The Truth Lives, Even Now

A good and long-time friend of mine and a brother in Christ sent me a message the other day.  He shares my deep concerns about the future of our country and called my attention to GOD’s way of raising the warning flag throughout history.  The simple phrase “Take Heed” is used fifty-four times in scripture when GOD warns His people about departing from His principles and precepts.  And every time they ignored His admonition, they paid the price.  Since He is the Lord and does not change, should the ultimate fate of the United States be any different than that of other great nations throughout history

I have a lot of respect for my wife’s thoughts and ideas and particularly for her spiritual discernment.  She believes (and I have no reason to doubt her) that the finger of blame for the current sad state of affairs in America points directly at the church. 

In the Book of Mattew (Matt 16:18), Jesus says: “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.(NIV)”  Well, the “gates of Hades” seem to be doing a fair job of overcoming right now, so the only conclusion I can reach is that, in may cases, “the” church is no longer “His” church.

During the past six decades, two things have happened that have weakened the church in America, turned participants into spectators, and made it largely ineffectual.  They are:

1. The church has constantly made an attempt to be “relevant” in order to attract greater numbers on Sunday because everyone knows that greater numbers mean greater influence.  The problem with this attempt to make it more relevant is that the church ends up competing with the world’s attractions at a secular level, and it will lose that contest every time.  In the Book of Isaiah, chapter 52, verse 11 God tells His people to “Depart, depart.  Go out from there, you who bear the vessels of the Lord.”  In a bit over two thousand years, the church has grown from a handful of believers who met, often secretly and at great personal risk, to an estimated two billion followers of Jesus world-wide.  The Apostle Peter wrote (1 Peter 2:9): “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood , a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (NIV” )Ask any pastor of a third-world Christian fellowship if he worries about being relevant.  He will probably say that his main concern is to bring the truth of salvation and GOD’s judgment of sinners to the lost.  So, this attempt to achieve relevancy has made the church in America irrelevant.
2. The church has, too often, refused to take a public stance on confronting sin.  If homosexuality is a sin (and according to the Bible) it is, the church must take a stand against its practice.  If abortion is the sin of murder, the church should say so.  “Love the sinner, but hate the sin” is as true now as it ever was.  Too many of those in leadership in the church are afraid of alienating a few, so they refuse to acknowledge and condemn sin.  GOD’s grace does not extend to enabling behavior that offends Him.

Eph 6:14-16: Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. (NIV)

Prov 1:7: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge , but fools despise wisdom and discipline. (NIV)
While our public schools are filling students’ heads with progressive propaganda, they neglect teaching our children and grandchildren much about the history of the United States. A “YouGov.com” poll taken in 2018 asked more than 1,000 young people, who would fall into either the “millenial” or “generation-z” age demographic, about their knowledge of the country’s history and institutions and their patriotic feelings toward the U.S. This nationwide survey, sponsored by the Foundation for Liberty and American Greatness, produced results that, if reliable, don’t bode well for America’s future. The survey found that 87% of high school students flunked a simple five-question test of basic knowledge about American history. This was the worst showing of any age group.
High school students were also least likely to know who is on Mount Rushmore. Only 35% of them got it right, compared with 71% of “baby boomers.” Only 11% could name the rights enumerated in the First Amendment. And more than half of today’s high schoolers believe Barack Obama was a more consequential president than George Washington.
The survey revealed that younger generations are less likely to love and respect the country that has given them so much. They tend to be less informed about American history and are much more likely to view socialism favorably, in spite of its many failures through history. Many would dismiss this as youthful ignorance. I believe it’s the result of a school system that indoctrinates children in leftist ideology? Without boring the reader with too much in the way of empirical data, here is a brief summary of the poll’s findings:

1. Older Americans tend to take pride in their nation and also tend to be more patriotic.
2. Older Americans tend to know more of the nation’s history than younger Americans, many of whom are still in high school.
3. Younger Americans are more tolerant of protests such as professional athletes kneeling during the National Anthem, and they are less likely to show respect for the flag.
4. Those who are still in school or are recent graduates are also far more likely to consider America a racist and sexist country. They believe what they have been told repeatedly and, since critical thinking and objectivity are discouraged, they ignore the obvious contradiction of an allegedly “racist” people electing an African American to two terms in the White House.

One fairly bright spot is that nearly three quarters of young people believe in GOD, and 51% of them do so with absolute certainty, according to a study done by the “Pew Research Center.” But again, the destructive influence of public education rears its head. The same study also revealed that over three quarters of those surveyed do not believe that right and wrong are absolute. Instead they tend to believe that what is right or what is wrong depends on a given situation. This is moral relativism and utilitarianism, plain and simple, and it leaves those who will lead this nation one day drifting in a sea of moral uncertainty without an anchor.
But we can and should pray for our young people, and we should take comfort in the words of the Prophet Jeremiah: (Jer 31:16-17): This is what the LORD says: “Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded,” declares the LORD. “They will return from the land of the enemy. So there is hope for your future,” declares the LORD. “Your children will return to their own land. (NIV)

We are a couple of days away from inaugurating our next president, and, after that painful moment in history has passed, the question remains: What kind of country will we have? Here are some items we might expect in a worst-case scenario:

With the new vice-president in a position to cast a tie-breaking vote in the U.S. Senate we can expect that the “Filibuster” will go the way of the Wooly Mammoth, Dodo, and Passenger Pigeon. Of course, with the some of the Republicans we have representing us in the Senate, the vice-president may not have much tie-breaking to do.

We can also look for instant amnesty for the tens of millions of illegal aliens with citizenship to follow shortly thereafter.

In addition, look for the Senate to partially alleviate the rise in jobless claims sure to result from amnesty and citizenship by adding four positions to the Supreme Court. This should help, as should the four additional openings in the Senate created by adding Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia as the next two states. You get one guess as to the political sympathies of these new senators and justices. Of course, people will have to be paid for not working, and the those who are employed will do the paying in the form of confiscatory taxes. With the Republicans relegated to permanent minority status, no one will be able or willing to stop the eventual destruction of our economy and the erosion of the dollar.

You should know who is responsible for this destruction of our democratic republic. Don’t blame the current iteration of the Democratic Party. The Democrats are what they are, and everyone knows it. The same is true of the media and the American oligarchs who rule our behavior. Ignore them, and you will be uninformed. Believe them, and you will be misinformed. Blame instead the feckless Republican establishment that was so eager to end the presidency of Donald Trump that it was willing to sacrifice this country to do it.

Prior to the November election, more than three hundred lawsuits were filed threatening legal action unless election laws in states were changed to allow unsolicited mail-in ballots. Governors and attornies general in states such as Georgia, Pennsylvania, and others acted unilaterally and unconstitutionally when threatened with these suits. Any changes in election law should have been approved by the legislatures in these states, and they were not. Was there any attempt to counter-sue prior to the election? Apparently not. Every Republican lawmaker was publicly outraged by what happened in November, but, by then the toothpaste was out of the tube, and no one had the courage to try to put it back.

So, remember what has happened to our country, and keep remembering until the 2022 primary elections. If you’re not in the habit of praying for our nation, it would be a good time to start. Maybe it won’t be too late by then. Only GOD really knows.