We Have Forgotten God

By: Steve Huston

 

What has brought us to the sad reality that we experience in America today?  Truthfully, we must bow to the fact that regardless of who will occupy the Oval Office, America is in desperate trouble because of the many decades of spiritual decay we have allowed. A Trump administration may be better for our pocketbook than a Biden administration and religious liberty may have had a better chance of flourishing in the past four years than is likely in the next four years; but, what did we do with our religious liberty?

What difference did we make in presenting the Gospel to those around and bringing our denominations and their respective institutions of higher learning back to the unadulterated truth of the Bible? Streaming services are still airing shows that promote adultery, the LGBTQ agenda, and are still attacking the innocence of childhood. (Many Christians subscribe to these services funding both the “good” and the bad.) America remains full of moral decay; spiritual degeneracy—not teaching or learning the difference between the holy and the profane; leaders in our midst “are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain;” crime waves and social putridness; millions of children are murdered by the less offensive names of abortion or “family planning”—some of which are burned, torn limb from limb, and others left upon a tray or table to die a slow death—unloved and uncared for. We have experienced and continue to experience a loss of social standards and a loss of Biblical standard in so-called churches as the Word of God is mixed with the false science of the world. Ezekiel calls it “untempered morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies,” He goes on to say, “The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy:” (quotes from Ezekiel 22)

Again, how did we get here?

Patrick Henry warned us about the path that leads to where we now sit: “Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains.” And Lincoln stated in his Proclamation Appointing a National Fast Day: “We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.” Or as Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote, “More than half a century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of older people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.”

When it all boils down, it’s not about political parties, communism, capitalism, or any other -ism; it’s not about economic strength or collapse; it’s not even about fair elections or religious freedom. America is at its tipping point because AMERICA HAS FORGOTTEN GOD! America has forgotten what it is to go against Biblical principles and fail; we’ve forgotten times of national repentance, fasting, and calling upon God and Him, in turn, hearing our prayer, forgiving our sin, and healing our land (meeting our needs).

Again, how did we get here?

It was through neglect, not rejecting at first but neglecting to protect what we had been given. The best way I can explain and illustrate this is by pointing to the Scripture. “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip… How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation…” (Hebrews 2:1, 3)

Even as we have been warned to give earnest heed (diligence) to protect the spiritual truths we know regarding Jesus (Hebrews 1) lest we forget them; and we are reminded that to neglect (not reject but not protect) the great truth of salvation is a danger; to a lesser degree we can apply these warnings to America’s Christian heritage and the need to protect it rather than neglecting it. Frankly, America got to where we are because we neglected to protect our Christian heritage, the freedoms guaranteed by our Constitution; we neglected the great gifts of virtue and self-governance, allowing lawlessness to creep in little by little.  Much like a Christian who is not vigilant may find that “the little foxes spoil the vines” in his own life.

We are here; what can we do?

While there are political things I could point to, and likely will in the weeks ahead; let me end here with the most important things that need to be done. First, we must become broken and repentant of whatever spiritual apathy we may have and ask God to set us aflame anew. Considering our national heritage I find it appalling that within the state of Michigan there are teenagers and young adults that have never seen a Bible or even know what one is. I assume the same could be said for whatever state you live in. Second, it is our duty to live holy, share the gospel truth, know and share our true history, and to think Biblically. How else can we remind America about the God which she has forgotten? Third, humbly pray, pray, and pray some more. We must pray for those in authority (regardless of who they are and if they are there fraudulently or not—it is what God has allowed), for the citizens of this land, and for fellow believers here and abroad. Fourth, first-do not neglect so great a salvation, and next- do not neglect the constitutional laws of our land. We are to be reminders that point to our great Savior, righteousness, and the importance of obedience to the law.

This is not an all-inclusive list but it’s a good place to start. If we are not spiritually solid and helping others to become so, it will not matter who the next president is; we will only be kicking the can down the road, much like we have during the last four years.

“…it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.” ~Abraham Lincoln

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