(Note: Today’s column is not politically correct. In the vein of, “COPS,” reader discretion is advised.)

Johnathan Edwards came into this world on Oct. 5, 1703, and went into the next some 54 years later on March 22, 1758. He was best known as a catalyst of, “The Great Awakening,” a primarily evangelical crusade that espoused the sovereignty of God while concurrently expressing the almighty’s holiness. A freshman at Yale at the tender young age of 12 (take that, Sheldon), the sometimes itinerant minister exhorted existing believers to further their God relationship, while simultaneously urging those that lacked such a relationship to come into one.

Perhaps his best-known keynote address, entitled, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” was initially delivered to his own Massachusetts congregation, and later, on July 8, 1741, to a group in Enfield, Connecticut, whose pastor voiced concerns that the congregation’s spirituality was waning. To the delight of many, mass repentance appeared genuine, and many communities experienced positive change anew — a second wave, if you will, from the spiritual wildfire that spread throughout Massachusetts and surrounding areas from 1734 to 1737, inspired by Edwards’ preaching.

But it’s about time someone call God out. He is not politically correct.

The rainbow

God said it would be a sign in the heavens that he would never again destroy humanity by flood (Gen. 9:11-13).

At the same time, it has since become a symbol of the quest for social justice, the LGBTQ logo and a vacuum cleaning system so expensive it requires a small home equity loan to acquire.

In his sovereignty and omniscience, God should have seen this coming. Knowing the sign’s pilferage was on the way, he shouldn’t have chosen it for himself, causing us to think the almighty’s confused, and prompting the belief that Anthony Fauci is his direct descendant.

Climate change

He actually thinks he’s in charge, as noted in II Chronicles 7:13, where he declares, “If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence (i.e. epidemic) among my people; If (verse 14) those same people that identify with (His) name humble themselves, and pray and seek His face, and turn from their wicked ways (even though we KNOW our ways aren’t wicked to begin with), then He’ll fix things (shaking my head).

And then there’s that pesky passage from Revelation 3: [15] I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. [16] So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

So, he can’t even get climate change right-and when it’s wrong, then he hurls. You just can’t win for losing.

Attitude toward enemies

Okay, He’s really missed it here.

For one thing, he wants us to pray for them, rather than prey on them. That’s completely wrong and backwards, and he spends so much time with that “improper” attitude. He tells us to, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matt. 5:44), that we need to reconcile differences with our brother (Matt. 5:23), and to top it off, he says of those hostile toward him, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!” (Luke 13:34). Love your enemies with a maternal instinct? Unheard of.

Defunding

And he doesn’t want to see his house defunded, either (the nerve), on top of which he promises a big blessing on those that bring 10% of their cash into the coffers (Malachi 3:10), but, to be fair to the rest of us, we are doing a good job of defunding him. The most popular denomination? The one dollar bill — it shows up in more offerings than any other currency.

Dietary constraints

You would think he’s a vegetarian, but noooooo. Through the prophet Elijah, he arranges a 3-steer barbeque for himself-and cooks them well-done, all the while boiling water for tea to boot (I Kings 18:23-38).

Anti-pain meds

Even when in the midst of excruciating agony, he refuses narcotics-what’s up with that? (Matt. 27:34). Yet another example of his “misguided” love.

Pro-vax

He took the jab (John 19: [34] But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water).

Anti-abortion

Surely that flies in the face of popular opinion, and he should conform to our “intellectual superiority” (Psalms 8: [2] Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger). I can see why Satan opposes that one.

Rule over the earth

Also from Psalm 8: [6] Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: [7] All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; [8] The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.

Borrowing from Congress

In keeping with the “Let’s pass it, and then we can find out what’s in it” logic, He says of His Word, “Let’s read it-before we pass on the wisdom it contains.”

The final incorrectness

You’ve seen it (or at least used to) behind football end zones, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16).

Whosoever.

(This piece is based in part on the 10,000-word Kindle-only article, entitled, “God in the Hands of Angry Sinners: What’s Wrong with America, and What Can Be Done to Make It Right”, by Les Linz, published May 3, 2020).

Les Linz of Seymour writes the “Humor: More or Les” column. For information about Linz, visit his amazon.com author page. Send comments to [email protected].