is losing God's blessing? His favor. Could our sin be provoking His
judgment? Judgment that is not necessarily in the form of a nuclear dirty bomb,
or another ISIS attack, or an economic collapse. But a Romans 1 judgment as God
backs out of our national life and turns us over to ourselves," Lotz wrote
on her website Wednesday.
God does not favor nations, as much as His favor, His grave has appeared to all men.
Yes, that's right!
"11For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared
to all men, 12Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we
should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13Looking
for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our
Saviour Jesus Christ; 14Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from
all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." (Titus 2: 11-14)
The question remains: will you receive His grace by believing on His Son Jesus?
That is the one work, and yet so many people simply refuse to do it:
"Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might
work the works of God? 29Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of
God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." (John 6: 28-29)
Now, there are references of God hiding from His people ... in the Old Testament, under the Old Covenant of bulls and goats.
We are no longer under that Old Covenant, but under the New, in which He is a God to us, and we are His people.
Why?
"10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house
of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind,
and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be
to me a people:
11And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and
every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the
least to the greatest.
12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their
sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8: 10-12)
He remembers our sins no more.
Every sin has been put away forever. How? Through Jesus!
"Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image
of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had
by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;" (Hebrews 1: 3)
and
"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of
your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all
trespasses; 14Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us,
which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
15And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly,
triumphing over them in it." (Colossians 2: 13-15)
So, God is not hiding from us.
He has shown His grace to all men. Either they believe on Him or they do not.
C'mon, people! Consider the brave and blessed example of Abraham before God, who was pleading for Sodom and Gomorrah!
"22And the men turned their faces from thence, and went
toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. 23And Abraham drew near,
and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 24Peradventure
there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare
the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?" (Genesis 18: 22-24)
God listened to the prayer of that one righteous man.
Today, for those who believe in Jesus, who seem Him as their righteousness (1 Corinthians 1: 30), who live today under an open heaven, a New Covenant, in which all our sins are purged away forever, do we not believe that our prayers can effect as much--if not more than Abraham?
No, Beloved, God is not hiding from us today.
"Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be
content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee,
nor forsake thee." (Hebrews 13: 5)
He said that!
Oh, and what did Paul preach to the Athenians?
"For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain
also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring." (Acts 17: 28)
There is a judgement coming, and there is a hell to reject, but God is not hiding from this world, and He is not taking away His favor from all men.
Jesus paid for it!
In fact, I recall one pastor declaring that if God were to take away His favor from all men, He would have to apologize to His Son Jesus, as though His work at the Cross was limited or ineffective.
Not so! Not at all!
