| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"UR Welcome! UR" |
| Date: |
17 Jul 2007 01:34:39 PM |
| Object: |
A Nation Unravels |
.. A Nation Unravels
Progress has brought us both unbounded opportunities and unbridled
difficulties. Thus, the measure of our civilization will not be that we
have done much, but what we have done with that much. I believe that the
next half century will determine if we will advance the cause of Christian
civilization or revert to the horrors of brutal paganism. The thought of
modern industry in the hands of Christian charity is a dream worth
dreaming. The thought of industry in the hands of paganism is a nightmare
beyond imagining. The choice between the two is upon us.
.. -President Theodore Roosevelt, 1909
.. The Battle for America's Soul
During the first few decades of the 20th century, exciting things were
happening in our country. American optimism was high, and we were having a
positive influence on the world. It seemed as if technology could solve
almost any problem. One example of the energy and enthusiasm of American
enterprise was the building of the Panama Canal. The French had tried in
the 1880s, but disease and poor planning had foiled their efforts. Some
estimates place the French death toll at nearly 20,000.
When the United States received the rights to build the canal, American
engineers and workers flooded the Isthmus of Panama. They found the
project extremely difficult. Mosquitoes carrying malaria took their toll;
whole sides of mountains collapsed into newly dug ditches; high humidity
caused unbearable working conditions; and mold grew on almost everything.
But the Americans kept digging.
After spending $352 million and ten years, the United States completed the
project. More than 5,500 people had died during the construction,
including 350 Americans. But the project was a success. The elaborate
system of locks opened on August 15, 1914, saving ships thousands of miles
of travel around the tip of South America. It seemed as if America could
accomplish anything.
.. The Passion for Souls Continues
Exciting things were also occurring in the world of Christianity. If the
18th century was America's foundation and the 19th the era of spiritual
testing and growth, then surely the 20th century would be God's final
preparation for America to attain her purposes in His divine plan of
redemption. At the turn of the century, that seemed possible.
At that time, America took the lead in sending out missionaries. Hundreds
of Americans set off for places they had only seen on maps to spend the
rest of their lives serving God. Many died of disease or martyrdom, but
their passion for winning the world for Christ inspired others to follow
in their footsteps. These missionaries began to use their specialized
skills on the field and a new cross-cultural dialog began replacing the
old colonialism of the 19th century.
For the first time, single women like Lottie Moon and Johanna Veenstra
took a more active role in the Christian community. The Student Volunteer
Movement inspired daring young students from colleges and universities to
forego prestigious careers and follow Christ. It is estimated that half of
the Protestant missionary force came from this movement alone. John R.
Mott, a great missionary statesman, was its foremost speaker. Sherwood
Eddy wrote of his experiences as a student volunteer:
In retrospect, I find I have spent half a century along the far-flung
battle line of missions. I was one of the first of sixteen thousand
student volunteers who were swept into what seemed to us nothing less than
a missionary crusade. We were considered fanatical by some, and we made
numerous mistakes which we ourselves came to realize later in bitter
experience. Many sacrificed early plans and ambitions for wealth, power,
prestige, or pleasure to go to some distant country about which they knew
little save its abysmal need. Not wholly unlike the unity of Christendom
achieved during the Middle Ages was the feeling of these student volunteer
missionaries that they were one team, working for one world, under one
Captain.1
Also getting their start during this time were faith missions, where
missionaries are primarily responsible for raising their own support. A.
B. Simpson founded the Christian and Missionary Alliance, Peter Cameron
Scott the African Inland Mission, and C. I. Scofield the Central American
Mission. God raised up Christians who had a burden for such varied parts
of the world that it seemed as if the whole earth would soon be covered.
These men and women had a deep passion for Christ's work. Jim Elliot, who
was martyred for his faith, echoed their heart for the lost: "May we who
know Christ hear the cry of the damned as they hurtle head-long into the
Christless night without ever a chance . May we shed tears of repentance
for those we have failed to bring out of darkness."2
Faith mission societies became some of the most vibrant and innovative
segments of the Christian world. J. Herbert Kane, a missions historian,
writes:
Most of the innovations in the twentieth-century mission have been
introduced by the faith missions, including radio, aviation, Bible
correspondence courses, gospel recordings, tapes, cassettes, saturation
evangelism, and theological education by extension.3
Although times were hard during the Great Depression, the missionary
spirit never died in evangelical circles. Clarence Jones began the first
missionary radio effort; William Cameron Townsend trained missionary
linguists and founded Wycliffe translators; Joy Ridderhof birthed and
expanded gospel recordings. This period also saw the beginning of medical
missions.
On the home front, evangelist Billy Sunday, a former professional baseball
player, made waves across America during the first half of the century. It
all began when Sunday and his friends went to a bar to have a few drinks.
They walked outside to listen to the rescue mission musicians. There on
the street next to the bar, Billy Sunday was struck in the heart by the
old hymns and the testimonies. He sobbed and sobbed, and though his
friends mocked him, he accompanied a young man to the Pacific Garden
Mission. There he fell on his knees in repentance.
From that day on, Sunday gave up drinking and betting. Although he
continued his baseball career, he never played on Sundays. A few years
later, he felt called to tell others about Jesus Christ. He prayed for a
release from his contract with the Philadelphia team, and when it came, he
went into full-time Christian work. For almost twenty years, he packed
auditoriums as he preached the message of Jesus Christ.
.. The Battle Begins
Unfortunately, this exciting time for Christ's kingdom was also the hour
of Satan's frantic attempt to thwart God's purposes. Despite the many
challenges to our national purpose over the centuries, the battle for
America's soul did not begin in earnest until the 1920s. Then we began
using God's blessings for our personal gain. Millions of dollars were
traded in stocks, bonds, and commodities. Prohibition against alcohol was
flaunted in speakeasies. Money, fashions, and entertainment consumed the
American mind, while traditional morals and values were discarded.
C. S. Lewis once taught, "One of the dangers of having a lot of money is
that you may be quite satisfied with the kinds of happiness money can give
and so fail to realize your need for God. If everything seems to come
simply by signing checks, you may forget that you are at every moment
totally dependent on God."4 That is also true for nations. America's
wealth and material prosperity in the 1920s blinded us to our greater need
for God. By mid-decade, this rebellion reached into mainstream America and
tempted hundreds of thousands away from traditional beliefs.
One idea is flung against another with the heavy ring of contact. WHOSE
IDEAS will win the battle?
Two distinct forces were lining up to do battle for the soul of America.
Paul outlines the heart of the battle:
Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against
the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12).
In The Great Evangelical Disaster, the late Dr. Francis Schaeffer
describes the conflict in human terms:
The primary battle is a spiritual battle in the heavenlies. But, this does
not mean, therefore, that the battle we are in is otherworldly or outside
of human history. It is a real spiritual battle, but it is equally a
battle here on earth in our own country, our own communities, our places
of work and our schools, and even our own homes. The spiritual battle has
its counterpart in the visible world, in the minds of men and women, and
in every area of human culture. In the realm of space and time, the
heavenly battle is fought on the stage of human history.5
Potent forces were threatening to unravel our society. In 1830, Alexis de
Tocqueville captured the essence of who we were as a nation, our
successes, and the dangers to our future:
I sought for the key to the greatness and genius of America in her harbors
.. in her fertile fields and boundless forests, in her rich mines and vast
world commerce, in her public school system and institutions of learning.
I sought for it in her democratic Congress and in her matchless
Constitution. 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.6
In the 1920s, America traded her relationship with God for worldly
pursuits. We subscribed to ideals that put us at enmity with God without
acknowledging that it was God who had made America great in the first
place. What went wrong was that America was no longer "good." The battle
had begun.
.. The Battle of Ideas
What kind of foe were we facing? Imagine a great army of spiritual beings
battling in the heavenlies with sharply honed swords. These swords are not
made of tempered steel, but of strong ideas. One idea is flung against
another with the heavy ring of contact. Whose ideas will win the battle?
How we use the ideas we wield will determine who wins the battle for
America's soul. Will we keep our swords sheathed or come out fighting with
the ideas we know will win-the principles of God's Word?
Indeed, the 20th century could be labeled the battle of ideas. The Scopes
Trial of 1925, which took place in tiny Dayton, Tennessee, is a good
example. It revolved around the question of whether evolution should be
taught in public schools. While the ruling upheld the Christian belief in
creationism, Clarence Darrow and the ACLU leveled great public scorn upon
God, the Bible, and Christianity. The true goal of Darrow's efforts in the
Scopes Trial was revealed several years later when he returned to Dayton
and saw a new church under construction. He scoffed, "I guess I didn't do
much good here after all."7
Journalists like H. L. Mencken denounced Christianity as "a childish
theology founded upon hate" and called Christians "morons." His angry
diatribes, combined with those of other intellectuals, penetrated
mainstream thinking as many Americans began to believe they could actually
live without God.8
In the 1920s, Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood and a
believer in the science of racial purity known as eugenics, began her work
to popularize birth control. She stated, "Birth control appeals to the
advanced radical because it is calculated to undermine the authority of
the Christian churches. I look forward to seeing humanity free someday
from the tyranny of Christianity."9 Sanger's work formed the foundation
for the radical feminist movement, and her birth-control crusade led to
promiscuity and a collapse of sexual purity. Sanger's Planned Parenthood
became the world's leading provider of abortions. Men and women such as
Darrow, Mencken, and Sanger knew well that they were engaged in a war of
ideas-and a war against God.
Another idea that challenged the Christian faith was existentialism, a
humanistic philosophy based on disillusionment and the emptiness and
despair of secular life. Philosophers such as John-Paul Sartre, Albert
Camus, Martin Heidegger, and Karl Jaspers disseminated this idea. In one
outburst, French writer and social critic Sartre said, "There is no human
nature because there is no God to have a conception of it. Man simply is .
Man is nothing else but that which he makes of himself. That is the first
principle of existentialism."10 These beliefs provided the foundation for
the radical hippie movement of the 1960s. And from these roots arose some
of the most threatening anti-Christian ideologies and social policies.
In the wake of World War I, philosophers and scientists began putting
forth an entirely new way of thinking. Ideas from intellectuals such as
Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Sigmund Freud conveyed
much the same message to the generation of the '20s-that the world was not
what it seemed to be. People began to question almost everything.
Sigmund Freud, founder of modern psychology, believed that the world
revolves around sexual dysfunction. Some of his supposed "findings" are
graphically sexual. In one of his most famous works, The Future of an
Illusion, Freud compared religion to a "childhood neurosis." He argued,
"Religious ideas have sprung from the same need as all the other
achievements of culture: from the necessity for defending itself from the
crushing supremacy of nature." Freud concluded that "the more the fruits
of knowledge become accessible to men, the more widespread is the decline
of religious belief."11
These men and women were well aware that they were engaged in a war of
ideas-and a WAR AGAINST GOD.
Before long, Marxism and the new field of study spearheaded by Freud,
called psychoanalysis, filled people with doubt and anxiety. Paul Johnson
explains:
Marxist and Freudian analysis combined to undermine, in their different
ways, the highly developed sense of personal responsibility, and of duty
towards a settled and objectively true moral code . The impression people
derived from Einstein, of a universe in which all measurements of value
were relative, served to confirm this vision of moral anarchy.12
Seduced by the "logic" of the age, many people turned their backs on the
God of their fathers. They developed a thirst for anything spiritual that
could add significance to their empty lives. Eventually, some experimented
with drugs, hoping that the release from pain and the hallucinatory
experiences might provide a mystical vision that was missing in their
de-Christianized lives. Others drowned themselves in alcohol and sex.
When Aldous Huxley published his astonishing novel Brave New World in
1932, he predicted that future societies would advocate the use of drugs
to help alleviate the emptiness of life. As other experimental works
helped introduce Eastern metaphysical concepts drawn from the Hindu
religion, thousands more were enticed by such exotic ideas and tempted
away from belief in God. In Time Must Have a Stop, Huxley lamented, "If we
must play the theological game, let us never forget it is a game.
Religion, it seems to me, can survive only as a consciously accepted
system of make-believe."13
Huxley wrote of man's dilemma: "If God were there and the world had
meaning, then he had to accept God's meaning and God's rules. But, if he
said there were no God there, and everything was meaningless, then he
could make his own rules."14 Suddenly, we come to the heart of the matter.
As we sped toward World War II, we willingly turned our eyes away from the
truth of God to pursue our own passions and pleasures. We hardly took note
of Mussolini's rise to power in Italy or the virulent propaganda and
dangerous threats of Adolf Hitler in Germany. Nor did we recognize the
threat of communism, which had by then overtaken Russia.
Thanks to their promotion by intellectuals and educators, America dabbled
in dangerous and potentially destructive new ideas. While some of these
developments seemed harmless at the time, these chilling influences soon
threatened our sense of national purpose and our very survival as a
nation.
Our Moment of History
In the continuing escalation of ideological hostilities, the outcome will
determine whether this nation will be able to fulfill the role for which
God gave us birth. What we do with our moment of history, as Theodore
Roosevelt observed, will make all the difference in our destiny. Will we
leave a legacy of destruction and death, or one of blessing and eternal
life? Will we come back to God and receive His blessings, or will we reap
the whirlwind of the evils we have sown? Author Paul Johnson describes how
these choices affect our future:
By the last decade of the twentieth century, some lessons had plainly been
learned. But it was not yet clear whether the underlying evils which made
possible its catastrophic failures and tragedies-the rise of moral
relativism, the decline of personal responsibility, the repudiation of
Judeo-Christian values, not least the arrogant belief that men and women
could solve all the mysteries of the universe by their own unaided
intellects-were in the process of being eradicated.
On that fact depends the chances of the twenty-first century becoming, by
contrast, an age of hope for mankind.15
In the closing years of the 20th century and the beginning of a new
millennium, the legacy that we leave our children and grandchildren is yet
to be decided. Our possibilities are limitless through the power of God.
Imagine what we could do for the cause of Christ with computer technology,
satellite communications, new methods of language translation, and
advances in transportation and medical science. We have the ability; all
we need is the dedication, personnel, and the finances.
Our Measure of Devotion
Our Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence with full
knowledge that if they lost the war with England they would be executed as
traitors. They willingly risked their lives for their beliefs. The
Declaration, in fact, ends with the powerful statement, "We mutually
pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor." They
sacrificed everything to guarantee our freedom to worship and tell others
about our Lord Jesus Christ. Our duty is to protect these freedoms. Should
we not demonstrate the same measure of devotion in our willingness to
sacrifice to help bring about a rebirth of faith for our future
generations? Former President Ronald Reagan highlights the importance of
diligence:
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. Madison
knew, and we should always remember, that no government is perfect-not
even a democracy. Our test today must be to reaffirm the ideals of those
days. Let it be said of this generation of Americans that when we pass the
torch of freedom to the new generation, it will be burning as brightly as
when it was passed to us. Then we will know that we have kept faith with
Madison and those other remarkable men we call the Founding Fathers, and
we will have kept faith with God.16
Sadly, as we stand at the threshold of a new millennium, our torch of
freedom is burning dimly. Looking back over the 20th century, we can chart
the downfall of our nation and her great mission. At each critical step,
we have shifted our focus further from God and onto ourselves. The church
has fallen into widespread decay and missed many opportunities to fulfill
its commission. The United States of America, far from being a shining
city on a hill, is in great danger of losing her sense of purpose and her
blessings. How do we stop this process of decay? How important is it to
regain what we have given away? If this generation cannot rise up and
reverse the disastrous trend of rejecting God, who can say where this
downfall will end?
"[W]hen we pass the torch of freedom to the new generation, . we will have
kept FAITH WITH GOD."
In this section of Red Sky in the Morning, we will take a look at the
consequences of integrating ungodly ideals into the heart and soul of
America. We will also discover the tragedies we have inflicted on our
families, schools, and society by abandoning our biblical foundations.
[1]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Sherwood Eddy, Pathfinders of the World Missionary Crusade, (New York:
Abingdon-Cokesbury, 1945), p. 5,6. Quoted in Ruth A. Tucker, From
Jerusalem to Irian Jaya, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House,
1983), p. 263.
2 Elisabeth Elliot, Through Gates of Splendor, (New York: Harper & Row,
1958), p. 176. Quoted in Tucker, From Jerusalem, p. 290.
3 J. Herbert Kane, A Concise History of the Christian World Mission,
(Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1978), p. 102. Quoted in Tucker, From Jerusalem,
p. 290.
4 C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, (New York: The MacMillan Co., 1952), p.
180.
5 Francis Schaeffer, The Great Evangelical Disaster, (Wheaton, IL:
Crossway Books, 1984), p. 25.
6 William Federer, America's God and Country: Encyclopedia of Quotations,
(Coppell, TX: FAME Publishing, Inc., 1994), p. 205.
7 Scopes v. State; 289 S.W. 363 (Sup.Ct. Tenn. 1927). James Kennedy, The
Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1996), p. 117.
8 Ralph Reed, Politically Correct, (Dallas: Word, Inc., 1994), p. 53.
9 Margaret Sanger from her personal writings. Quoted in Victory in Spite
of All Terror (video), (Traverse City, MI: Freedom Ministries, Inc., and
the Christian Broadcasting Network, Inc., 1997).
10 From Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism, 1947. Quoted in George Seldes,
ed., The Great Thoughts, (New York: Ballantine Books, 1996), p. 408.
11 Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion. Quoted in Seldes, The Great
Thoughts, p. 161.
12 Dr. Paul Johnson, Modern Times: The World From the Twenties to the
Nineties, (New York: Harper Collins, 1992), p. 11.
13 Aldous Huxley, Time Must Have a Stop, 1944. Quoted in Seldes, The Great
Thoughts, p. 219.
14 Aldous Huxley, quoted by Dr. Os Guinness in Victory in Spite of All
Terror (video).
15 Johnson, Modern Times, p. 784.
16 President Ronald Reagan, Address to the Library of Congress, November
20, 1981.
[1]Bright, B., & Damoose, J. N. (1998). Red sky in the morning (87).
Orlando, Fla.: New Life Publications.
.
|
|
| User: "Sanitys Little Helper" |
|
| Title: Re: A Nation Unravels |
17 Jul 2007 02:06:35 PM |
|
|
Skunk-in-a-perfumery! wrote:
. A Nation Unravels
John B Loiodice unravelled years ago.
--
David Silverman F.L.A.H.N.
aa #2208
"If you are informed by God, you can be misinformed by nobody" - Osama
Bin Laden
.
|
|
|
| User: "UR Welcome! UR" |
|
| Title: Re: A Nation Unravels |
17 Jul 2007 08:12:25 PM |
|
|
"Sanity's Little Helper" <elvish@noshpam.org> wrote in message news:f7j3vr$bjn$1@aioe.org...
wrote:
. A Nation Unravels
Progress has brought us both unbounded opportunities and unbridled
difficulties. Thus, the measure of our civilization will not be that we
have done much, but what we have done with that much. I believe that the
next half century will determine if we will advance the cause of Christian
civilization or revert to the horrors of brutal paganism. The thought of
modern industry in the hands of Christian charity is a dream worth
dreaming. The thought of industry in the hands of paganism is a nightmare
beyond imagining. The choice between the two is upon us.
.. -President Theodore Roosevelt, 1909
.. The Battle for America's Soul
During the first few decades of the 20th century, exciting things were
happening in our country. American optimism was high, and we were having a
positive influence on the world. It seemed as if technology could solve
almost any problem. One example of the energy and enthusiasm of American
enterprise was the building of the Panama Canal. The French had tried in
the 1880s, but disease and poor planning had foiled their efforts. Some
estimates place the French death toll at nearly 20,000.
When the United States received the rights to build the canal, American
engineers and workers flooded the Isthmus of Panama. They found the
project extremely difficult. Mosquitoes carrying malaria took their toll;
whole sides of mountains collapsed into newly dug ditches; high humidity
caused unbearable working conditions; and mold grew on almost everything.
But the Americans kept digging.
After spending $352 million and ten years, the United States completed the
project. More than 5,500 people had died during the construction,
including 350 Americans. But the project was a success. The elaborate
system of locks opened on August 15, 1914, saving ships thousands of miles
of travel around the tip of South America. It seemed as if America could
accomplish anything.
.. The Passion for Souls Continues
Exciting things were also occurring in the world of Christianity. If the
18th century was America's foundation and the 19th the era of spiritual
testing and growth, then surely the 20th century would be God's final
preparation for America to attain her purposes in His divine plan of
redemption. At the turn of the century, that seemed possible.
At that time, America took the lead in sending out missionaries. Hundreds
of Americans set off for places they had only seen on maps to spend the
rest of their lives serving God. Many died of disease or martyrdom, but
their passion for winning the world for Christ inspired others to follow
in their footsteps. These missionaries began to use their specialized
skills on the field and a new cross-cultural dialog began replacing the
old colonialism of the 19th century.
For the first time, single women like Lottie Moon and Johanna Veenstra
took a more active role in the Christian community. The Student Volunteer
Movement inspired daring young students from colleges and universities to
forego prestigious careers and follow Christ. It is estimated that half of
the Protestant missionary force came from this movement alone. John R.
Mott, a great missionary statesman, was its foremost speaker. Sherwood
Eddy wrote of his experiences as a student volunteer:
In retrospect, I find I have spent half a century along the far-flung
battle line of missions. I was one of the first of sixteen thousand
student volunteers who were swept into what seemed to us nothing less than
a missionary crusade. We were considered fanatical by some, and we made
numerous mistakes which we ourselves came to realize later in bitter
experience. Many sacrificed early plans and ambitions for wealth, power,
prestige, or pleasure to go to some distant country about which they knew
little save its abysmal need. Not wholly unlike the unity of Christendom
achieved during the Middle Ages was the feeling of these student volunteer
missionaries that they were one team, working for one world, under one
Captain.1
Also getting their start during this time were faith missions, where
missionaries are primarily responsible for raising their own support. A.
B. Simpson founded the Christian and Missionary Alliance, Peter Cameron
Scott the African Inland Mission, and C. I. Scofield the Central American
Mission. God raised up Christians who had a burden for such varied parts
of the world that it seemed as if the whole earth would soon be covered.
These men and women had a deep passion for Christ's work. Jim Elliot, who
was martyred for his faith, echoed their heart for the lost: "May we who
know Christ hear the cry of the damned as they hurtle head-long into the
Christless night without ever a chance . May we shed tears of repentance
for those we have failed to bring out of darkness."2
Faith mission societies became some of the most vibrant and innovative
segments of the Christian world. J. Herbert Kane, a missions historian,
writes:
Most of the innovations in the twentieth-century mission have been
introduced by the faith missions, including radio, aviation, Bible
correspondence courses, gospel recordings, tapes, cassettes, saturation
evangelism, and theological education by extension.3
Although times were hard during the Great Depression, the missionary
spirit never died in evangelical circles. Clarence Jones began the first
missionary radio effort; William Cameron Townsend trained missionary
linguists and founded Wycliffe translators; Joy Ridderhof birthed and
expanded gospel recordings. This period also saw the beginning of medical
missions.
On the home front, evangelist Billy Sunday, a former professional baseball
player, made waves across America during the first half of the century. It
all began when Sunday and his friends went to a bar to have a few drinks.
They walked outside to listen to the rescue mission musicians. There on
the street next to the bar, Billy Sunday was struck in the heart by the
old hymns and the testimonies. He sobbed and sobbed, and though his
friends mocked him, he accompanied a young man to the Pacific Garden
Mission. There he fell on his knees in repentance.
From that day on, Sunday gave up drinking and betting. Although he
continued his baseball career, he never played on Sundays. A few years
later, he felt called to tell others about Jesus Christ. He prayed for a
release from his contract with the Philadelphia team, and when it came, he
went into full-time Christian work. For almost twenty years, he packed
auditoriums as he preached the message of Jesus Christ.
.. The Battle Begins
Unfortunately, this exciting time for Christ's kingdom was also the hour
of Satan's frantic attempt to thwart God's purposes. Despite the many
challenges to our national purpose over the centuries, the battle for
America's soul did not begin in earnest until the 1920s. Then we began
using God's blessings for our personal gain. Millions of dollars were
traded in stocks, bonds, and commodities. Prohibition against alcohol was
flaunted in speakeasies. Money, fashions, and entertainment consumed the
American mind, while traditional morals and values were discarded.
C. S. Lewis once taught, "One of the dangers of having a lot of money is
that you may be quite satisfied with the kinds of happiness money can give
and so fail to realize your need for God. If everything seems to come
simply by signing checks, you may forget that you are at every moment
totally dependent on God."4 That is also true for nations. America's
wealth and material prosperity in the 1920s blinded us to our greater need
for God. By mid-decade, this rebellion reached into mainstream America and
tempted hundreds of thousands away from traditional beliefs.
One idea is flung against another with the heavy ring of contact. WHOSE
IDEAS will win the battle?
Two distinct forces were lining up to do battle for the soul of America.
Paul outlines the heart of the battle:
Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against
the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12).
In The Great Evangelical Disaster, the late Dr. Francis Schaeffer
describes the conflict in human terms:
The primary battle is a spiritual battle in the heavenlies. But, this does
not mean, therefore, that the battle we are in is otherworldly or outside
of human history. It is a real spiritual battle, but it is equally a
battle here on earth in our own country, our own communities, our places
of work and our schools, and even our own homes. The spiritual battle has
its counterpart in the visible world, in the minds of men and women, and
in every area of human culture. In the realm of space and time, the
heavenly battle is fought on the stage of human history.5
Potent forces were threatening to unravel our society. In 1830, Alexis de
Tocqueville captured the essence of who we were as a nation, our
successes, and the dangers to our future:
I sought for the key to the greatness and genius of America in her harbors
.. in her fertile fields and boundless forests, in her rich mines and vast
world commerce, in her public school system and institutions of learning.
I sought for it in her democratic Congress and in her matchless
Constitution. 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.6
In the 1920s, America traded her relationship with God for worldly
pursuits. We subscribed to ideals that put us at enmity with God without
acknowledging that it was God who had made America great in the first
place. What went wrong was that America was no longer "good." The battle
had begun.
.. The Battle of Ideas
What kind of foe were we facing? Imagine a great army of spiritual beings
battling in the heavenlies with sharply honed swords. These swords are not
made of tempered steel, but of strong ideas. One idea is flung against
another with the heavy ring of contact. Whose ideas will win the battle?
How we use the ideas we wield will determine who wins the battle for
America's soul. Will we keep our swords sheathed or come out fighting with
the ideas we know will win-the principles of God's Word?
Indeed, the 20th century could be labeled the battle of ideas. The Scopes
Trial of 1925, which took place in tiny Dayton, Tennessee, is a good
example. It revolved around the question of whether evolution should be
taught in public schools. While the ruling upheld the Christian belief in
creationism, Clarence Darrow and the ACLU leveled great public scorn upon
God, the Bible, and Christianity. The true goal of Darrow's efforts in the
Scopes Trial was revealed several years later when he returned to Dayton
and saw a new church under construction. He scoffed, "I guess I didn't do
much good here after all."7
Journalists like H. L. Mencken denounced Christianity as "a childish
theology founded upon hate" and called Christians "morons." His angry
diatribes, combined with those of other intellectuals, penetrated
mainstream thinking as many Americans began to believe they could actually
live without God.8
In the 1920s, Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood and a
believer in the science of racial purity known as eugenics, began her work
to popularize birth control. She stated, "Birth control appeals to the
advanced radical because it is calculated to undermine the authority of
the Christian churches. I look forward to seeing humanity free someday
from the tyranny of Christianity."9 Sanger's work formed the foundation
for the radical feminist movement, and her birth-control crusade led to
promiscuity and a collapse of sexual purity. Sanger's Planned Parenthood
became the world's leading provider of abortions. Men and women such as
Darrow, Mencken, and Sanger knew well that they were engaged in a war of
ideas-and a war against God.
Another idea that challenged the Christian faith was existentialism, a
humanistic philosophy based on disillusionment and the emptiness and
despair of secular life. Philosophers such as John-Paul Sartre, Albert
Camus, Martin Heidegger, and Karl Jaspers disseminated this idea. In one
outburst, French writer and social critic Sartre said, "There is no human
nature because there is no God to have a conception of it. Man simply is .
Man is nothing else but that which he makes of himself. That is the first
principle of existentialism."10 These beliefs provided the foundation for
the radical hippie movement of the 1960s. And from these roots arose some
of the most threatening anti-Christian ideologies and social policies.
In the wake of World War I, philosophers and scientists began putting
forth an entirely new way of thinking. Ideas from intellectuals such as
Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Sigmund Freud conveyed
much the same message to the generation of the '20s-that the world was not
what it seemed to be. People began to question almost everything.
Sigmund Freud, founder of modern psychology, believed that the world
revolves around sexual dysfunction. Some of his supposed "findings" are
graphically sexual. In one of his most famous works, The Future of an
Illusion, Freud compared religion to a "childhood neurosis." He argued,
"Religious ideas have sprung from the same need as all the other
achievements of culture: from the necessity for defending itself from the
crushing supremacy of nature." Freud concluded that "the more the fruits
of knowledge become accessible to men, the more widespread is the decline
of religious belief."11
These men and women were well aware that they were engaged in a war of
ideas-and a WAR AGAINST GOD.
Before long, Marxism and the new field of study spearheaded by Freud,
called psychoanalysis, filled people with doubt and anxiety. Paul Johnson
explains:
Marxist and Freudian analysis combined to undermine, in their different
ways, the highly developed sense of personal responsibility, and of duty
towards a settled and objectively true moral code . The impression people
derived from Einstein, of a universe in which all measurements of value
were relative, served to confirm this vision of moral anarchy.12
Seduced by the "logic" of the age, many people turned their backs on the
God of their fathers. They developed a thirst for anything spiritual that
could add significance to their empty lives. Eventually, some experimented
with drugs, hoping that the release from pain and the hallucinatory
experiences might provide a mystical vision that was missing in their
de-Christianized lives. Others drowned themselves in alcohol and sex.
When Aldous Huxley published his astonishing novel Brave New World in
1932, he predicted that future societies would advocate the use of drugs
to help alleviate the emptiness of life. As other experimental works
helped introduce Eastern metaphysical concepts drawn from the Hindu
religion, thousands more were enticed by such exotic ideas and tempted
away from belief in God. In Time Must Have a Stop, Huxley lamented, "If we
must play the theological game, let us never forget it is a game.
Religion, it seems to me, can survive only as a consciously accepted
system of make-believe."13
Huxley wrote of man's dilemma: "If God were there and the world had
meaning, then he had to accept God's meaning and God's rules. But, if he
said there were no God there, and everything was meaningless, then he
could make his own rules."14 Suddenly, we come to the heart of the matter.
As we sped toward World War II, we willingly turned our eyes away from the
truth of God to pursue our own passions and pleasures. We hardly took note
of Mussolini's rise to power in Italy or the virulent propaganda and
dangerous threats of Adolf Hitler in Germany. Nor did we recognize the
threat of communism, which had by then overtaken Russia.
Thanks to their promotion by intellectuals and educators, America dabbled
in dangerous and potentially destructive new ideas. While some of these
developments seemed harmless at the time, these chilling influences soon
threatened our sense of national purpose and our very survival as a
nation.
Our Moment of History
In the continuing escalation of ideological hostilities, the outcome will
determine whether this nation will be able to fulfill the role for which
God gave us birth. What we do with our moment of history, as Theodore
Roosevelt observed, will make all the difference in our destiny. Will we
leave a legacy of destruction and death, or one of blessing and eternal
life? Will we come back to God and receive His blessings, or will we reap
the whirlwind of the evils we have sown? Author Paul Johnson describes how
these choices affect our future:
By the last decade of the twentieth century, some lessons had plainly been
learned. But it was not yet clear whether the underlying evils which made
possible its catastrophic failures and tragedies-the rise of moral
relativism, the decline of personal responsibility, the repudiation of
Judeo-Christian values, not least the arrogant belief that men and women
could solve all the mysteries of the universe by their own unaided
intellects-were in the process of being eradicated.
On that fact depends the chances of the twenty-first century becoming, by
contrast, an age of hope for mankind.15
In the closing years of the 20th century and the beginning of a new
millennium, the legacy that we leave our children and grandchildren is yet
to be decided. Our possibilities are limitless through the power of God.
Imagine what we could do for the cause of Christ with computer technology,
satellite communications, new methods of language translation, and
advances in transportation and medical science. We have the ability; all
we need is the dedication, personnel, and the finances.
Our Measure of Devotion
Our Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence with full
knowledge that if they lost the war with England they would be executed as
traitors. They willingly risked their lives for their beliefs. The
Declaration, in fact, ends with the powerful statement, "We mutually
pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor." They
sacrificed everything to guarantee our freedom to worship and tell others
about our Lord Jesus Christ. Our duty is to protect these freedoms. Should
we not demonstrate the same measure of devotion in our willingness to
sacrifice to help bring about a rebirth of faith for our future
generations? Former President Ronald Reagan highlights the importance of
diligence:
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. Madison
knew, and we should always remember, that no government is perfect-not
even a democracy. Our test today must be to reaffirm the ideals of those
days. Let it be said of this generation of Americans that when we pass the
torch of freedom to the new generation, it will be burning as brightly as
when it was passed to us. Then we will know that we have kept faith with
Madison and those other remarkable men we call the Founding Fathers, and
we will have kept faith with God.16
Sadly, as we stand at the threshold of a new millennium, our torch of
freedom is burning dimly. Looking back over the 20th century, we can chart
the downfall of our nation and her great mission. At each critical step,
we have shifted our focus further from God and onto ourselves. The church
has fallen into widespread decay and missed many opportunities to fulfill
its commission. The United States of America, far from being a shining
city on a hill, is in great danger of losing her sense of purpose and her
blessings. How do we stop this process of decay? How important is it to
regain what we have given away? If this generation cannot rise up and
reverse the disastrous trend of rejecting God, who can say where this
downfall will end?
"[W]hen we pass the torch of freedom to the new generation, . we will have
kept FAITH WITH GOD."
In this section of Red Sky in the Morning, we will take a look at the
consequences of integrating ungodly ideals into the heart and soul of
America. We will also discover the tragedies we have inflicted on our
families, schools, and society by abandoning our biblical foundations.
[1]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Sherwood Eddy, Pathfinders of the World Missionary Crusade, (New York:
Abingdon-Cokesbury, 1945), p. 5,6. Quoted in Ruth A. Tucker, From
Jerusalem to Irian Jaya, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House,
1983), p. 263.
2 Elisabeth Elliot, Through Gates of Splendor, (New York: Harper & Row,
1958), p. 176. Quoted in Tucker, From Jerusalem, p. 290.
3 J. Herbert Kane, A Concise History of the Christian World Mission,
(Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1978), p. 102. Quoted in Tucker, From Jerusalem,
p. 290.
4 C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, (New York: The MacMillan Co., 1952), p.
180.
5 Francis Schaeffer, The Great Evangelical Disaster, (Wheaton, IL:
Crossway Books, 1984), p. 25.
6 William Federer, America's God and Country: Encyclopedia of Quotations,
(Coppell, TX: FAME Publishing, Inc., 1994), p. 205.
7 Scopes v. State; 289 S.W. 363 (Sup.Ct. Tenn. 1927). James Kennedy, The
Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1996), p. 117.
8 Ralph Reed, Politically Correct, (Dallas: Word, Inc., 1994), p. 53.
9 Margaret Sanger from her personal writings. Quoted in Victory in Spite
of All Terror (video), (Traverse City, MI: Freedom Ministries, Inc., and
the Christian Broadcasting Network, Inc., 1997).
10 From Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism, 1947. Quoted in George Seldes,
ed., The Great Thoughts, (New York: Ballantine Books, 1996), p. 408.
11 Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion. Quoted in Seldes, The Great
Thoughts, p. 161.
12 Dr. Paul Johnson, Modern Times: The World From the Twenties to the
Nineties, (New York: Harper Collins, 1992), p. 11.
13 Aldous Huxley, Time Must Have a Stop, 1944. Quoted in Seldes, The Great
Thoughts, p. 219.
14 Aldous Huxley, quoted by Dr. Os Guinness in Victory in Spite of All
Terror (video).
15 Johnson, Modern Times, p. 784.
16 President Ronald Reagan, Address to the Library of Congress, November
20, 1981.
[1]Bright, B., & Damoose, J. N. (1998). Red sky in the morning (87).
Orlando, Fla.: New Life Publications.
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| User: "Sanitys Little Helper" |
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| Title: Re: A Nation Unravels |
18 Jul 2007 05:33:28 AM |
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UR Welcome! wrote:
"Sanity's Little Helper" <elvish@noshpam.org> wrote in message news:f7j3vr$bjn$1@aioe.org...
wrote:
. A Nation Unravels
John B Loiodice unravelled years ago.
And John B Loiodice deleted it. What a snivelling coward.
...
--
David Silverman F.L.A.H.N.
aa #2208
"If you are informed by God, you can be misinformed by nobody" - Osama
Bin Laden
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