On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia moved “that these united colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states.” The resolution was adopted on July 2, and the Declaration of Independence was approved on July 4.
Most of the signers had seminary degrees and this influence is strongly reflected in the first two paragraphs of the document in which the reality of God as Creator is clearly acknowledged. Defying the odds and beginning with a rag-tag militia, the colonies, with the help of France, goes on to win its freedom over what was then perhaps the greatest military power on earth.
It was this enduring belief in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Father of Jesus of Nazareth that I believe made America the greatest nation in the history of civilization. this is not to say we were perfect. The injustices perpetrated on North America’s original inhabitants, the perpetuation of the enslavement of other human beings, the denial of the right to vote for women still taints our history. But we learned from these mistakes and made moves to correct them—albeit some are still a work in progress.
Our willingness to step up and sacrifice ourselves to stop aggression and totalitarianism abroad have been legendary. The advances in living standards and technology this country has made has been no less than spectacular.
Then something went terribly wrong.
On June 17, 1963 by an 8-1 vote, the Supreme court effectively kicked God out of our schools. Worse than this outrage was the placidity of most of the Christians in this country to allow this to stand for almost 50 years with no significant challenge.
Within five months President Kennedy was gunned down in Dallas. The succeeding years of this decade were marked by the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., the deepening and divisive involvement in Viet Nam, the expansion of the drug culture, “free love,” and the general loss of the innocence and optimism of our society.
I think it’s safe to say that we never really recovered from the 1960s.
On January 22, 1973, by a vote of 7-2 Roe v. Wade prevented states from restricting abortions within the first three months of life, or banning it for the second trimester.
So, let’s see where we’ve ended up since then.
Instead of the Lord’s Prayer, our schools now hand out condoms, have full time police patrolling the halls, and are increasingly bringing in a homosexual-friendly agenda into even the earliest grades.
Instead of families consisting of a mother, father, and children, over half of them are now single-parent and a growing number of families are composed of homosexual or lesbian partners.
Even in “traditional” families, mom and dad are schlepping off the upbringing of their infant children to strangers (day care). Later on some of these absentee parents express complete surprise that their kid is using drugs… or planning, and sometimes succeeding, to carry out terrorist acts.
Four thousand of the unborn who had no voice or choice in their conception are terminated in what is euphemistically called a “procedure” every day.
As I write, America has willingly abandoned our leadership technologically, economically, and, as we have seen, morally as well.
We look in confusion at the converging of economic, political, religious, and even natural events enveloped in a turmoil that seems to be swallowing up not only the world, but now coming home in earnest to the United States and wonder why.
Though the passage below was specifically directed toward the Israelites as they headed for the Promised Land and the specifics regarding the Jordan and “graven images” (idolatry) differ, perhaps it still gives insight into why America has ended up where it is today and what its future will be if its present course continues to be followed:
“When thou shalt beget children, and children’s children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of anything, and shall do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God to provoke him to anger. I call upon heaven and Earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over the Jordan to possess it: ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall be utterly destroyed” (Deuteronomy 4:25-26).
In the end we know God will make things right for those who believe and trust in Jesus. But when we stand before Him as we all one day will, what account will we give of our stewardship and witness of His Word when it really counted?