It is written in Proverbs 14:34, “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.” Look around at the world in the news today, what do you see? Do you see joyful, prosperous people living in safety with one another throughout the world? NO? What do you suppose is going on? I’ll tell you for sure what it is: the whole world has a sin problem!


The Bible tells us that sin is a reproach to ANY people. It doesn’t matter if it’s in the USA, or in Russia, or in China, or Africa, or anywhere else, the problem this world has is sin, and it causes shame and grief and destruction everywhere it exists. Is there a cure for sin? Of course there is, ever since Christ Jesus of Nazareth, Y’shua Messiah, sacrificed Himself as the Holy, unblemished Lamb of God, and was resurrected from the dead to live forever as the atonement for sin.

The punishment for all sin ever committed, or that ever WILL be committed, was laid upon Christ Jesus. The punishment WE all deserve as sinners, Jesus took in our place, even though He had no sin of His own to pay for, He paid for US! That means that all who lay claim to that sacrifice are judged blameless by our heavenly Father.

Now, if you are judged to be in sin, then you have guilt. But if you are judged to be without sin, and without blame, that makes you RIGHTEOUS. How can that be? There is nothing you can do on your own to become free from sin. Righteousness can only be accorded you by the One who makes the rules, that being God. If He chooses to declare you righteous, it’s by an act of His own will, and as owner of the entire creation, it’s also His privilege to do as He pleases, right?

Think of how pleasant life would be for everyone in the world, if sin didn’t exist. There would be no sickness, no death, no hatred, no war or envy, no decay, no separation between God and mankind. That’s how God created things in the beginning. Think of the entire creation being in fellowship and accord with God. That’s the way things were “in the beginning”.

It wasn’t until Lucifer, who was the most beautiful and powerful of all the angels created by God, rebelled against God, and deceived a third of the angels into rebelling with him. Here, we’ve probably always thought sin originated with mankind. But no, actually sin had its beginning in heaven, and we (mankind) had no part in it whatsoever. Mankind is merely suffering from its effects here on earth. The whole earth is suffering from sin. Every nation on earth and all its people are suffering from sin; even every creature on earth and the earth itself suffers the effects of sin. LUCIFER’S SIN!

Did you know it isn’t possible for the angels who rebelled against God to be redeemed and forgiven? Only mankind can be saved, because God knows sin didn’t originate with mankind. Eve was the first human deceived by sin, and because of that, death came upon everything in the earth. Prior to that, there is no record that anything ever died, for death was not in the original creation. With sin came death, and sin came by Lucifer, since called Satan.

It didn’t take long for sin to spread just like a cancer; Adam and Eve’s son Cain killed Abel. That was the first recorded death on earth. It wasn’t long before people started killing one another, tribe against tribe, people against people, kingdom against kingdom, nation against nation, and it has continued right down to this very day, and it’s getting worse.

Is there a way to stop sin? Yes! We can confess we are sinners, ask Christ Jesus to forgive our sins, because He is the only one who CAN forgive our sins, because He alone died as the payment for the sins of mankind. Entire families can be saved. Neighborhoods can be saved, cities can be saved, states can be saved, nations can be saved. It can happen. It really CAN happen, because the payment for sin has been made. But there’s only one thing standing in the way: our free will. God gave us the choice whether to turn to Him, or not.

Believe it or not, Satan cannot stop anyone from being saved, no matter how much he wants to, if a person asks Christ Jesus to save them, He will! He is willing to save everyone in the whole world, but sadly, Christ Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:13-14,
13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

It certainly isn’t that God is hiding the way to salvation from mankind. Indeed, He has made it simple, but in spite of God offering us His most precious gift of all, most, actually, the majority of mankind will chose to reject Christ Jesus as LORD and SAVIOR. Like I said earlier, the devil cannot keep YOU from being saved, no matter how badly he wants to. God made sure the choice for you to be lost forever, or to be saved forever, is entirely YOUR choice!

One day, when sin is put away forever, the book of Revelation tells of a new heavens and a new earth, and the nations remaining on earth will live without sin and death or sickness or war. But we don’t HAVE to wait till then. We COULD choose to turn to God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and have days of heaven on earth NOW. We COULD turn our whole nation to God, if we so choose.

The Bible tells us “Righteousness exalts a nation.” We could all work together to preach the Good News of the Gospel to every creature, and turn this nation from a nation of sin, to a nation of righteousness. EVERY nation, for that matter. But we must all make the choice to do so. I will! How about YOU? Because we’ve all seen how sin has made us all live in shame, for FAR TOO LONG!

I’m ready for a change for the good, and I’m sure you are too. God is ready for us to repent and turn to Him. He wants to bless us, but He just can’t bless sin. So we need to deal with the sin problem, amen? What’s stopping us? God isn’t, and the devil CAN’T! As they say, “the ball is in our court”. So let’s stop living like the devil, and get right with GOD! That will change our status to RIGHTEOUS! And that will get us EXALTED! And that will make all of us happy, including GOD! So what do you say?