Thursday, October 27, 2016
If you keep quiet at a time like this,
deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you
and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just
such a time as this? Esther 4:14(NLT)
America's
Parallel with Israel; Moral and Spiritual Decline
America’s political
existence, power and prestige among the nations of the earth are a by-product
of spiritual strength consistent with the founding of the land of the free and
home of the brave. The French poet
Alexis de Tocqueville came to America in the early 19th century to find
the key to the new nation’s greatness; he wrote:
Not until I
went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with
righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and
if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great!"
HAS AMERICA CEASED TO BE GOOD?
In Edward
Gibbon's The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire he lists five
paths that so-called indestructible society
followed which, unquestionably, led to its' crumbling:
1. The
undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home.
In days gone
by, the children of America could typically expect a Mother and Father to be
married, be faithful, and be there. The
crisis of the home and family in America is enough to make one agree with
Thomas Jefferson who said: Indeed
I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just.
2. Increasing
taxes and spending of public money for bread and circuses
America is
now less characterized by the "working-man ethic” than the caricature of
the human
orchard pig. Farmers turn
their pigs loose in peach orchards to eat the windfalls. All day long the pigs sit in the shade with
one ear to the ground, waiting for a peach to fall off the tree. When it does, they waddle over, eat it, and
plop down in that very spot until the wind knocks another one out of the
tree.
3. The mad
craze for pleasure, with sports becoming more exciting and more brutal.
If this is
not a sports-crazed society we will never see one. Violent movies, violence oriented child
pornography, computer war games...America?
Rome?
4. The
building of gigantic armaments, when the real enemy is the decadence of the
people.
The downsizing
of our military is a misnomer when you ask the question: How many fingers does it take to push a
nuclear-missile launch button?
5. The decay
of religion, with faith fading into mere form.
Many of our
candidates have a November spirituality that reveals a January carnality. Newsweek magazine reported in 1989 on a sting
operation to uncover graft in New York.
Rudy Giulliani, then New York's U.S. Attorney made the following
report:
On 106
occasions, bribes were offered or discussed.
On 105 of those occasions, the public official involved accepted the
bribe. And on the other occasion, he
turned it down because he didn't think the amount was large enough.
Many of our
contemporary church members have joined themselves to the culture rather than
the Christ. The carnality of church
members in America has weakened the influence of the body of Christ in
society. Consistently the courts are
making anti-Christian rulings.
The culture
in America thumbs its collective noses at the bride of Christ. Like Haman they construct their gallows for
the few who have the character of Mordecai to stand against ungodliness in our
generation.
For You Today
Tomorrow we
will look at the Christian response to a crumbling culture. Perhaps it is God’s plan that the church was
made for such a time as this.
NOTES
