Al Brown
It would be difficult to find an age when people were more aimless and lacking in purpose than they are today. Could we pinpoint a time when men were more alienated from one another, or when the gods of greed, mammon, and selfishness held greater sway? Politicians and media personalities occasionally get concerned and ask, “What has happened to us?” But no one seems to know, or if they do, they will not admit it. Solutions are offered, but the basic problem, as well as the one effective remedy, is carefully ignored.
A call is occasionally made for personal sacrifice for the well-being of the nation. Do you honestly think this will happen? It is similar to asking a cow to give a strawberry milkshake. She just doesn’t have it in her. Our people do not have it in them either—at least not until they can face the truth. They must be willing to admit what is really wrong and have a sincere desire to change things in the only way that will make a difference.
The Problem
The basic problem is man’s alienation from God. He is isolated from other men because he is estranged from God. The greater his separation from God, the deeper the rift gets between men. The heathen world was fragmented by selfishness, and the fruit of that selfishness was their gross immorality.
The real source of their discord was their refusal to have God in their knowledge. Paul said they,
became vain in their reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools… Wherefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts unto uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves: for that they exchanged the truth of God for a lie…And even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up unto a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, unmerciful (Rom. 1:21-31).
The Ugly Truth
This also describes present-day America. She has banished God from her consciousness. Professing to be wise, fools have expelled the Creator from the nation’s classrooms, legislative bodies, and halls of justice. The nation’s homes lie in ruins. Her churches have degenerated into social welfare agencies. Her doctors turned from healing bodies to murdering babies.
Now, a horde of dope-heads, sodomites, dead beats, and other assorted social misfits feed on the land like a plague of maggots demanding support from the public coffers. Prisons overflow. Justice is a joke. Murder by the millions—euphemized as abortion—is practiced on a scale that makes Adolf Hitler and his crowd seem like boy scouts. Lawmakers represent—not the people who put them in office—but the highest bidder.
Worldly Wisdom’s Failure
What caused all this? Simply stated, we listened to the voice of worldly wisdom (liberalism, socialism, humanism, atheism), and this depraved assortment of ravenous wolves destroyed the moral fiber of our people.
Men can live by God’s standard of righteousness and reap the benefits, or they can ignore that standard and destroy themselves. Most Americans have chosen the latter. God tells us: “Righteousness exalteth a nation; But sin is a reproach to any people” (Pro. 14:34). Again, “the way of the transgressor is hard” (Pro. 13:15), and we are learning just how hard.
Patchwork efforts will doubtless be made to correct some of our most undesirable and shameful problems, but they are doomed for four reasons. (1) Most will not abandon worldly wisdom or the selfishness that lies at the root of immorality. (2) Appealing to worldly, selfish people to practice altruism is wishful thinking. (3) Few will acknowledge Christ as Lord or His wisdom as their guide. (4) Most people will refuse to repent of their rebellion against God.
All is not Lost—Yet
The government subsidizes fornication by supporting unwed mothers, but the only real solution is for these women (and their partners) to stop fornicating. We can quadruple the size of our prison systems, but people filled with envy, selfishness, and hate will not stop preying on others.
The restoration of sanity and morality to our land will occur only when God is restored to His rightful place in society. We will enjoy peace and tranquility only when men repent of their sin and rebellion against God and live in submission to His will.
A Unique Opportunity
This is not likely to happen in wholesale lots, but it can be accomplished one at a time. There is a remnant—God’s faithful—who could have a powerful impact on the country if they would but lose themselves in a cause greater than themselves (the cause of Christ).
The deteriorating moral and spiritual condition of our people has caused even the liberal, humanist-controlled media to express alarm. Opportunities have seldom been greater to preach the pure, simple gospel of Christ to a weary, aimless nation. We will still have to contest every inch of ground with false ideologies and teachers, but what will happen to us if we are content to do nothing while those worldly souls quite literally go to hell? How long will these doors remain open?
The Call to Battle
This is a time for stout-hearted, faithful Christians to fearlessly call rebellious people to repentance, as the prophets of old did. As the army of God, we must rise up and assault the citadels of Satan (2 Cor. 10:3-5). We must be willing to spend and be spent in the service of our Lord and for the salvation of men. If we refuse—or fail, are we any less culpable than they?
