Common Sense, 2026 Edition

Our 250th anniversary is coming up, and there are many problems in America and in the world. It occurs to me that we need a new Common Sense booklet that might move people the way that Thomas Paine’s Common Sense did 250 years ago.

Things are bad, folks, and they’re going to get worse. We’ve just recently come out of a worldwide pandemic and crippling lockdowns. We are currently in a war with Iran that has no obvious satisfactory end in sight. There is a worldwide rise of antisemitism and hatred of Israel. There is major tension between America and China, an established nuclear power. We have an unsustainable national debt. Americans are divided on these issues. There is tremendous polarization, perhaps even more than during the Civil War era. Some people, whether they be Democrats or Republicans, believe that government can solve these problems. Others do not.

What is behind all these things, and can anything be done about them? Some people say that we can get through all of these things and that America’s best days are ahead of her. Others say that there is a coming wrath and that we must flee from it. What is the truth? If ever we needed truth, we need it now. The hour is late.

Whether you believe it or not, there is only one source of truth. That source of truth is the Holy Bible, Old and New Testaments. Together, the two testaments are the Word of God. They come directly from Him. What do they say about all this?

The Coming Wrath

There are two coming periods of wrath. One is extremely bad, worse than we or our ancestors have ever seen. It is called The Tribulation, and it will last seven years. Those who miss the rapture will enter this seven-year period. The second period of wrath comes about one thousand years later and is even worse than The Tribulation, in part because it lasts forever. It never ends. Both these periods of wrath are sent by God. Is there anything that you can do to escape these periods of wrath? There is. Please read on.

Why is the Wrath of God Coming?

Something happened in the Garden of Eden thousands of years ago. God gave our first parents, Adam and Eve, one commandment or law that could not be violated, on penalty of death. The commandment was this: Do not eat of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Being deceived by the Serpent, Eve ate of this fruit and then gave some to Adam, who also ate. As promised by God, Adam and Eve died spiritually that very day, and the deterioration that would lead to their physical death many years later began that day. The rulership of the world, under God, was that very day taken away from Adam and given to the Devil, who is the father of lies and the great deceiver. He became the god of this world. And sin entered into Adam and Eve and was passed down to each and every one of us. Sin is a very big problem.

Does Sin Affect Us Today?

Think of the Ten Commandments. We are commanded not to steal, not to murder, not to commit adultery, not to lie, and not to covet. We are commanded to honor our father and mother, to have no other gods before the God of Israel who is the God of the Bible, and we are commanded not to take the name of the Lord in vain. Not one of us can keep God’s Law perfectly. Have you ever lied? Have you ever stolen anything, even a pencil or a piece of gum? Have you ever coveted, desired something that’s not yours? Have you ever dishonored your father or your mother? Have you ever taken the Lord’s name in vain? Have you put anything before God? If you have, you’ve made that thing your god. That’s called idolatry. Perhaps it’s clothing, or books, or cars, or guns, or sports, or television, or good food, or something else. Even if you’ve never committed murder or adultery, if you’ve broken even one of these other commandments, you’ve broken God’s Law. That’s called sin. And the wages of sin is death, eternal death. God’s wrath that lasts for eternity is the Lake of Fire. The torment that will occur for those who will be there is unimaginable.

How Can We Avoid the Wrath to Come?

You’ve heard that God is love. That is true. But He is also a God of judgment. All things must be perfect in His Kingdom. If a Law is broken, there must be punishment. But none of us can perfectly obey God’s Laws. I’ve tried to make that clear above. So are we all doomed to suffer God’s wrath? No. God Himself came to earth in the person of His very own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He was born of a woman just like each of us. But unlike us, He was born with no sin in Him. Therefore, when He walked this earth, He broke no Laws, not even one. In fact, He fulfilled God’s Law perfectly. Because of that, He can die the death that was, and is, and will be, ours to die, and He did just that. He did it on the cross two thousand years ago. He paid our debt. He suffered our punishment. And God accepted that payment. He proved that by raising His Son back to life from the dead.

So What Must I Do to Partake of This Salvation?

You must only believe that Jesus is your Lord and Savior, that He is God in the flesh, and that He came to save you, to redeem you. And God makes that possible by regenerating you. You are no longer spiritually dead; you are born again. The curse pronounced in the Garden of Eden is reversed. You are a new creation in Christ, and of your own free will, you choose Jesus as your Savior and your Lord, and you walk after Him the rest of your days. You are no longer under the curse of the Law. You are included in the New Covenant that God promised to Israel under the Old Covenant through the prophet Jeremiah. Jesus made this possible by His death on the cross.

Jeremiah 31:31-34 (NAS95)

31 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,

32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD.

33 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

34 “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

“Their sin I will remember no more” - wow! Who would not want that? That is forgiveness!

What Then Does the Future Hold for Us Who Choose God?

A world ruled by a perfect ruler where all government decisions will be without bias and will be the right ones. The ruler will be a perfect King, the Lord Jesus Christ. This millennial kingdom is one thousand years long and it is coming soon. It is followed by Eternity where there is no sin and there is eternal joy. Forever.

Doesn’t it make Common Sense to choose God and to be included in the New Covenant? You will have eternal life if you do this. There will be no wrath of God for you.

God bless you, my friends.

Arthur P. Wolinsky