“There are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.”
James Madison
In the core foundations a society is built on, America is in a decline. This includes government, business, education, and security (crime and national defense). Attesting to the warning of Madison above, the slide began over fifty years ago. It has gradually but relentlessly picked up speed, mirrored by a continual spiritual and moral deterioration and a steady decoupling from our Constitution.
We can still see this decline reversed, but in pilot terms, we are in an ever-tightening downward spin that is getting dangerously close to entering a “death spiral.” If you enter a death spiral, recovery is virtually impossible. We are in a critical time.
The Steady Hand Recovery
John Adams warned that democracy could only work for a moral and religious people. The descent into our present condition has been gradual but relentless, coinciding with our gradual but relentless moral and spiritual slide. These are connected, and we must recover in both areas.
The way you recover from a spin is to level the wings and also give it opposite rudder to the direction of spin. You need to do this with a firm but steady hand because if you overreact, you can go inverted and greatly complicate your problems. The consequences of society continuing down will be either another revolution or a terrible tyranny. To recover we need a revival, another Great Awakening. Once we get the wings level and stop the spin, we can then in a controlled, steady way return to our desired heading and altitude.
We Have the Experience
America is not the New Jerusalem or the kingdom of God. We have been far from perfect, and at times have made terrible and evil mistakes. Even so, we confronted them and came out better. Overall there may not have been another nation in history as free and yet as generally noble and moral as America has been.
The present moral slide began in the early 1960s. It continued until what was once incomprehensible became normal. The trend is toward an ever-darkening corruption of our national character. Even so, it was during the greatest times of darkness in our past when the Great Awakenings began. We are due for another.
We also have the pattern of each period of darkness being darker than the last, and each period of Awakening being greater as well. Our vision should not be to just get back to where we were before the slide, but to go higher. No doubt the darkness we are now in is greater, so we should expect an even greater light.
An Ultimate Depravity
In Scripture one of the ultimate evils is to shed innocent blood, and it is promised to bring a curse upon a nation. What could be more innocent than an unborn child? Even the beasts will naturally sacrifice their own lives to protect their young, but Americans slaughter theirs by the millions. Now the most dangerous place for an American to be is in the womb.
The holocaust of the innocent continues while we debate the nuances of whether they are alive or not, even though we know they can hear, feel, and recognize voices. God addressed when there is life, declaring, “the life is in the blood” (see Genesis 9:4). If there is blood there is life, and if there is a heartbeat then there is without question a human life. To kill that life is to be guilty of murder.
It has now been exposed that Planned Parenthood not only performed illegal late-term abortions, but also “partial birth” abortions. This is when the baby is taken partially out of the mother so that it can be killed in a way that preserves organs to be sold. How can anyone not be outraged by this atrocity? We know the helpless baby feels and cries for its mother and for a chance to live. When we tolerate such diabolical behavior we must ask if we have any humanity left. Yet, no one has even been prosecuted for these heinous crimes committed by Planned Parenthood.
The first test of Solomon’s wisdom was to distinguish the mother that valued life from the one that was careless with life. This is still the first test of a government’s wisdom. Our U.S. government has been failing this test for many years, but now it is getting worse and fast. Once you lose the core moral foundation of the value of life, evil will come pouring through the floodgates just as we saw happen in Germany in the 1930s.
Of course, the guilty protest any comparison to the Nazis, but if we do not learn where certain paths lead from historical examples, then we have learned nothing from that history and will go down the same path. The Nazis moved fast from abortion to the weak, retarded, and elderly who could no longer work, dubbing them “the useless eaters.” From there it was a small jump to political opponents, and ultimately, to condemning almost anyone for anything. The same paths lead to the same place.
The U.S. Congress, with a Republican majority in the House and Senate claiming to be pro-life, could not even secure a vote to stop giving the wicked, depraved Planned Parenthood organization hundreds of millions of our hard earned tax dollars each year! When you have the power to stop something and you don’t, then you are as guilty as those doing it. This is a new low, and both parties are guilty.
As if we needed further proof of our national meltdown into madness, we now have a state, Oregon, allowing fifteen-year-olds to have sex-change operations without parental consent. If that is not the most outrageous insanity yet, consider that the state will even pay for these operations with your tax dollars.
Think about that for a minute. What fifteen-year-old is stable enough to make such a life-altering decision? Without question, Oregon has reached a new low in governmental insanity. Yet, you hardly hear a whimper from the people of Oregon about this outrage.
America has now become a sick society. At the rate we are melting down, we will soon be one of the sickest and perverted of all time. This is a main reason Islamists call America “The Great Satan.” They believe we have become so perverse that there is no alternative but to destroy us in order to rid the earth of this evil. Over the last few decades we seem to be intent on proving this verdict. But this is not our nature. Rather, it is being imposed on the nation by a small percentage of people. The issue is whether the rest rise up with courage and resolve to take back our country.
We know from the sure testimony of Scripture that if we do not repent there will be a point when the court of heaven agrees that destruction is the only remedy. There are other nations doing worse things, but we have the greater guilt because we know better. If we think that we are still so good, having done so much good for the world that we will be exempt from any such judgment, we need to look at the sure testimony of Scripture. The Lord Jesus’ own teaching refutes this.
Jesus warned the righteous cities of Israel that Sodom would have it easier in the judgment. Consider that according to the law, these cities were some of the most righteous ever. They would even stone those caught in adultery. Yet, the Lord said that if the works that had been done in them had been done in Sodom, they would have repented and remained to that day. By this He established that it is not the degree of wickedness as much as the degree of light rejected that determines the severity of the judgment. How much light has America been given? Is there any country in history that has been given more?
In this declaration the Lord also established the principle that even those caught in the terrible debaucheries of Sodom repented easier than the self-righteous. Legalism is not God’s answer to lawlessness. His answer is simple righteousness and justice as He clearly defined these in His Word. Righteousness is doing what is right in the sight of the Lord. Justice is ensuring that all are treated fairly. Speaking of justice for the unborn, as Ronald Reagan once said, “I have noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born.”
The Blessing or The Curse
In Scripture, the nation with God’s light and favor attracts other nations (see Isaiah 60:1-5). America has always had enemies, as is to be in this age, but we used to be the place that most in the world wanted to come to and be friends with. Now it is the opposite. Almost every nation on earth is trying to distance itself from America. Think about it: Is there a single nation on earth that we have better relations with now than we did five years ago?
Some developing nations are rejecting us for a reason you won’t read about in the media. It’s because our State Department has implemented a foreign policy of threatening nations to adopt the LGBT agenda if they want to continue getting aid from us. Thank God for courageous leaders like those in Africa who told our leaders to keep their money and their perversion far away from them.
In America, sexual madness is glorified more than righteousness. The sexually perverse are made “heroes,” but displaying a Bible can be a crime. You cannot pray in the name of Jesus in public, but there has been no such restriction on praying in the name of Allah. Aren’t these the ones that knocked our towers down, shot our soldiers at Fort Hood, and bombed the Boston Marathon?
To demonstrate the degree of our national insanity, the Department of Homeland Security has again put out a memo on the potential sources of domestic terrorism. Topping their list are Christians, veterans, and 2nd Amendment rights groups. Do you remember when anyone from these groups committed an act or terror? Have Christians flown planes into buildings? Yet, the single group that is responsible for over 99% of all terrorist attacks in the last few decades, Islamic jihadists, is not mentioned as a potential terrorist threat to our Department of Homeland Security.
These are the people responsible for our protection. Who is going to protect us from them? This is the Department responsible for securing our borders, the ones that ISIS leaders have recently boasted about being able to cross at will. Yet, they want Americans to surrender their guns to them so they can protect us. Go figure.
Justice for All
In general, Christians don’t expect non-believers to live according to biblical morals, and they want all American citizens to have their rights protected. There are some extremists in every group, but Christians do not want to impose their morals on others. However, neither do they want what they consider to be immorality imposed on them. The recent Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage did just that, even though its most serious violation of America was about much more. It was an unconstitutional decision, and if allowed to stand, brings into question whether we are still a Constitutional Republic, or a nation of laws.
The Constitution is clear that any authority not specifically given to the Federal Government is reserved to the states and the people. Nowhere is the Federal Government given authority to impose such a social agenda. Many Americans seem to assume that because the Federal Government is bigger, it has authority over the states. The opposite is actually true if we are still basing our government on the Constitution. The states have authority over the Federal Government in everything that is not specifically mentioned in the Constitution as being given to the Federal Government. Any other authority it takes does not have legal legitimacy.
Thomas Jefferson’s loudest and most vehement warnings were about “judicial tyranny,” which he warned would become exactly like what the Supreme Court, and many of the Federal Courts, are now imposing on America. These rulings are unlawful and unconstitutional. The justices that blatantly violated their oath to defend the Constitution by voting for something like this should be impeached.
California’s vote for Proposition Eight in 2008 was the constitutional way to handle such issues—by the states and by the people. A state does have the right to have same-sex marriage or not. The State of California, and the people, decided how they wanted this issue settled in their state. They voted not to have same-sex marriage. A single Federal Court judge, who was himself exposed as being a practicing homosexual at the time of his decision, overturned the will of millions of people and the State of California. That is what Jefferson called “judicial tyranny.” It is unlawful and unconstitutional.
This judge should have certainly been impeached for such a violation of the Constitution, but no one did a thing because we do not have leaders who keep their oath of office. Those who did nothing should be impeached as well for not obeying their oath to defend the Constitution from enemies both foreign and domestic.
So should the President and his previous Attorney General be impeached for saying that they would not enforce laws they did not agree with because they took an oath to uphold the laws of the land? Absolutely. Their brazen contempt for the Constitution and the laws that were lawfully passed by Congress and signed by a President was a blatant violation of their oath of office, and so they should have been removed from office.
Not to defend the laws and the Constitution only releases further lawlessness in the land. So, those who did nothing in the face of this are just as guilty. If the President does not have to obey laws he does not agree with, why should anyone else?
So what can we do? It is up to the people, the ultimate authority, to impeach those who violate their oaths of office, to remove them from office, and indict those who have so betrayed their country.
With the same-sex marriage decision, our Supreme Court has released into the land that those who hold to what have been the moral standards accepted by every nation, religion, and civilization in history can be attacked as “haters.” We already have examples of those who have lost their livelihoods for refusing to violate their conscience by serving what they believe to be immoral. The next step will be to see them prosecuted for “hate crimes,” as is already happening in Europe.
Who Are the Real Haters?
I don’t hate homosexuals and don’t know a single Christian who does. In fact, the only hate I’ve witnessed, and the worst intolerance in the land today, is coming from the LGBT agenda toward anyone who dares to disagree with them or fails to celebrate their perversion.
A few years ago, I was waiting to speak at a conference in Switzerland. I was listening to the speaker before me say something about what he and his wife were doing. Then he stopped abruptly and apologized for using the term “wife,” saying he meant “partner.” While I was being introduced, I asked him why he apologized for using the term “wife.” He replied that the terms “wife” and “husband” are no longer politically correct. I could see genuine fear in him that there could be consequences for this slip.
I have spent a good part of my life speaking in different European nations, and I have always considered Switzerland a type of barometer. It has been one of the most stable, civilized, sane, and honorable nations. I knew if such craziness was seeping into the fabric of that great country, then Western civilization was indeed sick. We are very sick.
But we have hope. There is strong evidence that this sickness is in the Federal Government and in the elitists who think they are the only smart ones capable of dictating how we live. Most people are still not so deluded! The people have been expressing loudly when given a chance to believe differently than what the elitists consider politically correct. Their defense of Dan Cathy, owner of Chick-fil-A, and Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty are examples. Most people are not for the madness being imposed on us, and we will not take it much longer.
The Consequences
The Prophet Isaiah warned what would happen when a nation fell to this ultimate depravity of calling good evil and evil good, honoring the dishonorable and dishonoring the honorable. There could hardly be a more clear definition of the corruption and perversion that has now taken over America and most of Western civilization. We are beginning to suffer the consequences Isaiah warned would certainly come upon those nations—the subjection to immature, capricious, and incompetent leaders.
The Republican Party establishment is mystified by the appeal of Donald Trump, but it is clear to those not taken over by the politically correct (PC) sickness. He may be coarse, offensive, and callous, but Trump seems to be one of the few public figures left who is not taken over by the creeping madness of PC. He has given hope to millions of people that there may be real leadership yet to be found in this country.
Lawlessness is increasing at the same time our police forces are under the worst attack in our history. Our borders are wide open and our enemies are pouring through them. Our Federal Government seems more intent on aiding them than stopping them. An illegal alien now has more rights and benefits than American citizens. Looters are lauded as heroes while the police who are risking their lives every day to protect us are being demonized—by our government!
You can’t make this stuff up. If this were put into a movie no one would go see it because it would be too far-fetched. Who could blame our enemies for losing respect for us and smacking around our leaders like weaklings on the playground? America is in increasing jeopardy from enemies within and without.
What Can We Do?
Psalm 11:3 asks, “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” There is a lot that we can do. Let’s begin by considering what the Lord is doing, as expressed in Psalm 2:1-4:
Why are the nations in an uproar, and the peoples devising a vain thing?
The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,
"Let us tear their fetters apart, and cast away their cords from us!"
He who sits in the heavens laughs…
As Bishop Wellington Boone once said, “We need not worry about the things God is laughing at.” There is a difference between valid concern and worry. Concern leads to positive actions. Worry clouds our vision. The perfect action plan is found in the rest of this Psalm:
The Lord scoffs at them.
Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury.
“But as for Me, I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain.”
“I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to Me,‘You are My Son. Today I have begotten You.
“‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as Your possession.
“‘You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.’”
Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; take warning, O judges of the earth.
Worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling.
Do homage to the Son so that He does not become angry, and you perish in the way. For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him! (Psalm 2:4-12)
We need not worry about the Lord defending His own name. He will soon demonstrate His contempt for those who have shown Him contempt. Nations that have acted arrogantly toward Him will be shattered. It is our place to worship the Lord with the reverence that He deserves, without compromise or yielding to the fear of man. We can rejoice that His kingdom will surely come, but also tremble at the awesome God we serve. If we live in the pure and holy fear of the Lord, we do not have to fear anyone else. Those blessed by Him have their refuge in Him.
What Do We Do?
Whether we are being dismantled on purpose or by incompetence, the results are the same—our foundations are being destroyed. Many have already left America for what they think is a safer place. Others are planning to leave. The saying is that “rats are the first to leave a sinking ship.” We should be glad those who no longer care for their country are gone. The Lord told us to occupy until He comes. We are called to be the salt and light. If America goes down, I for one intend to go down with it. I will not abandon my post.
The United States was founded by the most unique revolution in history—a revolution led by the most prosperous and prominent. When they resolved to risk their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, they had something to lose. Those who signed the Declaration of Independence were among the wealthiest in the colonies—they were the top one percent. Two who signed the Declaration knew that the moment they signed they would lose everything they had worked so hard for as British troops were camped right next to their estates. They signed anyway.
Many of those remarkable souls lost their lives and their fortunes, but they did not lose their honor. The only commandment given by God with a promise attached was to honor our fathers and mothers. The promise is that it will go well with us, and that we would dwell long in the land that the Lord has given to us. This promise is in both the Old and New Testaments (see Exodus 20:12; Ephesians 6:2). What could we do that would dishonor our Founding Fathers more than abandoning that for which they paid such a price?
I walked among the graves of our fallen soldiers in Normandy, France. I was determined to lay my eyes on each grave in order to acknowledge and honor them in the only way I knew how. I was with three of my children. Their average age was nineteen at the time, the same as those who were in those graves. I explained to my children that we could have a family and all of the blessings we enjoy because those young people buried there were willing to sacrifice their lives. The way we thank them is by not letting what they paid such a high price for be in vain—that it would not be lost on our watch.
The only safe place in these times is in the will of God. We can be sure that doing something so dishonorable as abandoning our country and heritage will not lead to the will of God, or the sought after safety. As most who are leaving the country are people of great means, have you considered that you were blessed with what you have in order to help save your country? Many of these may prove to be the greedy and selfish who only took advantage of us, but I think we are going to see the rest of the one percent in our times rise up again with the noble resolve that mirrors that of our Founders.
We may think that the Bible has many bad things to say about the rich, and it does the evil rich, but our Founding Patriarchs were some of the richest of their times. Many of the other heroes of the faith were some of the most prosperous in Israel’s history, such as kings like David and Josiah. America was meant to be an exception, which is what is meant by “American exceptionalism.”
It will take the same kind of courage, honor, and sacrifice to save the country as it did to found it. Where are the great souls today who will arise with the courage of our Founding Fathers? They will arise. The only question is if we will be one of them.
The follow up Bulletin to this one will be “How High We Will Rise.”
