An Upside-Down World
By J.B. Hixson, Ph.D.
01/03/2023
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5:20)
The Frenchman Henri Matisse is widely regarded as one of the most influential painters of the first half of the twentieth century. He is mentioned often in the same breath with his Spanish counterpart Pablo Picasso. In one of the more embarrassing faux pas of the high-class world of art, a Matisse painting hung upside down for forty-seven days in the New York Museum of Modern Art in 1961 before a visitor caught the mistake.
I am not an art expert, but it is surprising to me that in a famous gallery like the New York Museum of Art such an error would go unnoticed for so long. Upside down?! Surely one of the many art aficionados who frequented the museum day after day should have noticed.
It is equally surprising how many people in our country today do not notice how the Luciferian elite have turned morality upside down. Blatant evil and perversity are everywhere yet society turns a blind, or more likely, disinterested eye. I keep thinking to myself, surely someone will take notice; some leader, government official, high-profile citizen, someone. But nothing. The standard of morality has been turned completely upside down and few seem to care.
Centuries before Christ, the Jewish people were in a similar condition. God sent the prophet Isaiah to indict them for their greed, licentious pleasure-seeking, willful sin, and perversion. The prophet warned, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter” (Isaiah 5:20)!
Satan has been turning God’s standard of righteousness upside down for six thousand years. He takes what God meant for good, twists it, infects it with evil, and passes it off as acceptable. The devil makes the dangerous look delightful and the wicked look wonderful. Decadence has reached unparalleled heights in our day, just as the Bible predicted it would in these great last days of deception (1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Timothy 3:13; 4:3-4).
Ironically, it is actually God’s people who are supposed to be turning this world upside down, not Satan and his earthly accomplices (Acts 17:6). In this present evil age (Galatians 1:4), Christians are supposed to “shine like lights” in the midst of a “crooked and perverse generation” (Philippians 2:15).
There was a time when wickedness was shameful and hidden under the cover of darkness. Today, it is flaunted in broad daylight. There was a time when barefaced evil was the exception; now it is the norm. There was a time when sin was called out by God’s people; today it is met with a collective yawn.
Isaiah’s warning is more pertinent than ever before. “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil!” In an upside-down world, let me encourage you to stand up, stand tall, and speak out. Like the observant museumgoer in New York City, pay attention to things that are askew in our culture, and when you see them, do not look the other way.
“You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober” (1 Thessalonians 5:5–6).
01/03/2023
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5:20)
The Frenchman Henri Matisse is widely regarded as one of the most influential painters of the first half of the twentieth century. He is mentioned often in the same breath with his Spanish counterpart Pablo Picasso. In one of the more embarrassing faux pas of the high-class world of art, a Matisse painting hung upside down for forty-seven days in the New York Museum of Modern Art in 1961 before a visitor caught the mistake.
I am not an art expert, but it is surprising to me that in a famous gallery like the New York Museum of Art such an error would go unnoticed for so long. Upside down?! Surely one of the many art aficionados who frequented the museum day after day should have noticed.
It is equally surprising how many people in our country today do not notice how the Luciferian elite have turned morality upside down. Blatant evil and perversity are everywhere yet society turns a blind, or more likely, disinterested eye. I keep thinking to myself, surely someone will take notice; some leader, government official, high-profile citizen, someone. But nothing. The standard of morality has been turned completely upside down and few seem to care.
Centuries before Christ, the Jewish people were in a similar condition. God sent the prophet Isaiah to indict them for their greed, licentious pleasure-seeking, willful sin, and perversion. The prophet warned, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter” (Isaiah 5:20)!
Satan has been turning God’s standard of righteousness upside down for six thousand years. He takes what God meant for good, twists it, infects it with evil, and passes it off as acceptable. The devil makes the dangerous look delightful and the wicked look wonderful. Decadence has reached unparalleled heights in our day, just as the Bible predicted it would in these great last days of deception (1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Timothy 3:13; 4:3-4).
Ironically, it is actually God’s people who are supposed to be turning this world upside down, not Satan and his earthly accomplices (Acts 17:6). In this present evil age (Galatians 1:4), Christians are supposed to “shine like lights” in the midst of a “crooked and perverse generation” (Philippians 2:15).
There was a time when wickedness was shameful and hidden under the cover of darkness. Today, it is flaunted in broad daylight. There was a time when barefaced evil was the exception; now it is the norm. There was a time when sin was called out by God’s people; today it is met with a collective yawn.
Isaiah’s warning is more pertinent than ever before. “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil!” In an upside-down world, let me encourage you to stand up, stand tall, and speak out. Like the observant museumgoer in New York City, pay attention to things that are askew in our culture, and when you see them, do not look the other way.
“You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober” (1 Thessalonians 5:5–6).
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