The Vanishing Bedrock
Our founders relied heavily on the God of the Bible and His Christ in all matters pertaining to our nation. These men taught us, even warned us, that if we fell away from Him who guided them through great risk and trial of war we could not expect His grace to abide with us.
Both before and after becoming a nation, we fell away from dependence on Christ a number of times, but there were always those who brought her back to a right standing – or at least a better one – through grand repentance. These movements, or “awakenings,” were led by distinguished men who garnered admiration and respect, even from those who refused to hear them. The preaching and influence of such men as Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, Dwight L. Moody, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, and others helped us to regain our standing with the God of our nation, even in Britain.
Now, gone are those great voices. Gone also are the Charles Finneys and Nathaniel Taylors. Gone are the R.A. Torreys and the Billy Sundays. Perhaps all too soon, we may be losing that great voice of repentance in the last half of the 20th Century, Billy Graham. And who is left to take their place? Joel Osteen? P-l-ease!
Here, perhaps, is the crack in the foundation through which Christianity fell in America.
Heresy in one form or another had already been on the rise well before the turn of the 20th century. Still, strong men of the pulpit were heard, and the knees of many hearts bowed before God.
Following World War 2, our nation was elated. We felt secure. We rightfully thanked our God and worshipped Him for overseeing the victory over world tyranny. Having won that terrible and traumatic war, though, the nation and much of Christianity vested great trust in the Government. The nation was vigilant, politically and militarily, but we rested on our laurels in the most crucial of ways. We abandoned the post that guarded the most precious principle of a free nation: trust in Christ. The people relaxed, not listening to those spiritual guards and giants of Christ who remained at their post and who warned of coming danger. We focused on providing our children with the things we didn’t have while growing up. Rather than helping them overcome the hardships of life, we removed difficulties from their paths – and they didn’t learn. As Thomas Paine wisely observed: “What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly.” Worst of all, we didn’t train them in THE WAY that would secure them all through life: Christ. The children of the “Age of Aquarius” appeared on the scene. Children proclaiming “God is dead” filled the spiritual gap left by our slackness. Their influence carries on to this day, spreading the physical diseases of their “free love,” thumbing their noses at God’s warnings, and teaching the situational ethics of each doing that which is right in his own eyes. (See Judges 17:6 and Proverbs 12:15) During that time, HIV and AIDS were incubated, waiting to emerge, and venereal disease in its many forms became pandemic. Many of these wayward children became political leaders; others occupied the platforms in our universities and filled the very pulpits and podiums of our churches. They trained others not to be bothered by a God whose wrath continually abides on sin (John 3:36), and their converts have taken their place, attracting many people who do not want to be bothered by conscience. (2Timothy 4:3) The Bible describes such spiritual vagrancy as harlotry, as one can see from Psalms 9:17 and Jeremiah 5:7.
So, America has become a great harlot, once close to the living Christ but now reveling in religiosity, devoid of the repentance necessary to bring her back on track. Our nation’s Christian heritage has been cast aside and castigated. Waywardness has gained political footholds, and homosexuality has become the only protected behavior in the American culture. Out of convenience, and perhaps believing that God has not noticed, our nation has even slain millions of children before they were born – and some afterward. Valid criticism and rightful dissent are being declared hate speech, and opinion contrary to social and political persuasion is on the brink of being regulated or outlawed, notwithstanding our Constitutional freedoms. The false gospels of social sensitivity, prosperity, and self-esteem are preached in the pulpits and schools, and the actual gospel of salvation by repentance and trust in a resurrected Savior is being pushed away. Consequently, the gospel of Christ, that once-recognized Life preserver wherein He only is God’s answer to sin and salvation, is portrayed as unkind and insensitive to others who choose to worship someone else or in some other manner. By such means, our people and politicians dismantle God’s “sin” alarm and ignore the only “fireman” who can save them. In their struggle to protect their conscience from offense, this government of people shuns the only early warning system we have—the Holy Bible. Still, it continues to call to us:
Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price … Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near. (Isaiah 55:1,6) For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. (2Corinthians 6:2)
The “Age of Aquarius” was really the “Age of Harlotry,” and its effects continue to this day. We vacate the very wisdom upon which we were founded, and other countries are following our lead. I wonder if we will be held accountable for that, also.
Has America become the Judas Iscariot of the end times? Will America outdo God and escape the very ruin and devastation that He has brought on all other nations who defied Him…especially seeing that we were founded upon Him? Will America continue to think she is a queen who cannot be thrown from her throne? What suitable consequence can there be for such harlotry?
I fear the answer might be sudden…and not long in coming. The rest of the world should find our fate very interesting.
Mr. Blake has a Bachelors degree in Theology and a Masters degree in Management.