The magnetic compass is believed to have been invented about 206 B.C. by the Han Dynasty and later adopted by the Song Dynasty for navigation purposes. The compass was made from lodestone (leading stone) a magnetic material. A properly working compass is a necessary guide to lead one to the correct destination. I can recall movies of sailing ships where the helmsman sat out on the open deck and his only guide was a compass to lead him across an endless ocean.
Another type of compass is our revered Constitution which has been our moral compass since 1776. This Constitution has guided America from Revolution to building the greatest nation on earth and is intended for a moral people…others need not apply.
Today we are facing many forces which are designed to destroy the Constitution and our way of life. Where did this begin?
In the period before World War II there was a patriotic fervor around the country that made Americans proud of their land and treasure. Religious schools allowed prayer and the opening of the day was witnessed the Pledge of Allegiance and/or prayer. The use of profanity in civil discourse was frowned upon and children would be punished for mentioning a curse word in public.
Our movies were censored for foul language. An interesting problem occurred with the release of the movie, Gone with the Wind. The censors went wild over Clark Gable’s comment, “Frankly dear, I don’t give a damn.” The language used in today’s movies and TV plays borders on the obscene. How did we arrive at this low in moral degradation?
People in the entertainment business continued to push back on the frontiers of decency. When people rejected the lowering of standards there were many who rose up to defend the filth and so the wall of decency kept moving backward.
Meanwhile, our churches began to slip away from their charter of preaching salvation to getting involved in social issues, which is not the purpose of the clergy. Our politicians and social engineers added to our mess by passing legislation to further our decline. When Congress passed Brown v Board of Education, God was thrown out of our schools. This was a catalyst for removing God from so much of our daily discourse, that many times people are struck with awe at the mention of the name of God or Jesus Christ.
Not to be overdone, Congress came through with another winner for Satan’s side with the passage of Roe v Wade. This opened the floodgates to mass murder on the innocents. Word meanings were contorted so that murder now had a more polite name, “CHOICE!” To illustrate the folly of our depraved thinking, consider an event sponsored by the University of Notre Dame.
The high priests at Notre Dame invited Mario the Pius (Governor Mario Cuomo) to address the students and faculty. The meeting was held in Stephan Center to an overflowing crowd. Mario the Pius spoke of the problem of Capital Punishment. He declared that Capital Punishment is murder but that abortion is a choice. The entire audience leapt to their feet in a roar of approval.
This is the engine that drives us to lower levels of morality and disregard for human life. Since Roe v Wade was passed in 1973 there have been over 57,762,169 abortions and counting. This writer has calculated that if we stacked these innocents on top of each other, we would have a tower that would reach 5200 miles into the sky. What a remarkable monument to this current civilization!
Another disheartening problem is the use of foul language is in our daily discourse. It is so disgusting to hear little children using language that was not permitted during the last century. Our public officials often use foul language routinely; a measure of our descent into the garbage pile of history.
And what about bad behavior in high places?
I can recall when a public official was required to leave office because of a divorce. The public would not tolerate this type of person in office. In recent years the American people have been cursed with national leaders of low moral character. Consider the sexual activity in the Kennedy Administration that was well covered up by the compliant press. Not to be outdone we were treated to the most lewd behavior of W. J. Clinton during his terms in the White House.
How much damage did he do to our young people exposing them to perverted sexual behavior in the White House (the people’s house). Imagine parents who had to explain to their children what was going on. Worse yet, where was the outcry from the clergy, the public and the legal professions to demand immediate removal of that monster from office? The press defended him at every turn.
It is no wonder that we are in the precarious situation we now face!
In the field of music youth are drowning in filthy lyrics that would make one want to throw up. Carlton Hesston attended a shareholders meeting in California where the members of the company board of the music provider sat upon the stage. He asked permission to address the board and proceeded to read, word for word, the lyrics of songs that were being fed to our youth. The words were so filthy that the members of the board looked at the floor in complete humiliation of the garbage they were feeding our youth.
Another evil are video games which are pornographic. These are available to our youth at video centers. Imagine our youth with impressionable minds who carry with them the vivid messages in these videos that have an addictive effect like pornography?
We are now facing two more examples of madness: The opioid crisis and the foolishness of legalizing the use of marijuana. States like California are soft on this evil. Recently, Colorado legalized the marketing of this product and they are now reaping the benefits of their folly. More crime, people driving under the influence and the politicians enjoying an expansion of the tax base are now showing the negative effects of their folly. Imagine a nation of citizen high on drugs? Such a nation will have a very short half-life.
Historically this is not new. One only needs to go back to Genesis to learn of the origin of this perversion and subsequent events that has trailed mankind since the creation. The purveyors of this filth always lose. Unless America wakes up to this danger, we can expect the same punishment so vividly described in the Bible.
An examination of Scripture would give us an idea where we are heading, and the consequences of a people allowing this nonsense to exist. Christians need to take a stand and fight this filth before it engulfs all of us. Our moral compass is broken and we are like ship without a rudder. No compass other than the moral compass of Jesus can save the ship. We need to fix our moral compass and change our course toward the high calling of Christ Jesus.