People had all kinds of ideas about what 2020 would be like, even suggesting that the year would bring us 20/20 spiritual vision—or whatever. But few had any idea as to how this year, this summer, would be so totally crazy.
How on earth could everything have gotten so bad? Though things seem obviously out of control and harmful to the citizens in some cities and states around the country, it is ironic that those same places have been controlled for decades by the Democratic Party.
Psalm 33:12 declares, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” America used to be that nation. The God of Judeo-Christian history used to be recognized as the Lord of this nation, with the Bible being the foundational text of the documents of the United States of America. There are many proofs of this assertion, one being the fact that half of the signers of the Declaration of Independence had some sort of divinity training. There used to be such a practice in the colonies as “pre-election sermons,” with pastors’ sermons being the focus of the attention of the citizens who needed help in making decisions concerning the upcoming elections.
The Constitutions of the original thirteen colonies were full of the language of the Christian faith. As I have mentioned in an earlier column, the Declaration of Independence contained ideas that had been preached from the pulpits of the American colonies. Later, the Bill of Rights insured that the people of this nation, in contrast to the nation from which they had so recently separated, would never be forced to belong to any particular religion. On the other hand, this vital part of the Constitution also protected citizens by declaring that the federal government would not be able to prevent their free exercise of their religious beliefs.
Then there was the “Black Robed Regiment,” which was, “the name that the British placed on the courageous and patriotic American clergy during the Founding Era… the British blamed the Black Regiment for American Independence…” Having heard of this, I looked it up. The previous quote is taken from a very long article, written by an organization called “The Black Robe Regiment,” which included historical facts of clergy and their influence on our country reaching back to a century and a half before the Revolutionary War!
As late as WWII, people all over America were “religious,” attending church faithfully, depending on God to answer their prayers concerning the outcome of the war and the wellbeing of those coming home from the fighting. Then, in the fifties, as any my age or older can agree, at Christmas, carols rang out and towns freely set up Nativity scenes in town squares all over the nation. Two-parent homes with children were the norm, rather than the exception. Patriotism and morality were respected, as respect itself was an honorable virtue.
History calls the 1960s the Decade of Protest, one of the most tumultuous and divisive decades in world history, marked by the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War and antiwar protests, political assassinations and the emerging “generation gap,” formed by rebellion against traditional values in society. Since that time, Americans have moved farther and farther away from living life with a biblical worldview. They definitely do not have the same view of America that the founding generations had when they began this country. President Ronald Reagan is quoted often as having said, “If we ever forget that we are one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.” Are we seeing that coming to fruition in the streets of America today?
Not everything that happened in the sixties was bad. I must say here, rather than be misunderstood, that I am so very thankful for the courage and vision of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I am thankful for what he and his companions accomplished, and I am thankful they did it without much bloodshed. God blessed us all through that man.
In recent years, America has gone the way of the Old Testament Israelites who forgot from where they had come and to what their God had taken them. We as a nation have been culpable in the deaths of over 60 million babies. No longer is alcoholism alone a scourge of some in the country, but the drug epidemic has ruined and taken the lives of many more. Rampant divorce rates, broken families, the revolving doors of the prison system, scandalous and unprecedented Supreme Court decisions, and forced acceptance of the demands of those with “gender confusion” have many wondering, “Have we gone too far to find our way back?”
I was watching Candace Owens, a young conservative, and Charlie Kirk, the young founder of Turning Point USA, on YouTube, speaking at a big conservative convention out West, and noted the words of part of their conversation. Candace said, “The left has wanted people to believe that the government is God, that the government could fix all your problems…” Charlie went on to say, “It’s the deification of the State. That’s what Mao did, that’s what Stalin did, that’s what Pol Pot did. It’s the classic Marxist playbook—that if you eliminate the Judeo-Christian construct, if you eliminate the capacity of the individual to make choices, and then get rid of the Church, get rid of private philanthropy, get rid of charity, you get rid of the moral order and code, people will still have that search for meaning, will still have that search for purpose, and what replaces that so nicely and neatly is the State and the ruler. There’s no greater evil than trying to make yourself ruler over others.” They spoke of how the media was against the people, and how hate for America was being taught on America’s college campuses.
Is it too late for America? Isaiah 42:24 asks, “Who gave up Jacob to the looter, and Israel to the plunderers? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned, in whose ways they would not walk and whose law they would not obey?” There is much for which we must pray. But there is hope in the Lord.
We ourselves must repent for much of the wrong done in America. We must pray that the sleeping Church will awaken, that we would be given mercy and more time to “put oil in our lamps.” We must pray that He would “heal our land,” as He promised in II Chronicles 7:14, if we would repent and pray. We must then expect our Lord to send us a Great Awakening, a time when America can become what it was meant to be—a light for the whole world, a place from which the gospel can be sent to the world. Again, to quote another psalm, “Happy is that people whose God is the LORD!” Psalm 144:15
Live for Jesus! He’s coming soon!
You may contact me at lagnesrussell@gmail.com or 601-635-3282.
