What is America’s Destiny? (Part 6 of 7)
By Dr. David Reagan
The Parallels
Let’s consider the parallels once again between Judah and the United States: Ancient Judah was blessed with great leaders, freedom, prosperity and spiritual blessings — all of which we have enjoyed.
But, like Judah, we have drifted into pride and rebellion. And as with ancient Judah, God has responded with prophetic warnings and remedial judgments. We are now courting His Destruction.
A Crucial Question
This brings us to a very important question: Why should the United States be treated any differently? The answer, of course, is that God is not treating us any differently. He has raised up prophetic voices to call us to repentance, and He has sent remedial judgments. And our response has been one of patriotism, when the needed response is repentance.
The 9/11 Attacks
After 9/11 my wife noticed an explosion of bumper stickers saying, “God Bless America!” One day she turned to me and said, “Those bumper stickers are wrong, because God has already blessed America.”
So, she designed what she considered to be a more appropriate sticker: “America Bless God!”
The 9/11 attacks were a wake-up call for our nation. But instead of awakening to the need for repentance, we reacted like a sleepy man who hits the snooze button on his alarm clock, rolls over, and goes back to sleep.
And so, our society has continued to slouch toward Gomorrah.
The Decay of Society
Let me take a moment to emphasize to you how serious the decay of our society has become. Only a person my age can appreciate how radically and how quickly our society has disintegrated.
I was born in 1938 when autos still had running boards and gasoline was 20 cents a gallon.
When I was born…
Abortionists were sent to prison.
Pregnancy out of wedlock was thought of as scandalous.
Homosexuality was considered unnatural and immoral.
Pornography was despised as a perversion.
Drugs were something you bought at a drug store.
Marriage was sacred.
Living together was taboo.
Divorce was a disgrace.
Same-sex marriage was beyond even the wildest and most depraved imagination.
Homemaking was honored, and day care was provided by mothers in their homes. Child abuse was almost unheard of.
Ladies did not curse or smoke.
The word,”Damn,” was considered flagrant language in a movie.
The first major motion picture to use a curse word was Gone with the Wind in 1939. The movie ended with the phrase, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” In 2013 a film called The Wolf of Wall Street, starring Leonardo de Caprio, had the “f-word” in it 544 times in 180 minutes!
In 1997, the veteran television star, Steve Allen, denounced the growing filth contained in movies and television programs by saying, “We have become a society where vulgarians entertain barbarians.” And that was 20 years ago!
A Temporary Respite
It is true that in His grace and mercy, God has given us a temporary respite — a window of grace through the miraculous election of Donald Trump in 2016.
Incidentally, I believe the crucial factor in producing that miracle was Franklin Graham’s prayer crusade that he took to every state capital in our nation. At each stop, he began his presentation with the same words:
“I have no hope in the Democratic Party, and I have no hope in the Republican Party. Zero hope. Our only hope is God.” And he proceeded to call our nation to prayer and repentance.
I think it is very interesting that back in 1980 when Ronald Reagan was elected, Francis Shaeffer, one of God’s prophetic voices to America, also referred to Reagan’s election as a “window of grace” from God, and it was. But as soon as his term ended in 1989, our society took up where it had left off in its rejection of Judeo-Christian values and proceeded with its downward spiral into the secular, pagan pit of Humanism.
President Trump is doing a lot of things right while he continues to proclaim that he is going to “Make America Great Again.”
But don’t count on it. No one can make our nation great again as long as we continue in our outright rebellion against God and His Word.
Our nation, like Judah, has gone too far in its rejection of God. I believe we have reached the point where our wound has become incurable. The election of Trump is not a portent of our future. And I can prove that with three brutal facts.
After eight years of the most ungodly administration in American history:
1) President Obama left office with a 60% approval rating.
2) His designated heir, Hillary Clinton, received 3 million more votes than Trump.
3) And our nation’s future — the Millennials (18 to 29 year olds) — supported an out-and-out Socialist, and when he failed to get the nomination, they voted overwhelmingly for Clinton.
The Most Brutal Reality
But more important than these three facts is the ignorance of God’s Word that has come to characterize both our nation and professing Christians. This ignorance is reflected in the latest polls conducted by the Barna Association which show that only 9% of Americans are Bible-believing Christians! And even more shocking, only 17% of professing Christians are truly Bible-believing Christians!
And what determines a Bible-believing Christian? Answers to the following six questions:
1) Does absolute moral truth exist?
2) Is the Bible totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches?
3) Is Satan a real being and not simply a symbolic force?
4) Can people earn their way into Heaven by doing good works?
5) Did Jesus live a sinless life?
6) Is God the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the world who still rules the universe today?
Again, only 9% of Americans can answer these questions biblically, and only 17% of professing Christians can do so. Is it any wonder that a recent national poll by the George Barna’s American Culture and Faith Institute revealed that:
77% of Americans believe divorce is acceptable.
71% believe sexual intercourse between unmarried adults is acceptable.
69% believe having a baby out of marriage is acceptable.
58% believe viewing pornography is acceptable.
Or, consider what public opinion polls are showing regarding same-sex marriage: acceptance of the abomination of same-sex marriage has increased rapidly from 37% in 2007 to 62% in 2018. The acceptance among white Evangelicals has increased from 14% in 2007 to 35% in 2018.
The latest poll in 2018 shows that Alabama is the only state in the Union where a majority of people oppose same-sex marriage!
Our nation needs to wake-up to the fact that legalizing an abomination does not make it moral. Here’s how one organization has put it.
The Triumph of Humanism
My friends, we need to face up to the fact that we have lost the culture war. Humanism has triumphed. We are now a nation begging God to deliver us from judgment to destruction.
If President Trump is succeeded by another liberal ideological person like Obama or Bernie Sanders, supported by a liberal Congress, the turn around will be swift and breathtaking.
All of Trump’s executive orders will be reversed overnight.
The 2nd Amendment will come under concerted attack.
Abortion will be promoted.
Hate speech legislation will be broadened to prevent people speaking out against the Sexual Perversion Movement.
Israel will be abandoned.
Expressions of Christianity will be confined to church buildings.
People say, “But the Supreme Court will stand as a wall of protection against the tide of paganism and secularism.” My response is, “Don’t count on it.”
Our constitution does not specify the number of judges on the Supreme Court. This is determined by Congress. A radical President with a supporting Congress can undercut the Court by passing legislation to increase the members from 9 to 11 and to allow for additional appointments for each judge who stays on the court beyond the age of 70.
Yes, FDR tried this in 1937 when he was at the height of his popularity and failed. But what most people forget or don’t know is that after originally determining in 1789 that the Supreme Court would have six justices, the Congress has changed the size of the Court five times by either increasing or decreasing the number of justices — each time for political reasons.
In the seventh and last part of our series concerning America’s destiny, we will consider if there is any hope for America.