IS OUR GENERATION MORE CORRUPT THAN PREVIOUS GENERATIONS?

It is no news that we live in a time when so many things seem to be out of place—things that militate against God's desire. Like Billy Graham said not so many years ago, "Our society strives to avoid any possibility of offending anyone—except God." It seems it's so bad that it can't get any worse. But the question is, is our generation actually more corrupt than previous generations, such that even God is perplexed and getting fed up? Is this moral depravation a story that describes this generation only?

I have heard words like, "This generation is so corrupt; we are seeing terrible things that never existed."

Is this true, taking into cognizance the fact that many similar expressions were used to describe man in the Bible?

Genesis 6:5-6(KJV)

[5]And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

[6]And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

Deuteronomy 32:20(NIV)

“I will hide my face from them,” he said, “and see what their end will be; for they are a perverse generation, children who are unfaithful.

Isaiah 65:2(KJV)

I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts.

Jeremiah 17:9(KJV)

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

These statements were not made a few years or even centuries ago but thousands of years ago, with the most recent among them being almost 600 years before the birth of Jesus.

What are the corrupt practices rife in our day that never existed before?

Stealing? There was a law against stealing (Exodus 20:15); Moses gave a punishment for this (Exodus 22:1).

Murder? Cain killed his own brother (Genesis 4:8).

Kidnapping/Human trafficking? (Exodus 21:16, Deuteronomy 24:7).

Ritual killing? The was a practice of the Ammonites who worshipped Molech (Leviticus 18:21, Ezekiel 16:20-22).

Bribery? (Proverbs 17:23).

Greed? The root of all evil; despite all his great possessions, King Ahab killed Naboth for his vineyard (1 Kings 21) and interestingly, killed Naboth's sons too (2 Kings 9:26).

Wars? So many; just so many. The first recorded in the Bible was in Genesis 14.

Political persecution? So many (1 Kings 12).

Coups and overthrow of government? So so many (1 Kings 15:25-29).

Sexual immorality?

Adultery (Leviticus 20:10; Solomon wrote a whole treatise on adultery in Proverbs 5-7).

Prostitution (Rahab, who saved the two spies, was a harlot—Judges 2; same with the two ladies fighting for a child before Solomon—1 Kings 3:16).

Homosexuality (The people of Sodom were known for this—Genesis 19, and also the men of Gibeah in Benjamin—Judges 19:22-23).

Rape (Amnon raped his half-sister, Tamar—2 Samuel 13:1-22).

Gang rape (The men of Gibeah—Judges 19:25-26).

Child abuse? (2 Kings 6:26-29).

Fraud? (Note that "yahoo yahoo" is fraud. Interestingly, the case in 1 Corinthians 6:7-8 appears even worse: a Christian would go to church for one reason—to look for a fellow Christian to swindle).

Paternity fraud? (Notice that this was what David was trying to achieve after committing adultery with Bathsheba, by telling her husband to go home so that he would sleep with his wife and think that the child was his—2 Samuel 11:1-13).

Solomon sums these up:

Ecclesiastes 1:9-10(KJV)

[9]The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

[10]Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.

I have heard folks say that in our generation, there are only a few people serving God unlike in the Bible days where there were people like Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, Elisha, and all.

Isn't this interesting? All these people mentioned above were all in exclusively different generations.

Isn't it alarming that in the time of Noah, only eight people were righteous in that whole known world?

In Elijah's time, he thought he was the only one left standing for God (1 Kings 19:7,14) but God told him there were still 7 000 others who were standing for Him. Now look at that! 7 000 plus one out of how many? The children of Israel that left Egypt were about 600 000 men, excluding women and children (Exodus 12:37); means they would be close to 2 million in all. Centuries later, when David ordered for a census in 1 Chronicles 21, the warriors alone were about 1.57 million excluding the old, those below twenty, the women, and the entire tribes of Levi and Benjamin (verse 5-6). In essence, they were apparently far more than 5 million in all and following the trend, they would very likely have even increased further in Elijah's time. So, there were about 7 001 folks standing for God out of millions of Israelites alone (excluding the heathens from so many other nations)—only seven thousand and one!

Corruption never increased; it is the mediums of corruption that have become more diversified.

I have heard folks say that we are not seeing the power of God like the days of old because of our level of corruption and the fact that we are not sold out to God like men in previous generations.

I believe such statements should be personalized. Perhaps, you are not seeing God's power in your geographical location or local assembly. You don't have to generalize it. There are men doing mighty things; many are only perhaps not popular or you just don't know them.

I know a young man of God who went on an 88-day fasting and prayer as a teenager—no food; just water. I know the kind of crazy supernatural demonstrations that happen in his meetings. He's in his thirties now, by the way.

I know a young bishop who walked on water. I know a young pastor who has flowed time and again in the supernatural multiplication of food.

I myself started active ministry as a young teenager before SALT even started. And yes, I have seen mirific supernatural demonstrations of the power of God across different countries. I have seen massive healings of infirmities that medical science had no answer to. I have even ministered healing to medical practitioners. Yes, I know I haven't seen anything but I believe that that is not bad for a start.

God will never lack men to use; it is your choice to decide to be in the number.

Blessings.

Victor Ibosiola (c) 2021